Three: Kidnapped

NADINE

For the first time in forever, Dominic allowed us to leave work early but that was only because he wanted us to go out and celebrate.

And of course, the feat was no small one and we really deserved to celebrate it.

We've been at it for five good years and several rejections, modifications, and tears after, we finally got the approval to go ahead.

We finally got the yes! So really, we needed to celebrate it.

We came to a bar and got a round table and in no time, my teammates were in varying degrees of drunkness, even Dominic.

I was the only one that refused to drink.

"So you're really not going to drink even a cup?" Tania inquired with a slur in her voice and her shaky hands holding a half-empty glass of beer.

"Yes," I smiled at her as I picked at the gizzard I was eating.

"But why?"

"Because I drove here and I have to drive myself back home."

"But you can always call a designated driver!" she challenged, her voice rising. That was one thing about Tania, she always get angry at everything and anything when she was drunk.

"We're out here celebrating because of you and you're not even celebrating."

"When has Nadine ever drink in an outing like this?" Dominic pacified Tania as she fell head down on the table and boom, she was gone.

"Do you even drink at all?"

"Of course, I drink," I replied to him as I took a sip of my coke, "it's just not all the time."

Not all the time means within the four walls of my apartment where I could drink without any inhibitions and get drunk because no one was watching me.

"But we've never seen you drink," Dan, one of my male colleagues whined, "we've never seen you drink, ever ever."

We always do this anytime we had a team dinner. Once I fail to talk myself out of attending, they'll bug me all night long about why I wasn't night and thankfully, they were already getting drunk this night so I won't have to deal with them for much longer.

Not long after, I had to call Uber or designated drivers for them because they were all too drunk that thus could barely move at all.

Debby, my second female colleague was the last one I was able to get inside an Uber because she kept crying that she wanted to go home with me.

That's what being drunk does to you. It makes you really senseless.

I heaved a sigh when I was finally able to get her into the car, told the driver her address and I dragged myself to my car. I already picked out an expensive wine that I was going to treat myself to once I get home so I couldn't wait to get home, to finally celebrate my success fully.

I felt that familiar pang of loneliness as I eased the car out of the parking lot.

I should be calling my friends or family members now to share the good news with them but I had no one, not a single person to call and now, I was just going to return to my dark and gloomy apartment to drink by myself because I had no one.

That's how utterly lonely and alone I was.

Suddenly, getting the proposal didn't seem as monumental as it did few hours ago.

I tried to control my mind from trailing off to all the events in the past that culminated to this moment and I tried to rein myself back to the present, to celebrate my win because it was such a huge win.

I mean, I've been working towards this for five years now, and now, I could finally grasp it, it was finally going to come true.

And I was going to get to live in my dream apartment. There was a particular apartment I had designed and I knew that once Eden City was set and ready to go, I'd call dibs on that apartment.

It was the apartment after my own heart.

I squealed as I remembered everything I had planned out and I could feel my excitement starting to build up again.

I eased onto the major highway that leads to where my apartment in HillCrest and immediately, I started hearing splatters of rain on the room and on the windscreen.

Oh shit. It was starting to rain and if there was one thing I absolutely hated, it was driving while it was raining.

And now, I couldn't even go faster because the road was already slippery.

And damn, the rain was so heavy that I could hardly see a thing in front of me.

I started moving at a snail's pace, peering out of the car as much as I could, and suddenly and out of nowhere, my car started coughing and it stopped moving.

What the fuck?

I turned the keys but it only coughed before I died completely and no matter how much I tried to get the car to start, it wouldn't budge.

Oh shit. Shit. Shit!

Shit!!!

Why did this car have to stop on the highway, under this heavy rainfall, and in the dead of the night?

Oh God! No God, today is supposed to be one of the happiest days of my life, I'm not supposed to deal with things like this.

I attempted to start the car again but it was the same thing! It wouldn't start.

Jesus Christ!

I suddenly felt like crying as I was overwhelmed by the whole thing. It was raining heavily, it was dark and I was stuck here on the highway where I could easily be a prey to anyone.

I locked my car doors as I waited for the rain to at least subsidize a little before I'll go out and checked the engine. I knew close to nothing about car engines but I couldn't possibly wait till God knows when here. I had to go out and do something.

But the problem here was that the rain wasn't reducing at all, if anything, it was increasing in its intensity.

Oh God!

I heaved a frustrated sigh after a while before unlocking my door. I didn't even have an umbrella so the minute I stepped out, I was already completely drenched.

I ran to the bonnet, opened it, and stared at it in confusion because I literally had no idea what I was supposed to do, where I was supposed to touch and with each passing moment, the rain was beating me more and more.

By now, I was soaked to the bones, and none of the cars driving by attempted to even stop even when I was flagging them down.

I couldn't blame them though. I wouldn't stop if I was the one too. It was too risky to stop for a stranger this late at night on a highway.

By now, I was so frustrated that I just wanted to sit on the road and melt with the rain.

Suddenly, I didn't feel the rain on my body anymore even though I could see feel it landing on the car am the road.

I looked up at that, wondering... Until I saw that I was now being shielded by an umbrella and at that moment, the umbrella tilted back a little so I could see the person holding it.

An involuntary gasp left my mouth as the man's face came into view. I couldn't see his face properly but it was distinctly highlighted by the distant street light and if there was a word to describe it, it'd be powerful.

"Do you need any help?" he asked, the low timbres of his voice electrifying my skin and causing goosebumps to break out on my body.

His voice was demanding, captivating, and everything attention gripping.

Was it because I was cold? Because I couldn't remember the last time I felt this way about a man.

Scratch that, I've never felt this way to any man before and this was a man whose face I couldn't even see.

"Uhhh?" he demanded and I could feel his eyes boring into mine, that was when I remembered that he had asked me a question.

"Yes, I..." I looked away from him, "I... The car suddenly stopped and I don't know what's wrong with it."

I expected him to say something after that or to at least, start doing something on the car but he did nothing, and when I looked up at him again, a car zoomed by at that moment and a loud gasp escaped from my mouth when I saw his face.

That was when I realized how stupid I'd been. I didn't hear a car stop or anything, he just came out of nowhere and...

I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out as I felt a sting pain on my neck and immediately, the ground gave way beneath me and I collapsed into something rigid.