3- Fated encounter

I take a deep breath, inhaling the fresh morning breeze. It makes me feel alive somehow. The last few days were rather distressing. It feels like eternity since I last took a walk outside. Being cooped up in Amber's apartment made me realise I took my old town for granted. I miss the freshness, the freedom it offered.

"We are finally out. You happy, my boy?" I ask Milo, nudging my nose on the crook of his neck. He meows in contentment, being excited for the walk outside. My Milo is a hyperactive cat which is very usual. Maybe he wants to bring a balance in our lives as I'm always gloomy and dull. This very thought sounds absurd in my mind but sometimes I come to believe it.

I put Milo on the ground, letting him run while I held his leash. Taking a mask and a pair of sunglasses out of my hoodie pocket, I wear them to hide my identity. Amber has strictly forbidden me from stepping out of the house in fear that someone might recognize me and it can lead to a greater disaster. I would comply with her words completely if it wasn't for my Milo. He was getting sad, being confined within the four walls of Amber's apartment. I do hope Amber won't find out about our little advantage.

With calculated gaze, I examine my surroundings. The animal park is huge and is littered with hundreds of dogs and cats and their humans. I feel anxious as people start to crowd the park. More people means greater chance of having an interaction with someone. While I've always been kind of anti-social, today I'm on the brink of being paranoid, all thanks to the possibility of my identity getting leaked.

"Slow down, Milo." I scold my enthusiastic cat who doesn't pay any heed to me.

Shaking my head in amusement, I find myself following his pursuit. Milo is too friendly. He can interact with anyone and make them fall in love with him. That's how I found myself adopting him when I could hardly provide necessities for myself. However, I couldn't digest how his past owner wanted to put him down for being too large and having a big appetite. I knew they weren't the kindest. They were also involved in shady business, causing fights to break out every now and then, taking the shape of either major or minor casualties.

That day was the first day when I gathered my courage and talked to them to give me Milo. They were happy to give the cat to someone else rather than burying it. After my mother's death, I lost the meaning of life. Every second was hard to spend. Life was nothing but an agonizing torture. With Milo stepping into my life, I found a little bit of hope in my life. He will always be my best friend.

I try not to dwell on the past and let the past memory sway me. Warning bells ring in my ears continuously as I see my large black cat jumping on a little Persian kitten.

"Milo!" I scold him in a serious tone, trying to control him by the leash. However, it appears that he has taken a liking towards the cat.

"It's alright. He isn't hurting my kitten so I don't mind." A lady speaks suddenly whose existence my mind blurred out earlier because of the sudden panic I felt.

Once again I find myself tongue-tied in the presence of a stranger. So, I just hesitantly nod my head at her, trying to spare an awkward smile which isn't visible because of my mask.

"Cold?" The woman asks me, regarding me with worried eyes.

Thinking it's the better option for me to just play by her rules, I nod my head at her. The mask probably left that impression on her. An amicable smile blooms on her face suddenly, making her look at least a decade younger than she actually looks. She looks like she is in her mid thirties. But she radiates a joyful aura around her. It's been just a few minutes that we have met but her smile says thousands of words at once and none of them are even remotely negative or offensive.

"I had a terrible cold last week. I swear to God, I thought I had Covid or something. Turns out, it was just viral fever and cold." I awkwardly stand there as she keeps pouring extra information about her which I haven't asked. She gives off the vibe of my Milo. Both of them are a little too friendly.

"Take a seat. Your feet must hurt standing for so long." She says, patting on the vacant space on the bench.

I find Milo playing with the little kitten. He looks so happy that I don't have the heart to take him away. So, finding no better choice, I took her offer.

"Your cat is adorable." She compliments, looking at the cats with heart eyes.

"Yours too." I finally find myself saying something after battling the anxiety inside my heart.

I hope she isn't from around here and doesn't know Amber. It would be a total disaster if that's the case.

"I live close by so if you want your cat to have a mate, my Spiro will be available." She grins, clapping her hands together as she dreams about things I would rather not think about.

"So, what's your name? I'm Lailah."

I take a few seconds to come up with a fake name in my head and not so surprisingly, my brain stops functioning.

"Reg……" I whisper all of a sudden, not really knowing what I'm saying.

"Reg?" She chuckles but there's no sign of mockery in her tone, "Short for Regina, I hope." I just nod my head with whatever she says.

She keeps talking about things I hardly understand. I'm here for the sake of Milo only. When she finally stops talking, I find myself getting relaxed a little bit. To my luck, the relaxation doesn't stay for long when she starts squealing all of a sudden.

"The star of the show Mr.Ivanov is here!" She yells in utter joy, turning to her left.

My breath hitches as soon as I hear her. Mr. Ivanov? This can't be the same jerk whom I met that day, can it? I try to follow her gaze and at the far corner of the park, I catch a glimpse of the jerk I wanted to avoid.

The bitter memory of that day rushes into my mind. Amber never let me hear the end of it when she knew what I did. She was panicking that he would do something. I wouldn't grasp why she was freaking out as I didn't have much knowledge about him but I figured out he must be a dangerous personality. My heart clenches in utter terror when I realise he can turn to this corner anytime and find me here. What will I do if he recognizes me?

"He is such a Casanova." The lady beside me gushes over him, drooling for the man who doesn't even know how to behave.

"You…..you know him?" She turns so fast at my question that I'm afraid she might snap her neck.

"Do I know him? Girl, do you live under a rock?" She gasps dramatically before asking, shaking her head in disappointment.

"I.. I know about him." I mumble, playing with the hem of my hoodie as I try to work on my breathing to get rid of the anxious feeling.

I should get away from here. But where should I go? What if I start walking and he catches up to me? The park is large. I pray for my lucky star that he won't come here.

I find myself stealing some glances on the man. He is here with a husky, playing with it. He is laughing like he doesn't care about anything about the world. His careless laugh does something to my heart. He seems gentle, polite and everything good. If I didn't know how much of an impolite person he is, I would assume him to be a gentleman who harbours immense love for animals.

"He is my boyfriend's boss." Lailah reveals, keeping her eyes on the man only.

It does nothing but intensify my panic by tenfold. She is talking like she knows him personally. In this situation, it wouldn't be wise of me to stay here and have a friendly conversation with her.

"He is such a gentleman. You know he booked a whole ass movie theatre for us when my boyfriend decided to propose to me." She continues on, turning to me to show the utter joy in her face.

The unbounded happiness on her face tells me that Mr. Ivanov is a great boss who looks after his employees but that doesn't magically turn him into a good man.

"I… I n-eed to go." I stutter out as soon as I find Elliot advancing towards the area where we are at, holding his husky by the leash.

My heartbeat fluctuates constantly. Without giving her time to reply, I turn my heels and start running the opposite way with Milo. Despite Milo's continuous disappointed meows, I don't look back and keep on going, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. I'm not gonna make it difficult for Amber. I tell myself. We haven't heard anything from Mr. Ivanov after our date three days ago which has both Amber and I on the edge of our seats. I don't know what consequences we will have to tackle if I have to face an unwanted encounter with him as I don't have Amber with me to guide me through it.

My cat's mind seems to work in different ways with him having thoughts that contradict mine. I love Milo with all my heart but my heart turns out to be too small compared to the fear that I'm faced with when he gathers his strength and runs the other way, making me turn with him all of a sudden. Strings of curses leave my mouth as my cat runs towards the Persian Kitten. I'm too much into panic mode to see the person running in front of me. As a result, I collide with the person hard. So fierce is the force that I find myself on the ground, wincing in pain I endured due to the fall.

"Are you alright, miss?" A familiar voice asks. It holds the same thickness of the Russian accent that I heard before but to my surprise, the voice doesn't have the edge of bitterness to it.

My mind goes frantic when I finally put two and two together and realise that the person standing in front of me is none other than Elliot fucking Ivanov. I'm fucked.