Out of breath, Zahra pushed open the glass doors and came out. She was soo stupid, why on earth did she run? No, waitâ¦.why did she have to open her big mouth in the first place, but, there was no way out of it now, he was so intimidating that it was totally impossible for her to have kept quiet. She should have just said sorry or something and walked away but it never occurred to her stupid mind. âFirst impression is the last impressionâ, so they say. The damage was done now and she had made it worse by running off like that. She just wished the ground beneath her to crack open and gobble her up whole, in one mouthful. The matter would end up, then and there. Hunhâ¦.if wishes could come true, what wouldnât she have given to make that happenâ¦.
âWhat are you doing here? Mustnât you be inside with all the other trainees??â Ms. Andrews barked. DANG IT!! She just had to be here, out of all other places on the earth one could be at. âIâ¦.uhâ¦. I was not feeling well, Ms. Andrews, so⦠I came out. Please donât make me go back in thereâ¦.pleaseâ Zahra begged her, making a desperate excuse to save herself from any further scrutiny.
âYou have done something and are trying to hide it, right?â She eyed her suspiciously. God!! Nothing goes past her. âOkay Iâll let you off easy for once, but, you will stay here, and if you move as much as an inch, Iâll make you get insideâ she said and went into the office, muttering something about âlack of manners in girls these daysâ, under her breath.
Whew! She was savedâ¦.for now, at least. She stood there and waited for the others to come out now. After a while, she heard Ms. Andrews shouting at somebody and ran towards the group as she saw them coming out of the CEOs office. âNow, the next task on your schedule today is to check out the Company Library. Itâs on the sixth floor. Get as much information as you can about âWalworth & Co.â and then at exactly 12:00 p.m., you will all gather over here so that bosses can be assigned to each group of four trainees, according to your departmentsâ she went on saying as they jogged behind her to keep themselves in hearing range.
âHey Jennifer, did Mr. Walworth say anything after I ran out?â Zahra quietly asked her friend, lest the old bat might hear her. She knew Jennifer from her office and she was nice to talk to. âWellâ¦he just briefed us about the Companyâs motives and its goals for the coming years. He also told us about some oath taking ceremony that will be held at the end of this month in which weâll have to take oath that âwe dedicate ourselves for achieving the Companyâs motivesâ and blahâ¦.blah...blah. This year it will be a gala event as itâs the Companyâs tenth birth anniversary.
âAhâ¦yes, I remember now, he did say something referring to you. You know, just when you ran out, he muttered something about âdesperate people who would do anything to catch otherâs attentionsâ, but donât worry okay, it wonât change our perception about you, we know what kind of a person you are, and youâre definitely not the attention seeking kind, trust me. By the way, why DID you take off just like that?â she asked confused. âWellâ¦itâs a long storyâ Zahra replied and smiled.
******SOMEWHERE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD******
There is an empty, huge and dark room with almost no light, except a small candle burning in the middle of a large table having transparent glass panels. A man, probably young in age, is sitting on one of the two chairs placed on either side of the table. His face is in darkness but his long fish like hands are visible and are quite prominent in the dim light, making ghost-like shadows on the walls of the room. A man is standing outside at the door, wearing an all-black mercenary kind of suit with black sunglasses, and is apparently the bodyguard of the man sitting inside.
He opens the door. âSir, the parcel you ordered has been brought, and this time, he has got positive newsâ he informs in a robotic voice. âFinally, something is up, Iâm glad to know. Send him in Jakeâ¦and close the door behind youâ the man says in a mysterious monotone. A short middle aged man with long hairs and a bald patch in the middle is sent inside. He has a tanned face, giving a hint of his belonging to the Indian subcontinent. He is shaking violently, apparently scared out of his wits. âI⦠I⦠Iâve got n...nothing to tell y...youâ he stutters with a slightly Indian accent. The man with the hidden face grins loudly and says âSit down and breathe a little. You have plenty of time to say what you want.â
The short man slowly pulls out the other chair and sits down. âNow, there is a drawer on your left side. Pull it open.â The short man opens the drawer and brings out a thick bundle of currency notes. âWhat do you see? There are total $50000 in there. You can count it if you want. They are all yours. Now, you have only got two choices. No.1, give me the information and walk away with that bundle. No.2, you are free to not open your mouth, but, you wonât see daylight againâ he says ticking the options on his fingers and chuckles menacingly, while he paces up and down.
A strange malicious sparkle comes into the other manâs eyes. He licks his mouth, eyeing the bundle and says âIâll tell you all.â
âBefore his wife died, they had a child. It was a girl. I donât know of what age she might be now, neither do I know her present location, but I do know this that she left India some time ago. Thatâs all I can tell you because thatâs all I know.â âFind me her location and Iâll double the moneyâ the man with the hidden face says. âYou may go now.â
âAh! So thereâs a girl in the picture. That makes it all the more interesting.â He calls his bodyguard. âJake, tell them to get ready. The game is beginning to speed up.â
Trapeze, Clydesville
Two weeks had passed since Zahra had come here but her mother and Avi hadnât ceased from bombarding her with all kinds of questions, day in and day out. Former asked about questions related to her health, the kind of food she was eating or if she had taken any nutritious drinks or not, to those asked by the latter, related to her office, like how drop dead gorgeous Walworth Jr. looked. GOSH!
She hadnât even been able to squeeze in the time for any kind of sightseeing or shopping. So, when she just couldnât stay away from it all, she coaxed Laura into making a plan of a âgirlsâ day outâ with her. Laura was a fashion designer and worked for âBlingâ, a world-known name in fashion. Since she had come here, she hadnât been able to take a break, even for breathing, due to the mountains of work load and now, Zahra was bugging her, making her irritated.
âLaura, please, get up now. You said weâll go and roam around the city for a while. Now keep your promiseâ Zahra said, dragging her out of the bed. âGo away Zahra, I havenât slept for two nights straight and I have a show coming up. You donât know how difficult it is to get the kind of inspiration for designing dresses. You have to rack your brains out. Do leave me alone, and go find something to do with yourself.â âBut I have got nothing to doâ she lied. âPlease Laura, just this once. I wonât trouble you ever again. Please.â âHumph, okay, but this time only. Iâm coming. Go get ready, and stop pretending to be teary eyed when you are bubbling with happiness from the inside.â
As a matter of fact, it was truly a great âgirlsâ day outâ, as they called it. They, practically, went length and breadth of the whole city. Firstly, they went to the âWalworth Towerâ and the âHawthorn Mansionâ and many other places worth seeing, then shopped to their heartâs content (at least, to their budgetâs content, they did;-P), and finally, grabbed some lunch at a small restaurant around the corner, chatting away the whole time like two long lost friends.
The next day, Zahra hastily reached her office, remembering at the last minute that there was a meeting scheduled to be attended by her group, with her supervisor taking control of it and overlooked by the one and only, David Walworth.
She wondered what he would say to her today. Never had a day passed in her life, since coming here, when he hadnât commented on her. Either it was the way she dressed or the way she talked or did anything that a normal person does, he always had a snide comment ready, and that too the kind which would pierce a hole in the heart of anyone it was directed at. In this case, it was her. Unlucky girl. She had such a strong aversion to him now that she couldnât stand being in his presence for long, listening to his obnoxious comments, but, unfortunately, she had no choice.
Getting out of the lift, she ran through the corridor and just as she turned the corner, a huge Chinese vase, which had been sitting there since ten years ago, she had been told, got hit by her handbag and started spinning upon its base. She quickly steadied it, her heartbeat almost coming to a stop.
Seeing that the meeting had started, through the glass doors ahead of her, she began to run.
But, it really wasnât her lucky day today, because when she ran once again, desperate to get to the meeting, the flap of her coat hit the vase, and it came crashing down onto the floor and splintered into a thousand pieces. DAMN!!!
She felt like the time had frozen, numbing her brain and limbs with it. On trying, she found out that she couldnât move. She was soo going to be kicked out of here now THAT she was absolutely sure of.
All eyes in the room ahead turned towards the source of the noise and she could imagine them gaping, their mouths turned into the shape of an âOâ. The only gaze she wanted to avoid at all costs, was definitely going to be on her the whole time now, and for the second time in her life, she wished for the ground beneath her to crack open and gulp her down, whole in one morsel.
Ya Allah! Why was life being so hard on her???
---------Author's Note---------
well... that took a while, but i'm really happyyy that it has been posted now. i am very sorry for the late update. i have introduced another aspect to the story in this chapter n i hope u guys like it :) don't take me wrong though, i've never been to that kind of a place ;) i just created a scenario based on those movies in which villains do sumthing like that....
there might be a few filler chapters afterwards but the story will speed up insha'allah
so enjoy :)