33 An Unforseen Incident
After searching for hours on road Shirley got lucky and found what she was looking for. All the way she was thinking of one thing- for her friend to not wake up. Although she has already written a note, her heart was not reconciled at the thought of Sam waking up to an empty room. Something in her urged to quickly gather all the goods and be by her side as soon as possible. It was a gut feeling that urged her to hurry back to her hotel room.
When Shirley entered the hotel lobby she checked her phone and saw that it has been around three hours since she went out. She hastened her steps and kept walking. Shirley was not looking where she was going. Her head was bent over her phone to check if there is any missed call from Sara.
There was no phone call but she has received a picture from her friend. She was about to click on the notification to see what it could be about but did not get the chance. She bumped into someone and groaned as she was hit hard. Fortunately, she did not fall as the person took hold of her elbow and steadied her.
'I am extremely sorry. I was not looking where I was going and bumped into you. Really, I am sorry. I hope you are not hurt.' Shirley apologized as she knew it was her fault. As she said the last part she looked up and was stunned to see brown eyes glaring at her with full force.
The man was in his late forties but Shirley could not guess his age.
She noticed that although his head was full of dark hairs she could still see a streak of whitening in his hairline near the front and also there were few wrinkles around his eyes. If they were not there he might easily pass off as a man in early thirties. But with them maybe he was in his forties. Shirley shuddered and amended her calculation, the fierce look he was giving her she could easily conclude him to be in his late twenties.
The man was on his phone and momentarily got distracted. Within that microsecond, he collided with someone. Instinctively, he held the person to stop going down. He was successful in preventing that person's fall but in the whole procedure, his phone dropped on the floor.
It was a very important call and now that was interrupted he wanted to lash out at the intruder. As soon he saw the face of the girl he stopped whatever he wanted to shout at her. Familiar violet-blue eyes looked at him and his anger turned into surprise.
She said something but he was not listening. He was immersed to see a known face that reminded him of someone.
He knew who she was but she did not recognize him.
Shirley saw that the man was not responding and his glare has gone soft but he was still looking at her with a knowing gaze. She felt uncomfortable. She hurriedly apologized again and left without giving him a chance to either stop her or talk to her.
She kind of fled the scene.
She knew that she was running from him but did not know the reason. Her heart was beating loudly and she felt as if any moment it would leap out of her chest. She quickly reached the door and slammed it shut.
As soon as Shirley heard the loud noise that she made unintentionally she cringed. Warily she looked at the bed and relaxed. Sam was still sleeping. Out of nowhere, she was hit by exhaustion the kind when one feels after climbing 100 stairs or running a 1000m marathon.
This encounter with that man had drained her.
She did not feel like in her early twenties but in the late fifties.
She wondered why was she talking about his age? She did not fall but her head hurt. Walking lazily she put her purchase on the table and then went to the bathroom to change into comfortable clothes. After changing into a loose tee and threadbare bottoms she crawled in her bed and lay beside her dead to world friend.
She looked at her face and saw that Sam was not frowning but sleeping rather peacefully. She did not think much and hugged her friend. She hoped that Sam won't mind her clinging like a koala. She could not sleep otherwise.
She has this habit of hugging a pillow as she went to sleep, without it she just can't fall asleep no matter what. Right now one pillow lay under Sam's head and another hers and there was no more pillow for her to hold onto.
So she was not left with any other option than this.
Soon her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep her thought lingering around this perplexing incident. Shirley was bothered by this encounter. Although, she does not know the man, somehow, she was wary of him.
On the other hand, the man only came out of his stupor when Shirley had escaped his hold. He dumbly looked around for any sign of her but could not find any. He cursed and then looked for his phone. Picking it up, he got a moment's reprieve when he saw that his phone survived this fall.
He could easily afford a new phone but that was not the point.
He was running out of time and this auction was very important to him. Hurriedly he switched on the phone and then dialed the last number. But unfortunately, he did not succeed in his endeavor. On the other side of the phone, the person told him that the bid was over and now someone else got the painting he was bidding for.
He needed that painting to close a very important deal. The company's representative, who was in charge of this deal, was fond of paintings and he was sure he could please him with this but alas his efforts were in vain.
He lost a big fish.
In a fit of anger, he chucked the phone against the floor and watched as this time it broke into pieces. Her face flashed in front of his eyes and he swore.
'This girl is a jinx.' He muttered under his breath. 'But how could she be alive?'
He once again cursed her and then strode back to his room with vengeful eyes. He needs to inform that person of this, of her.
He needs to tell him that she is not dead and everything can be ruined. He needs to be warned and that girl must die. She must die otherwise... he shuddered at the thought. If that girl lives then he will be dead. He loves his life. So that leaves him with only one option. She has to die. That girl must die.
