CHAPTER FIVE: MAYOR

Tyler drags me into the garden. I quickly drop my hands and gave him a death glare.

"What the hell is your problem?" I shriek, hurriedly adjusting my crumpled shirt,

"you can't just grab my hand like that and pull me away from Zhena!", I add.

He turns to face me.

"Well, what the hell is your problem?" he asks.

I just raise my left eyebrow and chuckle.

"You rolled your eyes at me and you raised your middle finger. What the hell did I do to annoy you?" he asks.

I turned my gaze away and clear my throat.

"Ok, I'm sorry" I reply calmly, and face him,

"I was just mad because of what you did earlier"

"Wha—what did I do earlier?" he asks. I look at him in total confusion. I raise both eyebrows.

"You don’t remember?" I asks, my face is full confusion. He didn't answer, staring blankly at me.

I sigh, and roll my eyes at him.

"You know what? if you can't remember everything you did, then just fuck off. You're wasting my time, Tyler. I can tell you're not even sorry of what you did".

I walk away, feeling mega-frustrated and angry with him.

I stop walking for a moment and I realize something. I suddenly remembered the scene earlier, when Tyler ordered me to pick up the tumbler, he was wearing a plain white t-shirt and there's a coat on top of it, but when I met him again at the elevator, he was wearing a blue shirt with no coat.

"Lara! Lara!"

I look around and see Zhena calling my name and running towards me. I shake my head, desperately trying to forget what had happened.

"Oh, there you are!" Zhena hissed grabbing my hand.

"I'm sorry. I didn't manage to escape from Tyler ‘cos he was holding me so tightly" I explain. She nods and catches her breath.

"That's okay, I took my time to look for your locker..." she explains.

"You did?” I ask in disbelief. She nods her head and points behind her.

"It's just five lockers away from Oli's", she says. I nod my head and offer her some of my water. She takes it and chugs some down.

As I look at Zhena, the thought of Tyler suddenly comes to me. For some reason, I involuntarily call out her name:

"Zhena..."

"Hmm?" she moans and finishes drinking the water.

"Does Tyler have a twin?" I ask, she raises her eyebrows and shakes her head,

"No, but he has a sister." She answered,

I was stunned to hear her answer. If he doesn't have a twin...then who was that being jerk to me?

"Are you okay?" Zhen asks. I look at her, faking a smile and slowly nodding my head.

"I am," I answered. Zhena then stares at me as though she is probing into my head to find out what had happened.

I feel like I can't just tell Zhena about what I had noticed. There's a lot of ‘maybe’ in the situation; like, maybe he changed his clothes while I was in the elevator,

"Okay, now let's go and grab some lunch. Oli's treat" she said, excitedly.

"Okay, so I guess Oli is wealthy huh?" I said to Zhena as we walked down the hallway.

"You bet! Oliver is freaking rich" Zhen snaps back.

I chuckle and ask,

"How wealthy? I mean...what is his parents’ job?"

Zhena replies, "Well, Oli is the only child of a governor. And his mom is a surgeon. What do you expect? he's the only lamb in their barn"

I gasped in surprise, "Is that true? Wow! He's wealthy indeed!"

"Well, what about you?" she asks. I look at her and chuckle, I can't believe she just ask me right after I ask about Oli,

"Hmm, well, my dad is a house-husband, he's taking care of my siblings, I am the eldest. My mom is a real estate agent."

"Wow, that is rare" she commented, I creased my forehead,

"What? why rare?" I ask.

"Well, your father is a house-husband and your mother works. You know, it's unusual" she explains. I nod ‘cos I guess I understand what she is saying.

"Ah, yeah, I know. How about you Zhena?"

"Geez, the bottle turns to me, huh?" she jokingly said and we both chuckle,

"Hmm, my mom, is a house wife. She's taking care of my siblings, which are four siberian huskies, three corgis, and one chihuahua..." she explains. We both laugh.

"Wow, she likes cats" I sarcastically commented, and both Zhena and I laughed, as though we're just the only ones on that hallway.

"True, and, my dad is the mayor of the city." she added, I turn to look at her,

"Wow, so both you and Oli have someone in politics" I said. She nods her head and pouts

"But it scares me though," she snaps back. We both stop walking, and I turn to face at her,

"Why?" I ask.

"Well, alias Joe...the mysterious criminal who hasn't been caught yet, the one who is randomly hurting people, stealing stuff, and as Oli said, is A HOTTIE…is hurting someone in politics" she explained. That really got me thinking.

"Right" I said.

I can't believe I forgot about that thing.

"I pray that this criminal will be in jail and if he or she should ever touch my dad, he or she will be facing death...At my hands!” Zhena said with a very serious face.

I fake a laugh and pat her back, "Okay, okay. Hot headed-chick" I said, softly, trying to calm her down.

"The criminal, whether a she or a he, should be very scared of you" I added,

I was really far more scared of what she's gonna do. I doubt whether I should believe her words, though. It's giving me goosebumps.

When we reach the cafeteria, Oli is already there, talking to someone. Zhena and I look at each other and both shake our heads

We're no longer surprised to see Oli talking to a random guy.

"Hey, Oli!" I yell. Oli turns to us and he gave us a wide smile.

"Hey, girls!" he replies. We smile and take our seats. We are now facing Oli and this unknown guy,

"So...who is he?" Zhena asks. Oli smiles at us, and both Zhena and I are surprised and shocked when Oli kisses the guy on both cheeks.

"Guys, I want you to meet, my boyfriend, Xian".

Zhena and I turn to glance at each other and look again at Oli.

"What? Did I mishear you or something? Did you say that this Xian is your boyfriend?" Zhena asks again; maybe wants to be quite clear about what he just said. Oli smiles and nods his head.

"No freaking way" Zhena says, not being able to accept Oli's words.

"Yes freaking way!" Oli replies and gave us a flirtatious smile. I look at Oli's boyfriend who is holding Oli's hand, caressing it with his thumb.

"Go and order your food, it's my treat", he says, happily. I stand, picking up Oli's card, and head to the counter. Zhena then follows me, secretly poking me and whispering in my ears.

"That was gross!" she hissed.

I turn to look at her, and say "Zhena, that's not what friends do. Don't talk to him behind his back," I warned her. She shook her head,

"I know that it's not a good thing to talk behind his back, but, Lara, that Xian is a freaking scammer and Oli knows that", she explains. My eyes widen as I listen to Zhena’s explanation:

"He's just using Oli for money!" Zhena hissed, massaging her temples,

"A-are you sure?" I ask,

"I am sure, Lara. That's our batch mate, he's known for being a scammer shit"

"What should we do now?" I ask,

"To get his…"

Zhena got cut off because her phone started ringing. We both looked down at it. She gave me a 'just wait' look.

I nod my head and we wait. I didn't mean to eavesdrop but I was surprised to overhear someone crying.

"Zhena...oh Zhena" her mother cries. Zhena then raises both of her brows and asks her mom,

"Mom, what happened? Geez. Stop crying".

"Zhena! Your dad has been murdered!" Zhena's mom shouts.

I’m so shocked that I cover my mouth with both of my hands. I stare at Zhena, who is obviously hurt and shocked. She accidentally drops her phone and I’m still so shocked that I can't even pick it up for her.

I can't believe what I just heard. I quickly grab Zhena and hug her. Oli, who was with his boyfriend, suddenly stands up and quickly runs to us, and hugs us

"My...my dad’s…been murdered..." Zhena utters, feably.

“No...way...”

-to be continued....