Circling Round Curiosity (CRC)

It was a dark, noisy and fairly virtual room. Tiny drops of water made a noise from an uncertain distance; at some moment close but still far.

An eerie sound made a start in the room at a point that anyone who were to be present would hover in fear. It was very dark but the centre was a bit clear.

Someone might have created this or it was made on its own, but it looked like a cursed place that had been abandoned for decades. The leg of a human stepped out from the darkness, shook momentarily, imagining what kind of place they were — a place totally unreachable, that was so silent like a grave yard.

It was Alex. He imagined the place again; where those eerie noises were coming from and the drops of water. He might be clueless about everything else, but one thing he knew was that he was not supposed to be there.

There was no exit nor entry to the place. In fact, he knew he just appeared there out of his own will.

Then doors started to spin at some points and all other things happening before paused— the eerie noise and the tiny drops of water. It was then the noise of doors spinning. Was this some kind of Land of Noise?

Wind started roaming in the room. Alex thought he was not so surprised of the dark room because it was the like of his own room. So this place was created by his mind and therefore, he was in a dream.

He decided to take a look behind the door in his direction, but just as he was about to, the presence of another body drew closer, making the eerie noise start again and monstrous laugh also began.

"What's that?" He mumbled, momentarily in fear.

The thing passed out for some time, almost letting him keep his guards down.

Watching out to the sound of the door, an uncanny figure manifested and the thrilling tendrils that accompanied them were a great thing to behold. The figure was a masculine and robust in appearance.

The light casted on him, but not on his face and he rocked forward; bloodily vigorous.

Alex warned himself not to flinch even a little. In the midst of darkness, the figure stopped in motion, some meters away from him. Around him was a vast amount of black fumes of eerie black lights, thrilling and surging through the veins of his opponent.

No sooner did Alex noticed he was shaking in his dream. He believed he was being summoned by the prick before him and it was certain they had to settle a business.

From the look of things, the villain would possibly be one of the demons after his life. He.....

Behold the beginning of the eerie noises as the villain spoke, his voice loud with a wide range of echo. That's more like the features of the Land of the dead.

"Found you finally!" And he cackled with cruelty.

Alex was really curious about this situation. Who was this man? What did he mean by his previous statement?

The villain seemed like someone who was scared of meeting him face to face and cheated by dragging him into his dream, knowing fully well that he was limited to certain things. Just like now, he tried saying a word but he wasn't able to, which meant that he had one chance to talk and he had used it up earlier. What the hell!

"Very soon....." his voice cloned into numerous, tiring voices, "...you will start paying for everything you have done."

The cloned voices laughed hysterically, such that Alex was feeling hypnotic. He quickly blocked his ear against it and closed his eyes; yet, nothing never seem to stop.

It was about time he opened his eyes when he felt a different atmosphere. And also, he felt he was lying on something, like a bed.

"Where am I?"

After he had spoken, he got to know he had woken back to life. He laid back in bed, amidst the owned darkness in his own room, filled with aura of paranature, carved with the portrait of an ancient dragon and ancient tools like the golden lantern. The room was so much beyond what any normal person would expect. It seriously outshine those of the outside world as.well as being unexpectable.

In the morning, Alex got into his steady car, ready for work — being an impressive man in business — and the driver drove out of the mansion.

He decided to take the issue that happened last night off his mind and treated it as a mere dream, so as to not create unnecessary disturbance for himself.

When the car was about making a turn out of the estate gate, he recalled the previous day when he saw Anne with Eugene's contracted girlfriend.

*A day ago

Eugene smiled as he said the other lady was his contracted girlfriend. This made Alex got surprised how come Eugene could smile that much when he had done it in a while.

"Are you hitting on her?"

Eugene looked questioningly at him and he said, "I can't."

The two of them decided to return to the mansion when Annabelle glanced. It was the sight of Alex she first saw, and then she hurried Anne to look back quickly.

Anne saw him too but she didn't react excited as Annabelle expected her to. Little did she know how sorrowful her friend was on that day.

But still, she didn't care about her reaction and hurriedly called out to Alex, waving her hands lightly in excitement.

"Mr. Reynolds!"

Upon hearing someone call his name, he glanced back with a flashing and way too much attractive face. Annabelle explained.

"Wow! His face is so absorbing, compelling and awe-inspiring! It seems as if he has been boutuxed."

"Boutuxed, you say?" Anne then looked at him and checked for herself that he didn't look different from the pictures of him several years ago posted on the Internet. She whispered, "Why doesn't he age? Nothing is different about him, even over these years. Is he still looking young because he has proper care, or perhaps, he..."

She didn't finish her statement when Annabelle hit her shoulder.

"Aye, your employer has been waving his hands at you since," she said and Anne quickly bowed at him, without stopping what she was thinking before.

Eugene glanced back at a moment and his eyes met with Annabelle's. Her mouth was agape when she saw him; partly delightful of seeing him and at the same time, at some point feeling shy of looking at him, even from such distance. She hid behind Anne, whispering some sort of swear word.

"What do you do? That man has been looking at you since," Anne smiled.

"Aish, I am shy for no certain reason."

"Why?" Anne asked her.

"It's not as if he is my lover. He's only my contracted boyfriend," she cried.

"Then you shouldn't be shy; you two did business. Come on, stand up and meet your business partner."

Soon afterwards, Anne and Annabelle went to meet the other two, while Annabelle was still keeping her distance from Eugene.

"Hello, I am Anne. It's nice meeting you," Anne said to Eugene.

"Yeah," he replied anyhow. Then he turned to Annabelle, who was avoiding looking at him. He was about calling her when he remembered he didn't know her name yet, so he didn't know how to address her. But still, he felt desperate to know why she didn't want to have a glance at him, "Hey. Hey. Hey."

"It's 'hey'. I am called Annabelle!" She shouted at him.

"I never knew. Just don't dare ignore me again like that," he said, not leaving behind his pompous attitude. Annabelle didn't say a word because arguing with him would be complicated for her.

Alex said to Anne, "Wait for me tomorrow. I will pick you up for work."

*Present Day

"Go to Anne's house," Alex ordered the driver and the car headed down the street.

Meanwhile, Anne was waiting for him to come and the car arrived. She checked whether it was him and she hopped in when she recognized the driver.

"Good morning, Mr Reynolds."

"Morning. How was your night?"

"Fine. What about yours?"

"The pleasantries has taken much of our time already. Start the car."

There in the car, Anne was peeping at Alex's face, checking the fact that he had been boutoxed. It took long before Alex saw her and he queried her.

But that didn't prompt her from her thinking while she faced front in the car.

Minutes later, they arrived at Pinsoft and a couple of guards and chauffeurs led them inside. It was as if it was the grand administration of a new C.E.O as the workers lined up in the hallway and bowed as soon as they entered.

Anne was curious.

"Why are they doing this? It's strange!" She said to Alex.

"It's the ritual in Pinsoft that they must do when the Red Mansion anniversary is at the corner," he said. "My mansion is actually one of those things that make me highly respected. I can't bear losing it."

Anne asked, seeing it was awkward that everyone just bowed when he didn't act as if they existed, " Say a single word at least. Show them you are grateful. "

"Grateful, my foot. Why should I be grateful my workers greet me?" he said. "Pretty absurd." And Anne stopped, imagining how cold-hearted he looked and yet he acted nice towards her. Was that some kind of disguise or what?

It would be more outrageous if she alone stood in the midst of the workers when the one they were showing respect for had left. So she flashed away, right towards her assigned post.

The working hours had ended...

Everyone had left the company but Anne hadn't seen Alex yet, thinking he would take her home today as well. But he was nowhere to be seen.

Strangely, her heart began to long for his side that she couldn't think of any other thing. She would stand and sit back, desperately waiting for him.

After all these hours of waiting, it seemed like Alex had left her behind so she decided to leave. But all of a sudden, she heard him call her from behind. She glanced back immediately, her face carved in joy and delight.

"Hey. Won't you go home?" Alex queried her.

She smiled, thinking he was saying they should go together and she ran to him.

"I have been waiting for you," she smiled.

He looked at her, kind of being surprised. "Why would you be waiting for me to go home? Am I your driver?" He said and she was disappointed. Then Alex's driver arrived and said the car had been made ready. He thought he had no choice but to go with her again. He said, "Let's go. I am left with no choice but to go home with you."

She grinned. "Thanks."

But on getting to the parking lot, something was strange. They saw an envelope the windscreen of the car. Alex stopped, looked around first and he asked the driver how the envelope got there.

"I am surprised too, boss. Because there wasn't anything on it when I finished preparing the car for your trip."

Anne held Alex's hand when he was moving to the car. "You can't risk going to check; it could be a bomb letter."

"That's right, I shouldn't risk my life when my personal assistant is here with me. Go on."

"What?"

"Go on and check it."

But she was also scared. She was still hesitant to go near the car, thus, Alex went to check by himself.

He didn't stop a second before opening the envelope.....

"Oh, he was damn straight!" Anne mumbled.

Then he rescued a letter out of the envelope and when he saw the content, he knew none of them should see it and he told them to stay back.

What was most astonishing to him was that the letter was related to his dream. The statement was completely indifferent and his hand shook. It says as follows, 'Found you finally. Very soon, you will start paying for everything you have done.'

"What's it, Mr Reynolds? Are you okay?" Anne shouted, when she saw his mood changed as soon as he set his eyes on the content of the envelope.