I'm doomed!

She took the fastest route she could think of and took a swift turn at the end of the long corridor. At this move by her, they couldn't know where she had disappeared to. "I have become a criminal in my company." Roselle panicked within her. She could hear her footsteps crunching too loudly as she hurried towards the dark corridor that only she knew about.

If only she could contact Tina to help her now, things would be easier, now she had to go through the stress of finding a taxi before it was too late.

She wished she could make less noise, go faster and just reach the tunnel. As she ran, she could barely catch her breath. Feeling a sense of relief at the end of the tunnel, she came to a familiar road.

She had built this tunnel with the help of old Mr Roderick, a multi-billionaire who knew a lot about her secrets and no one knew about this in the company including Santiago who was the manager.

Tina was busy in her kitchen, preparing her chicken stew when she heard the doorbell ring. "Oh no," Tina panicked, cutting the chicken into irregular chunks faster.

She hurried to clear the table to avoid her visitor from seeing the mess she had made in the kitchen all in the name of preparing the best chicken stew with the recipe she had read so many times and tried to prepare it.

Today would be the third time she will be preparing it. Yet, she could not get the actual taste of the one she had once had at a banquet she had attended with her uncle.

How cruel these things which can embarrass someone could be, one of the chunks of the chicken managed to slip off the chopping board and sailed on the kitchen floor in the process of pouring it into the saucepan.

Tina's head banged several times, angry at the little chunk of the chicken on the floor. She left it and hurried to place her hamburger into the oven to bake it.

The doorbell rang again like the fellow was impatient. Not responding to the call at the door, Tina hurried out of the kitchen to her room and changed into something more titillating.

She ran to the door and opened it. Thinking it was Lucio standing at the door, she posed her legs in a salacious manner, revealing her alluring thighs.

Roselle rolled her eyes and coughed and that was when Tina was brought back to reality and she realized it was Roselle.

"Ro…Roselle?" Tina stuttered in embarrassment. She saw Roselle standing, her shoulders hung loose like a soldier who had been defeated or better described, someone who had lost all hope of survival.

'Was this not the same Roselle who was so desperate to be at the office a while ago?' Tina questioned herself in her mind, still holding tightly to the door without opening it.

Roselle gave Tina a snort of impatience and said, "You're not going to let me in?"

"Oh sorry, I didn't expect you'll be back."

"Were you expecting someone else?" Roselle couldn't help but observe Tina's short skirt which revealed her long legs as she hastily pulled her inside her room.

"No, not really," She replied. But Roselle did not miss the panic in Tina's voice as she saw her bit on her lower lip.

"Here sit." Tina led Roselle to the sofa and then went to the bed to sit. Again, Roselle noticed that the bed sheets was different from the one she saw when she had woken in the morning and this one had been neatly spread now.

"Tell, me what made you come back?" Tina asked, constantly glancing at the door.

Roselle narrowed her eyes at Tina, aware of her friends' behaviour whenever she was nervous or had something to hide from her. "Are you sure you're not expecting someone else?" Roselle couldn't help her curiosity.

"Can you cut the question already? I said I'm not." Tina pretended to feel relaxed. "So tell me now, what brought you back?"

"I'm doomed." Roselle blurted.

"What?! Why did you say that? What happened?" Tina left the bed to sit on the sofa where Roselle sat.

Roselle touched her face for Tina to catch the information.

Tina gasped. "What! How could we have forgotten about that?"

"I don't know either, and I have to take quick steps. Else, it will ruin my plans. Now I have to get a new hyper-realistic mask. I forgot to get it off before going to the office, and now they've captured me in this face with cameras and they think that I and Nate have been kidnapped."

"My goodness. How are you going to cope with this? We have several plans already and I don't want us to fail this time in accomplishing them. If it gets to the media, I'm sure of the damage that will be done. You've been committing so many crimes with this face for so many years. I don't know how you will get off the hook this time." Tina's face looked very frustrated.

"That is why I need your suggestions on what to do." Roselle whimpered.

Tina's eyes rolled as she went deep in thought. Just then, the two sniffled the air.

"My hamburger!" Tina gasped, running to the kitchen, Roselle followed.

Tina opened the oven and brought out the burger almost scalding herself while in a hurry. The hamburger had turned brown and it was obvious that everything had been ruined. "He was not going to come anyway," Tina muttered to herself.

Roselle ran in and saw Tina staring at the burnt hamburger. "Is it too bad?"

Tina made way for Roselle to have a better view of it. "Why do bad things happen to us?"

"Oh, Tina, I'm so sorry, I had carried you away with my problems."

"Don't bother apologizing, it's not your fault. It was not going to happen anyway." Tina muttered sadly.

"What's not going to happen?"

"No… nothing." Tina stuttered, she quickly threw the burnt hamburger into the waste bucket at the corner of the kitchen. Just then, the doorbell rang.

"Let me get the door." Roselle offered.

"No, no, I will do it. It's just the pizza I ordered. I'm sure it's the delivery man." Tina drew Roselle back hurriedly. "And please, stay here don't go anywhere," Tina said in a haste. She knew that this time it will be Lucio.

When Tina opened the door, Lucio's graceful body stood and his eyes that never strayed from her whenever he got the chance to stare at her just aroused the homoerotic nerve in her.

She hesitated to open the door, thinking of a way to keep Roselle in the kitchen. She didn't want her to meet Lucio now. Especially now that she was in her hyper-realistic face and body mask.