7 CHAPTER:7

"Hey.. are you okay?" -Elara asks Naia, holding onto her.

"No.." -Naia replies, her voice hoarse from all the screaming earlier.

"What happened?" -Elara asks, worried.

And to Elara's surprise, Naia replies;

"I'm pregnant." -looking down to the floor, feeling guilty.

Marshall comes up behind Elara hearing Naia's words.

"What the fuck did you just say?!" -he asks, bewildered.

"When did this happen Naia? When did you get to know?" -Elara asks, shushing Marshall, patting Naia's back. Trying to be supportive of her.

Naia replies; "I was feeling uneasy for several days, after returning from.. from my trip. So, I went to the doctor, and did all the tests. The doctor told me, I'm pregnant.. I was devastated Elara! I don't know what to do?!"

Elara rubs her back gently, "Come here, sit. Have a seat and let's talk."

She leads Naia, to the couch, ignoring Marshall. He feels angry, frustrated and so many emotions visible on his face. He runs his hand through his hair, as he walks up to both of them.

"Now what do you want to do, Naia?" -Elara asks, softly as Marshall continues tapping his foot on the floor impatiently.

Naia looks at Marshall. "I'm so sorry Marshall. I'd understand if you want to break the engagement. I honestly came to your office today, to let you know the truth. I didn't want to lie to you or hide it from you."

"So you drank a shit ton of alcohol and made a scene in my office? Huh?" -he asks, annoyed. Elara glares at him, "Shut up Marshall!"

He's taken aback by the sudden interjection Elara made. He points to himself, "You're talking to me?"

"Yes, I'm talking to you. So just shut up and listen to Naia."

The duo continue glaring at each other, as Naia starts crying loudly, interrupting them both. "PLEASE! Stop fighting like kids?! How am I supposed to face everyone if the news gets out?!"

Marshall clears his throat and straightens his back. Fixing his suit. He takes a deep breath, looking at Naia, as tears continue streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry Marshall. I didn't intend for this to happen!"

Marshall felt angry, but knew he had to deal with this situation properly.

"Look, I don't need 'love' in my life." -He says, emphasizing on the word love, and continuing; "But, my family is stubborn and persistent to get me married. You being pregnant with someone else's child doesn't matter to me. Hide the pregnancy from everyone and marry me. I promise to provide as best as I can, for you and your child. I don't intend on breaking this engagement, like this, I can keep my company. And you can.. do whatever you like.." -He replies coldly, staring at Naia.

Elara stares at him, she thinks to herself, 'how is this even a solution? How can the first thought in his mind be about his company, his work.. Is his work more important than all the lives involved here?' She stares at him in disbelief, seeing how cold and emotionlessly he speaks. Elara scoffs, but Marshall pays no heed. He continues staring right at Naia, waiting for an answer.

Naia sniffles, wiping her tears. "Y-you mean it?"

Marshall nods; "I won't utter a word. Just let this marriage take place. That's all.

Now, if we're done having this conversation, I'd like to ask you both to leave. I have a meeting soon." -He says, checking his watch.

Elara rolls her eyes and helps Naia stand up. She takes her hand and leads her out of Marshall's office.

"Thank you, Elara. For your help today.." -Marshall says, his voice not too high, but not too low. He speaks with his back turned to her, both of them avoiding eye contact.

"It's nothing.." -Elara says, trying to sneaking a look at him one last time before closing his office door and leaving.

____

Elara brought Naia over to her café, as Naia was reluctant to return home in her condition. Freshening up at Elara's home, Naia takes a seat on the couch. Elara brings out hot cocoa to her. Thanking her, Naia starts getting teary-eyed.

Elara sits next to her, rubbing her back, trying to comfort her.

"Hey... Do you want to talk about it?"

Feeling as if this was her breaking point, Naia bursts into tears, she turns to Elara, speaking in-between her tears;

"I cannot believe this is happening to me right now! I'm so scared, what if dad finds out about it?!" -she cries, panicking.

"Naia, relax.. We'll find a way out of this. I know everything is messy right now, but we will figure something out! I promise.. Just.. don't tell anything to uncle, it'll get messier. Does Matteo know about the pregnancy? Did you tell him?"

"YES! He knows! He says he's not ready to be a father so he broke up with me on our way back from Bali. I was such a mess, I wasn't thinking clearly when I got back! I said yes to the marriage proposal, and now this Marshall guy is not willing to back down. I don't want to marry him!" -Naia cries out.

Elara sighs to herself, this is a bigger mess now. And somehow, she has to help Naia. Figure everything out.

________

"NOPE! Whatever Naia has planned, tell her to get one of her minions to pull tricks off. You're not getting involved in her mess anymore, I FORBID YOU!" -Hana screams, as Elara continues explaining everything to her.

"Hana, calm down.. I don't even know what she has planned. She simply asked for a favor." -Elara says, softly.

Hana huffs at her, rolling her eyes. "NO. This is completely idiotic! She brought this upon herself. Naia, asking for your help, is like she's asking you to be the sacrifice. This is a serious suicide mission. You should be grateful you didn't get caught all the other times, but this time.. It is a completely different story.. Whatever trick she wants to pull out of her sleeve this time, tell her to do this on her own."

"Hana..." -Elara tries to reason.

"No. I'm not listening to anything. If she somehow manages to convince you, I promise, I will be the one to tell your uncle. And I mean it.." -Hana says, her tone completely stern and serious. Elara sighs. "Fine, I'll tell her to pull it off herself. Whatever it is."

"Good, stop involving yourself in their dramas. You have the café to worry about."

______

A few days pass by, everything seems to have returned to normal. Naia decided to accept the truth, and decided to go forward with her marriage with Marshall. Elara doesn't involve herself with their drama, like Hana ordered her to. Elara busies herself with taking care of her café. Enjoying the sun, living the life with carefree attitude, but among all her joy, there's fear lingering.

Fear, that the stranger who's been haunting her, for the past five years, will finally approach her. And turn her world upside down.

Elara first got to know of her 'secret admirer' on her 18th birthday. A mysterious package arrived at her doorsteps. The only thing written on it was; 'Happy 18th birthday, my love. We can finally be together now.'

And though Elara had no way of knowing who this stranger was, or how they knew her, this person had started putting their sinister plans in motion. Starting from;

Following Elara around during her school days, snapping her pictures when she wouldn't notice. It didn't matter if Elara was at her home, or school, her part-time job or anywhere else, the stalker was always lurking around taking pictures. Parceling those pictures everyday at her doorstep.

The stalker somehow managed to get her number back then, and used to text her every minute. Calling her everyday, not saying anything though. Even when Elara involved her uncle, asking for his help to get rid of this person, they didn't back down.

After few days of radio silence, they return stalking her.

The stalker used to leave continuous gifts and notes at her doorstep. Most of the gifts being really creepy, disturbing or unsettling.

A few examples of his creepy gifts would be; Sending her a box of locks of hair which Elara found out belonged to her. The stalker had somehow managed to cut a lock of her hair, and parceled it to her doorstep.

Or pieces of random clothing or accessories that replicated items Elara wore, or a stuffed animals that had been modified in a creepy way. No matter how many gifts she threw away, more appeared at her doorstep.

And things he somehow managed to steal from her house, and still hasn't been recovered. Leaving flowers by her class desk, every single day.

A scrapbook the stalker sent her, consisting items such as her photos, taken without her knowledge, photos of her friends, and everyone she used to meet up with. Love letters, notes directed to Elara making inappropriate advances. Hinting great displays of admiration, plans for future sexual content. Some obscene, aversive and pornographic materials that hinted the stalker's imagination, to share with her.

The police were unable to help or track down the stalker even though they tried their best. Elara's fear grew as days went by, seeing her condition her uncle decided to send her back to US, where she lived, from the age 19 to 21. After years of radio silence, she decided to return to her home country. And set up her own café.

But now it seems, the stalker has found her again.

__________

After a few days of no contact from Naia and Marshall, Elara receives their wedding card. Marshall's grandfather himself, had arrived at Elara's café to invite her to the wedding. She smiles as she sees his grandfather entering the café.

"Hey young lass! How are you doing today? How's business?"

"Oh my, what a pleasant surprise! Everything is going great, thanks to you! How are you? What brings you down here?" -Elara says, hugging him.

"I'm doing fantastic! This old man is finally the happiest he's ever been! I actually have some exciting news to share with you!" -He says, smiling wholeheartedly.

"What is it?"

"Well, as you know, Marshall is engaged to your cousin Naia, isn't it? We've finally decided on a wedding date! I wanted to tell you the news myself, so I forbade your uncle from telling you." -He says giggling.

Elara continues listening to him, surprised that Naia and Marshall have actually decided to go forward with this marriage. "Oh! Wow, that is such a great news! congratulations! I'm so glad!"

"Me too! My grandson is finally settling down! Nothing can break my happiness now."

"Why don't you have a seat, I'll bring you cupcakes to celebrate?" -Elara says.

"I'd love that! Thank you lass." -He says, as he sits in one of the booths.

The duo continue chatting for a long time, and as night draws in, Marshall's grandfather finally bids goodbye.

Elara cleans up the café before closing it for the night. As she's about to leave, she finds another package, waiting at the doorstep of her café.

She brings it in, locking the door behind her. She goes into her office and reviews the CCTV footage. Rewinding it, she starts checking the timeline from when Marshall's grandfather left. As minutes turn into thirty, she notices a black silhouette lurking in the background. In the dark of the night, he creeps up to her café door, slowly putting the package down, and turning his head up to stare at the camera. Its a masked man, but she can feel him smirking evilly even through the footage.

He continues staring into the camera, as Elara views the footage, goosebumps starting to appear. He waves bye and leaves.

Panicking and not knowing what to do, Elara calls Hana.

She picks it up on the first ring.

"He's here."