8 Caught being with you

Despite her life was full of difficulties since birth, she was grateful that she has a roof over her head and a promising future ever since her aunt passed away. KEI indeed has been raising her since she was fourteen years old, all because of her aunt admission to KHCI. Sadly, it took her aunt's life to be taken away to exchange for all this.

Due to this, she had been overly thankful and had been eager to repay KEI the favour. She concluded that everyone must have feeling more or less similar to what she was feeling. Hence, the confidence KEI had given in providing free shelter, free education and free meal when they were young students in exchange for their employment later on in their life.

* * * * * Back to the present...

Once Sara managed to complete doing her errands, she decided to walk back home with a firm resolution. It was still her home sweet home, regardless who her flat mate is. Whether Bryce is truly a murderer or not, she would have to face it on. She needed to confront Bryce of the matter. If Bryce really did kill Adrianna, he would not be staying in KEI. Let alone in a flat with other people. 'KEI would not be that irresponsible, right?'

She reached home and found out Bryce was nowhere to be seen. In some ways, she felt relieved. Immediately her body lax, her eyelids felt very heavy and all the energy in her body slowly drained out. She dragged herself to the sofa nearest to her and was about to close her eyes to rest when her phone vibrates.

She checked her phone and it was a message from Harith. 'I'm by the main door of your hall. Come pick me up.'

But her eyes were forcing to be closed and her body willingly complied. The endless vibration from her phone could not wake her up. She was already sleepy derived from the disturbance last night and her various emotions this morning just made her feel even more lethargic.

Harith was trying to call Sara, to check on her. He was worried that she could not take the news well but she was not picking her phone up. He did not know whom to contact to be able to reach to her. He could not find any other way to open the door without a fob. He felt useless. Nobody seemed to be getting in or out of the building. 'Could it be possible that people are still sleeping at midnoon?'

When he finally decided to call it quits, someone familiar was walking towards the main entrance of the Bonington Hall.

"Hey… aren't you Sara's flat mate?" He asked the man.

The man scanned Harith up and down before giving a short reply, "Yeah."

"Oh finally! You mind if I follow you? I have been calling her and she's not answering her phone call. She called me up earlier only for her to say it was nothing. I'm kind of worried."

The man just nodded and they walked together inside. The moment they reached the flat, their eyesight falls onto Sara who was curled up into a ball on the sofa. Her phone was on the floor with Harith message still being displayed.

"What a rare sight. Not only she rarely sleeps during the day but she actually fell asleep on the sofa. She must have taken the news badly," Harith mumbled under his breath. He went straight to her room to grab her a blanket.

Bryce overheard Harith and he felt guilty. He must have contributed a major part in her behaving like so. He shuffled uncomfortably, hoping to not be involved in any part of this but Harith managed to stop him with a question. "Am I right to assume you know our Adrianna?"

"And what if I do?" There was a hint of irritation in Bryce's tone.

"Who are you to her?" Harith questioned authoritatively, demanding answer.

Bryce ignored him and walked away. He did not need to answer anyone, much less someone who was younger than him but Harith has a different opinion about that. He pushed Bryce to the wall and in a hushed tone that is audible between the two men only, "Are you her fiancé, the man who is arranged by her family?" emphasising heavily on the word arranged.

"So what if I was? Does it matter? She is not here anymore!" Bryce pushed Harith out of his way.

"Yes, it matters! I will find out whoever is responsible for her death. As her fiancé, don't you want to know?"

Bryce squinted his eyes, scrutinising his actions and behaviour as he stared at Harith, asking who exactly he was and why did he care so much for someone to be considered as a friend.

With much difficulty, Harith disclosed that he is Adrianna's boyfriend. Harith could feel his eyes began to water as he uttered the word. The cat is now out of the bag. He did not have to keep it a secret any longer. He has been bottling his emotions, worried that the world would know and now, it does not even matter.

Bryce was shocked to find out Harith was the man he had been looking for. He wanted to let him know but at the same time he feared it would backfire. Eventually after a long debate with his inner self, he decided to just be honest with Harith.

He proceeded to usher Harith into his room and bolted the door, hoping Sara to still be unaware of Harith presence in their house.

He explained that the sudden arranged engagement was actually a ruse that both Adrianna and Bryce came up with to protect her. Harith knew how her parents would disagree their daughter's relationship with Harith so Adrianna decided to fool them temporarily.

Considering Bryce was her childhood best friend and a confidante, a person that was approved by her parents, the engagement went rather smoothly. Without a doubt, Bryce was the happiest person and he hoped to be able to persuade Adrianna to marry him in the long run.

However, Harith did not understand why there was a need to come up with such drastic ruse.

"Apparently, she was caught. She was going to be in a huge trouble and she did not want to drag her family into it. So I came up with the idea of the sudden engagement," Bryce said finally, omitting some details out - that he choses the idea for his own benefit.

"Wh-What do you mean?" Harith knew what he was trying to say but he refused to believe it.

"She was caught being with you."

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