Taken

~At Claire's Room~

Claire was lying on her bed and dialing a number on her phone and she put it close to her ears. "Come on, pick up your phone Lisa, damn it," she muttered as she sat up on the bed. The phone went through for some seconds before it went off, indicating that the person on the other line, failed to pick up the call. She dialed the number again, put it on speaker, and placed it on the bed. The phone ranged three times before the person on the other line answered.

"Claire... What the hell? Why are you disturbing me at this time of the night? *Yawn* I was actually having a good night's rest," the person on the other line said.

"Shut up, Lisa. Everything is a mess here and you're busy sleeping like a log while I'm trying to fix things," Claire scolded.

"What's the mess that's making you call me at this time umm? You know how much I fancy my beauty sleep right?"

"You just keep quiet before I get angry at you and say something wrong," Claire warned angrily, and Lisa gasp at her tone but kept quiet as Claire demanded.

"Where's your sister? Pass her the phone quickly. I don't have much time "

"Big sis is asleep. I'll wake her up. It's a good thing she slept on my bed today.

Big sis, sis, Evelyn, Evelyn, wake up quickly. Claire is on the phone," Lisa woke her sister up with a slight tap on her back. Claire could hear their tiny whispers and how Evelyn quickly got up after hearing her name.

"Hi, Claire Whatsup?" Is there something?"

"Yes Evelyn, there's a big problem. This is all your fault. I asked you to seduce my brother quickly before someone else takes that spot, now it has been taken."

"What do you mean? I don't understand," Evelyn asked.

"Why will you understand? You don't understand anything after all. I wonder what's in your brain," Claire said harshly.

"Claire, don't you dare speak to me that way. And don't forget I am much older than you and I won't take any form of disrespect from you. Just because your family is bigger than mine in the organization doesn't give you the right to speak that insolently," Claire heard Evelyn scold from the other line and rolled her eyes but still managed to calm herself down.

"Ok I won't talk to you that way, but you need to understand me too," She said in a softer tone.

"You can just tell me what's going on and what that 'taken' means."

"Thank Goodness you knew I said 'taken'. The thing is my brother brought a woman home today. And do you know what he told me to call her? Sister-in-law."

"What!"

"Yes, that's the truth. The girl is not even as beautiful as you are. She's not as tall as you are, and her hair is not as long as yours. Are family is not even part of our organization. Gosh, I just hated her from first sight," Claire said, cringing her face.

"So you mean, brother Elias brought a woman home and introduced her as his wife?" Evelyn asked in shock.

"What can't you understand?" I explained all these as best as I could but still, you don't understand," Claire lashes out in anger. What the hell is wrong with this girl? She has explained it in the best way she could but she still doesn't understand, or maybe she was just pretending. Lisa was her friend and classmate since childhood and Evelyn was her elder sister who has a crush on her brother. More, they are close mainly become they are from the same organization.

"Fine! I'm sorry if I annoyed you. So what are we going to do now that your brother has brought a woman home?" Evelyn asked.

"You know I should be asking you that. What are you going to do? We should have done this for the past months."

"Ahhh, that woman. Claire, dies that mean I have no chance anymore?" Evelyn asked with a hint of fear laced in her voice.

"You still have a chance, Evelyn. I wouldn't be doing all of this if I don't like you. Listen, my mum is on our side, so at least we have someone who supports us. Just find a day and come to our house," Claire said.

"Ok, I will find a suitable day and come."

"Bye, I'll see you guys soon," Claire said and she heard the beeping sound indicating that the line was cut off.

Claire dropped her phone on the bedside table and lay on her back. She cursed the girl her brother brought home today before she finally closed her eyes and slept.

......

When the moon was high in the sky, its light drifted through the garden and shone on Madeline's face. She opened her eyes and the light almost made her blind. She immediately used her arms to block the light and sat up on the bed. She stretched her arms and legs and her eyes flew to the other side of the bed. Thank goodness she didn't wake up with him and ended up seeing his face this early morning. Such an unpleasant sight would have made her day so bad. Madeline touched his part of the bed and found it cold. Seems like he had gotten up quite some time ago or maybe he knew she wouldn't like waking up with him on her first night here. Whatever, it doesn't matter.

Madeline stared at the golden wall clock and she rashly stood up from the bed. Damn! It's 7.30 am already. She had to go to work. They need her there. She has been skipping work for the past weeks and that might not be good for her. She walked to the closet and opened it. Sigh! Her clothes and belongings are here now. Good thing she would be able to wear her own clothes to work. She picked a yellow off-shoulder gown and walked into the bathroom. She came out some minutes later, fully dressed and set for work. Madeline wore white heels and a matching bag. Luckily she found her phone on the bed and she quickly took it and opened the door of the bedroom to walk outside.