II. I'd make you see hell

Jamal and Amid are walking in the corridor of his house, moving towards his office. He's wearing a blue pair of pant and a light gray hoodie while Amid has a complete formal look of blank suit and pants.

The corridor is a spacious hall with transparent glasses around the mid wall televising a garden below.

“He was going to change the brand” Amid tells and Jamal halts on his steps, clenching his jaws.

“How dare he?”

“Half of the congregation declined and I stood on top of the matter.”

“I shouldn't have been such a jerk to let that bastard own my space!”

“We have a little time to sort out a solution before it gets out of hand. He seems to deal with a group of bad fellows which he'd at anytime from now on replace the board members to a head of thieves that'd completely bring down your enterprise”

“I wouldn't let that happen. Did you find anything on your research?” Jamal continues his pace and Amid matches carefully next to him.

“I have good news”

Jamal stops again, facing his assistant attentively.

“I found out about the finger print. It was taken from a pen. Still to discover to whom it belongs. Also, the footages were not CCTV. It was camera-vised. Meaning someone trapped the victim. And that person cannot be Myla because she'd never set herself up”

“Then how did Latif get all those photos if they weren't from a CCTV footage”

He opens his mouth to respond and the devil appears just in time. She is putting on a red gown that stops a little below her knees with silver high heels. Her hair is in a ponytail and it bounces as she comes nearer.

“If you'd excuse me I need Jamal” she rest her thin hand over Jamal's shoulder and he bulges away under reflex.

“For?”

She feels despised and takes her hands off.

“I was asked to call for you by mom”

“We'd proceed with this topic later” he mutters towards his assistant and strolls away.

Amid turns around to take the same direction but Latif says something almost immediately.

“You think I don't know the games you're playing with her?”

Amid baths his eyelids twice and swirls on his feet to face her. “What are you talking about?

She chortles gigantically. “Are you seriously trying to act up right now?”

He's sincerely oblivious about her previous words. What in the world is she saying?

“Let me remind you then. What's that name again? M-myla?” she smirks staring at him knowingly and he swallows.

“Yeah, Myla. I'm sure you know perfectly well what I'm trying to say right? Doesn't it spark anything into your mind?”

Amid exhales roughly, totally short of words.

“Do you want to know . . . what Jamal will imagine your meet up with her behind his back means?”

Amid clenches his Jaws. He knows that she knows he knows about her bad deeds. She is capable of feeding anything into Jamal's head against him if she ever succeeds to make him believe he is meeting up with Myla.

“Don't you have an aorta of respect for him? Like common, he's your boss. You should be ashamed of co-working with his enemy”

“You should be the one being ashamed of being the devil . . . wearing Prada and acting all elegant and innocent. You're the main culprit here. You should be scared. Because as soon as we're done, we'd make sure you pay for everything you did to Jamal and Eliz”

Latif swallows thickly peeking around her to be sure no one heard what he just said. She takes two feet towards him.

“You better watch your tongue. If not-”

He cuts in. “If not what? Your gonna get rid of me just like you did with Eliz? You know what Latif, maybe you successfully broke them apart just as you did with Gabriella. But this time around . . . make sure to bare the consequences of all the people you've hurt.”

She chews hard on her lip. If she wasn't in Jamal's house, maybe he'd receive a slap from her.

“How dare you mention that name in this house!” she says in gritted teeth.

He chuckles. “What? You're scared already? Don't worry. Jamal doesn't know about that yet. You know . . . I'm still happy she's not here because both of you would've made a mess out of him”

“I dare you to say anything about me to him and right this moment I'd make you see hell”

Amid smirks, enjoying the way she is buried in wrath.

He takes two steps back not keeping his gaze off her before turning his back to her and vanishing into the corridor.

She roars under her breath, molding her hands into a fist as the thoughts of their conversation wash her clean.

...

Myla has been staring at the suit Jamal used to cover her stain the last time the saw each other.

She can't understand why she kept it with her. It brings her vivid imaginations.

She twist the suit into her small palms as those memories hunt her, her eyes becoming brighter and brighter from the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

“Myla?” Someone calls and she baths her lashes to bury down her sorrow.

Brehilda and Tiffy walk in from the door they were standing by.

“What gets your mind so high? We've been screaming your name at the top of our voices” Tiffy lets out.

Myla darts her eyes to them faking a smile. Brehilda looks down at the suit she's holding. That's the same one she wore on the day of her birthday when she rushed to her room in a pool of tears.

Brehilda gently settles her hand on it and calmly takes Myla's hand off. Myla hastily loosens her grip.

“That's better” Brehilda says, throwing the black suit somewhere else.

Tiffy hugs her friend tight. “We saw your new song, just on our way here. Everything is going to be alright. I'm sure . . . he hates himself for what he told you”

“Yeah. He has no idea what he's missing right now. You're the best woman I've ever come across. You're pretty, talented, loving . . . You're more than any precious gem on this earth. But- right now you need to have your meal. Ms. Grayson told us you're not eating.”

Myla struggles to smile as she glares at her friends.

“Thanks girls. That means a lot to me. It's just-that right now . . . I'm not hungry. I just want to finish up with these cloths-”

They shake their heads disapprovingly as Brehilda utters. “Nope. No more tails gurl. You paid people for this. Let them do their job. All we need from you is to be healthy. You can't keep on like this. You're killing yourself”

“I don't care!” Myla screams and they twitch.

She gulps and proceeds. “It's not as if it'd make me happy. I'm fed up. Nothing matters anymore. I have no idea why I'm living. Yes, this is so strange to hear from me but that hurts. I think-I think I kind of had strong feelings for him. I feel like I can't breath. My heart hurt. Everything hurts. I can't pretend anymore. I can't stop thinking of him. Everything he told me. How dreaded he looked into my eyes and said I should leave. He hated me . . . ”

She burst out into tears. They hold her as she stoops down.

“Shhush . . . We're here for you because we love you. We won't let go ok? We'd stay here with you” Brehilda tells and Tiffy nods massaging her back.

“Why me?” she yells again

“If not you then who?” Tiffy inclines and Brehilda smacks her arm.

Myla wipes her tears. “I don't know. It's just too heavy for me to hold”

Brehilda kisses her head “We know. That's because you're stronger than other ladies? Remember that something will only come to you to test your strength and see if you can handle it. And so far you've proved to be stronger”

Myla sniffs her tears. ”You think?”

“Yeah. I'm very certain. You're a strong woman. That means you won't let this lay on you. You need to keep fighting. Because it's an everyday battle. You must win everyday until this is over. And trust me when I say. . . It'd be over”

Tiffy frowns a little staring at Brehilda. For some strange reasons, this amuses her. She's never heard her talk like that. She sounded like some motivational speaker.

“Tell me . . . How many motivational speaking classes have you attended so far? Because it's working big time”

“Shattap. It's this some kind of mockery? You should be consolidating her to stop sobbing”

Myla giggles in her whip as her mates go on disputing.

To be continued...