BE A GOOD OBEDIENT GIRL!

JUAN

I couldn't help but kept glancing at the box Liam had found on the doorstep.

Who sent that?

I looked up when the front door was opened, and Bria strode in. Her T-shirt had dark patches of sweat and her face looked flush.

"Hey fatty! You have got a parcel!" Liam called from the couch, where he was sprawled like a blanket, with a bowl of chips on his stomach. He was watching some action movies on the TV.

"Shut up you, elephant and stop stuffing food twice the size of your body. It may get explode with methane releasing in the air and hiking the rate of global warming." Bria hit his head with a small pillow and smirked.

The other kids laughed, but I didn't because my interest was in that black box on the table.

Bria picked it up and examined it. Her eyes ran over the line.

'A little gift for you Miss Maxwell. I hope you like it as much as you like hitting people.'

Her brows scrunched up.

I had read that message on that box and that was why I was quite concerned about it. Benji came and noticed her stiffened body and confusion written on her face.

"Oh and Bria I think it's a clock inside of the box. I heard the ticking of it."

Ava's voice made all three of us snap our heads her way.

A clock?

Damn it! I shouldn't have listened to Ava and opened the box to know what was inside it.

"Ok kids. Get back to your room" Benji ordered, but those little troubles stood there stubbornly.

"Liam, when and where you get it?" Bria asked sceptically.

"I found it five minutes ago. Someone rang the doorbell so I checked outside but there was no one. I found the parcel placed on the front porch." He answered.

He must have felt the tension as he put the bowl of chips aside and sat upright.

That message kept replaying in my head, and my consciousness pointed to only one possibility. I felt goosebumps form on my skin.

Before anyone of us reacted, Bria sprinted out of home with the box in her hand. I was already on my feet, running behind her and others too followed.

"Bria! Bria, stop!" I yelled from behind, but she didn't listen. She was faster than me and with dread-filled in her body, she ran faster as if she was being chased by a tiger.

My mind began coming up with negative possibilities, and my heart lurched in my chest at the thought of something happening to her.

I gasped and yelled when she tripped over a stone and fell face-first. The box fell from her hands, and all I could hear were the screams and gasps of other kids while my mind went numb.

I clenched my eyes shut, thinking the box would explode when it hit the ground, but nothing happened. We heard the metal clinking against the ground, and as I neared her, I saw a clock in that box.

I was so shocked by the whole situation that I didn't realise when Benji rushed toward Bria and picked her up to stand on her feet. He immediately pulled her into his arms.

But what shook me to the core was the look in his eyes. 'FEAR'.

'I don't remember my parents, nor do I try to find them because, for me, Benji was a father figure, and Bria was like my elder sister. Those two and later the other five kids became my family, and I was content with it.

I would never ask for anything more than what God has already given me. All of my life I have seen Benji fighting for every one of us against the whole world. We have seen many difficult times but never have I ever seen that look in his eyes.

I have never seen fear in my Benji's eyes!'

He opened his mouth to say something when Jack's loud cries stopped him. I scooped him up in my arms and put a brave face on. I couldn't show them the fear I felt inside because for them, I was their elder brother and thus, I needed to be strong!

I watched as Bria found a note inside the box, she read it silently, but the way her face changed hundreds of expressions in just a few minutes, I knew what was inside was not great news.

Benji snatched that note from her, and I saw his face contorted in sheer anger. I didn't know what should I say or react to. Bria placed her hand on Benji's shoulder to calm him. They watched us, and all I wanted to do was find that fucking bastard and punch the shit out of him.

Eva cleared her throat and glanced Liam's way. Getting the hint, he said, "Let's get inside. It's late."

Everyone got into the house with scared hearts. Bria and Benji tried their best to talk with us and assured us that everything was fine, but I was not convinced at all.

I got a chance and got my hands on that note. It was not a computer-typed message, instead was written in neat and elegant handwriting. Each word was finished with confident strokes like a calligrapher. It was such beautiful handwriting!

' I hope that you liked this little gift for your Twentieth birthday. I also hope that you have already felt that feeling that wrapped around your heart like a vice. FEAR. I like that. And that fear has a form and shape and that's ME. Your worst nightmare. You have messed with the wrong person Miss Maxwell.

P.S. be a good obedient girl.'

I clenched my jaw tightly, knowing well who had sent that gift to her!

*

*

*

BENJI

The recent happenings in our life had shaken us from the core. It was not the first time that some psycho businessman wished to have Bria's property but never had anyone gotten so far as this scumbag King was.

My kids were living in constant fear. Bria tried everything to cheer up their mood, but nothing really helped. Juan was another problem. That boy was short-tempered and kept bugging Bria to inform the police.

And that was the last thing I wanted to deal with!

My senses were alert, and they didn't miss how black cars decided to park around the property. It was an area that belonged to middle-class families, and those shiny things were beyond their imagination of affordability. So I knew who must have sent them!

But I felt helpless.

Because as far as I knew, King was someone that no gutsy person would want to mess with. And that mere name was enough to rose my blood pressure.

And if that was not enough, then the only application for the job in our cafe came from a blue-eyed boy named Cody.

Every time I see him smiling like a fool, the urge of slapping him made my hands twitch. Though the boy was very efficient at work and got well along with the kids, something about him annoyed me.

Personally, I didn't have any grudges against him, but his only problem was his flirty nature.

My blood began to boil like lava every time I saw him around Bria. His cheesiness made me gag. But Bria, she either gave him some sassy replies or laughed at his annoying puns and old-school pick-up lines.

And the moment he got to know how badly it affected me, he began doing it frequently as if he liked to get on my nerves.

The bell above the door chimed, indicating we had a customer at the odd hour of the day. I glanced from the kitchen door to see a man with average height, lean body and blonde hair looking around the cafe. But what piqued my interest in him was the long scar on his face that ran from his forehead to his left cheek.

That man looked shady to me.

He took a seat at the table in the corner and near the window.

"Good afternoon, Sir! Welcome to Café Merry's. What would you like to order sir?" Bria asked him politely.

He looked up at her. "Thank you! Café Merry's. Is it your name?" I heard him ask though his voice came lower to where I stood.

"No, sir. Merry was my mom. This café was started in her remembrance."

"Oh. Then what's your beautiful name, pretty lady?" He asked Bria with an overly sugar-coated voice.

"Bria," She told him hesitantly, purposefully avoiding giving her full name.

That's my girl!

Bria took his order of a cup of coffee and prepared one for him. I was silently watching him as he typed something on his phone. I didn't want to come out and intimidate the man if he was a genuine and harmless customer.

But if he was some criminal or the goon of that King and tried to do something wrong, then I would launch a surprise attack on him.

I had my best knife ready in my hands.

He finished his coffee and paid the bill.

"Thank you, Sir. Please visit again." Bria said as a formality.

He turned and grinned at her.

"Sure. It's a promise, butterfly!

The way he said it, made a shiver ran down my spine. I rushed towards the window to see him sitting in the black car with a golden 'K' at its front before the car drove off.

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