Something Wrong

"Oh Ryan, you're here." Matthew said casually, a mockery grin plastered on his face as he stood up straight to look at his shocked friend.

"I don't understand. What's going on here?" Ryan turned to look at Helen who shrugged on landing his gaze.

"Your friend got here not too long ago and has been keeping me company since," she said. "I'm glad he did, you should too."

Ryan snickered. "I sure am," he sarcastically replied and faced the man who seemed to enjoy grinning. Obviously it was to get him annoyed but he wasn't going to budge. "So, are you going to start explaining yourself?"

Matthew instead turned to look at the ladies standing at his left side and held forth his hand. "Let me introduce myself, Miss, if that idiot wouldn't. Matthew Holmes, the idiot's best friend and first assistant at work."

For a moment, Ryan had forgotten about his girlfriend due to the shock that had overwhelmed him on seeing Matthew. Inwardly, he smacked himself for being so forgetful and waited for Lily's reply, hoping she wouldn't get annoyed with his dimwittedness.

"Lily Jenna," Lily said and willingly accepted the man's gesture. If she was indeed annoyed, she chose not to show it.

"So, you were saying?" Matthew turned back to look at him.

Immediately, Helen took Lily's hand and pulled her into the kitchen beside the dining room. This gave the men enough privacy to discuss whatever they needed to.

"What are you doing here?" Ryan asked on seeing the coast was clear.

"I think you know why I'm here,"

He cocked his brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Matthew proceeded to sit back down and rubbed his glove-filled hand on his face. "Who sent a text to me in the evening? Yesterday?"

"Oh..." Ryan began understanding the situation, "Did I sound so serious in the text?"

Matthew fished out his phone from his pocket, tapping the screen as he concentrated on it. " 'Man, I think I'm in a mess.' " He finished reading the content on his phone and looked up at the other man with arched brows. "Doesn't that sound serious to you?"

"Well," Ryan half-shrugged as he took a seat too, "it was not intended to. But you could have simply sent a text in reply. Why bother yourself to come here?"

"I believe my presence will bring out a more reasonable solution, don't you think so too?" Matthew said as he put the phone back into his pants pocket. "Besides, I wouldn't want to miss Helen's cooking for anything,"

"So, it's about the meal huhn?"

"On a deeper sense, yes. But think of something more worthy. Like 'I'm here to save a friend' worthy. And yeah, 'I'm here to meet the second woman who keeps you worried' worthy. Aren't those reasonable enough?"

Ryan groaned as he covered his face with his palm. Each passing day wasn't figuratively favorable for his best friend. Like, why was Matthew this stupid?

"Okay then. You're here now. Do you mind if we talk about it now?"

"What do you boys intend to talk about now?" Helen's voice came from behind Ryan and he turned around to see her holding two dishes. Lily was tagging behind with two dishes in her hand as well and this made Ryan realize that the two women were getting along well. He gave her a warm smile in the process.

"You know you're both not at work at the moment. Save business for later and let's enjoy the bliss of today." Helen told them as she set the dishes on the table.

"Yes mom." Matthew said with a sheepish grin.

Ryan looked at him in bewilderment. "Mom?"

Matthew nodded. "Yeah? Did I say anything wrong?"

"Of course, you didn't."

Since the ladies had already set the dishes on the table which had two ceramic bowls and cutleries on it beforehand, they proceeded to take a seat at the left side of the table. As soon as Helen opened up the bigger ceramic bowl, the aroma of pasta salad filled the air.

"I'm so downing this meal!" Matthew rubbed his palms together in anticipation, failing to notice the weird look passed to him by Lily.

About an hour later, after they were done eating, they rested for a while. Ryan took the initiative and dragged Matthew out of the house, leaving the two ladies to themselves.

"There's a problem, Matthew." Ryan began as they both sat on the staircase leading to the balcony. "The police came looking for me yesterday,"

"The police? What for? Did you finally break any traffic rule?" Mathew asked in surprise as he turned to look at Ryan.

"It's not that," Ryan shook his head. "It was about Stephen Ryder."

"Is there anything wrong with him?"

"Actually, yes. Yesterday morning, Brent informed me about the reports of the representatives sent to Stephen Ryder's home. I wanted to inform you but it escaped my mind. He told me the representatives found out that Stephen Ryder is now in the hospital. He was attacked!"

"What?" Matthew exclaimed as he heard Ryan's explanation. "When did that happen?"

"According to the police, the incident occurred the same morning I went to his place. I think it happened shortly after I left. And that literally means I'm the main suspect in the case, maybe or maybe not."

"Oh God, this is not going well at all. So, you mean you were arrested yesterday?"

"No," Ryan shook his head. "I wasn't. Just taken in for questioning as they found out I visited him that same morning."

"You see why I didn't want you to get involved in the first place. The issue is definitely complicated."

"But there's something more complicated you need to know." Ryan suddenly announced.

Matthew narrowed his eyes as he turned to stare at him again. "And what is that?"

Ryan finally looked at the other man. "I think I saw John Ruben at Stephen Ryder's that morning."

Matthew's eyes instantly popped out in bewilderment. "John what? Are you sure of what you're saying?

"He was there, Mathew. I definitely saw him just as I made to leave."

"Wait, wait, wait." Matthew butted in. "Hold on there. You think you saw him or you indeed saw him? 'Cause I'm literally confused here,"

Ryan let out a wry smile and looked away, gazing into the far distance. "I'm not making sense, am I? Well, I definitely saw him. In flesh and blood."

"And you told the police that, didn't you?"

"Why wouldn't I? I needed to aid their investigation and that's what I did. But I definitely didn't go into details on what really prompted me to go see the man. Just told them it was something related to the company." Ryan explained.

For about a minute, neither said a word. They both stared at the road as different people and vehicles passed by. The sounds of the females talking inside the apartment made way to their ears throughout the period until Matthew spoke up.

"But you didn't mention this to me when you arrived," He said.

Ryan sighed. "I never knew things will escalate to this point. Even I wasn't sure of myself when I saw the man. I mean, I was confused when I saw him but I later realized he was actually the one. There was only something wrong with his effect which I can't pinpoint up until this moment,"

"So, what next?" Matthew asked after.

Ryan shrugged awkwardly as he looked at the other party. "Don't know. Wait for police to call me again, I think."

"I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about the management. How are you going to deal with them now? Surely, the police will inform them to confirm whatever statement you made yesterday."

"I know. And I'm ready for whatever they have to say."

It was Matthew's turn to stare. "And what do you have to say?"

Ryan looked up the misty sky as he thought in consideration before he finally uttered the word: "Nothing."

.....

The door was closed forcefully and was hastily locked to prevent the intrusion of prying ears.

"Parker, tell me, what really happened to Vincent?"

Inside a yellow painted bedroom, a middle-aged man had his phone up to his ear as he spoke. His expression was a diverse of fear and worry as he awaited a reply from the other end. As he sat, he was restless as he continuously fidgeted on the king-sized bed he was sitting on.

"I don't really know." came a thick voice from the other end in reply, "But according to Benito, the boss was simply talking to Vincent before he saw him kneel. Later on, Vincent suddenly dropped down to the floor and passed out. That's all I got.

But if you're thinking the boss did something to him, we definitely can't say. Even Benito isn't sure of what he saw because he couldn't get a clearer view. The doctor simply said something about a sort of cardiac arrest. It seems Vincent was suffering from an allergy or so,"

The man sighed as he nodded in understanding. "And Stephen, what do you have on him?"

"I can't say for sure. Although, my report says he was attacked and he's lying unconscious in the hospital as I speak to you. But with the findings i gathered, there's something fishy about the boss's movement on the morning Stephen was attacked. That same morning, I remember the boss leaving home without the aid of the guards, saying he wanted to take a stroll in his car. That definitely seems suspicious, doesn't it?"

"Dammit! He definitely has a hand in Stephen's attack. Do you think he knows of my involvement already?" The man flared up in agitation.

"You need to calm down sir, and that, I can't say. But I personally think there's something wrong somewhere. We can't simply term the two occurrences as coincidences, can we? I'd certainly advise you be more careful with your dealings, that way you can be assured of being safe."

"Yes, that's what I intend doing. And you need be to. 'Cause I remember the way he looked at me that day. It was all too worrisome, like he was suspicious of me. Let's try to keep our fingers crossed and hope we were not ratted out."

"I can assu—" Beep.

Silence could be heard immediately from the other end and some seconds after, the connection abruptly went off.

"Parker? Parker? Are you there?" The man took the phone off his ear and took a look at the screen before realizing what had happened. "Oh dammit!" He said and threw his phone onto the bed in annoyance. 'Parker might had been in a tight situation to hang up the call on me,' he thought. 'It definitely could be the arrival of the president.'

"What am I going to do now?" He asked himself as he groaned in worry, his hands covering his face. He pondered on the situation for some minutes before coming up with an idea. One that could save him from being exposed.

There was someone he needed to meet with...