1.The Shattered Reality

AUTHOR'S POV:

Weston city, near the outskirts of Norlona.

A mansion surrounded with greenery. The walls and exteriors making it look like it came out of a fairytale. With tint of black and grey combination it looks like dragon den. Nobody ever tried to get inside without permission. They would be sleeping on their death bed by the time they realise what they're doing.

Inside the master bedroom.

"Fel!!...I want to go out into the rain!" She shouted with her sweet voice full of excitement , smiling ear to ear watching the heavy down pour making the walls reverberate her words through his cochlear. He was startled with sudden loud sound as he was in his own trance watching the rain fall."No. We should go inside, stop thinking so nonsensically. We have to get to Les.He must be waiting for us" Felix replied and turned to get back inside the palace.

As soon as he turned back,she dragged him into the rain holding his hand in a tight grip. Before he can process what's happening , his shirt got drenched in the rain water.The tall ceiling of the magnificent gazebo that is situated near the palace didn't even bother to protect them from the rain. A moment back he was thinking about how they should get back inside the castle without getting wet. But alas! He should already know that she may pull this stunt?

As he was trying to get his hand out of her firm hold,the one he was talking about a moment back ,Atlas, came to them running in the rain. She left his hand seeing Atlas and signalled him to join them as he proceeded .Felix looked at him with a horrified expression and blurted out"Les!! What are you doing ! Go back to the castle!"

Only for him to say" I didn't come out into the rain just to go back. I am a little offended because you both are enjoying in the rain without caring to call me too. But I came out anyways so I am not offended anymore. I AM SO HAPPY !!THIS IS SOO FUN!!" He shouted the last line as he was so delighted . Felix looked at them holding a confused look on his face wondering why would anyone get this excited just to get drenched in the rain. And he just smiles at them for being so pure and joyful watching them play in the rain , splashing water on each other , laughting and jumping.

He was suddenly jolted awake by the sound of a thunderclap . Felix opened his eyes only to realise that it was just a dream and they are not with him anymore.He was again lured into his misery, He dragged himself to the windows and opened the curtains. The roaring of the thunders in the sky matched with his inner brewing storm. Looking at the clock that reads 6:00pm,hitting his forehead realising that he slept till then,he slipped into his marine blue suit after taking a shower. Getting down the elevator he grabbed his car keys from his pocket and drove to his company.

This is his 5th time visiting the office. Even though the company is Felix's , everything is supervised by his assistant and acting CEO Marcus Lander,a trusted friend of Felix. Usually his assistant deals with everything smoothly but sometimes he can't help but go to office when the situation calls for him. Like today, as the expansion of A&A CORP. along with the jewellery line and fashion brands through Europe needed an immediate response from the CEO with a conference involving US delegates. He suspected about the meeting but left to the office anyways. They just cracked the deal with this Multinational company in Europe and everything was done already starting from the idea proposal to signing the documents.

He thought about the reason they requested for an urgent conference , the dumbest reason he ever heard, 'We couldn't focus on the ideals of the company. So we didn't get an idea of it. We would like to hold a conference to discuss about it' and it wasn't even a call, it's was just a message. An unknowingly suspicious message.

He is clearly irritated. As he didn't get enough sleep last night, and just dozed off in the morning with a dream reminiscing the memories only to wake up to the sounds of thunder disturbing his sweet dream.

Felix's office chambers.

Felix moved to his office chambers and just slacked into his seat nonchalantly. When his life is not with him, even the luxurious Longue chair that helps one relax is so uncomfortable and stiff. He immediately stood up and looked at the chair with a rather demented look covering his perfect face.

Mark looked up from the documents he has been reading to his boss's face with confusion. He asked "I didn't noticed you coming -!....Is something wrong sir?you look tired and annoyed" with a concerning look. To which Felix just twitched his lips and moved towards the couch before sliding in lazily. He replied curtly with no emotion on his face " I didn't get enough sleep last light". Mark queried" Again?Have you been taking your meds sir?For how long have you been like this?When was the last time you consulted your doctor? Have you been starving yourse-". He interrupted ," Jesus!stop with the interrogation mark. I just couldn't sleep last night....And when the hell are these people coming? . There is something suspicious about the meeting. Did you call them?. What did they say?"

Mark adds up " Yeah..I forgot to tell you. The meeting is not needed sir. I took care of them . But you need to sign these documents" and passes the documents to him. They spent an hour in the office talking about all the company issues and news.

Later after the evening ended, they left the company and drove through the city to his mansion together as Mark is like a trusted friend for him,they spend time in his mansion like brothers without any courtesies. He was driving through the city lights towards the outskirts to reach their mansion, He was driving in a constant speed as to not disturb his boss's sleep, He stepped on brakes suddenly, when some idiotic brat cut them off in the middle by switching lanes dangerously. He cursed internally, And when he saw his boss's sleep was not disturbed . He started his journey again to the mansion. As he was driving, he observed through the rear view mirror, that a bike rider is tailing behind them, He was amused, 'who the hell is this guy?? Is he asking for death! Ughhh!! I don't want another bloodbath ',He thought to himself and accelerated the car to highspeed. But the crazy bike rider also accelerated at devil limits! Watching this ,Mark cursed inside and took another way to the mansion to avoid any mishaps, After some distance he observed that the rider has slowed down and then vanished into thin air.Mark was astonished by the guts of that crazy person. He was only asking for his death on a platter by testing his boss's patience.

Finally they neared their mansion, without any troubles. He was already suspicious about the sudden request for a conference and now he was sure that this crazy bike rider also has something to do with them. He don't want to jump to the conclusions, So he will just wait and watch their moves. Hah! Only if they know about their boss, they would have run up to miles , terrified.

"Tch!.Tch!... Peasants!! Why do you wish to awake the dozing dragon. Don't you care for your lives" He taught to himself shaking his head dramatically, watching his sleeping boss through the rear view mirror in the car.

"Boss", He tried to wake up his boss, But he didn't budge from his sleep. So, he decided to wait for some time until his boss wakes up on his own.

FELIX'S POV

I heard a muffled thunder sounds which woke me up from my sleep. I looked around and found myself still inside the car which is parked somewhere. I couldn't see anything outside as it was so dark and the rain is making me unable to see the surroundings clearly. Wondering how long I have been sleeping I fished out my phone from my pocket and called Mark."You're awake sir?" He asked gently like he's afraid I might get bothered with the loud sound. "Where are you Mark?" I asked with my sleepy rough voice to which he replied "I drove us to a restaurant sir, I am just getting something for us to eat for dinner. I almost finished here.. I'll be back sir".With that I voiced an 'ok' and ended the call.

Leaning back into the seat and resting my head on the headrest, I closed my eyes to feel the peace in rain. I once despised the rain and used to think that it's just a natural occurence of condensing water. I didn't give the rain any attention before. Until she came into my life. She changed the perspective I had towards the rain. I never once in my life before her thought about cherishing the rain. But now I see it differently,I see it as her memory, I see it as my hope to just live, I can feel the rain now, every drop and the melodious music it makes when it sings with earth, the smooth moves when it's dancing with the wind, everything is so different now.

Except for my soul which returned to its usual moody,grumpy,broken state like before I met her. I simply just lost my heart and soul and became a lifeless creature that is just alive unable to come out of the blissful life I had for a very short period which was broken far beyond the limit ,when my fate decided to teach me a lesson ...

"You are just unworthy of love. You killed your mother the second you were born. My brother was insane when he decided to adopt you. You don't deserve even a speck of what you have now you bastard. You don't even know your biological father's name..ah ha ha ha ...." His words rang through my ear like I heard them just a moment ago. Ha! The perks of having a great memory power. I heard a faint sound of the car door opening and closing. I opened my eyes and sighed at my misfortune life when I heard him say " They didn't have the usual chicken fried rice you like , but I got the tomato and mascarpone rissoto. Would you like something else sir?" " That's fine"

Yeah that's fine Mark. I am least concerned about the food I eat. The situation I am in, doesn't allow me to have any choices. I just got with what the universe has to offer me. I am just a living corpse. I eat just to be alive,I sleep just to forget the pain that's killing me day by day. I just need her to come back to me. That's all I want right now. Everything else doesn't matter. Just wait until I meet you again. I will never leave you no matter what happens. I promise to hold you this time. Where are you? When are you coming back? I am tired of waiting now please don't make me wait anymore...I just can't take it, I just can't endure this anymore.A tear rolled down my eye when I remembered her face.

Just then I remembered someone following us when we're on the highway just before I dozed off.....but chose to ignore it as he may be some random biker roaming on the city streets. Teenagers these days are so ridiculously crazy.

AUTHOR'S POV

Only if he knew the cancellation of conference and the following are completely different situations and the delegates actually needed to hold a conference for real with their own motive. But who is this tail?That too on a bike??! In a city highway? Only people with insane thinking would do this. Tsk..tsk...