When Fate Decided to Play its Part

Chapter 54: All Eyes

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO:

All Eyes

---

Meanwhile…

It was already evening and the people in the shop was having dinner. It was only Becca, Jack, Kai, and Melanie. The shop was already closed for a while, but Jack did not go home. He decided to stay to eat with them.

“Hmm!” He moaned in delight. “Your cooking is really superb, Melanie! I would really like to stay for dinner again next time.”

Melanie almost chocked on her food and looked at the guy who was still chowing down the food like a hungry wolf who has not eaten anything for the past few months. Then she shrugged her shoulders and said nonchalant, “It is just mac and cheese, and some fried chicken, but thank you.”

Jack shook his head, “No- don’t ever underestimate the power of cheese and chicken.” Becca nodded with his statement while stuffing herself with Melanie’s fried chicken wings. She just loves the tenderness of the meat and its aroma. It’s hunger inducing and its sweetness with a hint of spiciness was really good.

Melanie just nodded and said her thanks, not wanting to talk with him anymore.

Kai was just silent in the background; he was not listening to them because he was watching Tv. Melanie noticed it, she watched the focused Kai and curiously peeked at the Tv, wondering what it was that is keeping him immerse. And she can’t believe what she saw.

“You’re watching the news?” she asked the boy.

“Yes, it’s interesting.” He simply answered.

Melanie raised and eyebrow and asked again, “What is interesting about it?”

“The current news.”

This caught the attention of the other two and looked at what kind of news was showing on the tv. It was some news about kidnapping, robbery, and hostage taking. The older three was bewildered.

“Why is that interesting?” Jack asked him.

“My mom,” the boy said. “Charlotte said she was kidnapped once.”

“Wha-“ a sudden switch of video on the tv distracted Melanie and its content.

The reporter, with a script on hand, said seriously, “Just in! A hotel in the 11th street was entered by a group of robbers that were in run from the police and took everyone in the hotel hostage. There are many known businessmen in this hotel and…”

“Goodness,” Melanie exclaimed. “Isn’t that the hotel your mother is in, Kai?”

Kai was also silent but he visibly tensed. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Becca, who was silent all along furrowed her brows. “Jack, are they the robber who robbed a heavily bank you mentioned two days ago?”

“Oh!” Even though his anxious, he remembered. “It’s them! They are even using the same van. They really are gutsy!”

---

Whenever they took a step towards the said new venue, Althea had this inkling feeling that bad thing is about to happen. But, as usual, she ignored it since most of her intuition is wrong. Like throwing a ball of paper into a trash bin only to find it rolling on the floor 1 meter away from the supposedly landing place. It does sometimes lands, but out of ten throws? She can only dump 3 to 4 ball of papers at least.

So yes, she cannot believe in her intuition.

But after she arrived there where Vitoria’s supposedly be in, she wished she trusted her intuition even just this once and turn back. Then make an excuse that she is not feeling well or about Kai or the shop. She could have created many lies just to escape! But it was already too late since all of them saw her already.

When she first arrived, the first thing she noticed was the three tall men standing in front of the door like a statue. They were rooted on the place while their backs facing the two of them. Her and whoever this girl next to her.

Althea felt that the back of one of the men was familiar, but, then again, she dismissed it like how she dismissed the same feeling to the other. She was curious of why the hell the venue was so silent- except the music on the speaker, none of these living people are talking at all!

By the looks of it, it was a party, but not like the party she expected. No old geezers or old women and none of them looks the same as the people she knows on the other party. So, she knew she went into the wrong room. She was deliberately guided into a wrong room. It was stupid that she did not even considered twice or thought twice before trusting a stranger.

But since she was already here, she might as well as check what is happening. The silence inside the party makes er curious. So, she curiously, stupidly, took a sneak towards where all of them were looking. They were looking at two different directions, all their eyes were contained with awkwardness.

Althea wondered why and looked inside.

Her eyes saw a looking furious woman she hopes she did not know about. It was Sheryl. Without any doubt, this made her heart jump and she looked around at the venue once more. Her heart was pounding harder against her chest as she internalizes every single detail in the room.

‘Please,’ she pleaded in her head. ‘Make it not the thing I think it is.’

And, as how it always works, no one headed her plea and made it the opposite of what she hopes. Her eyes read the words:

Highschool reunion.

After reading that, she thought it might be a normal high school reunion. An event that has nothing to do with her. Bur presented in bright and bold letters was the year of their batch and their very school. Her eyes looked at the elevated platform where a chubby man was standing.

And she knew him. He was the most annoying person she knew in high school.

Then her eyes landed on the projected pictures that was the very reason of the silence inside. It was like a flick that triggered her memories from the past. She looked back and gaze at the other girl with detest visible on her eyes. She caught it and her small smile widen, as if she already knew she figure everything put.

Althea also knows this girl. She was one of Sheryl’s underling from the past. April.

As if trying to mock her, April opened her mouth and said out loud. “Hi guys. Look who I brought with me.”

The place was already silent, and her voice was not even that low, so everyone heard it, and turned around.

Althea pursed her lips into thin line when the three men in front of her also turned around. Tyler, along with the two men she knew the face but not the name, landed their eyes on her.

Tyler, with his eyes a little bit open and the tip of his ears were slightly red as if he remembered something that makes him embarrassed or aroused, opened his mouth and called out a name that no one in the room heard for 7 years. “Althea.”

With that, every single pair of eyes were on her.

And Althea only has on word in her mind.

Fuck.