Chapter 11: Alarm
"I’m sorry, boss. Miss Rhea made me turn off the CCTV. I swear on my life, if I had known her intentions, I wouldn’t have turned it off, boss," the security man pleaded.
Jark turned and tossed the cigarette on the floor close to the man’s legs.
"The first mistake you made was turning off the CCTV footage without my permission. The second one is you lying to me even when I asked you in private. You know how much I hate lies. Thirdly, your actions endangered my wife. Take him out, I don’t want to see him again."
"Please, boss, I really need the job to feed my family. Please, boss, forgive me." He dropped to the floor and pleaded, but Jark was already out of the room.
"Make sure to replace him with a new security guard," Jark ordered Thompson as he watched the security guard being dragged out.
"Yes, boss," Thompson replied. After so much hesitation, he finally decided to speak up. "I noticed bridge calls at New Jersey and Delaware. I received a distress call there too. Someone is trying to hack our system firewalls."
"When was that?" Jark asked as he became very attentive.
"Not long ago. That was when you were with madam inside." Thompson made sure to check the time to confirm.
"We will go there tomorrow morning. Get everything prepared, we’re heading to the headquarters first."
"Okay, sir," Thompson replied before leaving Jark alone on the terrace. He knew when Jark wanted to be alone, and that was the moment.
Jark lit a cigarette after Thompson left. He smoked in silence to ease his guilt. He could still hear the disappointment in her voice. He just didn’t want to cause hatred between Kathe and Rhea. Most especially, he didn’t know how to punish Rhea without his mother getting involved. But among the guilt came flashbacks.
Flashback
"Father, where are you? Father! Mom!" a young boy’s voice rang out in the middle of the sea. The sea kept raging as more rain poured down following the angry storm. Luckily, the boy was a good swimmer, but his biggest fear was not being able to find his parents.
"Mom, please where are you? I’m cold, I..." The wave pushed him back deeper into the water. He kept trying to balance himself, but he was just ten years of age, tiny and fragile. He couldn’t fight the waves.
Suddenly, the sea became calm like the heavens were finally having mercy on the little boy as he quickly dived up to the surface again, and then he saw a little thing, not a person, floating up.
Ring! Ring!
His phone brought him back to the present. He looked at the caller ID and walked inside.
Kathe woke up the following morning, but Jark was not on the bed, neither was he in the room. But she found a letter on the bedside.
"Good morning. Hope you slept well. I know you must be wondering where I went to. I’m out for very important work. I don’t know when I will be back, but I want you to stay safe and take your medication on time." Kathe read the letter out loud and snorted at the end. "Why act like you care?" She crumple the letter and threw it out of the window.
She calmed herself and went to the bathroom to freshen up.
Knock! Knock!
"Come in," Kathe answered, still brushing her hair, her back turned to the door.
"How are you doing, Kathe?" the old lady asked the moment she walked inside the room, jolting Kathe up.
"Grandma, good morning. I didn’t know it was you." Kathe dropped the brush down.
The old lady smiled at her as she walked to the bedside and sat down.
"It’s okay, I’m not here to disturb you. I just want to check on how you are feeling and also brought you breakfast." As the old lady was speaking, the maids brought in the food.
Kathe, feeling overwhelmed, hugged the old lady like a kitten, making the old lady chuckle.
"Grandma, thank you, but you shouldn’t have stressed yourself. I would have come to get breakfast myself."
The old lady patted her hair softly. Kathe had taken notice of the old lady’s habit of patting the ones she cared about.
"I know that you are not comfortable with the rest of the family members, and moreover, Jark isn’t around to take care of you, so for the time being, you are my responsibility. So be prepared to be babied."
Her last sentence made Kathe chuckle out loud.
"Grandma, please."
The two laughed out loud. After the laughter came silence—a comfortable one.
"Enough of the laughter now, eat your food," the old lady said, about to shift the food tray closer to her when Kathe stopped her, making the old lady look up at her.
Kathe quickly spoke up. "I will eat, but I want to ask you for a favour first."
The old lady raised her eyebrow dramatically. "It seems someone wants to trade food for something. But say it, I’m all ears." She pointed to her ears.
Kathe bent and whispered into the old lady’s ear, making sure she was the only one who heard.
"Just that. Don’t worry about it, I will get it done. Hope that you can now eat your meal?"
"Yes," Kathe nodded with a smile.
"Hurry up and eat. I don’t want you missing your medication time. I want you to remember the face of the person who pushed you, so that quick punishment can be given to him/her on time."
Kathe’s face turned sour after hearing the old lady’s words. Her expression didn’t escape the old lady’s keen notice.
"Kathe, are you okay?"
She quickly arranged her expression. "Nothing, Grandma. It just hurts each time I try to remember." She said, holding her head.
"Oh, I forgot, the doctor warned us not to force you into remembering. You know what, you can take your time. Come on, eat your meal."
Kathe nodded with a forced smile and started eating.
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