Chapter 37: Be my host
Kathe recognized the car to be Jark’s car, and that was the one he had used to work in the morning. She was sure that she had left her mom sitting close to the window.
"Mom, where are you?"
Kathe whispered as she looked around the tiny restaurant, but she got no response. She looked outside again, and Jark walked out of the car, with Thompson tagging along.
Kathe stood rooted to her spot. She didn’t know how to react. First, she couldn’t find her mother. Secondly, Jark was walking toward the restaurant with a lot of armed men, like they were going on a mission to kill someone dangerous. She was confused if Jark came looking for her due to her lack of network or if he came for something else.
She stood on her spot, thinking that they had already seen her, but just then Thompson showed Jark something on his tablet and pointed toward the restaurant, and that was when Kathe noticed that she could see them from inside, but they couldn’t see her from the outside, and they were 10 inches away from the door.
Knowing that Jark would get angry seeing her, she turned around, intending to run back to the dark corner, but unfortunately, before she could reach the dark corner, the door was pushed open.
"Hold your step."
Jark’s voice rang throughout the restaurant, making Kathe close her eyes tightly and bite her lips for her failed attempt to escape.
She heard the sound of firearms being triggered.
As everyone aimed their firearms toward her, the only ones that stood rooted were Jark and Thompson because, by looking at her back and her hair, they knew who exactly it was.
Jark waved his hand at them, and they all dropped their guns.
"What are you doing here?" Jark asked in a cold, calm voice.
Kathe turned around slowly, holding her breath, but her eyes were still closed as she cursed her luck.
"I thought you were sick and resting at home."
Cold sweat dripped down her palms as she rubbed them on her dress.
"Yes... no, I mean I was sick. I was at home."
She tried keeping her voice steady, but when her eyes met his furious eyes, she couldn’t help but struggle with her words.
"What are you doing here?"
"I... I... I came to..."
"Everyone out."
Jark waved his hand, dismissing them all, as his eyes were still fixed on Kathe suspiciously.
They all dropped their firearms as they looked at each other in confusion and walked out of the restaurant. Thompson walked out as he could sense the tense atmosphere.
"Who were you with?"
"I wasn’t with anyone."
She turned her back to him, not wanting to see him as she was nervously sweating.
"Do you think I’m cheating on you?"
"Don’t twist my words. Who were you with?"
She gathered her courage and turned back, facing him, hiding her fears.
"What do you mean, who I was with? Of course, you met me here alone."
Jark nodded and walked closer to her. Kathe kept taking a step back.
"What are you doing here since you were at home? And I know you are not well familiar with Washington."
"I wanted to explore around."
Kathe cursed her poor skills in lying.
Her answer made Jark suspect more, plus how she was biting her lips nervously.
"Of all places here? Kathe, I expect the truth from you. I hope you know how much I hate lies."
She composed herself more and looked straight into his eyes.
"Like I said, I wanted to explore around. Yes, I agree that I wasn’t feeling well at first, but after taking the medicine that Grandma gave me, I felt alright... and... and since I was a little better, I wanted to come to the office, but a notification popped up on my phone talking about how well and natural this environment was, so I decided to come enjoy nature. I just arrived too, just now, and when I got your call, I couldn’t hear you over the phone, so I saw this restaurant and I walked in and found it open, and no one was in, but I was able to access a little network, so I called you back, intending to tell you where I was, but you never answered your call."
She said everything in one go. Kathe was surprised at how smoothly she had lied.
Jark stared at her for long, trying to find a crack in her story, but since he didn’t find one, he stopped in his tracks, making Kathe breathe out in relief. Just when she thought that he wouldn’t ask any questions again, he turned back to her.
"Then why did you run when you saw me, since you wanted to let me know of your whereabouts?"
Kathe went quiet for a second before giving him a reply.
"I was scared that you would get angry if you saw me here uninformed. What are you doing, and why are you with armed men? What is wrong?" she asked as she looked outside in confusion.
Jark frowned as he noticed that the windows made people from the outside unable to see people from the inside, and it confirmed that she wasn’t definitely there.
Kathe got startled the moment Jark turned to look at her sharply, like he was searching for something. She didn’t know why she felt strange.
"You should get back home now."
He finally spoke out after looking at her for a while, trying to figure out his suspicion. He didn’t know why he felt that Kathe was hiding something away from him, but that wasn’t the right moment and place to ask her about it.
Kathe could see that Jark was still looking at her with suspicion, so she decided to change the topic. She also wanted to know what he was doing there too.
"What is going on? Why are you suddenly here? Ain’t you going to explain too?"
Instead of giving her a reply, Jark grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the restaurant.
Thompson was waiting close to the door. When he saw Jark dragging Kathe out, he could see that Jark was angry.
"Thompson, arrange for her to be taken back home."
"Okay, Boss."
Kathe couldn’t help but get angry at his action.
"Jark."
"Ma’am, this way please."
After staring at Jark as he walked back into the restaurant with the rest of the guards, Kathe turned and followed Thompson to the car.
When she got in, before Thompson could close the car door, Kathe held the handle as she drew him closer.
"What are you people doing here?"
Thompson could see the determination in her eyes that she really wanted to find out what they were doing over there, but he wasn’t going to break his boss’s rules.
"Ma’am, it’s really dangerous, and we don’t want you getting involved."
He quickly closed the door before she could ask any question.
Kathe watched in disappointment as the car drove away.
.......................
Jacklyn was lying down daydreaming as he kept twisting Kathe’s earring around his finger. He had gone to her room to check up on her, but it was locked.
"Kathe, are you also dreaming of us together?"
He rolled on his belly.
"Jark, you seem to be holding a lot of things that are mine, but don’t worry. I will take them all back."
Ring! Ring! Ring!
"Ahhhhn, who the hell is it?" he groaned as he managed to stretch his hand, reaching out for his phone.
He was about to shut his phone off when he saw the number that was displayed on the screen. He quickly answered the call.
"Where are you?"
From the tone, he could hear that the lady was annoyed that he had kept her waiting.
"I’m at home. Is..."
He answered, sitting up on the bed.
She quickly interrupted him before he could say anything else.
"I need you to come pick me up by nine p.m."
The line went silent for a while as Jacklyn looked at his phone in shock.
"Wait, are you in Washington?"
"You need to come pick me up by nine p.m. I don’t want you asking me the question again."
"Okay, but I will pick you to where?"
He was confused about why she wanted him to pick her up.
"Your house, and make sure you prepare a nice room for me."
Her reply came as another shock to Jacklyn. He couldn’t believe that someone like her would wish for him to be her host.
"M... my house?"
"Yes. Any problem?"
"No, nothing."
"Good. I will send you the address, and make sure to arrive at the time I tell you. No one should know about me coming."
"Okay."
The call got disconnected.
.......................
"How much for this?"
"It’s 100 dollars."
"Here."
"Thank you."
The sales attendant looked at her. It was rare for people to buy a fully covered cloth with a hijab that covered the face.
"Don’t mind me asking, are you planning on surprising your relative?"
The masked lady glared at her, making her lower her head.
"Oh, I’m sorry."
Comments