Chapter Two: Kiari Cepheus.
1521 Words
Zara's face went round. Her head almost went three hundred and sixty degrees and looked around the room.
She had taken note of how almost regal the room was, it never crossed her mind that it was because it was owned by one of the richest families in the world.
The Cepheus family was well known for being one of the richest families in the world. They took over the business world, they had companies, industries and whatnots all around the world, planting their mark everywhere like they wanted to take over the planet.
The Cepheus empire was being managed by a woman which was unlike anything the world has seen.
She had a brother, and on occasions, he comes out to make statements and attend any formal event, unlike the true CEO.
It was released to the public that they were a pair of twins with an understanding between them. The woman, Kiari Cepheus was a business mogul and her brother, Killian Cepheus was more political.
The hospital that Eric claimed they were in was owned by the family, it only provided treatment to esteemed people of the country and beyond. They were either wealthy, well known politicians, big time celebrities and members of the family. Other people were prevented from venturing into the hospital.
Zara instantly put two and two together, "the woman, your boss, is she…?" She couldn't even bring herself to say her name.
Eric nodded his head, "yes, she is the one and only Kiari Cepheus".
Zara felt like she was about to have a heart attack.
"Please, tell your friend that he can wait for you outside, when you're discharged, you can go meet with him".
Zara had completely forgotten about the phone call, as Eric reminded her, she brought the phone to her ear and said to Daniel;
"I'm surprisingly in the Cepheus private hospital".
"What!" Daniel yelled in surprise, "you're kidding. Did you overdose on some drugs that's making you hallucinate?"
Zara shook her head, "I'm saying the truth Daniel, I'm here and you can't come in. You can just wait for me outside, I'll be there in a few minutes''.
The call dropped immediately.
Zara didn't even bother giving it much thought, she already realized who it was that had bought the shares of her company. However, there were still a few things she couldn't wrap her head around.
"Since your boss is such a dignified and busy person, how then did she find out about my problem?" Zara asked Eric.
In the business world, the Cepheus empire was regarded as the number one and compared to them, Zara's company was smaller than a pebble, it was smaller than one of the small businesses that the Cepheus family owned.
It was unusual that they could've found out about her problem. The bankruptcy of her company was too meager, too puny to attract such an empire.
In the whole country, there were several failing businesses but somehow, they had found out about her own.
She couldn't help but wonder how they had been attracted to her problem.
"I may be her assistant, it doesn't mean I know anything about the family". Eric told her, "but I do know that the Caines family has something to do with the Cepheus and I heard from them about your bankruptcy, so it might've been the same for Ms Cepheus".
Zara nodded her head approvingly. The words made sense to her.
The Caines family was the family that Daniel was from. He was her fiance, they had plans to be married in a few weeks before this whole tragedy.
Zara smiled to herself, somehow, directly or indirectly, Daniel and his family were always looking out for her.
Her phone vibrated in her hand, she instantly opened it thinking it was a text from Daniel or his mother but it wasn't.
It was from her old friend, Cara.
Cara and Zara met each other in junior high school and became close friends till high school. However, they separated since they had their eyes for different colleges but whenever Zara was in the country, they made sure to catch up and talk about things.
It was unusual for Cara to text her out of the blue, but then it could've been that she heard of the unfortunate thing that had happened to Zara and so decided to send a text message.
Zara opened the message.
What she had been expecting to see was not what the text entailed.
Instead of a calming greeting, Zara was met with naked pictures of Cara and Daniel. Pictures that Daniel himself had taken, that she knew from the position of the camera.
In some of the photos, they were in bed, in some, they were in the bathroom, either kissing or hugging but they were both naked in all of the pictures.
Her phone slipped from her hand and dropped on the tiled floor.
Eric was taken aback by her sudden behavior. He advanced to help her pick up her phone but then the door opened and Kiari walked back in.
"Excuse us, Eric" she ordered while making her way to the bed.
Eric picked up the phone but dropped it on the bed before obeying orders and walking out of the room.
Upon his departure, the room fell silent, save for Zara's whimpering voice as tears fell from her eyes.
She was trying so hard to not make a sound, but it was rather difficult since her heart felt like it was being torn to shreds.
She couldn't think of anything, not of what Kiari wanted from her, not of what she could do to get her company back, the only thing she was thinking of was Daniel and his betrayal.
It never crossed her mind that Daniel could cheat on her, but even if he did do it, she would never guess that it was with her friend.
Zara was beyond heartbroken. She was devastated, left alone in this world, betrayed and abandoned by those who meant the most to her.
"You must've seen the pictures," Kiari said.
Zara's throat was hoarse, she was crying and her words were almost incoherent, still Kiari heard her loud and clear, "what am I going to do now? He betrayed me and hurt me at the worst of times. How am I supposed to grieve this and still sort out my own problems?"
"I'm left alone in this world, no parents and now, no fiance" Zara sobbed loudly, burying her face into the palm of her hands.
Kiari took a seat on the bed beside Zara, she had no idea how to comfort people when they cried so she could only sit in silence hoping that Zara understood that she meant well.
However, Zara's head fell on her shoulder as she cried.
All her life she had spent it hopelessly in love with Daniel, since she was a child, he had been the only one in her heart, she loved him dearly.
She had kept her feelings to herself, away from people, away from Daniel also. She lived with the thought of unrequited love for years until a particular afternoon when Daniel came to her.
She had never seen it coming, but that day, he confessed to her and told her that he was actually in love with her.
And so, ever since, they had been in a relationship and a few years later, they got engaged.
As Zara kept thinking about it, she became sad and as she grew sadder by the minute, she wailed heavily on Kiari's jacket.
"As you can see, you're not alone".
Hearing that, Zara lifted her head. She could not believe that Kiari was saying such words to her, however she was too sad to even give it much thought.
She was just happy that someone was there with her, someone on whose shoulder she could cry on.
Though her jacket was getting soaked through by tears and snot, Kiari never flinched or even pushed Zara away.
Instead, she rubbed her back gently and whispered into her ear; "it's going to be okay, everything is going to be fine. Don't cry anymore, don't cry".
It was all she could do, she wasn't adept in understanding or handling certain emotions from people. Many have complained that she was brutally honest and very apathetic towards other people's feelings.
However, looking at Zara right now, Kiari felt what she needed was not honesty but silence and a few words of comfort.
Zara soon stopped crying, but still laid her head on Kiari's shoulder.
"Were you the one who bought the shares?"
Kiari took in a deep breath, she had had no intention to tell Zara the truth, but Zara was in a state of mind that needed the ones around her to be even the tiniest bit understanding and providing, so she said:
"No. It was the Allen's family".
Zara's eyes went round as she immediately lifted her head from Kiari's shoulder. She could hardly believe the words that Kiari was saying to her.
She refused to believe them.
"Cara's family?"
- Writer
