Chances

Chapter Eight

It was almost afternoon when Tina decided to visit her boyfriend. She had to be careful since David had threatened her every move. She needed to keep a low profile until they finished him off.

Tina smirked as she imagined the possible ways her boyfriend could kill David but as much as she knew him, she knew the man always changed his skills when killing.

She had always been an audience whenever he was at work. But she would like to video it so Leah could see how hurt Marisca would be after watching how the father of her son died or got killed.

Too bad for Dean, she had no business with him. But should he want his death as early as David's own was going to be like, she'd be honoured to inform her prince charming.

She needed not to stain her hands. But she didn't regret killing her mum either. Even though the scene wasn't clear, she was sure she took her life. The woman was sick and she refused to take treatment. She was weak and suffering a lot. So Tina decided to cut her sufferings short. Afterall she was just a crying old woman who kept on chanting about seeing Leah before her death.

And Tina killed her before that could even happen. Tina stood there as she remembered the scene again. The scene she believed that took her to prison. She had no guilt on her conscience. It was a pleasure to help her mother meet her maker.

She had always kept the knife she used to kill her mother. She believed she wouldn't have killed her if not for Leah's existence. So to her, Leah killed her mother.

And she would do the exact thing to Leah and even more. She would penetrate the knife through her chest, little by little until she was unconscious. And when Leah woke up, she would remove her nails off her fingers and then cut the fingers off.

She would shave off her hair while the water boiled on the fire. Then she would bathe Leah's shaved head with the hot water.

A wicked laughter easily escaped her patted lips and she loved the idea of making Leah's life miserable to the very core of her existence.

Just as she was about to leave the house, a man dressed in black entered the hall with Dean. The man looked familiar. Of course she knew he wasn't a celebrity. She had no time to watch them or admire them.

But she couldn't quite remember where she had met the man from. The man had black hair which looked like it was recently trimmed. The sides were slightly lower than the rest of the hair on his middle head.

His eyes never left Tina's own and Dean couldn't help but ask if they knew each other.

“Not quite so. I had an unfortunate morning some days ago and I met her in the bus I was on. My car wasn't ready and so yeah...”

He explained what happened that day to Dean and that was all she needed to hear to remember the guy standing in front of her. She wished she could squeeze the breath out of him.

But she needed to keep herself together and keep acting as well.

“Oh I see. Quite a family we have here. They are known to be fighters, I guess. Have a seat," Dean told the man as he guided him to take one of the seats before them.

“Were you going somewhere?" He again asked Tina who didn't want him to know where she was going. So she lied she was going to the restaurant to help them cook.

Dean didn't ask more of it since it wasn't really his business. So he went ahead to ask the man who looked like he was in his early 30s, his mission on setting his foot on their compound.

“Oh yeah, I nearly forgot about that. As I said, my name is Jad and I work with the police," he stated and Tina squeezed her eyes. She didn't want any of those people around her. The man continued, "It took us quite a long time to analyze what happened at the house of the young singer. We didn't want to make any mistake since her people and her sister's people threatened us to make a clear and serious investigation or else we'd be losing our jobs. They were also angry we failed to give the young singer a respectable treatment when she arrived at the scene," he explained as Dean rolled his eyes.

When Tina heard the man who she had an argument with was working with the police, she stayed and pretended she was cleaning the dining hall so she'd hear what the young man had for them.

She also cursed the day she met him. Now, she was in his bad books while she didn't want to have anything to do with the police.

“So what did you analyze then?" Dean questioned as he carefully sat and crossed his left leg over the right one.

“Well, I'll be glad if you called the miss herself," he stubbornly mentioned that to Dean.

“That won't happen for now. Since she's not around. She's...”

He couldn't finish his statement because Marisca walked in with David. They seemed to be talking to each other and for once, Dean realized they looked good together.

“OK, so it seems luck is on your side. Here they are. I mean...here she is," he also stated as he waited for them to settle down into two of the chairs.

“Hey Marisca, this man was waiting for you. He works with the police. He said he...”

But Jad quickly raised his left hand to stop Dean from saying more, "I'm pretty sure I can say those words on my own. Now if you don't mind, I'll like to speak for myself," he proudly added.

And Dean knew he couldn't blame Tina for arguing with the man sitting across him. He believed he provoked Tina since the poor girl was nothing but hardworking.

“Sure I'm all ears. It took you guys some long time to finish up the work. And I didn't also like the way you guys treated me," she complained and he nodded his head.

“So I heard. You should know, it would've been foolish of you to walk into the scene. At that time your emotions were all over the place so I understand you. Now back to why I'm here, we think someone intentionally provoked the fire," he calmly announced.

“I can't believe you guys wasted so much time and resources to just tell me this. Something my seven year old son suggested the very day after it happened. You guys are useless!" Marisca snapped at Jad.

David had to hold her to stop her from talking more. She tossed her braided hair behind her and eyed the man again.

“If you don't mind I'd like to continue, thanks. We checked the hidden cameras beside the house; where the fire supposedly started," he continued after Marisca's outburst.

Tina's eyes fluttered opened and she held her breath.

How could I be stupid!

She thought as she nearly wanted to disappear from the house and their lives. Her end was near.

She never knew there was a camera behind or beside the house. When she started the fire, she made sure it would go straight into the kitchen and then into the hall. She knew there were cameras in the house but she didn't know some were also outside.

Now if they indeed saw the video, then they would know she was the culprit. She'd be back to prison. She would lose everything including her boyfriend.

“But unfortunately, the video went off the very moment we nearly saw the face of the culprit," Jad immediately told them, so they wouldn't think positively of his visit.

They weren't close to finding the person who caused the fire. And Tina exhaled as she realized she was safe.

“So you mean you didn't see the person's face?" David finally opened his mouth.

“I thought I made that clear," Jad stated once again, being rude.

“See, I get you have to put on a straight face when you are on a mission but hell, stop being rude!” Dean exclaimed. He couldn't take it anymore but Jad ignored him and cleared his throat to continue.

“But you should know the person is a female. Slim and had a curly hair on. We can't really describe the colour of the dress since the video was supposed to be black and white. Her dress was short and she had a cloth around her wrist. She wasn't wearing any necklace. She seems to be 5.2 feet tall. We can't really say much about the way she walks or walked because the gallon she was carrying along was heavy and that affected the way she was walking," everyone watched him as he described Tina and what she was wearing.

Tina inwardly laughed and she shook her head. There's no way they would know it was her. The cloth around her wrist was supposed to be used to cover her nose when she was pouring the kerosin around the back of the kitchen and the hall.

She wasn't wearing any necklace because she was going to wear them after she was done.

“But I was told no one saw anyone setting fire behind the place," Marisca confusedly asked the man who was nothing but rude.

“No, she poured the kerosin around those area and in the kitchen so that immediately those in charge of the preparation of the barbeque at the backyard or the cooks in charged of the preparation of the foods in the kitchen light the fire to cook, the whole place would be on fire. And mind you, the gas was also leaking in the kitchen," he further explained and Marisca shut her lips, preventing the curse that desperately threatened to leave her lips.

Her son could've been dead and Leah could've also died...she thought.

“And it is quite going to be difficult to catch the person since the people you invited were many. But I'm glad you made it strictly by invitation. And also the cooks your hired are the suspects. It's either there was an imposter among them or one of them actually did that. So we are going through and visiting the people you had on the list and those that came. So far we have gone to twenty two people. None so far seemed to be guilty. But don't worry, as long as my team and it's members are not lazy, we will finish everything this month," he assured them as he got up to take his leave.

Everyone also got up and they extended their hands to thank him. He smiled at them and Jad patted Dean's shoulders.

Tina then went up to her room after listening to their conversation. She knew they would never catch her since her name was not on the list.

And she needed to be extra careful. And that meant she wouldn't be able to visit her man tonight. It could take more days and as much as she knew him, he'd be angry and would keep the anger until he had punished her.

***

That night, Marisca sat in one of the chairs behind her new home. She sighed as she remembered what she told her manager about what to tell her fans. She would again disappear for a few months.

And as lovely as her fans were, they sent their heartful inspirational quotes and messages. They told her they'd gladly wait for her coming back and would love to see her again but before then, they would continue playing and singing her songs.

She sat there and played with her fingers as she sang one of her songs. She loved to sing and she didn't know anything she could do at the moment to ease her inner battle other than singing.

What she didn't know was David had followed her there and he listened to her as she sang. He loved her voice and he could tell she was tired and even though people thought she was going through bad times, he knew she was going through worse and she would come out stronger than before.

From no where, he coughed and Marisca quickly got up and asked who that was. David came out of his hideout and approached her. She sat again, telling him how much he had scared her.

“You look beautiful," that was all he could say to her. And it was true. To him, she was the most beautiful creature his eyes had ever seen. Her eyes seemed normal but to him, he wouldn't mind calling black his favorite colour because of her eyes. She had big eyes and a small nose which was perfect for her face. Her lips were small and whenever she smiled, her cheeks met her eyes.

“Thanks. I'm so tired and I don't know if I can keep up with this boredom. Can I help you guys at the restaurant or the hotel? I'm sure I can help somewhere," she offered her help as he raised one of his eye brows in disbelief.

“Aren't you going to risk your popularity? People will see you and that could cause you...”

But she placed her index finger on his lips before he could continue what he had wanted to say to her.

“First of all, I wouldn't lose my popularity. Secondly, I want to help. I don't care what my fans think about me working or helping at the restaurant or hotel. See it this way, imagine you see or hear your favorite singer is working somewhere that you can see her for free, what would be the first thing you do?" She explained with a smile.

He couldn't help but smile too. He didn't know her much but he knew the attraction he once had towards her was still there and anytime she got closer to him, he would lose it completely.

He also didn't know she felt the same way towards him. And while the night was young, they unintentionally decided to stare into each other's eyes.

He gazed more at her and they exchanged silent glances.

That was when the magic under the stars decided to fall on them. The breeze danced around them and the cold air passed through their skins. They both were lost and David being the first to recollect his senses, slowly held her neck and pulled her to him in order for their lips to meet and find each other.

The kiss, which first started off to be slow, became faster. They both couldn't seem to get enough of the kiss. Marisca moaned as his tongue went deeper into her mouth.

Dean could also hear the sounds coming from the two lovers as he stood behind David. When he saw them looking at each other like that, he knew it was going to happen.

But as much as he wanted it to happen so fast, he wasn't ready to watch the boy he had grown up with, making out with the woman he loved.

So he cleared his throat and as quickly as possible, Marisca pulled away from his embrace. She didn't know they had an audience.

“For how long were you watching us?" David angrily enquired.

Dean laughed and answered with a question, "Are you kidding me? For how long? For how long were you guys kissing?”

Marisca was first to understand his answer. He was there the entire time they started kissing.

“What happened to your face?" Marisca asked him as David knew what possibly could've happened to him.

And he wasn't wrong too. He knew his brother too well.

“Well guess what? Your stupid sister or best friend, decided to punch me in the face!”

He said and David and Marisca laughed, hoping it would cool off the heat they both were feeling inside their bodies.