Arrow Shield

Weird connection.

Lisa is seen walking into a restaurant. Ever since she started working in the company, she felt she owed the owner of the restaurant an apology for the slap.

"What will you like to eat ma'am?" The waiter asked as soon as she sat down and she looked around the restaurant.

"I am actually here to see your manager." She said.

"He is not available right now ma'am, but he may arrive soon." He answered and she exhaled deeply.

"Just get me orange juice for now." She requested and he left. He came back with the juice in no time and she started sipping it slowly, hoping he'd walk in before her break gets over.

She soon finished the juice and she ordered for food which she barely touched until her time got exhausted. Paying the bill, she hurriedly walked out.

Lisa walked out of the company slowly, she was done with her work for today. She took a deep breath as the breeze flushed her face, only to see Matthew by the other side of the road waving to her and smiling. She immediately looked away, rubbing her eyes knowing it was all an imagination. Suddenly, a car drove before her before she could make an effort to stop a cab. Looking inside, she realized it was the same person she was looking for in the restaurant.

"Hi. He told me you dropped by." He said.

"How do you know it was me he was talking about. I mean, I didn't even tell him my name." She said and he smiled.

"Well, it was pretty easy to describe, as the lady who slapped me before all my customers." He said and she sighed.

"That wasn't...."

"Hop in." He interrupted and she hesitated.

"You can continue the rest of the apologies from there." He said and smiled as she stared at him. She rolled her eyes getting into the car and he drove off.

"That day I...."

"Mmm-Hmm." He responded and she paused.

"You know, it makes it more hard to apologise when the person is eager to get it out of your mouth." She said and he chuckled.

"But that's the part I love the most. When people make mistakes and apologise later..." He said and she scoffed.

"You sure are getting delighted over this." She muttered to herself. Taking a deep breath, she spoke again.

"I was just having a rough day. I had gone for different interviews that day and none came out good. I was also thinking about my teenage daughter who I'm presently having problems with because of the idea of starting afresh in this new city and...." She paused exhaling deeply. "And its all because of the death of my husband." She added and he stole a glance at her but remained quiet.

"All that just filled my head, yet I had no one to talk to about it. You were right, despite talking badly at you that day, I actually felt better cause I got all my thoughts out." She stated. "It was like you knew that's what I needed, to free my mind." She said and he shrugged.

"Well, you didn't look like someone who just drank for pleasure." He replied.

"I know things can get really tough especially in your situation with your teenage daughter." He said and she nodded.

"She loved her dad a lot, I was never a good mother to her." Lisa said and sniffed and he went quiet.

"Its weird that I'm doing this. I mean, saying all this to a complete stranger."

"A stranger you once slapped. That still hurts you know, I thought you were some wonder woman or something back there."He said and she laughed softly staring at him..

"You're doing it again. Do you do this often? Try to get every single person around you feel better?"

"Well, as long as that person remains a customer." He answered and she laughed. He paused for a while driving in a normal pace.

"When I was a kid, I discovered that I became happy whenever I witnessed people gain satisfaction, whenever I make people happy. That's why I opened a restaurant because only then do I get to see the satisfaction on the faces of the customers. I try my best to please them greatly." He said.

"Wow... that's absurd in a way but thoughtful. Still, you do know that you will only keep hurting yourself because not all people can be happy no matter what you do."

"I know. That's what makes life... I'm Kevin." He introduced and she smiled.

"Lisa..." She responded.

The rest of his drive to Lisa's house, they remained silent until he parked before her house.

"Thank you...." Lisa spoke and he nodded. She got down from the car walking inside when she paused and turned back to him.

"You never said if you actually have forgiven me." She said.

"I'll think about it." He replied.

"Seriously?" She said and he shrugged. Checking the time, she spoke.

"Will staying over for dinner convince you more?" She inquired.

"Well, that sounds like a good idea." He said coming down from the car and she rolled her eyes. She opened the door and they both entered inside.

"Sian?!" Lisa called as she entered inside.

"I'm upstairs! I'm a little busy." Sian answered from upstairs and Lisa sighed.

"You're still not in good terms?" He asked and she shook her head.

"Make yourself comfortable." She said and he sat down looking around the house.

"You have a nice home." He said and she scoffed.

"Its not so nice, at least not for Sian." She said.

"Give her some time, she'll get over it."He said.

" I know." She said walking into the kitchen.

"All my life, I've only gotten to eat what I made. I'm curious to eat from you today." He said and she smirked.

"In that case, I'll do you a favor by making sure the food doesn't taste good." She said and he chuckled.

"Then I'll be sure to rethink if I'll have to forgive you or not." She smiled rolling her eyes.

Meanwhile, Sian sat in her room. She was hearing their voices and she wondered who the guest was. She immediately opened her door slowly and sneaked out. Hiding in a corner, she peeped to see who it was. Just as he turned to her direction, she ran back into her room. She took a deep breath when her phone rang.

"Alex!" Sian spoke as soon as she answered the call.

"Hey girl. How are you doing?" Alex asked and Sian pressed her lips together.

"The last few days have been complicated but today wasn't so bad." Sian said.

"That sounds like things are getting better." Alex said and Sian shrugged.

"Sian?" Alex called as if to confirm if she was listening.

"Yeah?"

"Darryl is sick." Alex spoke and Sian paused.

"After you left, Darryl stopped coming to school. We checked on him and discovered he was already admitted into the hospital for cancer. Things are getting pretty rough here now everyone has found out. Darryl may not be able to survive it Sian." Alex said.

Sian felt Alex words get choked in her throat that she fell speechless.

"Sian?" Alex called again and Sian immediately ended the call. She dug her hands in her head already feeling suffocated. She had known Darryl since she was a kid and even if he didn't return her feelings, he still cared about her. He always made sure she was okay each and every time. The only thing that kept her away from him was that he only saw her as a friend but she saw a different translation of his care. Every single time she felt she kept on making people she loves suffer. When she finally got the chance to date him, she ditched him and left without saying a word because she thought he felt pathetic for her after losing her dad. She didn't know that he was actually sick and he didn't say anything about it to anyone. Immediately, the door opened revealing Lisa.

"Dinner is ready Sian." Lisa spoke and Sian hurriedly cleaned her tears.

"I'm not hungry." Sian replied dryly.

"Are you okay?" Lisa asked on hearing her teary voice.

"I'll... I'll be leaving for Florida this weekend. Alex just called and she said Darryl has been diagnosed of cancer." Sian said.

"Oh my God." Lisa muttered trying to digest the information properly.

"Look Sian, I know you're hurting but..."

"I'm okay... I'm fine." She immediately answered and Lisa paused nodding. Falling short of words to say, she walked out slowly. Getting downstairs, she sat opposite Kevin before the dinning table where dinner was already set.

"Is she okay?" Kevin asked.

"She just discovered that one of her friends has been diagnosed of cancer, its hard for her to digest."

"Oh, that's terrible." He said and she nodded and took a deep breath.

"Let's eat." She proposed and he nodded taking the first bite.

"Not bad." He stated and she scoffed.

"Not bad?" She repeated and he revealed a cunning smile.

"You should have allowed it grill a little more. That's when it gets tasty." He said and she rolled her eyes.

"That's why I never married a cook." She muttered to herself and he rose his eyebrows.

"Did you say something?" He asked and she smiled forcefully.

"Next time, I'll make sure I grill it a little more." She answered and he chuckled inwardly.

They ate silently for the rest of the dinner. When they were done, she offered to walk him out.

"I spent my time differently today and its all thanks to you." He spoke.

"Why? Do you have your day always scheduled?" She inquired.

"You have no idea." He replied helplessly and they both paused before his car, then he turned to her.

"I guess I was a little wrong, the food was delicious. All my life has been bent on satisfying other people but you succeeded in satisfying me today more than anyone ever did." He said and she smiled.

"You're not the only one who knows how to please people." She said and he chuckled about to enter his car when he spoke again.

"I think I forgave you a long time ago already, so you don't have to worry and...." He said and paused for a while.

"Now you don't have no one to talk to. Whenever you need someone to talk to, I'm just a block away, so another guy wouldn't have to go through getting slapped by a wonder woman." He said and she laughed.

"Okay, that's enough. Goodbye." She wished and he smiled getting into his car and drove off. Lisa took a deep breath already feeling relieved. Somehow, she believed once again that things could actually get better

***

Drake's mother is seen walking out of her office and her personal assistant immediately rushed to her.

"Mrs Hillary. She's here again." He spoke.

"I know Jerry. I thought she would stop her investigation after the last encounter but she doesn't seem like she's giving up." Hillary responded.

"Should we take care of her?" Jerry asked and she immediately paused turning to him angrily.

"If you ever say that out in the open again, I'll start with you." She threatened gritting her teeth as she spoke and he went quiet.

She continued walking and Jerry hurriedly tagged along.

"Don't do anything yet. Everyone's eyes are on us especially those nosy reporters. If something goes wrong, they wouldn't wait a second to draw a line." She whispered to him and immediately smiled as soon as she entered the press room where so many reporters were seated. Just as she climbed the podium, they immediately started asking her questions.

"Did you really embezzle the money meant for the TRUST foundation into your personal account?"

"So many evidence of the illegal transaction has been uploaded online. Does this mean the previous embezzlement found in the past, you were responsible for that too?"

"Millions of lives has been affected positively as a result of this fund raising. What is your reason for making them suffer?"

Meanwhile a lady is seen seated at the back, she seemed to be one of the reporters and she was enjoying what was going on.

"Listen... Please listen everyone." Hillary spoke and they all kept quiet.

"There's no doubt I did something wrong and illegal but I was never trying to make it my personal gain." Hillary defended.

"Sixteen states has been registered under this Trust fund and each year an embezzlement of 800 million dollars has been recorded leaving the beneficiaries with peanuts. This has been going on for five years now and that was ever since this foundation was placed in your hands. What can you say about that Mrs Hillary?" The lady who sat at the back threw the question making another uproar of questions to be thrown by other reporters. Hilary folded her hands angrily, certainly the reporter was now getting on her nerves. Just as her personal secretary wanted to dismiss the questioning, she stopped him and spoke.

"I know it all looks very suspicious but it looks like someone is out to tarnish my name. We could consider the KEJ company as a starting point. The contract of the Trust foundation was once in their hands before they were found guilty of this same embezzlement, isn't that true Miss Jenna?" Hilary questioned the young reporter and Jenna stared at her angrily.

"I don't think you should divert from our focus Mrs Hilary. The court has already proven the company free from the allegations."

"Yes, the court has, but I still don't count it true. I never wanted to say it all these years because I had no evidence but I strongly believe that the documents presented in the court were fabricated." Hilary claimed.

"Like you said, you have no evidence, so your claim is baseless." Jenna said.

"Yes it is, but I do have some evidence in this case." Hilary said and displayed the account details of the illegal transfer.

"Here was the first details of the account. The sum of 50 million dollars was first embezzled into an unknown account. Don't you think you missed that spot Miss Jenna?" Hilary asked and Jenna gritted her teeth.

"Five different transfers were made into different accounts and I only noticed this on the third transfer. I tried tracing the account holders and when I found out about the last embezzlement, I resolved to transferring the money into my private account. It was never for my benefit." Hilary said and another account transfer details was displayed on the screen.

"This is the proof of the transfer I just made and it shows the names of all the beneficiaries in the Trust funds. It is the sum of 1 billion that is left from the embezzlement of 500 million." Hilary said and Jenna folded her hands angrily. Once again, Hilary had succeeded in avoiding the situation.

"Who do you think is responsible for the embezzlement?" One of the reporters asked.

"Are you trying to say the KEJ group of companies are doing all this to frame you up?" Another asked and Hilary smiled inwardly.

"Why don't we ask Miss Jenna over here. It has been quite funny how you have made so many attempts to defame me. I have nothing but the people's interest at heart." Hilary responded and Jenna immediately walked out of the room angrily. She got outside the company digging her fingers inside her hair. Just as she crossed the road, a car immediately stopped before her and three men hurriedly came down and closed her mouth. They forcefully dragged her into the car and drove off.

"Let me go!" She exclaimed helplessly and they immediately tied her hands before leaving her. She sighed heavily staring at them.

"So you are really going to tie me up in here?" She questioned.

"I'm sorry Miss Jenna but it was given as an instruction."

"Fine, just untie me." She said.

"Its not time to start playing silly games Jenna." The man seated in front spoke turning to her.

"Oh... you're here too?"

"He warned you to stop." He spoke

"I'll never stop until I expose that witch Hilary."

"You're only getting yourself killed and you know that, Hilary is not someone to mess with."

"I don't care Vincent, even if its the last thing I do." She said and he sighed relaxing on the seat.

"Do you think we are not angry too for what Hilary did? Its just useless because just like today, she'll keep on getting away with everything she does." He said and she went quiet. She knew they had let things slide but she wouldn't be so foolish, not anymore.

Drake rode into a large compound which was heavily guarded by securities. With one of the securities opening the door for him, he came down.

"Young master." They immediately greeted and he just walked in gracefully like it was nothing to him. An old woman is seen sitting on a wheel chair with her supposed doctor who was examining her.

"Drake...." Her eyes glinted as soon as she saw him and he smiled hugging her tightly.

"How are you doing grandma?" He asked releasing her off his hold.

"Much better now that you're here. I rarely get to see you." She said touching his cheeks softly and he held her hand.

"Don't worry, I'm fine grandma. Mother sent me, after hearing you weren't feeling so good and I got some flowers to help you feel better." He said giving her the bouquet of flower.

"Peony! You still remember they are my favourite. I'll add this to my collection." She said handing it over to her maid who stood by her and the maid walked out knowing what to do with it.

"You still have that garden?" He asked.

"How can I stop growing flowers, you know how much I love it."

"But it seems you're overworking yourself lately. You have to get enough rest grandma." He said and she smiled.

"I will." Turning to the doctor who just sat quietly opposite her, she added.

"My bad, Drake meet my caring doctor over here. Her name is Kate, Kate meet Drake, my grandson."

"Oh... The one you always talk about. Its nice to finally meet you Drake, I have been expecting to meet you one of this days." She said as they shook hands and he smiled.

"Its nice meeting you too." He answered and she stood up.

"I'm afraid I have to go now. You have to take care of yourself mother and you don't have to worry, I'll bring the rest of the medicines before the end of the day." Kate said and she smiled nodding and Kate walked out.

"It seems you've gotten a good doctor there." Drake complimented and she smiled.

"How are you doing Drake?" She asked concerned. "You look so pale." She added and he chuckled.

"I'm okay grandma, you just love me too much."

"I know what's going on Drake, don't try to hide it." She said and he sighed.

"I'll be just fine. Its all temporary." He answered.

"Cmon let's take a walk in the garden." She said and he nodded pushing her wheel chair to the garden.

"Can you remember this flower?" She asked pointing to a flower and he smiled.

"Of course, I use to call it sassy when I was a kid because its proud nature." He responded and she smiled softly.

"Look... I still have the necklace of it." He said bringing out a thread like necklace that only had a branch of the flower hanging down but the flowers were withered. She laughed softly seeing this.

"You still have that? The flower is already withered Drake." She said.

"Can you remember what you told me when you made me this? You said, when the carnation glooms, it gains attention whenever its seen, its loved by everyone. So will you be loved." He repeated.

"I treasured it ever since. You didn't realize what it meant but your words meant a big deal to me because I wanted to be loved desperately." He said and she pathetically rested her hands on his in consolation. Suddenly, her eyes caught Sian's necklace hanging over his pocket. It had come out when he was trying to bring out the threaded necklace.

"Where did you find that?" She asked with all seriousness and he brought it out.

"This? Its from a friend." He said having no better explanation to give.

"This is the same necklace I gave to a little boy years ago." She said and he rose his eyebrows.

"Maybe this is another one grandma."

"No, my father made this necklace himself and gave it to me. I was always getting scared at the slightest things back then and he made this, he said it absorbs fear and I wouldn't have to be scared again. I used it for years not until I met a boy. He was hiding at the back of our house and he seemed so scared. I don't think I've seen someone that scared, to the extent that I thought he was having a panic attack, he was really becoming scary. I immediately gave him the necklace because I felt he needed more than myself. He actually got better and I never saw him again after that." She explained and Drake couldn't help but remember what happened to Sian in the school with Jackson. It felt the same way, she was almost having a panic attack because she was scared.

"How long has this been grandma?" He asked.

"Like forty years ago." She answered and he stared at the necklace. There was a weird connection. So far, he had experienced so many strange things about Sian that he hasn't realized.

"Forget about it Drake, maybe there was really so many necklace like this. Besides, how can a necklace take away fear. I was just too ignorant to not believe." She said and he place the necklace back in his pocket.

"I'll have to go now grandma." He said.

"Oh already?" She spoke and he nodded placing a peck on her forehead.

"I'll drop by again when I get the chance." He said handing her to her maid who stood nearby and he walked out with steep steps.

***