INTO THE UNKNOWN

3. THE WEIRDEST DAY

Hello everyone!!

I'm back with the new part. Hope you will enjoy it and will read the story!!

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JEANETTE

Rushing back into my apartment, I quickly got out of the dress, wore my ripped jeans, and put on a cardigan. The weather outside had already started to get cold indicating that the season of the snow was nearing. It was the end of October and by early December it would start to snow. And truly speaking, my body was pretty much susceptible to cold and flu.

Grabbing my bag, I filled the notebooks and the assignment from last week into it. Picking up my phone and a leftover bread, I walked out of the room. I hated going to the university, the professors were like leeches, always sucking on your blood until you are left with nothing. Oh, don’t worry, I don’t believe in vampires and all those creepy creatures. Sometimes, I even wonder why people write stories about them and fantasize about the creatures when they are not even real!

“Hey, Ana, you there?”, I chirped over the phone as I continued to walk down the alley towards the bus stand. Now, you must be wondering why I would travel on a bus when I have my own car? Well, for starters, no one knows who I am and whether I have a car or not. Everyone thinks of me as an orphan girl who lives in a stray building and doesn’t own anything precious of her own.

So, yes, travelling on a bus, wearing faded and worn out clothes are a part of my cover. The bus ride was for twenty minutes and even though the transport was over-crowded, I loved the experience and the thrill that it has. I’m always driven by my emotions and you can say, I’m prone to dangers and accidents.

After all, I love playing with dangerous things, something that can cost me my life. Getting down from the over-crowded bus, I trotted towards the university. Annaise was already there since the last time I talked with her on the phone. She lived close to the campus unlike me whose home was around forty-five minutes away.

Reaching up to her, I acknowledged her with a silent nod when she, all of a sudden, gave me a tight hug. She was caring and I knew, she was shaken up with the earlier incident but it was better for both of us to push aside the thoughts and concentrate on our present.

“Ana, I’m fine. Let’s get to the classes otherwise, Mr Black is seriously going to murder us this time”, she chuckled softly as we started our journey towards the main building. We were both about to move into the building when suddenly, students started to rush out of the classes with a full-blown smile on their faces.

I and Ana stared at each in confusion and was about to move forward when suddenly someone jumped in front of us, making us shriek in horror. “Michael”, I yelled at the person who was smiling at us, taking fun in our horror-struck faces, “what was that?”

He gave me a sheepish smile and scratched his neck when he saw my livid face and my hard glare. Normally, I wasn’t a violent person but my friends knew not to mess with me when I’m angry. “Sorry, actually classes got cancelled and that’s why I was just-“, I cut him off with a smack on his head as he stumbled back due to the force.

“And that’s why you found it quite funny in scaring the s**t out of us, is that so Michael?”, my voice gave away the anger that I was feeling for him and by the way, his eyes widened in unparallel horror, I knew he was getting terrified of me.

I was about to give him another treatment when Ana caught my arm and shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips. “Leave it. You are actually wasting your own time while beating up this monkey. Let’s go and just relax. What say?”, she exclaimed in a super joyous voice when me and Michael, both gave her a blank look.

“You called me a monkey?”, Michael said in his over-dramatic voice to which I simply rolled my eyes and stared at Ana with an unwavering gaze. She bit the inside of her cheeks as both of them waited for my answer. They knew I hated outings like this because all I had bigger things on our plate. But then, having some fun occasionally didn’t sound to be so bad.

So, letting out a small smile I nodded in a yes and man, the sight that unfolded in front of me actually had me looking here and there in embarrassment. Two grown-up people were actually jumping up and down on their toes just because I said a YES!

I walked in the front as both of them were cribbling over some lame issue, such kids they were! Shaking my head, I took over the side lane as the cars rushed by us as if they were in a marathon race. Sometimes I just wonder, why these cars race against each other so rashly? I mean, they weren’t going to catch some flight or like that.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t even realize that we were standing in front of the cafe, my eyes staring past the glass door, looking at the almost empty cafe. My whole body went rigid when I felt someone’s hand landing over my shoulder. Giving a side glance, I let myself relax when I saw its none other than Ana.

“Its fine, no one is here. It's ok! Let’s get inside and warm ourselves”, I nodded with her encouraging words and we all walked inside. Michael ran past us and immediately flopped over a window seat, earning a chuckle from both of us. He was actually the funniest and lively person in our group.

Ana was somewhat torn between being jovial and reserved and for me, well I’m a pure introvert. Not because I don’t like talking with people or I’m hesitant with what they would think about me. in fact, I don’t give a damn about what they think. Me being an introvert is for some other reasons, reasons that neither I want to discuss openly nor do I like to remember them.

“Jeanette, come on. Sit down”, I heard Michael calling out my name and that’s when I realised I was indeed standing in the way of others. Muttering a soft apology, I went to the table and sat down on the empty seat. “What exactly were you thinking when you were standing out there like a sticking sore thumb?”, he whispered asked me when I threw a nasty glare at him, making him seal his lips at once.

He raised both of his hands on either side, making a mocking surrender pose that had both me and Ana roll our eyes at his antics. “Let me order something for us. Jeanette will you take your usual cream latte and mayonnaise sandwich?”, I nodded at him as he got up and went to the counter for giving our orders.

“Jean, let’s talk about that deal. It’s silent here and I guess this is the perfect place”, Ana said all of a sudden, seriousness dropping from her voice. I looked at her and then kept the glass aside, looking at her with utmost attention. “Go on then”, I replied while setting my gaze ahead of her, outside the window.

“His name is Christian Regulus”, the name itself sent shivers down my spine as I tried to focus on her words, “the CEO of the Regulus Industry, the one who wants to deal with us. The business heads of the company actually sounded quite impressed when Michael pitched your idea to them. Even the CFO, Mr Devante Scalzo, appreciated the security system. And that’s the reason they want to meet you, the creator of such a strong and multi-layered security network”.

Confusedly, I looked at her and said, “But if they like the idea then why do they want to meet me? I mean it’s not like I will say something different and the plan will be changed”. My question seemed to take Ana off-guard as she too started to contemplate over my question. “Because, when I conversed with them, it was over Skype and they knew the idea wasn’t mine. So they want to meet you in person. Unfortunately, they got stuck in some work today and couldn’t make it our office. That’s why this Devante Scalzo requested me to pay a visit to their headquarters”, this time it was Michael who answered my query as I stared at him quizzically.

“I don’t get it. First, they heard about the plan over skype and not in a person and when they realized that this security network has a potential, they want to meet us. And they want us to visit their headquarters which is god knows where. Right?”, I asked both of them with sarcasm dripping from my voice as they both looked at each other in befuddlement.

When their silence gave away nothing, all I wanted to do was throw both of them outside the cafe and enjoy looking at their shivering state. “Despite knowing the fact that I don’t like our company to come into the limelight, you still agree with this stupid and ridiculous plan?”, my voice was slowly rising and I could feel the curious glances that were at our way but I didn’t care.

“We’re sorry. But Jean, this company, its our dream. Our only hope of survival. Enough with small projects and living behind the shadow. We should take up the offer. Think about it once, Regulus industry has been in the business world for over than decades. You can say they are the rulers of this world. And dealing with them means you ought to be in the stardom”, I let out an exasperated sigh as Annaise tried hard to make me understand.

It's not like I didn’t understand what they were trying to say because I too want to take our foundation to a recognizable level but I had my own hands tied up. “All right”, I spoke up after a few minutes of dreading silence, “I’ll go. But remember I will be in cover and the responsibility is your Michael. Do anything, I don’t care but I don’t want to blow up my identity”.

If you have ever seen the exact moment of happiness that surrounds a toddler when you hand over a candy to them then you would know what exactly I was seeing. And for some unknown reason, their happiness radiated out of them and touched the coldest parts of my soul, bringing an automated smile on my face.

“Okay, enough of you two, let’s eat now”, I muttered under my breath as my cheeks were flaming red due to the embarrassment. Upon realizing, they stopped their over-growing excitement and focused on the food. To say I was hungry would be a shame because I was ravaging the plate, attracting two pairs of curious and unbelievable gazes at me.

“What?”, I asked them with half of my latte in my mouth, “can’t a girl eat now till her stomach is contented?” They seemed to realize what they were doing because the next moment they both delved into their own plates, eating like spoilt, sophisticated brats.

And as usual, I finished my plate earlier than them, earning groans from both. It was our usual habit, going into a competition regarding the foods and most of the time, it was me who won it. Blame it on my nearly empty stomach or my inhumane hunger, I’m a big foodie!

Instead of watching the idiots, I decided to do something that I should really do, sketching. So, without a thought, I took out the book from my bag and opened the recently sketched drawing. It wasn’t my fair copy though. I never brought the fair one out of my flat only in the fear of losing it somewhere. This was my regular sketchbook, a rough one where I usually draw the outline sketch of something real and then on my fair book, I put the details of my own and make something different.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t realize the sudden silence in the cafe and when I realised that, it was quite late. It seemed as if the entire cafe had seen some ghosts and their blood had run cold due to that. Looking up from my book, I was about to ask my friends about the matter when I saw them openly gawking at something behind me.

Like seriously?

“Guys?”, I whispered to them but still no reaction. Frustrated, I finally decided to look back and just as I was about to stand up from my seat, a cold shiver ran down my spine, making my legs tremble and my insides all jittery. My palms were covered with a thin sheet of sweat as I felt my heartbeat sky-rocketing for some godamn reason. Curious, I looked back at the reason as to why I was feeling so nervous yet drawn to whatever was behind me.

And trust me when I say, that moment when I turned back and came face to face with the coldest pair of orbs, I wished internally that I wouldn’t have turned and got the worst out of my curiosity.

Certainly, curiosity killed the cat!!