"...Derek, you're a witch..."
"... A witch... A bitch..."
"Derek you're a bitch."
Gasping for air, that's how Nova woke up.
"Did I say 'witch'? Oh, my god did I call Derek Adams a witch? But then where did that 'bitch' come from...?"
Holding her head in her hands, Nova sat up straight.
"Oh, god! No, no, no, no, no! I couldn't have... but did I...? A bitch! Oh, my god! How could I just... I'm never coming to Abby's parties. And even if I do come in one, I'm never going anywhere with her. How could I let that happen? I just..."
When she realised she was talking to herself, she stopped. She stopped talking to herself out loud. Ha, at this point, not even Derek could stop her from rambling to herself. Thinking of Derek... oh, she just wanted to hide in a corner and be invisible for the rest of her life. This had never happened before, she'd never let something like this happen before. It was so new that she wasn't even sure what kind of drunk she was.
What if she caused trouble, wreaked havoc, and now the whole media was dissing her? Not only her, Derek too; and the whole company! Oh, she was going to lose her job. Oh yeah, she was sure as hell going to lose her job! And who had she even become after drinking so much! She was swearing for goodness' sake! Nova Newton never swore! And oh this headache would surely kill her.
Getting up from a bed that she knew nothing about and taking her purse in her hand, she stood still for a second because she felt dizzy. Good lord, how much had she even drank!
This was alarming; maybe she should just call it quits. Yes, that was exactly what she should do. She needed to find Derek and set off on a long ramble about how sorry she was and then she needed to ask for a resign because she'd just ruined the whole ruse. Yes, she needed to do this. Her dream be damnedâoh who was she even kidding, it was Nova herself who'd damned it all! No seriously, who asked her to play along? So what if she declined to drink? She could've made up an excuse! But alas, nothing will come out of it if she just stood there and thought; she needed to act. Find Derek.
Slipping on her heels â she still wasn't sure who even did all of this for her, she could only hope it wasn't Derek because if it was actually him, then Nova wanted to just burn into ashes right that second â she went out to look for him.
Nova was still at the event of the party, she was lying in one of the rooms that this place had which was on the second floor. Thankfully, her headache wasn't that bad, at least not yet, though it still felt like someone was drilling a wall inside her head. If she remained alive after this much dreaded confrontation with Derek, the first thing that she would make sure would be to take an oath about not even touching anything that had alcohol in it. She would never ever take such a chance again. Never.
She needed to know the time, needed to know how long had gone since she passed out. If she would even find him here or if he'd already gone to his penthouse and was now having a meeting to decide what to do of her. She already knew too much. Stopping at the very entrance of one of the gates that lead to the party, she took out her phone from her purse and looked at the time.
One hour. One hour had passed since she'd last been conscious. Derek and her had decided to get going by ten and it was five past ten already! She would be lucky if she could get her hands on him tonight.
As she stood at the entrance, she got to know that the party was still very much alive and chirping meaning the party was still going on. Perhaps it was time for the auction, or maybe the auction had already ended and it was now time to congratulate whoever it was who'd done the highest bidding.
But before she could go in and look for Derek, she felt a tap on her shoulder.
Turning around to see who it was, her hand instinctively went to the place where her gun should have been.
Of course she carried a gun with her; it shouldn't be surprising since she was now the assistant of an agent, an assistant who was in the whole investigation of the case too. What should be surprising, however, would be the fact that her gun wasn't where Nova remembered she'd put it; on her right thigh.
Nova was wearing a flowy dress that also had a pocket, a pocket that Nova had cut from the inside in order to make it easier to go straight for the gun, should a situation arrive and, that situation had arrived. And nova didn't have her gun.
Because the person, who stood behind her, a couple feet away, was none other than the one who was suspected of the dirty work. Lee Hiram, almost as tall as she was in heels, brown tuxedo, brown shoesânot well polished, brown hair styled sideways, he also had a beard now that covered most of his face; hands in pocket, an expensive looking watch, an ear piercing, smilingâalmost smirking face and blue-grey eyes watching her.
Nova smiled at him, her face conveying that she didn't recognise him. "Hello...?" she said, almost in a questioning way.
"Hey." He said his voice smooth and not at all slurry which meant he wasn't drunk. An upside over Nova because she just woke up after passing out drunk.
"I'm sorry but have we met before?" She asked him through a smile, trying to seem approachable and completely confused.
"Oh, no, no. I should introduce myself. I'm Lee Hiram; I work for the company as well. I heard you've just recently joined too?" he asked her, his body language saying that he meant well except his hand that was in his pocket. The pocket that seemed unnaturally bulged out. Was there a gun? Another upside to her?
"Oh I see. No I haven't really joined as of now but yeah, I will be working there soon," she told him, still trying to be as friendly as she could and ignoring the increasing pain in her head. She was sure that her head was burning hot because that was how it felt to her.
"What department would you be working for? If you don't mind me asking," he asked further. Now this was a question that seemed eerily suspicious. Why would he ask her that? He was bound to know that she was working as a counselor, there was no chance he didn't know that already.
But he seemed to be genuinely curious. Could it actually be that he didn't know? Then should she tell him? This particular information did not seem of much importance to her because Lee was to know sooner or later, but the way his eyes started shining in a twisted light and how he had come a few inches closer, a light furrow had taken place between his eyebrows, the light smile gone from his face which made her feel like she should be very careful as to what she tells him.
But before she could think of dodging the question in the smartest way, she felt a pain so sharp in her head that she couldn't help but wince at that. Touching her temple, she muttered out a soft 'pardon' and closed her eyes. She was never drinking again.
"Oh, you don't seem alright, are you alright? Should I call someone for help? Do you need something?" it was Lee who broke out in a frenzy of questions. That weird look now gone from his face but it still didn't seem quite natural. He didn't exactly look concerned, he looked something... different. Something Nova couldn't pinpoint because her head seemed to want to burst out.
"A glass of water will do. And a place to sit would be really relieving," she muttered out. And as soon as she said it, a jolt of electricity seemed to pass Lee because he straightened himself immediately and offered his hand to her, to hold on to. And in no time he was saying to her that they could relax at 'a place he knew'. It seemed that Lee thought she either came alone, or with someone who ditched her because he was also offering her a ride.
"Yeah, sure. Lead the way," Nova said.
If she wanted to know what his deal was, she needed to pretend to be falling into his trap. This might be a little early for both her and the case but she felt like this was a golden chance, one she should definitely not let get away. Her headache be damned, she could deal with it later but right now, she had to see what this Lee guy was up to.
He took her to the most overused and easy place, a place that any sneaky guy would take his victim to if he wanted to do his work in silence and without much audienceâthe parking lot. If Nova could, she would have laughed out loud at the obviousness of this person. He seemed new to all this and now nova was sure that he was up to something. He was looking around as soon as they arrived at the darkened place, seemed to be looking for someone. His body language had changed completely; he was not at all in his own composure as he'd seemed to be inside the hall. He was fidgeting with his ring that he had in his fingers of his left hand. His right hand was still in his pocket and now she knew why it seemed to bulge out beforeâhe had his hand curled into a tight fist. Clear indication of his nervousness.
He was stronger at pretending, Nova noticed. He seemed to almost fool her back when they were still in front of the hall. His easy going composure and his small talk. Nova could bet he was only instructed to get a few things out of her, some kind of information but he was thinking of being one step ahead of the plan. And now he was going to pay for it because it was very clear to her as to what Lee Hiram planned to do.
"Are we waiting for someone?" Nova decided to ask.
"Um...no, yeah! Yeah, we're waiting for a-a friend of mine. She said she'd be here in a few." Lee replied stuttering over his words.
So he said it was a 'she' he was waiting for. All the more chances of it being Mrs. Tory. Nova will have to wait a little longer, ignore the increasing hammering inside her head a little longer.
But before Nova could think of a plan as to how she was going to handle all this and still manage to get away from them, a loud ringing of a phone distracted her from anything she could be focusing on. It was Lee's phone that was ringing, and the ringtone was absolutely maddening. Her already bad headache was starting to get much worse and now Nova doubted if she could survive this headache of hers.
"Ugh, are you going to take that?" Nova didn't know whose voice it was that practically screeched at the guy making him fumble in his pocket in search of his phone. But when she felt hands holding her head and her teeth grinding, she realised it was she herself.
When the sound was finally gone, she told her head to just endure it for a couple for minutes. When she could finally listen to her surroundings after the deafening pain subdued, she heard Lee whisper yell into his phone.
"What do you mean I'm an idiot? I've only made it easier for you! And earlier!" there was a pause after he said that. Then, "Yeah, she's with me... We're in the parking lot... what do you mean you already left! You should've at least told me..."
Nova decided to tune him out because she knew exactly what was going to happen. Taking her phone out of her purse, she sent a quick message and then began to search. Search for an object, any object that would serve as a weapon because she didn't even have her gun with her.
"You have got to be kidding me!" Lee was straight out yelling now, making Nova's suspicions prove to be true. Which also meant that she had to hurry.
The small blinding spots that now seemed to interrupt her vision did not help, in fact they seemed to want to become the reason of her doom. But when she didn't find anything and heard Lee curse at the phoneâit meant that the person on the other side had just hung up on himâNova sneaked up behind him, her hand ready to strike.
And as Lee stuffed his phone back in his pocket, still cursing, and lifted his head up, most probably looking for nova, that's when she stroke the side of her hand right below his ear.
Lee only managed to utter out a groan and after that, he fell unconsciously on the ground.
That was also the moment when two things happened: her head screamed like it had never before, causing Nova to press her eyes shut, a vain attempt to endure the pain for a little longer; and a shout of her name echoed through the dimly lit place.
But even though her brain did not know if she was standing or lying, if she was still alive and breathing, it still managed to tell her who that voice belonged to.
Derek.
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A/N:
Hey forgiving people! It's me the promise breaker, showing my untrustworthy face hoping you'll forgive me again lol sorry
So I wrote this and I'm pretty proud of myself lol. I'd be honest, I felt lost halfway this chapter because I started thinking of what I initially wanted this story to be like and then I thought of what I'd planned it out to be and then I thought if what I'd done with this story was alright. But coming to the end, it started making sense again so I let it be.
Yeah I told you I'm clueless
Other than that, I'm actually enjoying quarantine, I know, VERY unpopular opinion but it's actually the truth.
One of my best friends just introduced me to k-pop â more like a specific boy band (no it's not bts) â and can I say I'm obsessed? Their music is amazing, their personalities are amazing, they are amazing and oh god I just found my new love lol. I'm also starting to learn some korean words and slang and phrases. If anyone wanna help, they're very welcome to hit my PM's I'm all for learning languages and cultures and all that.
You guys can guess in the comments as to which boyband I'm referring to, the correct guess will get a dedication and a glimpse of fangirl me lol
Sorry for making this author's note so long and the chapter shorter than usual ( I need to make a rant book asap!) And thanks for bearing with me hehe
Please read, vote, comment, add, share, follow, enjoy!
Until next time,
Z.