Chapter 2

A dangerous encounter on the rooftop

"This better be good or I swear-" I could feel the tension growing up inside me as I looked at myself in the mirror of the washroom.

So, finally, I was in the restaurant ready to meet the guy named Keith Devlin. Finally, after five days since the party where Miss Leila Devlin and her father Aaron Devlin bombarded their wish on me of wanting me to see Keith, I am here to meet the man.

I can't believe this. Damn it, Dad!

According to Dad's conditions I have to meet the guy, try to know him more like analyze him and think about their marriage proposal. Dad clearly told me that if I didn't like him he would never pressurize the topic ever again on me. And it's not like I'm not in any relationship or something, so why not give it a try?

But what if the guy is just like those rich spoil brats out there? Driving luxury cars, drinking, smoking, spending time with babes, like those typical brats as they show in television series?

"Oh my god! My life will come to an end! I don't want another Skipper Jones in my life. No! Just no!" I slapped my face thinking about Jones. She was enough for me to remember her till my death. And don't want another one in my life.

No Vienna! Don't have these stereotypical thoughts.

The ringing of my phone brought me out of my thinking state as I fished the phone out of my pocket to read the caller ID displaying 'Dad' over it.

"Have you reached there on time my baby Raccoon?"

"Dad first of all why do you always forget this that I am never late and what baby Raccoon?" I scoffed at him rubbing my temple in agony.

"No, I was just making sure of it. Has he reached there yet?" he asked and I shrugged my shoulders but remembered he couldn't see me "I don't know. I'm in the washroom," I replied as I looked at myself in the mirror. A girl came out of the toilet and washed her hands beside me while I focused on my phone call.

"What? What are you doing in the washroom? What if he shows up and doesn't find you there?" he panicked and that made me roll my eyes.

"It's only eleven. You told me that he would come right at eleven-thirty," I said reminding him about it.

After I had met Leila, she had informed my dad that Keith had flown down specially to meet me and he wishes to meet me in the restaurant right at eleven-thirty in the noon and that is how I ended up here thirty minutes earlier preparing myself for the typical Q and A round.

"But what if he is there just like you? Earlier?" Dad asked and at that moment I wanted to hit my head hard on the wall until I die of a brain hemorrhage.

"Look, dad if I am earlier, he will think I am desperate. If I am late he will think I do not respect people. It's better to be on time,"

"Yeah you are right, but what i-"

"So what? The time was fixed to Eleven thirty. It doesn't matter if he comes first or not. I will show up right at the decided time. I have to go, bye" I told him as I hung up on him before he could ask more.

My dad acts more like my mother. I don't blame him though. After I had lost my mom at an earlier age, he has been pampering me and had given me the love of my mother. I know he loves me but sometimes it's just too much to handle.

I looked back at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a brown vest over black jeans and I had my full sleeves Jeans jacket on. Nothing fancy! But it was how I liked to dress up. I was comfortable and I believed the guy should know about my choices at the very beginning.

I bet if Dad saw the choice of my clothes, then he would yell at me like hell.

Picking up the phone I was just about to pick my purse when out of nowhere the woman standing beside me picked up my purse like a flash and before I could analyze what was going on she dashed out of the washroom pushing the washroom's door hard.

"What the-"

"Hey!" I was right behind her running after her, as she ran pushing past people out of her way.

"Thief! She took my purse!" I yelled after her and I noticed as the guards who were standing at the entrance looked at her and as I shouted they were alarmed and right on their feet to catch the green-dyed hair woman right before me.

"Thief!" I yelled and both of the guards jumped upon her getting her right at the entrance of the restaurant. She yelled and fought against them while I continued running to them but I watched as all of a sudden the teenage girl hit one of the guards on his groin and taking it her cue, she freed herself from the other guard and ran towards the main road.

The girl didn't even notice the bus coming her way when she stopped right in the middle of the road looking terrified as she watched the speeding bus towards her. I had no idea when my body worked on its own and I was already running towards her and the next moment I got hit on my back and together we fell out of the bus' way.

If anything at that moment I could feel was the pain on the side of my body when it came in direct contact with the road. But thankfully, I had managed to save both me and the girl as we fell on the side of the road unharmed. She closed her eyes petrified and sobbed afraid of the situation. From the corner of the eyes, I watched as the guards who had my purse came towards us.

"Hey, you!" I called the teenage girl who refused to look at me as she sobbed too afraid to even open her eyes.

"Look! You are alright! Nothing happened. The guards are coming. If you want to save yourself get up and run," I said as quickly as I could and like a flash, she removed her hands from her eyes and looked at herself first searching for any injuries, and then she looked towards the way where the guards were running towards us crossing the road. She looked back at me for a split second before getting up and limping away from our sight towards an alley.

"Are you alright? Miss?" one of the guards asked me and I watched as the other stout one, made an attempt to run after her but I hissed and cried holding my leg that made him stop.

"Are you alright?" the stout one asked as he came next to me and held me by my arms helping me up on my legs.

"I'll go after that brat!" the stout one said but I stopped them.

"No! I mean she is gone. I think she would have gone very far for you to catch her now. Let it be," I said and inspected my body for any injury.

"At least you have my bag," I said and took it from the other guard checking for my belongings.

"We must say, you are really brave," the stout one said and that made me chuckle.

"You saved that brat and that unthankful brat just ran away without even thanking you," he scoffed at the girl and I shrugged my shoulders at him.

"No probl-"

"What in the world?" I yelled when I checked the time on my phone. It was already past eleven-thirty. Hurriedly, picking up my purse I ran back towards the restaurant, checking the road for any vehicle.

"Shit! Dad's going to kill me," I muttered walking inside the restaurant back to the reserved seat. Fortunately or unfortunately for me the seat was empty and at the very moment, I had multiple questions running inside my mind.

"Wait! Did he show up or not?"

"Or did he leave when he didn't find me here? Shit!" I cursed under my breath and got up from the seat and hurried up towards the receptionist.

"Excuse me?" I asked the blonde lady behind the table.

"Yes, ma'am? How may I help you?" she asked and I asked her about Keith to which she replied he hasn't shown up yet.

"Are you kidding me? Like seriously? I was called up here only to be ditched? What the hell?" I thought as I went back towards my seat thinking maybe he would show up a little late. Or maybe he was stuck in some uncertain condition.

I was just about to take the seat when my phone beeped. It had a text notification from an unknown number and it wrote.

I'm sorry. I can't be there at the moment. I am really uncomfortable in public places but I'm near you. If you don't have any problem can you come and meet me at Devlin's building which is within walkable distance from the restaurant? The building is under construction and I was here for inspection but then thought of calling you here. If only you don't have any problem.

The text message didn't have any signature and I assumed it was from Keith himself.

Sure, Why not? I'll be there as quickly as I can.

-Vienna Alvis

Unlike him, I made sure to add my name at the end and hurried out of the restaurant towards the building that I already knew was near the restaurant. I had to cross the alley and sure enough within ten minutes, I reached the under-construction building. I saw the workers were on lunch break as they had their lunch and I walked past them and went directly inside the building. I had to ask several workers where Keith was and they told me he was waiting for me at the terrace of the building.

As the building was still under construction, the workers saved me from climbing all the way eleven floors up using the stair by giving me a ride on their temporary lift that was only built for the construction work.

"Thank you," I said once I reached the last floor where I was supposed to take the stairs to reach the terrace.

"No problem ma'am," he said and left.

I stared up towards the stairs and took a deep breath in.

"It's okay Vienna. You are already here. You can do it," I muttered and took the stairs up. Each and every step I took I felt even more nervous thinking more and more about him.

What would he say?

What would he be like?

I thought about it again and again and as I reached the final step I looked around searching for him when all of a sudden my eyes fell on a person standing at the edge of the terrace.

"Oh my gosh!" I cried and before I knew it the person who had his back faced towards me turned around but lost his balance and then for the second time of the day I found myself running, no! sprinting crazily. My body acting upon its own. The guy stumbled and then everything felt like slow motion as I witnessed the poor guy falling backward and he jumped, too late for me to even reach him. But I never gave up. I sprinted as fast as I could wanting to save him but then when I reached the edge, he was already out of my sight.

Terrified I had tears flowing down my eyes as I held a hand upon my mouth and as I had already imagined the worst I walked as slowly as I could towards the edge thinking that I would now see his body motionless on the ground. With each step I took, I felt as if my heart would burst any second out of anxiety.

The guy fell from the sixth floor. There was no way he would....

"Oh my god!" I sobbed and peeked a little, but to my absolute shock, there was no one.

"What?" I heard my own confused voice as I looked down and surely there was no one. I could see the workers eating their lunch peacefully but not a trace of the guy who fell off the building before me, a few seconds ago.

"What happened? " I asked to no particular one.

As I continued searching for him, his body, in particular, all of a sudden I felt a presence behind me and like a bolt of electricity I turned alarmed about the presence and for the third time in the day I screamed petrified to find the same guy, in same clothes who fell off the building safe and sound as if nothing happened right before me.

But the weird part was he was glaring at me through his glasses which gave me chills running down my spine.