Chapter 1 Flowerpot
Quianna"s POV
My hands are being busy since in the morning, preparing for the special meeting conducted by our team about the new product we"ll going to introduce. I am Quianna Ross, a normal office employee working under the company owned by my best friend"s parents. I am currently an intern working for 6 months and it"s my final week before the announcement of regular employees, even if it is the company of my best friend, I don"t want people to keep telling gossips on who I entered or chosen at the final lists. That is why I am working until my feet felt numbed and my shoulders tensed for the whole day.
"Quianna! Meeting in 5 minutes." The team leader said to me.
"Yes, coming!" I hurriedly collected all the needed papers for our meeting.
"Quianna! I said we"re starting the meeting now!" I saw the team leader peeked from the meeting room to yell out to me.
"Yes! Here I go!" I yelled and run towards the meeting room. Oh, shoot! I forgot to prepare drinks for the members.
I piled all the papers on the table and run again out of the room to go to the pantry. I start preparing enough cups and simultaneously open each coffee packet. I need to do it fast, or else our tram leader will scold me, again.
"Quianna! Where"s the presentation?" Alicia asked me, she"s one of the members of our team, but she"s already a regular employee so I guess she"s one of my bosses.
"I"ll prepare it in a minute!" I yelled and put all the cups on the tray and slowly walked towards the room. I kept reaching for the doorknob, but I feel any moment I can spill all these drinks on me. A familiar hand reaching for the doorknob to open it, I look up and saw Dylan smiling from ear to ear.
"Why are you always in a haste?" he said then opened the door.
"Really? I did not notice." I said then awkwardly laugh.
"Well, for your information madame, you"re always doing things in a hurry."
"I think I need to hurry, one more mistake and I"m out in this job." I said then shoo him out.
"Ms. Scarlet, I am done preparing." I said to our team leader.
"Next time Quianna, when I said 5 minutes, it should be 5 minutes. I can"t delay the meeting just because of your carelessness." She said and entered the room with other members. I sat in front to control the presentation. After an hour, the meeting ends, and I need to clean up the room.
I picked all the candy wrappers littered on the floor, the mugs and the papers not needed. I looked at my watch and saw my shift will be done in 15 minutes. After I finished all my tasks, I flopped down on my swivel chair and sat back looking at the ceiling for the remaining minutes of the shift.
"Quianna." Someone knocked on my desk and it"s Dylan again.
"What do you want?"
"Let"s get off to work together."
"Okay, wait in a second." I said then start fixing my desk and my bag.
"Let"s go." I said then walked out first. Dylan and I are best friends since we are little kids. Our parents became friends while we are in kindergarten, so we technically siblings.
"I"m so tired, Dylan." I suddenly said to him.
"It"s okay to rest for a while Yana." He said then get my bag for him to carry.
"I can"t. I need to work hard for them to say that I did not get into that company through my connection to your parents." I said and sat on the bench at the playground.
From here, you can see all the buildings of the city and the famous city lights which everyone wanted to see during the night.
"But you did not. You finished college with high grades, and you have abilities for this work."
"And at the same time, they know we"re close, Dylan." I said and looked at the night sky.
"And at the same time, you did your job very well." He tries to comfort me.
"Don"t be ridiculous, I always do my job bad, I always got scolded and one more mistake, I"ll be fired."
"You want me to change your working department?" he said, then I instantly looked at him and glared.
"That is why they"re saying those words to me." I said to him and he just chuckles.
"I"m just joking." Then he laughed.
Phone rings
"Hello?" I answered.
"Quianna! Where are you?!" mom hysterically said to me.
"I"m on my way home, what happened?"
"Your father was in a car accident! He was in hospital now!"
"What?! Okay, text me the address, I"ll go there." I said and then ended the call. I was about to run when Dylan got my hand. He looks at me like saying he was coming; I just nod to him as I got no time to waste.
My phone vibrates sign that mom texted me the address. I opened it and saw there is another text message coming from an unsaved number. I just ignored it and read my mom"s message to me, it"s a relief that they got him hospitalized in our owned hospital.
"Which hospital?" Dylan asked and started the car.
"Ours." I said then he runs the car so fast.
At the hospital
"Where"s my father?" I asked the information desk.
"Ms. Quianna, he"s in the operating room. Please wait—" I run towards the operating room and I saw mom sitting and quietly crying.
"Mom."
"Quianna. I am scared. What if something bad will happen with your dad, I can"t take it." mom said the hugged me tight while still crying.
"No, mom. Nothing bad will happen to dad. We have the best doctors here. Let"s call Dr. Lee." I said and let mom sit on the chair.
"He will be here, in a minute. He"s off duty today, I just called him after I heard about the accident."
"Dylan, please tell the company I"ll be absent tomorrow. I am very sorry but—"
"What are you saying? You must go to work. I can look after your dad." Mom said. The operating room opened, and doctors came out one by one.
"How"s he?" mom automatically asked the doctors.
"I"m sorry but we"ve done everything we got. He lost too much blood and his heart is not responding anymore." The doctors said then bowed their heads in grief. I saw mom slowly kneeled on the ground and crying out all the tears she got.
"Are you sure you did all you"ve got?" Dr. Lee came.
"Yes, professor. We"re very sorry." They said, I felt my legs wobbly, and my hands became numb. I can"t believe every word I heard. I felt I was about to break down, but I saw mom, who needs more comfort than me. I hugged her and tried to comfort her silently.
After an hour, I let mom go home with Dylan while me fixing the needed documents for us to take the body.
I sat down and look through my messages today. Many messages coming from our friends and relatives saying their condolences. But one message stands out above all.
"Your father will die tonight, at exactly 6 pm. He will die from a car accident and the killer will not be arrested immediately."- the message stated.
I looked at the number and it seems like a burner phone. I tried calling it multiple times, but it cannot come through.
Should I believe this or ignore it as it may just be a prank? But how did the accident happened the same as the message stated? Is this a pre-mediated murder? Am I watching too many movies, I think?
"Yana, are you okay?" I saw Dylan walking towards me. I immediately put my phone in my pocket upon seeing him.
"What was that?" he asked.
"Nothing. Why did you come back?"
"Mom said I should stay with you. She"s worried."
"Thanks for your care, but I"m fine—"
"You are not fine." He said emphasizing each word. I just looked at him and smiled bitterly. I lean towards his shoulder, and I cannot help myself but let the tears I was hiding a while ago.
"You know that I am a daddy"s girl, right?" I said between my sobs.
"Yeah, and I know how greatly hurt you are right now." He said then put his hand on my head.
"I don"t know what I am gonna do, now."
"Mom feels so devastated, and I need to be strong for her. Can I do that?" I said then wipe my tears running down.
"I believe in you Yana, you can go through this." He said and gave me a handkerchief.
"Thank you for always being by my side, Dylan." I said and then finished wiping out my tears.
"Let"s grab for a bite. I know you haven"t eaten since we left the company." He said then offer his hand. I smiled and took it.
I talked to some nurses there and said that I"ll be gone some time. We went out of the hospital when I heard a message notification.
"Won"t you read that?" he asked.
"Nah, maybe some condolences again from other people." I said then continue walking, he grabbed my wrist then silently look at me.
"Okay fine, I"ll read it." I said then took out my phone. I opened the message and realized that the message came from the unsaved number from earlier. I was about to ignore it again when I saw some of the messages.
"A huge flowerpot will be falling over you. For that you will be hospitalized for weeks"- stated in the message.
I cannot move, should I really believe in it?
"What was that about?" Dylan asked. I gave her my phone and let him read it. We both looked up at the high floored hospital building and something was falling.
I looked at it and it"s like everything is in slow motion. I just felt Dylan"s hand and pulled me towards him, and after that, a huge explosion happened in front of us. I saw a huge flowerpot coming from one of the hospital rooms or I guess from the rooftop fell and almost killed me.
That"s when I believed that every message, literally happened in front of me.