A man could be seen seated in an office pressing his sleek silver colored laptop on his table. As he worked on the document, his eyes flicker to the wall clock, then to his wrist watch and alternatively his phone. The time ticked by as he kept pressing the keys and then the phone he had been constantly checking beeped and his eyes turned to it.
He sighed as he removed his hands from the keyboard and picked the phone up. It unlocked with his face id and he scrolled to message. It was one from a contact saved as 'My light'.
[Babe, why are you still at the office? Or, James, have you gone elsewhere?] The message read.
James forehead creased as he could sense his girlfriend's annoyance from her message. He quickly responded, [No, I've definitely not gone elsewhere. I'll be there to meet you now. I'm really sorry for keeping you waiting.]
The message instantly ticked read and she responded, [I'm definitely waiting for you. Thirty minutes then since the ride back home is a bit tight.]
[Okay.] James typed back.
He dropped his phone as he had cleared that off. One thing James always make show to avoid in his life was annoying or making his girlfriend unhappy. He looked at the laptop and the document he was working on which he had to finish and back at the time.
"I'd better go home now because it seems serious. If I recall correctly, she told me about something she intends to tell me tonight."
James stood up from his chair and shut down his laptop. He also worked on a few of the systems in his office before proceeding to walk to the door but as he almost reached there, it opened to reveal a lady dressed formally.
"Boss, where are you going?" She asked, her brows raised. She looked at the office and saw that he had closed everything off and then back at him. "Home?"
"No." James lied. He looked at the time to cover up his expression as he said, "I have an important appointment to still attend before the day ends so I can't stay here for long but I'll be back tomorrow. Whatever remains for us to do to settle this .ess the company wants to enter, we'll do it then. Okay?"
The lady observed him for a while, and then she nodded. James walked past her and went outside the underground parking lot of the company. As he got there, he looked at the time again and uttered, "Better to lie than tell her that I'm going home to pacify my girlfriend then she'd say she's spoiled. Laila doesn't like Beatrice so she'll definitely find ways to convince me to stay and I don't want to."
He walked to the door where he parked his car and unlocked it with the remote. As he was about to open the car door, he suddenly heard steps behind him and James brows furrowed. "Laila?" He said as he turned back to look but it wasn't Laila. Rather, there were two men in black masks and before he could talk, one of them suddenly pointed at his head.
He stiffened , his breath caught in his throat.
"Do not move." The man said. Then, to his second, "Go over and put a sack over his head."
The man walked straight away and the next thing that James knew in that confusing and dangerous moment was darkness and blockage of air before he painted.
And the next thing, he could feel light shining into his face and the sack away from his face. His throat felt patched and he could hear giggles in the background. James opened his eyes and blinked for a bit before getting used to the light.
Before him was a beautiful lady. His eyes squinted as he swallowed trying to get his throat back to order. 'What is she doing here?' James could only think as he stared at his girlfriend.
His mouth was sealed and he kept staring at her, his head swirling in confusion. Then, she spoke, "How are you doing, darling?"
"I waited for you to come back and you didn't. Guess you were tied up here and that delayed you." She said, a snicker gracing her lips.
James became more confused at this point. He stared at her, his brain trying to connect pieces of what could be happening.
'Beatrice obviously couldn't have done something about the kidnapping or is this supposed to be a surprise? Scare me then surprised me at the end? Is that why she lured me out of the office? Just so this can happen and she can show the grand surprise?' James kept his thoughts positive as he stared at his girlfriend, his confusion increasing.
"I know you must be confused and being the amazing boyfriend you are, you wouldn't really know what this is yet." Beatrice said, her voice soft but carrying an edgy tone and a dreadful feeling in James' chest.
She moved closer to him, her heels clanking on the floor. As she got closer to him, she stretched her hand forward and James cranked his eyes to see who it was as she wasn't pointing at him and there behind him was someone else.
'What is Leon doing here?' James blinked as he looked at him, his neck strained.
Leon then moved away from his position, coming to Beatrice as he took his hands. 'This definitely isn't a surprise I would like, if there's any…' James shook his head as the dread continued. His brows knitted harder as Leon drew Beatrice into his embrace.
Beatrice chuckled as they hugged for a while and James just sat there in the cage they've put him in, anger brimming in his heart as his girlfriend hugged his bestie. At this point, he wasn't sure if something better was going to happen.
They stopped hugging and Beatrice said with a smile. "I think it's best to feed James of the suspense now and just let him know what's going on."
"Ah…that's true." Leon said, looking into Beatrice's eyes. He kissed her softly on the lips and then said, "Let's do this quickly so we can go have fun. I can't wait to have you. It's been a while."
Beatrice nodded at his words as she smiled brightly. Then, Leon turned to James and said, "I heard from your secretary that you were going to meet an important client so thank you for clearing that up for us. It removed Laila from being a suspect and we just have to destroy your cellphone."
At this point, James has already cleared up the belief that there was a surprise and everything was good. He already brought a new assumption. And that's is, His fucking bitch girlfriend was fucking his bestfriend but he doesn't know what they want.
Beatrice said with her soft voice, "Maybe you should remove the tape on his mouth so he can talk before we finish this up."
Leon nodded and he moved forward and shred the tape off James lips. James, freed, licked his lips and spat out, "What the fuck are you two doing? Why did you kiss her? What do you want? What's your deal?"
Beatrice burst into laughter at James outburst and Leon also wasn't left out as he equally laughed. When it died down, Beatrice moved forward and said, "We would've loved to not resort to this but you don't have a disease and since the clause for being your next of kin can't be activated until you die, I've actually got no choice than to resort to this."
"What? You!" James was flabbergasted as he heard her words. He assumed it was going to be so but hearing it from her mouth broke him. James' eyes turned red as he gripped the handles of the chair, his brain swirling with anger. "Why?"
Beatrice sighed as she heard his words. She turned to Leon, her hands stretched, "Hand me the knife, I honestly don't have time for this shit. I've put up with you enough."
James' eyes flashed with sorrow as he heard her words and truly, Leon handed the knife over to her and she moved very much closer to him. James' heart clenched hard as he watched her clench the knife tighter in her hand and drive it deep into his heart.
"Arrghh!" He shouted out, pain clouding his senses. Blood gushed out from the wound and even Leon behind her watched with awe in his eyes.
Beatrice removed the knife and James shouted again. She stepped back, her hand holding the hilt of the knife as it dripped with blood.
"Take," she said, stretching the knife towards Leon.
He took it from her, his hands shaking and wrapped it inside the available clothes. Then, Beatrice folded her hand as a smile graced her lips. "I think it's better to talk to you when I know that you'll die minutes from now."
James felt his senses fading as he stared at the beautiful creature before him who is not so beautiful again. His heart pained him really badly and he just wanted it to all end but yet, a question lingered at his lips. As blood pooled down below his chair, he asked, "Did you ever love me? I really loved you so I'm confused! I never made you cry, so why!"
"Honestly, you didn't do anything wrong, it's just me. I never wanted your love, always, I've always wanted your money, your achievement to my name and the only way to get it is to have you killed so why wait?"
"Since you're dying, one thing I'll tell you now is that, maybe try not to love in your next life."
'Try not to love in your next life…' the words played and replayed in James' mind as he felt his consciousness slipping away. His eyelids felt heavy and the weight on his heart felt incredibly heavy.
As his eyes closed, his heart still breathing, fainting, light flashed in his darkness that surrounded him and it felt like he was watching a film and a scene flashed before his eyes.
He could see four people. One lying down on a bed, and three others surrounding it. It was odd to him as he's never watched that movie before and more importantly, why would he think about that before dying? At his last moment?
Everything was devastating to him. James has always thought that if he were to die early in life, at his last moment, what he would think of was his beautiful girlfriend caressing his face but that was all a dream as rather he got a knife struck to his heart.