Dana smiled and toasted.“Want to see them spewing fire?” Lara laughed mischievously; Dana nodded.“Ask you fiancé to cooperate with me.” Lara spoke with an insidious grin.Dana didn’t take much note of Lara’s tease, she turned to Ben who had his lips curled up in a smile. Although he was conversing with Ed and Frank, his ears were tuned into Dana’s side. He had heard Lara, but what made him happy was Dana did not refute.“Ben” Dana leaned close to Ben.“Um” Ben turned his head, leaning down towards her.“Lara wants to make mischief. Can you ….” Dana pursed her lips upwards; she couldn’t actually say the rest. ‘How awkward?’“Do you want me to?” Ben whispered. He was sure the candidates could not see his intimate action from the angle they were at.“Um”“Okay.”Dana looked at Lara and nodded giving her the ‘all okay.’Lara smiled seductively as she stood up and walked over to Ben “Mr Adalase, let me toast our friendship.”Dana had her head down, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.E
Sarah took Dana and Lara to their private room on the second floor.“What is going on?”“I am a dead duck…. Ben is going to kill me.” Lara muttered as she sank into the sofa.“Why should Ben kill you?” Dana asked in confusion.Sarah and Lara looked at Dana like they were looking at an idiot…. Then they looked at each other and burst out laughing…“What?” Dana pouted.“Nothing… my dear friend.” Lara hugged her affectionately.“YUCK…. Stay away from me … you’re smelly and sticky” Dana pushed Lara with a disdainful expression.“What? You despise me???” Lara put her hands on her hips with a threatening expression before chasing after Dana. Dana ran around hiding behind Sarah pulling her into the ruckus before dodging and running around with Lara tagging behind.Scar informed Ben that Dolce had left just as Sarah walked out; Ben, Frank and Ed left the room under the pretense of Shadow organizing the room for audition. Frank led them to their private room on the second floor.Dana ran aroun
“Thank you all for coming at such short notice. I will inform your managers if you are successful. Please feel free to stay back and enjoy our hospitality.” Shadow announced as the audition was completed.The participants wanted to curry favor with the big bosses; they circled their way around socializing. Ed sat with Dana in the corner, he hated the hypocrisy of these occasions. Lara came fluttering like a butterfly towards them. Ed watched Lara coming over as lively as spring’s first breeze, his lips curled up subconsciously only to be disappointed, he wasn’t the target of her attention. He looked at Dana with a slightly resentful gaze.“Bored??” Lara asked as she pulled a chair close to Dana.“Nope” Dana was still reading an article. Lara pulled her phone out with a pout “What are you looking at when you have such beautiful company?”“Puchi…” Dana pursed her lips into a lopsided grin “What’s that got to do with me? Here, perhaps you two can bicker.” She pulled Lara’s chair closer
Dana and Lara drove back soon after Lara found Dana in the restroom. Scar followed them in the dark.Lara found the bracelet and put it on as soon as she got home. Ed had told that it was water resistant and did not have to be taken off; She was never going to take it off. Although she pretended to be carefree, she was scared silly.“Dring… dring….dring…” Dana had just laid down to sleep when her phone lit up with ‘King of Pestering’.“Hello”“Baby, its me. Have you slept?”“Then wouldn't I be sleep talking?” Dana retorted with a playful smile on her face.Ben pursed his lips upwards; she wasn’t annoyed with him anymore.“That Putnam guy came looking for you.”“What’s that got to do with me?” Dana rolled her eyes although she knew he couldn’t see her.Ben snorted in displeasure and then changed the topic-“I heard Ed say that you were browsing for activities requiring high energy expenditure.”“Um”“I can think of one…shall I come over?” Ben’s face was bloomed with an evil smile.“No
The next 3 weeks were simple and tiring for Dana; She and Lara spent the evenings with Kim and Steve. Ben and Shadow would gate crash almost every day. Her sessions with Kim didn’t have the norms of standard counselling. She would explore her interests and divert them.Steve and Kim developed a more meaningful father-daughter relationship during this period. Away from her normal self-inflicted abusive triggers, Kim bloomed into a beautiful young flower. Her face regained its youthfulness and vitality.“Dad, would you be shocked if I told you I want to go to university?” Kim asked casually as they ate breakfast.“No.” Steve replied as he ate. He looked at Kim and responded in a serious tone “I would only be shocked if you wasted your talent.”“Then, I am going to university when the new session starts in 6 months.” Kim announced boldly. She had been thinking the past week. She wanted to be more outstanding than Dana, she wanted her dad, Dana and Lara to be proud of her. These three peo
Dolce on the other hand was anxiously staring at Ben, Frank and Ed. He was sure the disappearance of his men was related to them, but he didn’t have any leads. He purposefully caught up with Simon and Amelia. They didn’t even know about David’s death. He wanted to find something on them so that he could squeeze them into a corner and negotiate. He needed to get his men back. Strictly speaking, they were Tyson’s men. The only one he could think of was Sarah and the kids, but they were heavily guarded and had too much public exposure.Tyson called him yesterday to ask about Angus. Strangely, he said that he hadn’t heard from either of his half-brothers for more than 2 months. Angus was a world class hitman and would often disappear, but he would be in touch with the agent that supplies him drug. This time even the agent wasn’t contacted. Mr Tyson was sure his half-brother was no more and had called to check if Dolce knew his whereabouts, as he was in A country during their last contact.
Theo walked in with Delvin in tow. He frowned as he saw a man hugging Dana. He rudely walked forward requesting access to pass through between them. Ben frowned, he wondered what Theo was up to, forgetting his current identity.Theo had no intention of walking forward, he stood between the two of them and introduced himself to Dana ignoring Ben. “Hello, I am Theodore Merek, the president of this chain.”“Hi” Dana smiled.“I came with Delvin to see how things were and to personally apologize for the incident a few months ago.”“Oh…no need. It was dealt with adequately.” Dana waved her hands. She did not hold a grudge, it was forgotten.Ella bought the invoice with a sweet smile as she saw Theo, the real boss.“Madam, your receipt.” Although she was talking to Dana, her eyes were glued to Theo; Delvin watched in disdain as he saw the look in her eyes.“Why are you bringing this? Where is the staff who served us?” Dana asked in a sharp tone.Ella’s smile froze. She didn’t expect this bit
Theo and Shadow bid farewell to the group and walked out. Shadow didn’t forget to change his identity to Vannes before he walked out with Theo. “Don’t tell me you felt guilty and called me out to feed me good food.” Ed teased Ben. “Me??” Ben shook his head and said with feigned modesty “Someone has a request for you. I am just the delivery boy.” Ed looked at Dana. “Why are you looking at my woman?” Ben grunted. Ed looked suspiciously at Lara before shaking his head and turning to Cyril “Do you need anything?” Cyril looked at Dana and Lara in confusion… As soon as she saw Lara’s dark face, she imagined that there was something between Ed and Lara. She regretted sitting in the middle… she couldn’t run away. “I… I … just remembered, I have to be somewhere.” Cyril stood up anxiously and tried to squeeze past Lara and then Dana. She looked pleadingly at Dana. “Move… let her go.” Dana looked at Ben. Cyril ran as soon as Dana and Ben moved out of the way. “Did I say something wrong?