"I swear I'll never do that again in my life," groans Mia as she wakes up to her head throbbing. The throbbing is accompanied by a really heavy headache, but compared to the assault that knocked her out, it's just a lovetap;and for that, she's thankful.
She finally pries open her eyes to see that she's in her room, wearing her pajamas, and from the looks of things, quite comfortable in bed.
How the hell did I get home? Mia asks herself. She remembers the party and how Andrew got on her nerves- she's still considering murdering him in retaliation for that- She also remembers her indiscriminate drinking, the pain that threatened to take her life, and finally, the merciful blackout that saved her from it all.
But try as she can, she just can't seem to remember anything after that and she finds that very strange.
"Well, there'll be time for contemplation later," she says, getting the sheets off of herself. "Now, I need to get out of bed."
Mia's on her feet when she notices the steaming cup of coffee with the words My first hangover on it. Dad, she thinks with a smile; only Sam can think to do something like that.
Her breath suddenly hangs in her throat just then. Crap! She groans within herself. Her parents know she got drunk last night. It doesn't take a genius to know that they'll be very far from pleased.
Thing is, she has never gotten on her parents' bad side before, apart from the occasional normal "making friends" issue argument she usually has with Regina that is, which isn't considered anything by the latter- an achievement she's rather proud of to be honest- but now, all that's down the drain and it's due to the handwork of a particular blonde demon whose name she'll rather not mention.
Anyway, not willing to delay the inevitable, Mia grabs the coffee off the bedside table and rushes down the stairs to face her parents.
Downstairs, Sam's telling Regina a joke which the latter is obviously only pretending to listen to as she types intently away on her laptop. "My prodigal daughter finally graces us with her presence," he says with a hint of playfulness the moment he feels Mia hug him from behind.
"Good morning, Dad," she returns, smiling.
"Don't even think that goody-goody act of yours is going to get you out of this one, young lady," Regina quickly says before Mia has the chance to greet her. She's clearly displeased. "What in the world were you thinking getting drunk like that?" she asks.
"Mom, I'm so sorry," Mia replies. "It's just that-"
Whatever she's going to say gets stuck in her throat when a loud continuous beeping ring suddenly begins blaring through the whole house- she doesn't even know they have that sort of thing installed.
She looks up to ask what's going on but Regina beats her to it. "Sam, what is it?" she whispers urgently, closing her laptop as she briskly goes to stand next to him.
"They're here," he replies, and then, "Everybody get down!"
Mia still doesn't understand even an inch of what's going on and will have remained standing if not that Regina pulls her down just in time before a ball of what looks like pure electric current suddenly comes hurtling in through the window and hit the wall, causing the latter to blacken instantly.
"What the hell is that?!" Mia shouts in a mixture of fear and surprise, but no one answers her as Sam springs up, reaches underneath the centre table to pull it down and reveal a secret compartment in it; bringing out a gun from it and begin shooting indiscriminately at whoever is attacking them from the outside.
Now, to say that Mia's surprised to see her father with a gun will be quite an understatement. She's absolutely bewildered. But he works in a construction company, she says to herself, why will he have a gun?
Sam, on the other hand, has a lot more to worry about than answering the surprised look etched on his foster daughter's face. "Come on, Regina!" he shouts. "Get Mia somewhere safe."
"On it," she replies before bringing out a Swiss knife from her jeans back pocket like it's always being on her and leads Mia towards the bedroom; unfortunately, all through the confused screams of the latter.
Thing is, Mia just can't fathom why the hell her parents have weapons, which they seem to know how to effectively wield by the looks of it. They're good people, she assures herself again and again.
Unfortunately, that isn't an explanation as to why they have weapons, or who in the world will want them all incinerated for that matter.
The men outside, whoever they are, have stopped bombarding them with electric balls and are now engaged in an open gunfight with Sam; the latter surprisingly holding his own quite well against them.
Regina is leading Mia down the corridor towards the master bedroom when a man suddenly jumps in through the window and tackles her. It happens so fast that all Mia can do is watch as her mother and the assailant fall to the floor.
But no sooner do they hit the floor that the man has a knife sticking out of his chest. When he's rolled off, Mia sees that Regina managed to position herself quickly in such a way that when they fall, the man has no choice but to fall on the knife. How would she even know to do that? Mia finds herself wondering again. She's just a simple secretary.
But as with all of her other questions, that one goes unanswered too.
To be honest, Regina will love nothing more than to explain everything to Mia in that moment, but the danger hasn't passed even then and she has to make sure it's dealt with first before any talk can now happen.
"I know this is all very confusing for you, Mia," she says, acknowledging the frightened look in her eyes, "but I really need you to trust me. Can you do that?"
Mia wants to say no, that everything has become too confusing for her and she doesn't know what to trust anymore, but she finds herself nodding affirmative. In truth, despite everything, the fact remains that Regina is her mother and she loves her; and that, she can trust.
They both enter the bedroom when another man comes flying at them again, this time tackling Mia to the ground. She screams as the man pins her to the floor but nothing happens as he has a knife buried in his windpipe. "Good thing I went for that throwing practice last summer, right?" says Regina with a smile as she shakes the man off Mia and help her stand. She smiles too.
The moment gets ruined again when bullets starts flying everywhere and they have to take cover. Regina orders Mia to stay in the corner as she retrieves a pistol from the clothes drawer and starts returning fire.
Sam bursts into the room a while later, looking pretty banged up. He's bleeding out of so many places and looks highly probable to have been hit in a vital organ. "Call him," he orders Regina.
"He already knows," she replies. "He'll be here soon."
"He better," he mutters in response before returning his attention to taking down the attackers. In truth, it doesn't take a genius to see that they won't last much longer against the ever-increasing influx of assailants, not unless they have external help.
About eight gunmen gets access to the room an hour later of Sam and Regina's resistance, but before any of them can get a shot off, they all suddenly go tumbling to the ground like a pack of dominoes with knives sticking out of their backs.
"You finally arrived," Regina says to the guy who comes into the room after the assailants' falls.
"What can I say, Regina? Traffic was hectic," he replies and removes the baseball cap he's wearing, and Mia almost has a heart attack.
Thing is, underneath the cap of her and her parent's saviour is the face of the last person she'll ever have expected it to be. Andrew Cameron.
“You know him?!” That’s the first thing that Mia thinks to shout after her initial shock. Now, she knows that most people will begin with questions like "What in the world just happened?"or"Where the hell did you learn to kill like that?" or something else along those lines.But Mia has never claimed to be like most people.“Yes,” Regina replies, a bit confused at her choice of question. “Andrew’s a friend.”“Wait, you’re friends with this demon?!” she shouts again. How the hell can Andrew be friends with Sam and Regina?She thinks and almost gives in to the temptation of murdering the boy who is her nemesis there and then.“Look, I know you have so many questions but I just heard those guys radio in for reinforcement,” Andrew says, cutting into Mia’s thoughts. “I suggest we leave before they arrive.”“No
We must be going at a death speed, thinks Mia as the car whizzes in and out of traffic. It's only a suspicion that she’s fairly certain is true, but she doesn’t dare to take a look at the speedometer for the fear of confirming it.By then, Mia half-expects the cops to be on their tail but none of them are in sight. Then, she realises that virtually no cop car can keep up with the Ferrari’s speed. Their pursuers, on the other hand unfortunately, has no trouble keeping up; her interval glances confirming it.“Relax already, Gates!” Andrew suddenly shouts at her from behind the wheels. “Your incessant movement is distracting me.”“Those guys are still following us,” she returns as if the past hour isn’t enough to tell him that.“Don’t worry, they can’t catch up, and they won’t want to draw unnecessary attention to themselves by shooting at us,” Andrew assures h
Mia dries herself with the lone towel in the bathroom before putting on her new outfit of blue jeans coupled with a cream top; and a frown spreads across her face. Her clothes; they fit; perfectly.How could Andrew have known my size? Mia wonders as she steps into the room to see him sprawl across the bed with a magazine in hand; his black jeans, grey top, and blue sports jacket adorning his body excellently. He has opted for a pair of leather boots instead of sneakers like her.The receptionist is nice enough to send up an extra bed to their room and even follows it up herself to make sure it’s delivered to the right room; although Mia finds her motive for doing so questionable.Thing is, throughout the set-up, she does nothing but send not-so-subtle sensual looks at Andrew and Mia almost gives in to the urge to barf at the sight of it.He’s an overbearing, narcissistic teenager, you moron! She mentally shouts at the woman.
Mia has been running for more than fifteen minutes but she hasn’t come across the payphone she spotted from the motel window.I swear it had looked so damn close before, she thinks as she tries her best to keep up her speed, but that doesn't hold as the seconds tick by.Truth is, Mia has never been an athletic person. Yes, she can hold her own quite well in a race, but her body is a little bit on the generous side- as many people have pointed out in times past- and although it has never affected her before, it definitely is now.Her thought returns back to Andrew. It has been doing so ever since she left him, but she quickly stomps it just like she does every time it crops up. He’s gonna be okay, she assures herself. There’s no doubt that Andrew’s a strong guy and will be able to carry on without her eventually.She, on the other hand, is a different story. She can’t even find a damn payphone.Mia is st
New York City, New York. It’s around ten in the night when they drive into New York; at least that’s what the clock on the dashboard says. Mia has never felt as tired as she is in that moment but the excitement coursing through her veins from seeing such a marvellous city didn’t make that all too obvious. Now, it’s not that she thinks Chicago isn’t marvellous anymore- seeing an actual big city isn’t enough to just rob Mia of that love that she has for her home city- but being in an economic jungle like New York is definitely an upgrade in travel experience for her and she likes it. And Andrew said that this isn’t even the best part, she reminds herself. The street traffic has become light by that time of the night but it still isn’t very easy to manoeuvre through the city- one of the side effects of being in the city that never sleeps- but Andrew’s navigation is quite expertly and that makes the journey reaso
Okay, everything in this company has got to be imported from the future, Mia concludes when she sees the diagnostics room; at least that’s what the inscription on the door calls it. It takes a few more minutes of persuasion from Jacob before Mia finally agrees to have them run diagnostics on her mind. Whatever the hell that means, she thinks all the way. Truth be told, she doesn't see the importance, nor care to really. But Jacob has gone out of his way to protect her for sixteen years, the least she can do is indulge him; and so, she does. Besides, if he means me harm, she thinks to herself,he could have done so when I was still young and defenseless. However, one question that keeps nagging at Mia even as she gives in to the request is, why is Jacob Londermann, the CEO of one of the greatest tech company there is, so invested in her, a sixteen-year girl? And no answer she's come up with so far has sa
Forty-three... Forty-four...Mia counts as she puts one foot in front of the other and moves round the big white room that has become her home. For about a week now, she's been staying at Alphatech and her life has quickly taken the shape of a routine. She wakes, eats, exercises, does a little bit of schoolwork as assigned to her by the numerous tutors that have been hired and paid for by Alphatech; and of course, her evening isn't complete without a diagnostic test with the master himself, Jacob Londermann. Now, it's not that Mia's against her hermit-like lifestyle. In fact, it rather suits her "Not mingling with people" personality perfectly. However, the problem is that even though she's shown that she's ready, the answers she so desperately craves for haven't been given to her. Every day, she's asked to look for a certain someone or something; and although the pain is almost non-existent now when she does a mental search as she likes to call
The fact that Jacob asks to see Mia in the morning already convinces her that it isn't going to be a pleasant meeting. For one, he has never asked to see her in the morning before. Second, he's never even present in the company at that time so it doesn't make any sense that he will have something to see her about. Anyway, she goes to see what the fuss is all about. In the office that hasn’t quite lost its effects on Mia, she stares out the transparent wall into the city below. That morning, she opts for a white long-sleeve top with matching white pants and sneakers for the meeting. To be honest, the outfit that makes her feel like a lab rat, but she finds it way better than its black counterparts in her Alphatech closet- Mia really doesn’t want to look like someone in mourning no matter how the situation looks like. “So, why have you called to see me?" she asks, finally tearing her eyes away from the sight outside to face the man who has been sitting