I heard her giggling beside me as I wrote the initials of our names on the slide. The slide that was the beginning of our friendship and she smiles at me when I look at her.

“Why are you smiling?” I ask her and she shrugs.

“I don’t know, you looked cute while doing that,” She says. “You will always remember this moment, right?”

“Always.”

She nods her head and slowly her smile fades away. She turns away and walks slowly away from me, and as she walks away, her jumpsuit turns into a floral dress that was torn from her shoulder. 

I called for her but couldn’t remember her name, but she turned to look at me anyway. There was helplessness in her eyes as she was going away from me. I tried to follow her, but my foot got stuck on the ground.

I saw her retreating figure as she left.

Before I could do anything, I felt the earth tremor and heard something familiar tune in the background. 

Wake up!

WAKE UP!

I woke up to the noise of the phone call. I started searching for the phone that I had kept last night on the nightstand. Once I grabbed the phone and answered the call, I heard Anna’s screaming voice from the other side.

“Where the hell are you?”

“I am in the house on the outskirts of the city.”

“COME HERE THIS INSTANT!” she yells as I get up from ‌my sleeping position. “MOM IS FURIOUS WITH YOU AND WANTS TO MEET YOU THIS INSTANT.”

“Let me guess, is this because of my last night’s date?” I ask. “Because the only reason Mom would get furious at me would be because of that.”

“You got the answer right,” Anna says calmly. “Now will you come here?”

“I just woke up,” I say to her. “I will be there in fifteen minutes.”

 “Please, do!” And she cuts the call.

Once I got out of my bed, I walked towards the window and opened the curtain. I saw small kids waiting for their school bus to arrive and morning joggers jogging. Living on the outskirts of the city, where the hustle and bustle of the city is bare to a minimum, was one of the best decisions I had. The constant noise of ambulances roaming in the city, always made me anxious for some reason.

This type of nightmare is the reason why I have been searching for her for years.

I brushed my teeth and wore the suit that I wore last night again, making my way to the car parked in the garage. As I ignited the engine of the car, I got the car out and closed the garage door.

While driving, Anna called me again.

“Have you left, now?”

“Yes, I have,” I reply to her as I put the phone on speaker. “I request you not to call me now, as I am driving.”

“But you don’t know how many times mom asked me about you by now.”

“Then why don’t you tell her that I am coming there soon? I will tell her everything when I come there.”

“You do know that they are leaving for Italy today, in exactly two hours, right?”

“What?!” I yell in shock and put my foot on the brake. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t see the lady in front of me who fainted with the sudden impact and in panic cut Anna’s call.

Once I got out of the car, I saw the lady who turned out to be the Reena I was talking about last night to Arnold. And she opens her eyes slightly. “Papa…?” She says as she closes her eyes ‌again.

What? Do I look like her father?

I tried to pull her head up and try to help her regain consciousness, but she didn’t respond to it. There was a phone in her hand, and I grabbed that instantly. Her phone had a screen lock and the first instinct was to write ‘R’ as the password and thankfully, it worked. The first thing, I did was start searching for a contact to call and saw a number that was in the top.

‘Rishabh Lalchandani.’

The person picked up the call instantly, and before I could speak. The person on the other side of the phone says. “Reena, Thank God you called me. I was confused about what to wear for today’s meeting and you being you, knowing best on what to wear every single time, had so many ideas on the same. Can you tell me—”

“Um, sorry for this, but the person you are talking about has fainted on the road. I called you as your number was on the top.” I told him and there was a silence for a few seconds. “Hello?”

“Where are you? How is she? Is she okay?” His voice trembles with panic as he asks the question. “Tell me where are you?”

I told him the address, and he cut the call saying he would be there in two minutes. After the call, I tried to wake her up, and she didn’t flinch when I tried to slap her slightly on her face. I then remembered the last word she said to me before closing her eyes and an idea came into my mind.

“Reena, please open your eyes?” I say to her. “Open your eyes.”

She slowly tried to open her eyes and I saw her gorgeous Brown Almond Eyes. She tried to focus but closed her eyes instantly. Hesitantly, I put my palm on her cheek and tried to calm her. “Reena?”

She opened her eyes and tried to look at me once she regained consciousness, but the instant she saw me; she pushed me away from her.

“Who are you?” She asks. “And why am I here?”

I tried to approach her, but she gave me a Do-not-touch-me look and I backed away from her. “I called one of your contacts when you fainted,” I tell her as she is getting up. “He will be coming here in any minute.”

“Who did you call?”

“Rishabh Lalchandani”

“Okay,” she says, and she winces in pain immediately. “Shit!”

I looked at her ankle, and it was twisted a little. When I tried to approach to help her, she showed me her hand, telling me no without saying any words. I let her be, and she then looked at me and then at my car.

“Were you not driving carefully early in the morning?” She asks. “Because I was clearly walking on the sidewalk and now…”

“Actually, You were the one who was in front of my car,” I tell her. “I had my phone on speaker, and as I was talking to my sister on my phone, I saw you in front of my car out of nowhere.”

“You do know that texting or talking on the phone while driving can cause accidents, hmm?”

“Yes, I do.”

“And you claim that I came in front of your car, makes me look like I did that on purpose,” she says to me and I realize that it does sound like that. Before I could say anything to her, she took an enormous sigh and stared at me. “Listen, Mr. whoever you are, I will not deliberately jump in front of any car, especially like yours. So Let me ask again, why the hell did you talk on your phone while driving?”

“Like I said, it wasn’t on purpose!”

“It wasn’t on purpose? Really? And do you have any proof for that?”

“I have Dashcam footage if you want?”

She looks at me strangely, and then at the car windshield. “Prove it to me, then.” She says and I stumbled back into my car to get the memory card from the Dashcam but to my surprise, the memory card was not there. Oh shit, now how would I prove my innocence?

I turned my attention towards her, and she stared at me intensely.  “So, where is your dashcam footage?”

“Uh–I don’t have it,” I tried to say something while smiling awkwardly. “But I swear, I didn’t know why the memory card was not there.”

She looked around, and her nose ‌flared up. She was furious. It was a clear sign of that, and then she looked back at me. “This is why I hate rich people like you,” she says furiously. “You guys show off your wealth and then act so clueless when anything bad goes. Let me tell you one thing, Mr. Show-off. I don’t care how rich you are, but I will make sure that you will pay for the consequences.”

“Like I said, I didn’t do it on purpose, I am—”

She raises her hand and glares at me. “I won’t hear anything else from you.”

Before I could understand, she was stumbling around the sidewalk, grabbed a big stone, turned around and threw the stone on the windshield of my car. The glass of the windshield broke into small pieces, and I looked at it in shock.

“WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!” I asked her as she turned away and grabbed her hand before she could run away. “Are you insane?!”

She looks at me, and her brown eyes bore into mine. Though she is mad, there is some sort of hurt that is hidden in her eyes. 

“Why are you leaving? You should pay for this damage?” I ask her, and she scoffs at me.

“I should pay for this damage,” she says sarcastically. “And then what about my ankle pain? What about that damage?”

“I will compensate for that…” I tell her and get my wallet from my pocket. “How much do you need?”

“Really?” she says as she looks at me and then at the wallet. “I was being sarcastic, and the healthcare sucks here, so no, I don’t need your filthy money.”

She shakes her hand off me and stumbles towards the sidewalk. I was going to yell at her, but didn’t want to create a scene here. I opened the car door and was going to follow her but, Anna called me again. Sighing, I left and kept my car back at my place.

After an hour's delay, I finally came back to my house. The house helpers looked helplessly at me, pitying me in a way, and I smiled awkwardly at them. Their helpless smile was enough for me to know the gravity of the conversation I was going to have with my mom.

I went to my mom’s room and saw her walking furiously around the room. Anna was calming her and the moment their eyes laid on me, I was sure that I will be getting punished.

“Where were you, Jacob Alessandro Romano, all night?” Mom asks me furiously in her British accent. “And why were you rude to you, Elisa?”

“Did she tell you that?” I ask. “Because I did what I promised and went on the date, as you wanted me to.”

“But that doesn’t mean, you should stare at someone else while you were on the date?”

“I wasn’t staring at anyone. The girl that was in the restaurant last night was the one who is coming to the interview today, that’s why I looked at her, nothing else.” I tell her, but with one look, she doesn’t look convinced at all. “Mom, I am telling you the truth, and regarding, Elisa, I know I was somewhat rude to her, but I never liked her to begin with, but Justin does!”

“What?” Mom asks in shock. “Justin likes her?”

“Yes, He likes her.”

For a few minutes, my mom gathered this new knowledge and once she was fully aware of this, looked at me. She goes to her dressing table and opens a drawer. Retrieving an envelope from there, she stands in front of me and then asks.

“Then what does this mean?”

I opened the envelope and saw a bunch of photos of Elizabeth with me, but shockingly, it wasn’t her to begin with. The photos were morphed, because; I remember the photos were of the same of me as Isabella that was resurfaced again a few months back.

“Someone edited these photos, because the real incident of this photo is when Isabella was claimed as my girlfriend by paparazzi, look at the pictures closely, they are the same ones as Isabella’s,” I told her and she looked at the picture closely.

“You are right. It is the same photo.” Mom sighs in relief. “But why would her mom send me these edited pictures?”

“Maybe because she wants her daughter to marry me, that miserably.”

Once the doubts were cleared, Mom put the photos away and walked towards the window of her room.

“I am worried about you, Jake.”

“Why?”

“You are already handling your father’s empire very well, and all we need is for you to marry someone as soon as possible.”

“But Jake won’t marry anyone, Mom,” Anna interjected. “He already has his eyes for the mysterious girl, no?”

Anna smirks, but once I glare at her, she goes back to her normal composure.

“And that’s what worries me the most,” Mom says. “I don’t think you must wait for someone this long. It’s time for you to move on, don’t you think, Jake?”

She turned in my direction, and the uncertainty was written all over her face. “I have talked to Aadvita about this, and she also suggested I tell you to stop looking for that girl. It’s time you move on.” She says. “I don’t want you to pin over someone who isn’t even here to begin with, and yes, I will look for some other girls for you while we are in Italy, okay?”

I simply nod my head, not knowing what to say next, and then before leaving her room, she says. “Your father wants to meet you before we leave for the trip. Be fresh in half an hour.”

As I was walking towards my room, Anna strides to follow my footsteps and once we were walking side by side, she poked me on my shoulder. “You finally broke Elisabeth’s heart after a long time! How does it feel?” she asks.

“I don’t feel anything at all, Anna.”

“You are not at all happy about this?”

“I am just exhausted,” I tell her and open the door to my room. “I want to clear my head up, okay? If you want to stay in the room, you can stay, but I won’t be replying to you while doing so.”

“Okay,” Anna says and flops on the sofa. “But before that, I wanted to ask one thing: where is your car?”

“Someone threw a big stone on the windshield of the car,” I reply while looking at the suits in the closet, finally selecting the one that was good enough for the day. I went to the cubicle of the bathroom.

Though the water in the shower was enough for me to be in my silence‌, my beloved sister kept talking.

“Oh,” I heard her say. “Can you describe what she looks like?”

“Anna, I won’t tell you what that woman looks like, especially while I am in the shower. Can you please leave me alone for a while?”

She groans in frustration. “You are so annoying!” I heard her say, and then she left.

If I am being honest, Reena does look somewhat familiar to me. I can’t pinpoint it, but her face reminds me of someone. But who?

Once I got out of the shower cubicle, I heard Anna talking to someone on her phone. Before she realised that I was out of the shower now, I hurriedly put on my suit and walked past Anna. Making my way towards the dining room, I stood outside the room for a second, took a deep breath and knocked on the door twice before entering. And there I saw my dad sitting at the small table in the big room's corner.

Though we had the dining room as big as we were able to have, my mum insisted on getting this small round table for our normal breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As I looked at the people sitting around the table, my dad just frowned as he looked at me.

Well, looks like he now knows what I did last night.

Before I could sit down, Anna knocked twice on the door of the dining room as well, and entered the room and sat beside Dad.

“Good morning, Papa!” she greets him.

“Good morning, Princess,” he says to her as he averts his gaze to her, but then goes back to his normal deadpan reaction as I sit in front of him.

“Marjorie, start serving the dishes,” Mum says as she tries to cut the tension in the room. “Let’s not talk in bet—”

“So, I heard that you were rude to your date last night?” Father interjected. “Makes sense, as you are as shameless as you were before.”

“If I am as shameless as you think of me to be, then why did you hand me your role in the company?” I ask him instead.

“You are the heir of the company, of course. I would have handed you the business.”

“Then what about Anna? Isn’t she the heir of the company as well?”

“Jake, please don’t start this now–” Anna whispered as father was inches away from blowing up. “Let’s have breakfast first, right, Mom?”

“Yeah, she is right. We should—”

“Even if Anna is the heir of the company as well, she won’t be handling the company once she gets married. Once she graduates college, I have selected a guy for her who is a son of my friends from Canada.” His words falter Anna’s cheerful reaction. “Her future is decided, so you should focus on your future. Find a bride that will be suitable for our image. And please, don’t be foolish and fall for anyone who isn’t our standard while doing so.”

And at the next instant, Marjorie starts serving the breakfast to us. Anna had no expression while trying to gulp the food considering the breakfast was her favorite, mom on the other hand, had a neutral reaction. Meanwhile, I just ate up the breakfast without uttering a single word. Once the breakfast was done, Anna excused herself and went to her room. While Mum and Dad were looking at me.

“We are going on a month's trip to Italy. You will be the legal guardian for Anna till we come back. We may have to overstay there if the purpose of the trip won’t be fulfilled by the time we have our return. So, please look after your sister.” Mom says to me.

“I will try to be back by the annual general meeting, so please don’t make a scene while we are gone. Make sure to find the mistake in the sales before the AGM,” Dad says to me. “I want no mistakes. Is that clear?”

I nod my head. 

“By the way, I heard that you are having an interview for a new Sales Manager today?” Mom asks as she tries to ease the conversation. “How many candidates are there for the interview?”

“There is only one candidate,” I reply to her. “She is someone recommended by one of the father’s friends from Anna’s college. She was one of the toppers of her class.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then I am sure that she is the right person for the post,” Mom says. “I hope that once after her arrival, the case of the sudden change in the sales will improve.”

I nodded my head and got up. 

“Have a safe trip, mom. And do call me once you get there safe,” I say to them, avoiding Father’s gaze. “I have to go now. Bye!”

Mom smiled at me, and I left the room.

Once I was in the hallway, Anna ran towards me and was out of breath.

“Brother, can we stay in another place while Mom and Dad are gone?” She asks. “I asked them about it, and they said yes.”

“Sure, so if it’s okay with you, we could stay in the penthouse close to my work?” I tell her. “It’s a little farther from your college, but I hope you won’t mind?”

“I am fine with it,” she says to me. “But on one condition.”

“I will ask the driver to drop and pick you up from the college.”

“You know me so well, right?” Anna says as she pokes me. “Makes sense, having a sister like me is indeed a wish come true for everyone.”

I rolled my eyes at her and then, before leaving the house, stopped and turned around.

“Pack your one-month stuff and I will also ask Helda to clear the penthouse too, and as I might come late tonight for dinner, you should eat before I come back,” I tell Anna. “I will also tell the driver outside to drop you off at college today. I have to be back in the office today as early as I can.”

“I will manage, bro, and please smile,” Anna says. “I don’t like it when you frown every time you leave for the job.”

I smiled, or at least tried to smile for Anna, and she chuckled.

“You do know that I know what your fake smile looks like,” Anna says. “It’s okay for now, but I want my laughing and happy brother soon, okay?”

I nod my head.

In the parking, I told the driver staff the instructions about today’s plan, got into one of the father’s cars and left for the office.