SEVEN

Natasha hurried down the stairs, dressed in her school uniform and with her bag slanted across her shoulders. Her feet made loud noises on the floor as she practically flew down the stairs. On getting to the bottom of the stairs, she halted and stared around her curiously, her gaze landing on Ashley and Jenny who were on the couch. Natasha furrowed her eyebrows. 'Where is Jenny?’ she muttered to herself, moving towards the dining table.

One of Nicholas’ maids, Mina, walked out of the kitchen holding a plate and a jug in her hand. As she headed towards Ashley, Natasha stopped her. “Hi Mina. Have you seen my sister this morning?”

“Which one?” Mina asked.

“Diane. I’ve checked her room and she isn’t there. I wonder where she might be.”

“No, I haven’t seen her this morning.”

Natasha nodded uneasily and moved to the dining table to sit. Her mind was really disturbed, making her unable to eat. She waited for a while.

When she heard footsteps on the stairs, she quickly jumped off her seat and turned towards the stairs.

Nicholas walked down the stairs, adjusting the edge of his shirt. He raised his head up and smiled at Jenny and Ashley. “Hey babe,” he greeted and Ashley stood up. He have her a quick kiss on her mouth. “Are you ready?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied, beaming.

“Nicholas, wait,” Natasha called, moving towards him.

He turned around and glared at her. “What?” he snapped impatiently.

“Nothing,” Natasha replied. “I’m just worried about Diane. I haven’t seen her this morning. She isn’t in her room and she is not here either.”

Nicholas opened his mouth to ask her why she was informing him and how that was any of his business but even he knew how cruel that sounded, so he asked, “She isn’t in her room?”

“Yeah. She is usually up and ready before now. You know she drops me off at school most times.”

“Maybe she’s in the bathroom,” Nicholas suggested. “Have you checked?”

“She’s not there,” Natasha replied, her voice becoming hysterical. “I already checked. She’s not anywhere at home. No one has seen her this morning.”

The hysterical and urgent tone of Natasha’s voice suddenly made Nicholas anxious. He stared at her, trying to make sense of what she was saying. “So, you are saying she’s not at home now. She is missing?”

“Yes!” Natasha shouted, her heart pounding so loud that they were audible to her. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as she stared at Nicholas. “Oh God, where can she be?”

“Have you tried calling her phone?” Nicholas asked again.

“It’s switched off!” She began to pace forth and back. “Oh God, Oh God,” she muttered in panic.

Ashlee grabbed Nicholas’ hand. “Nick honey, we are going to be late. Let’s get going. We don’t have time for all this.”

“Ashley, please clam down and wait. Diane is missing,” Nicholas pleaded, placing his hand on her arm. He turned to Natasha. “So, she is really missing?”

“Yes!” Natasha yelled, her face becoming red. “Yes, Nicholas! Yes, she is missing! That’s what I’ve been explaining for the past five minutes!” she screamed at him.

“Shit.”

“Hey,” Someone called from the stairs. Everyone turned their heads and saw Malvika standing at the middle of the stairs, her face swollen from sleep and her hair, dishevelled. Her gaze was on Natasha. “Hey, what’s wrong? I heard someone yelling.”

“Diane is……..” Natasha started to say.

“Your sister is missing,” Ashley interrupted. “And Nicholas thinks that somehow, this is his business! And we have a shoot we need to meet up to!” she yelled.

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About forty five minutes later, Nicholas was still pacing around, Natasha was sitting on the couch, sobbing. They had no idea where to begin their search. All they could do was sit and hope that she returns home or someone calls to inform them of her whereabouts.

As usual, Ashley and Jenny were sitting on the sofa, chewing gum and watching television without any care in the world. Malvika who had come downstairs five minutes after the discovery of Diane’s absence was nearly hysterical. She was raging, ranting and screaming at nobody in particular.

“This is all your fault!” she screamed at Nicholas, pointing her fingers at him. “You caused this!”

Nicolas paused his pacing. “How?” He asked confused and agitated. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t you dare pretend like you don’t know what I’m talking about!” Malvika yelled.

“Can you stop shouting?” Jenny asked, pissed. “It’s not my brother’s fault that your sister is missing.”

“Shut the fuck up!” Malvika screamed out as she turned towards Jenny. “Shut your stinking trap up!”

“Hey, stop that. You are crossing the line,” Nicholas warned, giving her a stern look.

The door slightly creaked and they all turned their attention to it. When it opened, Jayden walked in. In his arms was a sleeping Diane, her hands hung loosely across his neck. Natasha sprang up and hurried towards them. “Oh my God. Oh God. She’s okay. She’s fine. She’s perfectly alright.”

Nicholas turned to look at him. “Who are you?!” he boomed loudly.

Of course, no one paid attention to him. Malvika hurried towards him. “Jay, is she okay?”

“She’s fine,” Jayden replied with a small smile. “She’s just sleeping.”

Natasha sighed. “Ah,” she breathed audibly, holding on to the edge of the couch as her shoulders sagged in relief.

“Where was she?” Malvika asked.

“We were at the park,” Jayden replied. “Before you start bombarding me with more questions, we need to take her to her room. Will you show me where it is?”

“Sure. Come with me,” Malvika said, leading him towards the stairs.

“Wait a minute,” Nicholas stepped in front of them. He narrowed his eyes in Jayden’s direction. “I asked a question. Who is he?!”

“None of your business,” Malvika retorted. “Excuse us.”

“This is my house and I cannot just allow any stranger to wander about it anyhow. So, answer my question.”

Malvika sighed impatiently. “Nicholas…..”

“I’m Jayden, Diane’s friend,” Jayden replied. “I understand the need to protect your properties but I think it’s essential to put Diane to bed first, don’t you think so?”

“With that been said, get out of our way,” Malvika said, shoving Nicholas aside.

Nicholas watched with his mouth opened as Malvika and Natasha led Jayden upstairs. He turned to Ashley and Jayden. “Can you….can you….can you believe this nonsense?!”

“I told you so,” Ashley said to him, her tone a little bit smug. “Told you it was nothing serious. We would have been at the location nearly an hour ago if you had just listen to me.”

“Thanks Jay,” Malvika said as she and Jayden returned down the stairs.

Jayden half smiled. “It’s fine,” he replied. He gave Natasha a pat on her hair and turned to Nicholas. “Diane is already going through a lot. You shouldn’t stress her out more than they way she is already stressed,” he stated.

“Get out,” Nicholas fumed.

Jayden shrugged his shoulders, turned and walked out of the house.

“You see,” Nicholas began, facing Malvika. His face was contorted with anger. “Your sister that you were screaming and yelling at me for was out whoring around with some other man!” he yelled.

Malvika turned to look at him, a fiery look in her eyes. “What did you just say?”

“Your sister is a whore!” he yelled.

Before Malvika could react, Natasha lunged herself at Nicholas, hitting his chest with her fists rapidly. “Don’t you ever call my sister that again!” she screamed.

Nicholas scoffed and pushed her away. “You are all the same,” he said and walked away.

Ashley stood up. “You three should just leave this house already,” she stated. “Your presence is really causing commotion.” She turned and followed the direction Nicholas had taken.

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“Can you imagine his audacity?” Natasha asked, still baffled by what happened in the morning. She was in the room with Malvika, sitting on the bed.

“I can’t believe this. How dare he call Diane a whore,” Malvika fumed pacing up and down her room. “How could he?! What is wrong with him?! Oh God! This is so frustrating! I feel like killing him right now.”

“He is so annoying,” Natasha replied. She was lying on the bed in her school uniform, having given up the idea of going to school today.

She watched as Malvika walked around, her face red with anger and her hands clenched into a fist. After a while, she stood up and began to take off her school uniform.

“The annoying part of this all is that he thinks he can get away with it. He feels he can do anything, say anything to us and get away with it,” Natasha said as she unbuttoned her shirt. “I don’t think I’ve ever strongly felt like killing someone before the way I feel like killing him.”

“He’s going to regret this,” Malvika fumed angrily. “I’m so going to make sure he pays for this,” she said.

“What do you think we should do?”

Malvika thought for a while and a slow smirk spread across her face. “I think I know what to do.”