The two-hour drive was more than enough to squash Maura with dreadful anxiety.
As she sits behind, holding her patience that seems to overflow, her legs are constantly shaking, and her hands tightly squeeze the back seat as she wishes with all her might that the driver will not let her anxiety get the best of her with his tortoise speed.
Finally, when she feels suffocated by his speed, Maura leans forward, poking her head at the driver's seat, "can't you go a little faster." She says politely with a smile.
The middle-aged driver narrows his look from the road and glances at her, although she's smiling politely, she has anxiety written all over her face, one that troubles the man.
The more he stares into her eyes, the clearer he could see his death warrant being signed if he fails to do as he's told.
Fear, panic, and distress automatically convert into a cold sweat that dances down his wrinkled face.
So, to avoid any sort of trouble, he reluctantly says, "If that's what you want, but you're gonna have to pay extra because I'm taking a risk with you." Of course, Maura is too embroiled to understand that the man fears for his life.
"No matter the cost, I'll pay." She says, glaring at him like a hungry lioness.
At her command, the man zooms off with the speed of lightning, and the wind sweeps her hair and waves it like a flag dancing to the wind.
"Blargh!!!"
Unfortunately for her, the speed backfires as she earns herself motion sickness and stops to throw up.
"Are you okay madam?"
The man asks, but she's too weak to speak and waves her hand at him to signal that she's okay.
"So slow it is." He says.
Although he was right as she needed the drive to be calm, the taste of defeat especially when she was the one who ordered it was not easily digested by her.
"Give me a minute." She says, helping herself to find a place to rest.
When she notices the taste of vomit still lingers around her mouth. Irked with disgust she frowns.
"I need water." She tells herself out loud.
"Should I get you one?" The driver who happens to have overheard her statement asks, but she shakes her head, refusing his help.
"I'll get it myself."
It wasn't like she didn't want his help, but Maura felt the need to get what she needed by herself, lucky for her, they came to a halt not far from a mall.
She grabs her purse, taking out the cash she smuggled from Neon's pocket because she knows that amount is nothing but mere change. After counting how much she has left, she walks into the mall to get whatever she needs.
Once she reaches the convenience department, Maura grabs a bottle of water and is just about to leave when she sees her reflection in the glass door. "My, I look like a mess." She says.
Contrary to her definition of her look, the right word to describe her at this moment is…
A walking corpse.
With a pale face, messed up hair, and yellow stuff sticking out of the corner of her mouth.
She practically looks like a zombie incarnate.
But hey, lucky for her she's at the mall, and she has money, although smuggled she knows she won't get into trouble for spending a reasonable amount.
From the clothing store to the jewellery store, to the cosmetic store, Maura grabs whatever she needs before her next trip.
At her final stop, the make-up room, Maura looks into the mirror, pleased with her incomplete looks and wonders how stunning she would look by the time the makeup will be over.
"And how would you like to look?" The make-up artist asks.
For a second she stares at the mirror, celebrating her stunning beauty, and even more, craved more than that.
What she dreams of, is to mark her entrance with a look, that'll send people straight to heaven.
Slowly her lips start to curve upwards. "To kill, I want to slay every soul at the event I'm going for," she says with a sinister, daring look.
"Mr Ethan, Mrs Jane, look here."
Like flies, journalists swarm the entrance of the event.
Although held back by well-built bodyguards, the forces of the journalists were unstoppable as they roared, pushed and forced their way through in a very frightening manner.
"Please look into the camera," one yells.
"A minute please," another yelled.
Everyone wanted a chance to speak, but unfortunately, the couple stands victorious as they're protected by their hefty bodyguards, waving at the journalists as if to agitate them.
The guards push back the crowd, to clear the pathway so the gates can be opened.
"It's amazing to see such a lovely couple, you know true love is quite rare nowadays." Maura's voice echoes as she stands in the middle of the road, so the couple could not drive out.
Heads turn and the camera starts flashing, as they capture Maura, dressed in a slaying red sleeveless dress that tailors her shape, with a clean slight slit at the side. As simple as the dress is, it looks like it's tailored perfectly for her.
"Excuse me, do you know who she is, do you have an invite." A guard asks as he walks over towards her.
"No, no I don't, but I've come here with a gift, I just hope you like it." She answers, staring at the two seeking refuge behind the gates.
Jane, not liking the situation before her scoff, rolls her eyes as she approaches the gate, signalling for Maura to be left alone.
"It's okay, but we don't accept gifts from strangers." She answers with a snicker.
"Is that so, well I'll show you what it is really quick."
Maura shakes her blue gift box.
The journalists anxiously wait, the couple as well, the guards on standby as they watch as Maura unravels her gift.
She dips her hand inside the box and takes it out, "what's that?" Jane asks, taking a step back, cautious and weary of what Maura takes out.
"Calm down fellas. It's just a picture of women, for maybe next time, when he suddenly wants to remarry," she says.
"What do you mean?" An angry Jane yells, sprinting forward only to be held back by Ethan.
"My friend, Raquel did everything to make her marriage work, never would she have thought that the man she loved all of her life would end up remarrying so quickly." The journalists drown themselves in the juicy story, jotting, zooming in, and recording all that's being said.
Infuriated, Jane lashes out in anger, "this has nothing to do with you."
"Of course, it doesn't, but as her only friend, I'd like to tell you this honey if he can move on so quickly, what makes you think that you're any different," Daura says with a smile, one that fills Jane with rage, unfortunately, she's being held back by Ethan and doesn't get a chance to escape.
"You're just a lady with a fine face, I don't see anything appealing other than your face, besides, you're as flat as a spoon.
Have fun deceiving yourself, and have a happy married life," she says.
"How dare she…
Security."
"Don't bother, I'm leaving."
With that said, Maura turns away, and the limousine she calls for finally pulls up, and with a satisfying grin leaves.
As soon as she leaves, Maura turns to her husband, gritting her teeth as she barks, "Ethan, do you know this woman, did you hear what she said…." Suddenly, when she turns around to face Ethan, she faces a sight that leaves her stunned.
"Ethan…?"
She takes Ethan's hand as she leans forward and stares at him.
Ethan looks pale, his eyes widened as his hands tremble with fear, his mouth wide open as he stretches out, pointing towards the direction of the limousine.
"How…?
How is she still…
This is impossible." He says with horror and fear all over him.
Jane stares at him, barely imagining what makes him so panicked.
The crowd of journalists swarms the entrance right after Maura leaves, echoing their questions at a high pitch, shoving their cameras at the couple's faces, like they're some kind of criminals.Meanwhile, unlike those two who were being pressured with questions, Maura enjoys her limousine cruise as she hums a befitting tune of 'we are the champions' to herself. After a couple of minutes on the road, her car comes to an abrupt halt, causing Maura to hit her head against the seat as she bounces back and forth. "What happened?" She asks the driver. However, before the man can even answer, Maura chokes on her spit.Up ahead, she sees a familiar figure walking towards the limousine, before that person could even reach her, a stiff Maura unlocks the door.Before Maura, Neon stands, looking down at her with furry eyes that make her gulp in fear. "Darl…""Get out of the car," Neon says, cutting her word short, his face has red flags written all over, his teeth tightly grinning upon the ot
Tears well up in her eyes as she stares at him with sadness. She wants to fight back, cries and begs Neon to turn the car around but the words fail to listen to her bright ideas. The more they drive, Maura fights with herself, debating on whether or not it's a good option to touch the steering wheel, but each time her hands reach towards Neon, she sees a rage greater than her resolve that causes her to shrink in fear. Finally, she gives up and like a good girl doesn't create a fuss until they arrive at a spectacular gala. "Mr Neon, it's good to see you," an old man says. The moment the couple arrives, a small crowd of couples and partners gathers Neon, reaching out to him for a shake while they greet each other. "Good to see you as well Mr Desmond," Neon says, he takes Maura by the shoulders, pushing her forward before introducing her. "Yes, and this is my wife, Maura." "Oh, good to see you, Maura, you look lovely today." The old man and his wife stretch their hands towards Mau
With a look of exhaustion, Maura dries her hands, staring at June through the mirror, who does the same as she awaits Maura to turn around."What do you want?" Maura asks with a heavy sigh of exhaustion.Finally, when her arms are dried, she turns around, now facing June, pressing her waist against the sink as she crosses her legs. The tension in the room became so thick that one could cut it with a knife.At one glance, anyone could recognise that Maura and June will never get along. With one step forward, June leans into Maura's face but Maura remains unshaken as she grins with one eyebrow upwards to question June's action. "I came to find out the reason why you created a scene on my wedding day," she says with overwhelming boldness. "I don't see any reason why I have to explain myself to you. Like I said, I was merely looking out for my late friend." Maura answers. A cloud of thoughts concerning how to get June off her back overshadows Maura's thinking, especially since she wa
A few minutes ago.Even with dazzling lights and a delightful atmosphere, Neon stood out more than ever. A crowd of guests, particularly gathered for the sake of the only Neon being present, took this as an opportunity and swarmed over him. For Neon, his working smile would not last long as both sides of his lips trembled from holding that look for that long. "When is this ever going to end?" He asked himself as he stood stillEach minute he would answer, "yes, thank you." With his head bowed, he got bored of it quite quickly, very quickly."This isn't why I came here." He muttered to himself. His eyes cast up ahead as he locked his target to spot Mrs Ethan who he saw left the bathroom with a burning rage.Her fist was tightly clenched, her feet stomped as she walked, and her mouth muttered words to herself."Oh!Did they finally have that chat?" He asked himself. The more he thought about it, the more he became curious, he wanted to know for himself how June reacted to Maura, and
"To our partnership.""To our partnership." The audience echoes with great cheer as glass clinks and the people merry.Ethan, after years of trial, has successfully sealed the deal he always dreamed of. "Revolution of E-shopping." He calls it. The very first target to enlarge his brand innovation was someone with great influence, someone everyone would like to partner with to get their hands on a share, "Neon's Mall," to be specific, "Neon's grocery mall."His idea is to create the very first non-human mall, with the wonder of AI. "I have to say, you've surprised me, Mr Ethan." Neon says as he shakes hands with Ethan, clinking glasses as they share a toast."Well, what can I say, I'm just full of surprises." He answers with a loud laugh. The two laughs till their bellies are full, even if the joke was not funny, for some reason it makes sense to them. Maura and June are by their spouses' side to make sure they don't get drunk and make a fool of themselves. Ethan takes a sip of h
Again she reaches out to Maura, but Neon refuses to let go as he tightens his arms around her. "Well if you would all care to come with me, I'd like to show you something interesting." Ethan proposes to have Maura stay for Kathleen's sake. "As much as I would have liked that, I'm afraid my wife's already tired, so I'm afraid we must leave." She can feel his grip around her waist tightens, he's not letting go as he pulls her closer and further away from the others. Although Neon is merely trying to protect her, Maura isn't enjoying this as her mood turns sour.He looks at Kathleen who grins at the sight of this, catching up with the fact that he's lost the moment Maura's mood switches. He knows there's nothing more he can do about it. "Oh, but Mrs Oxford." He calls out to the woman, "if you don't mind, I'll like to invite you over to my place next week, I'm sure Maura will like it if you paid a visit one of these days." She looks at Maura expecting her answer. "Well, what do
"Maura, wait." Neon yells a bit too late as he races out of his car towards her who's standing before the elderly couple. She shows no fear on her face. It's the bravest look Neon has seen her showcase aside from the time when she crashed the wedding. "Didn't your parents ever teach you to be nice to old people?" She asks aggressively.The two bouncers stare at each other. In their eyes Maura has the look of an angry mother, scolding her children. It was a challenging look to overcome and has a whelming atmosphere as well. Neon catches up a bit late and sees the situation."Excuse me," he says to them as he grabs Maura and pulls her into a corner. He lowers his head to have a proper chat with her when he catches a proper look at the elderly couple, helping themselves up from behind her. The elderly woman bears a striking resemblance to a certain someone, and aside from that, they both look like they were well off. "So why are they being treated this way?" Neon wonders. At onc
"What the hell." She says in annoyance. Sniffles and whimpering echo in the dark room and suddenly, a bright light shines on a figure in the room.A lady is seen in the room with Maura, who's responsible for the cries she's been hearing.Carefully, she walks towards the weeping woman, as she draws near, Maura starts counting her footsteps with caution. When she reaches the woman, she starts noticing some points about her, for instance, her short and dark hair.Her heart starts beating fast as she retracts, no longer reaching out to her as she walks up to stand before the lady."The weeping woman bows her head as she cries, as if she doesn't want to be seen, hair bangs covering her face so that getting a proper look at her, is almost impossible. Maura lowers her head and gets on her knee to take a closer look. She sees blood, dripping down her face as the woman hides behind her hands. "Who….?" she asks, "who are you?"Suddenly, the crying ceases as she raises her hand to look Maur