Nina's and Selena's apartment
The abrupt ringing of a cell phone sounded in the living room.
Selena who was busy watching a K-drama turned to check if it was her phone ringing. When she realised it was not hers but Nina's, she raised her voice towards the kitchen and called out,
"Nina, you have a call!"
Nina shouted from the kitchen asking who it was.
Selena went to pick up the phone but paused when she saw the caller ID.
Realising there was no response after a while, Nina walked out from the kitchen and looked towards Selena who was behaving weirdly curiously.
Selena looked worriedly and cautiously answered as she handed over the phone her,
"It...is Sophie" she noticed how Nina's hand paused for a second after hearing the name before taking the phone from her.
Before Nina could answer the call, it ended but she didn't have to wait long as Sophie called soon after.
She answered the call and cautiously placed it beside her ear.
"Nina!" Sophie's excited voice sounded from the other side. "I missed you so much!"
Nina unconsciously smiled when she felt her excitement. Although she was a year younger than Sophie, she sometimes felt like she was the older one as the other woman always behaved like a child sometimes.
"How are you, Sophie? How is K City?
"I am no longer in K City, I am back in Nova. I just came back today which is also why I am inviting you to come over. I want to introduce my fiancé to you!" It was obvious from her tone that she really adored and treated Nina like a real sister.
Nina suffered from consecutive shocks, first is that Sophie was back in Nova. Second is that she wanted to invite her over to the Walter' mansion and the third one was that she wanted to introduce her fiancé to her.
She couldn't help thinking if she had not been informed that she and her brother had broken up so she decided to tell her now.
"Sophie, me and your brother..." Her words got cut off by Sophie.
"Yes, my brother too. He is also..." Sophie paused for a while and no longer continued what she originally planned to say." Anyway, you must come. I am waiting for you"
Although Nina was curious about what she wanted to say initially, she decided not to care about it anymore. She also felt helpless at Sophie's excitement. She could never bear to reject the woman as she was one of the few people in the world who made her heart feel warm.
She agreed in the end even though she didn't plan to in the beginning.
Sophie hanged up feeling very satisfied.
Selena had heard everything since the call was on speaker and looked worriedly at Nina, she asked curiously,
"Do you really plan to go?"
"I don't have a choice, do I?"
Selena couldn't help thinking in her heart, 'It isn't that you don't have a choice, you just harbour your own selfish motives for going'
She sighed helplessly at her foolish friend but as a good friend, she suggested she should go with her as emotional support.
Nina was happy to accept as she was actually feeling nervous.
* * * * *
Mrs Walters removed the ear she placed on Sophie's cell phone and sighed in relief after the call with Nina ended. If not for her timely interruption, she was afraid that her insensitive daughter might have blurted out something she was not supposed to say and ruined her plan.
Sophie looked curiously at her mother and asked innocently,
"Mom, Why did you not want me to tell Nina that brother was also going to be here?"
"Silly girl, it is so that we can give her a nice surprise!". 'More like a shock' she thought evilly to herself.
"Alrighty! Mom, let's go downstairs. Brian is waiting for me. I do not even understand why you pulled me upstairs just to make a call. It's not like there is a secret" Sophie murmured incontentedly as she made her way downstairs.
Mrs Walters thought shrewdly to herself as she laughed in her heart, 'Of course I will pull you upstairs as I don't want my future son-in-law see me trick my own daughter!"
Sophie turned back timely to see a wicked look on her mom's face. She looked startled as she asked weirdly,
"Mom, what evil plan are you brewing in your mind? Do you even know you look like an evil old witch right now?"
Mrs Walters cleared her throat uncomfortably and knocked Sophie's head.
"This is why I usually said you are insensitive, who tells their own mother that she looks like an evil old witch.
"Mooom! I am just saying my true thoughts out loud! Who told you to have such a wicked look in your face."
Mrs Walters sighed helplessly as she looked at her daughter thinking,
'Forget it. I am already used to it anyway.'
She cheered up when she remembered that Nina was coming.
'Hmph! I will tolerate you this time since you helped me solve a massive problem!' She thought arrogantly as she made her way downstairs.
Inside the presidential, both sides of people sat facing each other in silence, with Selena, Ryan, Dan and Justin sitting on a single lounge chair and Ethan and Tyler sitting on another opposite them.Selena stole a glance at her brothers with had no intention of speaking to them since she had no idea what to say. But the current atmosphere was really awkward and for some reason, it made her tense...Thankfully, the heavens must have heard her pleas as someone finally took the lead and spoke up. "So.. were these the people who rescued you?", Ethan suddenly asked, sounding particularly curious.Selena who was a bit absentminded didn't realise at first that he was speaking to her until she felt several gazes on her. Only then did she finally react, "Yes.. they were the ones who came to rescue me."Ethan nodded at her words and when he looked at Ryan, Justin and Dan again, there was additional sincerity and gratefulness in his eyes."Thank you. You really did our family a great favor t
Around the same time as when Selena was hung up upon, in the most noble and central part of the Nova City, Mrs. Preston lowered her hand in which she held her phone with obvious joy and relief on her face. Her husband, Mr. Preston sitting right next to her had been able to grab bits of her conversation with the other person while she was on phone, and already had an idea on the reason for her happiness. But even so he still asked just to be sure."She is fine?"Mrs. Preston snapped out of her happiness and turned to face her dear husband to share the news with him excitedly, "Yes! Our daughter is fine. She is safe!"On hearing her his wife's affirmation, Mr. Preston's hanging heart finally fell back into place. But even though he was feeling relieved and light-hearted inside, nothing changed on the surface as he still had the same bland expression on his face as he nodded and said, "It's good that she is fine."Already used to her husband's inability to himself go and express how he t
At the same time, Ryan, Selena, Dan and Justin's group arrived at the space where the cars have been parked. The group separated and was about to get into their respective cars. However, right before she got into the car, Selena suddenly remembered that she hadn't called her parents since she left for Nova! A long time had passed since then and she knew her parents would have started to worry by now. But when she thought of taking out her phone to call them, only then did she remember that she hadn't seen her bag and suitcase at all after getting captured and to be honest, neither did she have the time to think about it at that time. "Ryan!", She quickly grabbed the corner of Ryan's shirt and said with some urgency in her voice. "Have you seen my bag and suitcase? I want to make a quick call to my parents to tell them that I have arrived back here safely."Justin who was about to get into the car alongside Dan paused on hearing Selena's words and finally remembered that he still had
The scar-faced man while feeling stunned watched as the woman who should still be in the abandoned warehouse swaggered towards him. However, the surprise on his face only lasted a few seconds as he was able to quickly collect himself before shifting attention to the men walking alongside her while putting her in a protective circle and immediately had a guess as to how the woman had been able to leave that place.Also, observing the men further, he noticed the familiar aura on their beings and immediately turned back to look at Dan and Justin who didn't look surprised at all to see either the woman or those men, in fact, they had an expression of relief on their faces instead.On the other hand, Ryan had long since lost his calm on seeing the woman. He stared fixedly at her as he took tentative steps forward towards her while clenching and unclenching his fists with a complicated expression on his face.Guilt, remorse, self-blame, anxiety and some expectation among others.He wanted t
After watching the scar-faced man leave with his subordinate, Selena focused on untying the rope that that bound her hands to the back with a hundred and twenty percent concentration.She hadn't been able to find any sharp object around her to cut the rope and could only try the method she had once seen in a short video while hoping that luck will be on her side.Selena blindly touched around around the knot before she began the untying. It was very difficult trying to do so while being unable to see what she was doing but she was also fortunate that, for probably the same reason why the scar-faced was being respectful and accommodating towards her, he had tied the rope quite loosely.This made things a lot more easier for her but even with that, Selena still had a hard time freeing herself. After all, ex-mercenaries had tied the knot so it definitely wouldn't be that easy to loosen it but she, who had no idea of this fact continued working diligently on the knot.Soon after, sweat be
Ryan looked at the scar-faced man with no warmth in his eyes and without mincing words, he said to him, "The woman you captured, I want her."Short and straight to the point, the scar-faced man thought to himself. However, after Ryan finished speaking, the already tense situation got even tenser as both sides tightened the hands on their guns. On seeing this, the scar-faced man wanted to smile to ease the atmosphere but when he accidentally met Ryan's frosty eyes, Dan's demonic smile and Justin's expressionless face, the smile that was about to surface instantly stiffened.He coughed lightly to hide his embarrassment and took the chance to glance at his subordinates who looked also at him with encouragement, their gazes telling him to snap back at Ryan and prove they weren't pushovers. Of course, those gazes belonged to his men who didn't recognize Ryan and Dan or know of their reputations. The ones who did were already signalling to him with their eyes to quickly compromise.The sca