10 10

We went back to work. The discussion about the murdered girl still disturbed me. Something was bothering me. I had a bad feeling but could not pinpoint the source. There were so many things in my mind right now that I was unable to process it. I needed to logically, sequentially place everything in my mind.

At lunch Nina and I went together to the house as usual. We sat at our tables and were joined by Sam and Eric. Both of them were silently contemplating about something which I was not privy to. The silence was disturbing.So I started gazing at things around me. There was an old man who was sitting with a young boy. Looked like the boy was his grandson. The old man was telling some scary story and trying to make the boy eat his meal.

A large man was standing at the soup queue. The food is kept on tables at the corners of the room. Sometimes we serve ourselves, sometimes there is someone to serve.Today there was a girl serving. The large man moved and I could the see the girl, who was serving, now.She had same eyes as mine.I had black eyes which was common but not in this town. I had hardly come across anyone with black eyes. She was also about same height as me.The next person in the queue came and as she lifted her hand to serve I caught sight of a red ring on her index finger. It was ruby. A nice looking ring. I was wondering if it would be creepy if I went to her to admire her ring. She caught me looking at her. We smiled at each other. I couldn't continue my inspection of her now. I looked at my phone just in case there was a text which I missed. And there were none.We finished lunch and went back.

The rest of the day passed with no word from Adrian. Adrian didn't try to contact me for the next two days. As for my work, I was doing good. Eric appreciated me twice this week and today was still Wednesday. My Adrian was also missing.God only knew what that wolf was up to. I had no way to contact him also.Both the Adrian's were out of touch.

Eric gave a customary knock at my door and walked in.

"Alex, you are completing tasks ahead of expected schedule." This was not the end. I could sense there was more to the appreciation which he gave this time.

"Thank you." I modestly smiled and waited for him to continue.

"You must have heard about the girl who died right?" I nodded and he continued. My mind was coming up with possible reasons as to why he came to talk about the murdered girl with me.

"We haven't found a replacement for her yet. As you are completing tasks ahead of time, can you handle her work as well. It is for a short time." He finished and was waiting for me to accept. Great! This is what every employee wants to hear. More work. I knew I was being a little insensitive to the current situation; but it was still extra work. I reluctantly nodded my head in acceptance. He looked relieved. He even smiled.

"Can you start right now. She was working on a task which has come to a standstill. The file related must be in her desk. The original employee lock is lost, but we have spares in the store room. Here, take the spare key." He gave me the key. He had come prepared. Wonder what would have happened if I had refused.

"I guess you know where her desk is?" He asked before walking out. I didn't know where her desk was before she got killed. But after her murder it was tough to miss that information with all the gossip still hot.

I went to her desk and opened the top drawer. I found the file which Eric had asked for. I started studying the file. No offense to the dead, but this female lived in the stone age. She was manually doing the calculations. There was a desktop on her desk. I powered it up. It would take a lot lesser time if I used the computer. It was password protected. In large corporations there would be an IT department handling such stuff. I was not so sure of an IT department's existence in this office. I went to Nina and explained the situation.

"Oh just call Paul. He officially doesn't work here. But any IT related issues he is the go to guy. I'll forward his number to your phone."

I came back to Alyxandrina's desk wondering whether to call or not. I could carry this file back to my cubicle and work with the system which I had. Something stopped me from doing so.

I opened her drawer again and rummaged through things. Sure enough there was a post it note stuck on the side. One wouldn't find it with all the files covering it. I plucked it and as guessed the password was written.Definitely lived in the stone age. How much more should people shout about cyber security? I was annoyed with her. I would have given a piece of my mind if she were alive. Alive! That sobered me up.

I entered the password and opened the browser which was minimized. There were many open tabs and none of it were work related. I started closing tabs one by one.

"Shit" I swore loudly. I looked around and nobody was there. Whatsapp web version was open. I had almost closed it like I absently closed the other tabs. It is a grave invasion of privacy but I could not stop myself from reading her messages. I looked around to make sure no one was around.

"Shit" I swore again loudly but this time it was different. There was a chat thread with Adrian. After confirming that it was my Adrian, I mean the man I was dating, I opened the chat.

Adrian: Meet me at the cabin.

The message had the time stamp of the night before she was reported murdered.This was the last text. Did it mean Adrian was the last man to see her alive?

I scrolled up a little to get some reference to the whole conversation.

Alyxandrina: Thanks for everything

Adrian: No problem. It is my duty.

This was the start of the chat thread. It made no sense. There was no mention of what she was thanking for. There was no messages exchanged after that. A couple of days later there was another one.

Adrian: Meet Ronan at Black Inc. He will know what to do. Don't worry. And all the best.

Alyxandrina: Thank you again for everything. I don't know what I would have done without you.

Adrian got her the job? Did those two have an affair? Adrian and I hadn't spoken about our pasts. I was angry, hurt and confused. Was this why Adrian was avoiding me? Because her death affected him. Did he miss her? Did he love her?

I was hurt. I couldn't figure out if I wanted to cry or shout at Adrian. The last I saw Adrian was at the lunch house. After two more days there was another.

Adrian: I trust you are all settled in. If any problems then let me know.

Alyxandrina: Everything is great. Thanks.

There was a couple of days before the next message.

Adrian: Ready for tomorrow? Ronan must have already instructed you through the process.

Alyxandrina: Yes, he did. Thank you again. I can't seem to thank you enough.

What process? What happened the next day? There were no messages after that, except for the day before she was reported murdered.

Alyxandrina: I need to talk to you urgently about something. Can't link you.

After half an hour to Alyxandrina's text, Adrian had replied.

Adrian: Meet me at the cabin.

This guy was two timing? My mind refused to accept that Adrian would cheat on me. There was no indication of any affair. This was just circumstantial evidence. It didn't prove anything. I had to get answers from him. I texted him.

Me: Can we meet today?

AdiRay: Would love to. But sorry not possible today.

He blew me off again. I must sound so desperate to him.

I switched off Alyxandrina's system and went to my cubicle. I finished the task which she was working on and gave it to Eric.

"Are you alright?" He asked me.

"I'm fine. Just tired. Can I take the rest of the day off?"

"Okay. Get some rest." He replied .

I walked back home. All the way I had a feeling that someone was following and watching me. I couldn't care less at the moment. I wanted to kick Adrian where it mattered.

Mom was working on some new painting. She painted landscapes. That was her hobby. She was not that good and she knew it. She told me that my dad was working at his den. I had nothing better to do. I might as well go and see what he is up to.

"Hi dad" I greeted.

"Don't touch anything" , was his first response. He looked up from his work and frowned. "What's wrong? You look dead." He asked worriedly.

"Nothing. Just tired." I didn't want to get into boyfriend drama with dad. Good that I did not introduce them. I was not even sure if he was still my boyfriend. "What are you working on ?"

"Same old", was his distracted reply. He was viewing a slide under the microscope and simultaneously making notes. I moved to where he had kept his notepad and glanced around without much interest. The writings did not make any sense to me. Things like 'to give to rww when out of control' , 'ww immune to it' etc etc were written. I left him to his work and went to my room.

The next day at lunch house I saw the red ring woman again. She was already sitting by the time we went there. Nina and I went and sat in the same table as red ring woman.

"Hi. That curry looks yum." I said in a way of a conversation starter.

"Yes it is." She replied.

"Nice ring." I commented pointing out at her finger.

"Thanks. It's been in the family for many years." She smiled fondly.

We chatted for a while. All of us had finished eating and it was time to get back to work.

"I'm Alexandria by the way." I told her before we left.

"I'm Alexa."

The day had come to an end. Adrian was waiting for me when I walked out. Not my wolf but the man I was dating. I was happy seeing him before I remembered that he had been avoiding me without any explanation. I scowled at him and continued walking, when all I wanted to do was hug him.

"Sorry Alex. I had some important things to take care of." He sounded sincere. I so badly wanted to ask about the dead girl. I wanted to know what their relation was. I was thinking of a subtle way to bring up the topic.

"What's going on Adrian? Are you avoiding me?" I was observing his facial expressions. He hadn't shaved and looked tired. He could use some sleep.

"No. I'm not avoiding you. I'll explain everything to you when the time is right. Let's have dinner."

"Mom will be waiting for me. I can't." I could go if I wanted to. All I had to do was call mom and inform her.

"Call and inform her", he replied like he knew that I had already thought of it but didn't want to do it.

"Hey please" His eyes were mesmerizing. I agreed. He looked like he had just conquered the world. He was beaming. I realized that there is not subtle way to broach the dead girl's topic. I either had to ask him directly or do my own investigation.

"Where do you live?" We were in his car going to unknown location, unknown to me.

"Umm" , his eyebrows was scrunched.

"Was that such a tough question?"

"No. I live with my parents and Ronan. But I also have a cabin. I crash in the cabin sometimes. Sometimes I go back home. My stuff is in both the places."

"What do you exactly do? What held you up the past couple of days?"

"I already told you what I do. There was some complications which I had to sort it out." I wanted to yell 'No you didn't exactly tell me what you did for a living.'

"Is it sorted?", I calmly asked him instead of yelling.

"Not yet."

"Hmm"

We went to a nice restaurant for dinner. The waiter came and he absently ordered for both of us. I was staring at him with an open mouth.

"What? What happened?"

"The order."

"Yes. What about it? That is what you wanted right?"

"Yeah. But you should have consulted me first. And how did you even know what I wanted?" Please don't tell you guessed, because the dish which he ordered was not commonly a favorite with others.

"Uh. I guessed. That is what girls usually order." No, they don't. He answered like a criminal who knew that he was caught but anyway tried to get away as a last resort. The curry he ordered had bitter gourd, which gave a peculiar bitter taste to the whole dish. I don't remember how exactly I came to like this dish, but it's been one of my favorites ever since I can remember. I couldn't recall mentioning to him about this dish. Had he stalked me before we met?

"So what do you want to do after dinner?" He quickly changed the topic.

"Go home? What did you have in mind?" I lifted my eyebrow in question.

"I thought we could go to my place and watch a movie or something. You don't have to stay late. I'll drop you back after that." He was waiting for me to decide.

Should I agree? Should I go? Holy shit. I just realized that he smoothly distracted my brain from thinking about the bitter gourd dish. If I wanted answers from him then I should play along. I need to spend more time with him to expose his game. Or agenda? Or whatever shit he was up to.

"Okay. I can come."