Chapter 120 - Claiming The Right

"Miss Clara? Hey? Hello? Are you listening to us?" 

"Huh?"

Looking a bit startled when someone was quavering her arms to revive her senses back, Clara seemed much surprised while looking right next to her. It was the colleagues' dinner party which she was attending with a heavy, glum heart after having a big fight with her only bestie, Eva.

She wasn't interested to attend the party in the first place but didn't have a choice since the invitation was from her director. To save her job, though she accompanied her acquaintances quietly, her mind was filled with countless worries regarding the jeopardizing schemes planned against Eva. Moreover, every time she failed to contact Czar which was making her further anxious and madly frustrated.

"Were you...calling me?" Peeking at Miss Maria, her junior acquaintance sitting next to her, Clara inquired in a fragile voice.

"Umm, Miss Clara are you alright? I have been calling you a few times in a row, but you didn't answer me even for once! That's why I had to quaver your arm to revive your senses back. Where are you so lost? Are you worried about something?" Frowning her eyebrows, she mumbled.

Taking a deep heavy sigh out, Clara quietly swayed her head in declination and lowered her eyes down. "I am, okay..."

"You are absolutely not fine, Miss Clara!" Sitting right opposite to her on the table, a young, handsome gentleman objected to her statement, twirling the glass of beer in his arm. He too was a subordinate in her company and always bore a secret crush on Clara deep down in his heart. "You were just consistently glancing at your phone and drinking on your own. You didn't even talk to anyone since the moment you arrived at the dinner party. Your eyes seem puffy too as if you didn't sleep properly last night. Are you really alright?"

"C'mon Henry, stop noticing me too obviously," chuckling at his response, Clara took a small sip from the beer glass she was holding in her arms. "I am really fine, just some...stressful stuff are pissing me off a bit---"

"SO... YOU ARE HERE!"

Suddenly, flinching hard from the deep loud voice behind their table in the restaurant, Clara took a small glimpse at the back and rolled her eyes in awe. Just behind her, well dapped up in a royal blue suit and looking quite handsome, Czar was staring at her putting his hands in his pocket. 

"M-Mr. Czar!?" Jolting up from her seat, she blurted out quite aloud. Her surprised reaction suddenly startled those colleagues of her workplace gathered at the table. 

"Why did you leave so many voice mails in my number? I told you earlier, don't leave any voice notes or mail unless it's too necessary!" Sounding a bit irked, he glared at her while fussing.

"Damn, where have you been Mr. Czar? I...I had almost called you at least more than 500 times since last night! Why weren't you picking it up? And..." Gulping her saliva anxiously, she further concluded, "how did you find me here?"

"Tracking down people is a favorite hobby of mine." Holding a witty smirk on his face, Czar sharply glanced at the colleagues who were intensely ogling at them. He also noticed Henry who was making a displeased expression on his face while frowning at him.

"Mr. Czar you don't even have an idea how perplexed I was--"

"Alright, let's talk right now. Come with me, let's head outside." Abruptly, he grabbed her arm in the flick of a second, causing her to flinch hard even more.

"Now? But...I am in a company dinner with my colleagues--"

"Excuse me, Mister!" All of a sudden Henry stood up from his seat, resembling all agitated glaring at him. Czar had a carefree eloquence all over his face and quickly shifted his gaze to him. 

"Do you have anything to say?" Clearing his throat, he tightened his grip on Clara's arm before asking him in a crude tone.

"Don't you think it's highly immoral to take a lady out of her acquaintance feast barging inside all of a sudden? Don't you think it's rude?" His tone sounded much provoked while he was glaring at his arm that was holding Clara tighter.

"No. I don't think it's rude." He sounded much calm as usual denying his accusations.

"What? Are you shameless or have you lost your moral senses?"

"I don't have time for your lectures, dude. She has to come with me now so you all can enjoy the dinner without her." Tossing a small sly smirk, he mumbled in a deep note while stealing at peek at Clara.

She seemed spellbound at his unexpected action and gawking at him intensely before she mumbled, "Mr. Czar, wait...we can also talk after the dinner---"

"And who the heck are you? Are you her lover? What right do you claim on her?" Grumbling in a loud enraged voice, Henry spit his words quite fiercely at him without showing any intention of backing out.

This time, Czar shifted his dark furious death stare towards him. His small smirk immediately faded away, occupied by intense glare as he grumbled out in a rugged voice, "I am her Master and she is my slave! I obviously possess my own right over her and don't you dare interfere within!"

A jaw-drop silence immediately prevailed among her colleagues hearing his answer! It was as intense and unexpected one could ever imagine. Everyone was looking at each other's faces being speechless for a couple of seconds. Henry was unable to process the information for a while and continued staring at him, rolling his eyes.

Clara seemed extremely shocked with it and in palpitation tried to divert the topic from going too further, by faking a burst of nervous laughter. "Hahaha! Mr. Czar, you are too funny always! Guys, don't you overthink...It's nothing! I am telling you, it's not you all are imagining!" 

"Let's go." Clenching her arm tight, he almost dragged her outside in front of everyone, leaving them all mute! After a few minutes of awkward silence, Miss Maria raised her chin up towards Henry who was still standing all bewildered and numb. Emitting a deep sigh out, she further reciprocated, "Henry, I think you should really give up on Miss Clara! I have already seen this guy with her before, near our office, coming out of a narrow lane."

"You...knew about my feelings?" Stuttering anxiously, he reciprocated.

"Of course, you were always too obvious around her! Almost everyone in the office knows about your crush on her...except Miss Clara herself! And...didn't you see, how boldly that handsome man dragged her outside in front of every one us here. I guess, they really have something sensual relation going on!" She whisper-shouted in a low voice, swirling her eyes mystically.

"But..." He couldn't utter a single word and continued staring at the way Clara was swayed outside, clenching his fist in displeasure.

...

"Mr. Czar, wait a minute! You are gripping my arm too tight, it's hurting!" Blurting out quite aloud, she sounded a bit irked while Czar stopped his motion reaching near the parking slot of the restaurant.

Leaving his grip over her arm, he sharply turned back towards her and stared intensively before answering, "have you forgotten how to address your master?"

"And why did you declare it so shamelessly in front of everyone? I had told you earlier to keep it a secret from everyone! They are my work colleagues! I can't even imagine what they must be thinking about us right now!" She sounded too grumpy, bickering with him.

"Who cares about those humans? I can just kill them in a few seconds if they dare to gossip about it."

"Mr. Czar violence is not the solution to every problem! Even though we are animals, but we are cohabitating with the humans in their world...At least, we should behave like them rationally!" Glancing at the red bruise formed around her wrist with his tight grip, she asserted in a bold note, scowling her grimace.

Momentarily Czar kept gawking at her worrisome pale face and took a deep sigh out vexing much annoyance. "Whatever! I am quite a busy man you know! What did you want to talk about--"

"About Eva." Before he could even wrap his words, she fiercely remarked her own proclamation looking much trepid. "That day in the restaurant...were you talking about Eva? Is something bad gonna happen to her? Is she being targeted by anyone?" 

Rolling his eyeballs wider in shock, he gazed at her anxiously for a few seconds without answering a single word. After a perplexed silence, he thought to retreat away from the place to avoid her fierce inquires. Before turning back, he reciprocated in a dark pitch, "I am not obliged to tell you about it. You are free to imagine what you believe. I have some work unfinished so leaving right now--"

"Please save her!" Immediately she grabbed his arm from behind desperately intending to stop him from leaving without a proper answer. 

"Hey, what are you talking about---"

"I don't want the history to repeat again! Please...Please don't let her die, Mr. Czar! I know...you too are worried about her! Please, I beg of you this time..." Her voice grew a bit heavy as she was trying hard to choke her tears in.

"History...repeat?" Frowning his eyebrows, he mumbled.