12. Calls & Deals-1

Suzzanah's POV Limping out of the elevator back towards my room, I couldn't help but feel unnerved. Those strange whispers had really spooked me. But had I really even heard them, or had it just been the wind sounding through the trees? Roma had offered me some coffee but I had refused politely and told her I wanted to rest upstairs. I reached the room and quickly shook my head. No! It had probably just been the wind. I'm being paranoid about nothing. It must be the exhaustion from yesterday that is getting to me. I'm starting to hear things. I inhaled deeply letting the realization sink in, then exhaled and was about to open the door when I remembered that my roommate might be inside, so I knocked, but I didn't get a reply. I knocked again and still didn't hear anything so I opened the door and walked inside. Sure enough she was there, lying on her bed with her ear phones plugged in and fast asleep. I sighed closing the door and limped to the bed. The rest of the day was uneventful. I fiddled with my laptop and attempted to brush my hair but gave up when I almost misplaced my hairbrush in it. At lunch time my roommate got up and left wordlessly, ignoring my wide smile. Roma very kindly brought my meals up for me and replaced my bandages with new ones for which I thanked her multiple times. My wound still looked bad but it was healing well. I impatiently waited for Mr. Talon to bring me my bag so I could get my phone and call my sister. Evening came and Mr. Talon arrived punctually with my handbag. When he came up to me I immediately hugged him and thanked him to which he squealed and wiggled away from me uncomfortably making me laugh. After making sure I was okay, he left after vehemently refusing to let me walk him to the door. I found all my belongings in my bag and I sighed happily on sighting my phone. I mentally reminded myself to thank those two men who had saved me, whose names Mr. Talon had said were Derek and Mason, for even going through the trouble of finding my bag for me. I plugged in the charger and connected my phone to it. Quickly switching it on, I dialed my sister's number and braced myself just in case that annoying guy from before picked up again. The call was received after the first ring. "Anna?!" My face instantly lit up with a dazzling smile as my sister's anxious voice calling me by my pet name filled my ears. "Rina!" I exclaimed happily and I heard her let out a loud dramatic sigh. "Thank goodness! I'm so glad you called. Are you okay? Where have you been? I've been worried sick about you!" "I know, I know, I know, I'm so sorry. I wanted to call you earlier but yesterday was very..." I searched for a word to describe my adventure, "eventful and I didn't get a chance to. I'm sorry. But I'm really alright." She sighed into the phone again, "Well, at least you're okay. I tried calling you like a billion times but your phone was switched off" "It ran out of charge" "What am I going to do with you?" she said and I could picture her shaking her head at me. "By the way, who was that guy who picked up the phone when I called you earlier today?" "Huh? A Guy? What guy?" "I just asked you that", I said with a blank expression, "The guy who answered your phone when I called in the morning" "You called in the morning?!" My eyes widened in shock and then I felt anger fill me, he hadn't told Karina I had called! "Yeah I did, using the landline here. Some jerk picked up the phone and told me to call in the evening using my cell phone and then he just hung up on me!" There was short silence followed but a furious cry emitted by my sister, "Why that annoying, no good, son of a-" "Karina! Language!" "Jackal" she completed irritably and I smiled, 'So you do know him" "Unfortunately", she replied sounding extremely annoyed, "He is the CEO of the company I'm designing the interiors for" "He sounded young", I said, thinking of the CEO of Royale Industries who was also quite young. "He is" My eyebrows then rose in confusion, "So...why did the CEO have your phone?" "I don't know! I gave it to my friend earlier, how on earth did he get his hands on it?" "And he told me to call using my cell phone and not via landline, it was so strange." "I know right! How dare he? Argh I could just kill that infuriating specimen of walking nonchalance!" I was very surprised to hear my sister sound so angry. It wasn't rare for her to get mad , but this mad? This guy obviously had some serious skills in the annoying department. "He is a jerk, just like you said, proud and arrogant. And for some obscure reason he's extremely fascinated by me. He just can't leave me alone!" "You are alright though right? He isn't some crazy psychopath who'd spy on you or stalk you home is he?" She snorted, "I'd like to see him try. I'll send him back in more pieces than there are in hairs on his head!" I laughed and shook my head. While I had taken archery lessons when we were younger, my sister had taken self-defence classes, so I didn't doubt her words. "Don't worry. I'll give him a piece of my mind later, two maybe. But for now, tell me about how you are. How do you like your new job? Where are you staying? Do you have a roommate?" On hearing the word roommate, my high spirits fell and I sighed deeply before telling her all about my irritable roomie. She listened patiently to my every word, never once getting distracted. I told her I felt sad that my roommate harbored such dislike towards me even though she didn't even know me, and how she refused to talk to me. "Sometimes the people who don't talk to you are the ones who really want to!" she said trying to sound professional and wise. I snorted, "Yeah right! I highly doubt that's the case in this situation Rina. Why did I have to get stuck with such a difficult roomie?" She was quiet for some time, and then asked, "You know, if she is so mean, then why not just leave her be? Why do you want to befriend her so bad?" I bit my lip thinking about what she had just said and then answered the only thing that was always true for me, "Because I feel like it" She laughed and the sweet nostalgic sound instantly made me feel warm and happy on the inside. "Of course you do" she said knowingly, "In that case, don't let her cold attitude get you down hun. Remember, people's experiences make them who they are. Just because we can't understand them or how they act, doesn't mean they are wrong. They are just...different!"