She ran out of the library, toward the direction of the voice. He was wearing a black T-shirt over black jeans trousers, as always, his face was calm, one of his hands was in his pocket as he stared at her. He was leaning on the wall. He stared at her."Harlan?" Elizabeth couldn't believe the faint voice was coming from her. She rushed to him. His hands are wide open now. The next moment, she was thrown against the wall. She looked up quickly. There was no one. No Harlan. Slowly, she stood up and tried to process what just happened. She looked around the place in search of Harlan but there was no one in the area. She went back to the library. She met the library attendant preparing to lock the door."Elizabeth?" The woman was taken aback by Elizabeth's appearance, her hair was rough and her eyes swollen. "Did you see anyone here just now?" Elizabeth asked."No.""No one? You didn't see anyone wearing black?" Elizabeth probed wishing the library attendant would just confirm that she
Harlan trashed out the paper he had scribbled his ideas on. What is the use of everything if Elizabeth is neither answering his calls or being at home? For a moment, he imagined Elizabeth going to night parties. He shook his head at the imagination but it didn't help. Without thinking, he sent a message to Jack: find out the number of parties going on tonight.Since their argument on the day he went to meet Simon, they had rarely spoken. Occasionally, Harlan would call Jack only to bark out orders at him and the latter would do whatever he was asked to do without demanding explanations.His phone beeped. Jack had replied: 56.Harlan's eyes widened at the number. What if Elizabeth were in one of them? Probably with Jason.He stood up and walked briskly to the kitchen. He grabbed a bottle of water and drank everything in a gulp. He belched. Elizabeth would never go to a night party and at least, not with someone like Jason. He had gone to her house an hour ago when she wouldn't answer
Kelvin bumped into his parents as they were about to go out of the gate. He looked from his mother to his father. His mother seemed to have aged and his father had several wrinkles on his face. They must have been worried about him."Mom?" His voice cracked.He saw relief mixed with love and something else… fright in his mother's eyes as his father pulled her protectively behind him."You were at a hospital?" His father asked.He looked sharply at his father. He had not informed them about it. Unless Harlan told them, there was no way they would have known."Yes. I've been discharged already," he said."We were about to come see you," his mother said behind his father."I guess it is good that I arrived on time. How have you been, dad?"He saw a hint of fear in his father's eyes too. He almost frowned as he wondered what was happening. They were acting so out of it. Before now, his mother would have pulled him in a hug immediately she saw him especially when he was coming from the hos
Harlan grabbed a bottle of water in the kitchen. He rubbed his eyes after taking a gulp from the water. If he went on at this rate, he wasn't sure if he would get past twenty five years. Just a little more information and Mr Smith's cooperation and he would go on with his plan to expose everything that the Alberts are up to. He noticed that Maria wasn't in the kitchen. He strode to the sitting room. He heard Mr Smith's voice and a woman's voice. Not wanting to interrupt them, he decided to walk back inside, but then, he heard the woman say, "I didn't expect you to be fine."He tiptoed to the door leading to the sitting room and placed his hair on it. The door was rarely closed, it made Harlan more curious to know who Mr Smith's guest was. "Will you tell your maid to give me something?" The woman asked. She had a slight British accent."She is a robot and her battery is down," Mr Smith said.Harlan frowned. Maria doesn't run out that quickly. He remembered plugging her in overnight.
Mr Smith stared at Harlan, he was quite surprised to hear Harlan try to make him choose between two options. His son would really make a great businessman. "Which do you want to do?" Harlan asked.Mr looked away and gulped down the content in the cup. He filled it again."Why do you want to know about the Alberts?""You know how much they have been after my life.""All that will be solved once they get to know who you are. And, Jason wouldn't have done all those things to you if he knew your identity.""Dad, are you by any chance… scared of them?" Harlan asked.Mr Smith smiled, "if I am scared of them I won't be where I am today. I have met a lot of families than them that cooperated to do more terrible things than the Alberts are doing in order to get to the top.""So, why are you holding back from telling?" Harlan asked.Mr Smith cleared his throat and looked at Harlan through the corner of his eyes. He felt slightly jealous that Harlan looked more like his wife than himself. Nela
"Are you ready?" Jack asked as he dropped Harlan in front of the broadcasting station company."If I were not ready, I wouldn't be here," Harlan said sarcastically.Jack nodded and put on his dark goggles. He was wearing tight blue jeans and a baggy designer shirt. He was wearing a wig over his hair, anyone who saw him would describe him as a man with long hair almost touching his shoulder. His beard was overgrown. Harlan was wearing a suit and he had used a curly wig. A magnet earring was in both ears. He wore a fake tattoo on his neck. When he glanced at himself in the mirror earlier, he stared, eyes widened, at what he turned out to be. He had a brown paper in his hand which contained some documents. Roles have been reversed and he is now Jack's bodyguard.They went inside the building. Mr Smith had assured them that they would have no problem getting in and doing whatever they wanted to do because the broadcasting station was owned by his friend. Harlan showed the security men a
Elizabeth didn't know how long she had been staring at Harlan's picture on the poster that had been placed in different places all over the campus. In the poster, the pictures of the six of them that had won the competition were there. When Harlan and Roger wouldn't show up, herself, Jason, Cecilia and Adrian had taken the picture. Roger had sent his picture and she had given Harlan's picture from the ones posted on the group chat when the gossip about their dates first started. Some skillful graphic designer had managed to put the pictures of the six of them together. In the picture, Harlan was the only person that stood out to Elizabeth.She looked around to be sure no one had been looking at her. There was no one. She sighed.Her phone beeped. It was a message from Harlan... No, a message from Jack because he is the one with Harlan's phone now. She checked it and saw a picture of some guy in a suit and tattoo on his neck. Under the picture, it read : would you recognize me if you s
Another movie had begun on the television and they both watched it as they ate the pizza Elizabeth had ordered. She kept stealing glances at Harlan. She had a lot of questions to ask him but she didn't know which one to ask first. "Stop staring at me," Harlan said without taking his eyes off the television."Huh?" She blushed and looked away.She looked back at the television and reached out to take a slice of pizza. At that same time was when Harlan was going to take one too. Because he was looking at the television too, he grabbed Elizabeth's hand. He glanced at her and for some unexplainable reasons, her face flushed."Hmm, I need to get something inside," she stood up and almost ran to her room. She locked the door behind her and held her fast beating chest. "Darn!"Harlan is in the sitting room… Why the heck is she over-thinking it? She shook her head and turned on the light in her room. She glanced at her face in the mirror. It was flushed. "No. This can't be happening!" She
"The award of the best student in this graduating set goes to… before I call his name, I would like to add that he is the most handsome guy I have ever seen on earth —because I see a lot of things in my imagination. Combine his handsomeness with his being a genius and you have…" "Harlan Smith!" The audience and the graduating students shouted, completing the MC's sentence for him. Harlan came on to the stage, dressed in an academic gown. "Hey, Harlan, where is your cap?" Mr Healy asked in a whisper as he was about to hand over the prize to him. "Mrs Smith is wearing it," he said. "Now, you have to snap this picture without the cap," Mr Healy pretended to sulk. "Even with that, I still stand out," Harlan said and smiled. Mr Healy smiled and handed him the prize as camera light flashed on him. The MC called on Mr Healy to give his speech after prizes had been handed over to students that merits it. Mr Healy was given a standing ovation as he stood up from his seat in t
Harlan dropped the envelope containing all the cards on the table. On the same table was his car key, his ATM card and a note which read: goodbye. Thank you.He remembered the exciting feeling that he felt on the day Mr Smith gave him those cards. He shook his head quickly to get rid of the thought. This isn't time to be emotional. He just cannot forgive his parents for what they did. He had always hoped that his father would never have peace, just look what happened. All these while, he had been Harlan Smith without knowing it.He opened the door and went outside. He only took four clothes and a extra pants. He would start from scratch and go back to living the life he used to live before Mr Smith came into his life.The light in the compound made it a very beautiful sight to behold. The first time he had come here, he had almost thought he was imagining things. Funny how those days had passed really quickly."Sir, where are you going early in the morning?" Jack asked as Harlan was
Harlan almost choked on his food. He grabbed a cup of water and drank from it. She made a tsk tsk sound. "You are just like your father. Your face is flushed.""I am eating mo… Mrs Smith!" He almost called her 'Mom'."Does that mean you are studying law?" She asked."Yes. I am in my final year.""Wow! I can't wait to wear your graduation cap."Harlan found himself laughing in between eating. Throughout the rest of the day, he and Mrs Smith were discussing. She told him about her perfume company about how much she loved what she was doing. Harlan found out that she was a very easy going person. He had missed having her in his life all these years and he found himself wondering how great life would have been if she had been part of his childhood days.Later in the evening, Mr Smith came back home and the first thing he did was to turn on the television. The case had been a really fast one. Harlan would bet that everything was possible only by Mr Smith's influence. All the people that
"I just wanted to check on you to see if you are getting it, Sir," the Cctv footage officer said. He could not help thinking the CEO had come to check on his girlfriend who had come here with another man.Harlan stood up and left. The footage officer stared at his back. The CEO doesn't seem to be in the same mood he had been when he came in. He shrugged.****Harlan found himself at the large field where he already went whenever he was overwhelmed. He had had a lot of surprises in the past six months but none of them has even been as shocking as this. He rolled on the field and faced the sky. He heard the sounds of birds nearby and wondered if he would have any problem if he were a bird.He replayed all he heard from some hours ago in his head. The conversation between Mr Smith and Mrs Smith. His father and mother… he closed his eyes. So all these while, he had those two people's blood flowing in his veins and he wasn't aware of it.He took his phone from where it was lying beside him
Harlan crossed over to where he had parked his car. He got inside and looked out through the window. In the next seventy two hours, he would be buying up all what the Alberts had. Through the help of Mr Smith, he had been able to refile the cases that the Alberts had been guilty of but had won. Mr Smith had told him how difficult that was, but he had not taken no for an answer.He took a deep breath and silently prayed that all these would be over. He had been able to get the victims of the Alberts and had convinced them that they would be duly compensated if they came back for their cases again.As he was about to turn on the car. He saw someone familiar pass him by. Mrs Smith? The fact that she was alone, with no bodyguard, made him more curious to know why she was at the hotel. He waited for some seconds before coming down from the car. He walked in the direction she had passed and saw her enter the hotel.When got inside, he could see the receptionist go pale as he walked toward
Harlan's phone beeped. It was his personal assistant from the 'where talent glows' calling. He answered it."Hello?""Is there any problem?" Harlan asked."Not really. Mr Richard Albert has been meaning to see you all these while. He asked for your number but I didn't want to give him until I asked for your permission first.""Tell him to meet me at the Jay Team lounge," Harlan said and hung up."Drive to Jay Team," Harlan told Jack."I checked into the company where you made your friend the manager, things have gone really wrong there. Lot of workers have quit," Jack said as he turned the car in another direction."So?""He has done worse things than you are aware of," Jack said."Whatever he has done to me is none of your business," Harlan said.Harlan searched for his personal assistant's number of the company where he made Kelvin the manager and sent him a message to call in the evening.Harlan had informed his personal assistant at the Jay Team hotel to make sure no one other tha
The Alberts were in a pensive mood as everyone of them sat in the family hall. Unlike the other meetings where there would be chatters before the meeting started, today, everyone was focused on the phone, reading the various posts on social media that had managed to circulate around in the last three days. "Richard, how many companies don't want to partner with us anymore?" Grandfather asked."Seventeen."Grandfather sighed. "Let them go." "What are the updates about those riffraffs?" Grandfather asked."The TV station where they went refused to disclose anything about their identity. I have met with the owner of the station but he isn't saying anything," someone said."I have a friend there but he is more clueless than we are about the matter," someone else added."I have checked into it but there is really no one I suspect to have done this among our business rivals," another person said.Richard felt a feeling that he had missed something out... Funny how he seemed not to have th
Another movie had begun on the television and they both watched it as they ate the pizza Elizabeth had ordered. She kept stealing glances at Harlan. She had a lot of questions to ask him but she didn't know which one to ask first. "Stop staring at me," Harlan said without taking his eyes off the television."Huh?" She blushed and looked away.She looked back at the television and reached out to take a slice of pizza. At that same time was when Harlan was going to take one too. Because he was looking at the television too, he grabbed Elizabeth's hand. He glanced at her and for some unexplainable reasons, her face flushed."Hmm, I need to get something inside," she stood up and almost ran to her room. She locked the door behind her and held her fast beating chest. "Darn!"Harlan is in the sitting room… Why the heck is she over-thinking it? She shook her head and turned on the light in her room. She glanced at her face in the mirror. It was flushed. "No. This can't be happening!" She
Elizabeth didn't know how long she had been staring at Harlan's picture on the poster that had been placed in different places all over the campus. In the poster, the pictures of the six of them that had won the competition were there. When Harlan and Roger wouldn't show up, herself, Jason, Cecilia and Adrian had taken the picture. Roger had sent his picture and she had given Harlan's picture from the ones posted on the group chat when the gossip about their dates first started. Some skillful graphic designer had managed to put the pictures of the six of them together. In the picture, Harlan was the only person that stood out to Elizabeth.She looked around to be sure no one had been looking at her. There was no one. She sighed.Her phone beeped. It was a message from Harlan... No, a message from Jack because he is the one with Harlan's phone now. She checked it and saw a picture of some guy in a suit and tattoo on his neck. Under the picture, it read : would you recognize me if you s