"You remind me of Maria. She amuses me a lot everyday."
Hell, who the heck is Maria? Elizabeth could feel somehow as she wondered if Harlan already had a girlfriend. She knew Harlan Smith cannot be her boyfriend, but seeing him have that damn cute smile on his face because of some girl made Elizabeth sad."Oh, really?"Harlan smiled again, "seriously, there was one evening when she told me something very funny. My first thought was that she is insane, but you know, that can never happen."Elizabeth smiled uneasily. He mentioned evening. For a guy and a girl to be together in the evening means their relationship has gotten to an extent. She was sick of her own thoughts."Mind if I get you something in the cafeteria?" Harlan asked."Well..." She couldn't reject this offer. Since he already had a girlfriend, there is close to no chance of spending time with Harlan in the near future. She has to make usHarlan's hand hung in the air."What is that supposed to mean, Roger?" Elizabeth frowned."Don't you see how he looks? You know the stuff about evolution? I don't know much about it but, he looks like some fore fathers. So outdated.""Hey, Roger. That isn't something pretty to tell someone you are meeting for the first time," Elizabeth scolded, but Roger wasn't going to take that. He walked closer to Harlan who has managed to put down his hand now."I don't like how you look," Roger told him.Harlan shrugged, "who cares?""I don't like how you talk too.""That doesn't have anything to do with the research we are to work on," Harlan said flippantly."Yo, man, do you know me?""I don't think so.""On the stage, I am Bobby. Still don't know me?" Harlan took a closer look at Roger. There is only one Bobby he used to hear of, and that
"You're brilliant and I admire that." Elizabeth finally found something reasonable to say.Harlan smiled in relief. He had thought she would tell him that other than the fact that he was Harlan Smith, nothing drew her to him."We will see in two days time," Harlan said as she waved at him.He smiled at her. The car soon pulled away. Harlan thrust his hands in his pocket and walked to his car. Jack opened the door for him and he got in."Anything about the guy on my trail?" Harlan asked as Jack started driving."No news."No news means good news.He checked if he had messages on his phone. There was one from Madame A. A couple of ones from the group chat.He checked the one from Madame A first.'You can trust Elizabeth.'Harlan replied 'okay'.He checked the group chat and realized that something interesting was going
There was no single hair on his head. Harlan wondered if the guy had a young voice or maybe he was really young. But... Are there still young guys who prefer having all their hair shaved off? Harlan hadn't seen guys like that. "What do you want from me?" Harlan asked edgily."I don't like talking too much so I will get straight to the point. Who are you to the Alberts?"Harlan frowned, "what has that got to do with you bringing me here?"The guy adjusted his grip on his gun, as if telling Harlan that you don't talk any how to a man with a gun."I am twenty five years old and I have served about five jail terms."Again, Harlan wondered what they had to do with this, but he knew better than to say it out. He couldn't see the guy's face because of the facemasks."Oh," Harlan muttered."Of all the five times I have served jail terms, I didn't do anything wrong."
Harlan rushed inside the building with the drugs in his hand, he had barely heard how the pharmacist prescribed that the drug be used before he had left.He saw the guy on the floor, his face turned up and his unhurt arm holding the hurt bleeding one. Harlan rushed to him, bent over and started taking out the drugs in the plastic bag."I got the drugs, try to sit up. You will be okay in no time," Harlan said.No reaction from the guy. Harlan shook him gently. Still, no reaction. He stared at the guy's face. There was a smirk on it, but taking a closer look, he realized that the guy wasn't breathing any longer.Harlan froze as the realization dawned on him. The guy was dead."Hey, guy... Get up... I will take revenge on your behalf, but man, you have... You have to get up!" Harlan said, trying to persuade himself that he wasn't talking to a dead person. The smirk on the
After Jack had left to bury the guy, Harlan was restless. Whenever he turned, he seemed to be seeing the image of Wallace Stone, begging him to avenge him. When Harlan couldn't take it any longer, he called Kelvin to meet him at the gym they had both gone to a few days after they turned eighteen.Both of them, then, had wanted to start building muscles and doing the guys' things but they had lost interest in the gym thing after a few weeks of going there.***Kelvin threw another towel at Harlan who was sweating really badly as he released the weight lifter. Kelvin folded his arms and continued staring at Harlan."One more time," Harlan said and got under the weight again. He could feel his muscles aching but he needed that distraction. He needed to keep his mind away from the painful death he just witnessed."I will be waiting and watching you." Kelvin muttered.Some moments later, Ha
"Kelvin?" Harlan called in surprise, wondering why his friend was behaving out of the ordinary."Man, I knew what I said was going to hurt but I just had to tell you. No harm, man. I didn't mean no harm. Just telling you the facts like a concerned friend."Harlan shook head and tried to dismiss what Kelvin had just told him."If I were you, buddy, if I were you, I would become wise. I will use my common sense." Kelvin said again."Look, Kelvin, I have a lot to think about right now, don't make me scared. I just told you that Mr Smith promised to be my father forever," Harlan said, tired of hearing Kelvin talk like that."Yeah, I heard you. I have been your friend for the past twenty one years. We have been friends since we were toddlers. And for the past twenty one years, I haven't gotten you into trouble. I have always told you the things that are good for you. If you don't want my advice now that your status has
"Hey, Harlan, are you out of your mind? You just heard every one of us introduce ourselves, who the heck do you think you are?" Adrian snapped."Is he some prime minister of some sort? He just waltzes in here and tells us to introduce ourselves. Why? What gives him that right?"Roger had an amused smile on his face, "you and I are never really going to get along.""Don't worry, Roger, I will make sure he is out of this group so that we can replace him with someone sensible." Cecilia said."You are always making threats that you can't carry out, Cecilia.". Harlan said."Harlan, if you don't shut that mouth of yours, I will shut it for you. You this stupid thing," Jason spat.Harlan gave Jason a hard stare, remembering Wallace Stone. He clenched his fist but didn't say anything. After all, Kelvin has advised him to mind his business and there is really no use avenging someone who is dead. But no matter
Harlan grinned, "no one's life depends on useless people.""Yo, man, let's get things ironed out. I am not a fan of complicated and useless conversations. How much are you willing to do the research for?""Don't you get it? I am not doing it alone. It is supposed to be a joint work, isn't it?""Protocols can be ignored here, nigga, just —""My name is Harlan. If you can't refer to me as that, restrain from using terms instead of my name." Harlan cut in rudely.Roger smiled, amazed at how Harlan could know that he is Bobby and still be talking to him in this manner."Yo, man. How much do you want? I will pay you."Harlan shook his head, "how else am I supposed to tell you before you understand?""Look, Harlan, forget about protocols. The old man who assigned the project is going to understand, that is if you know that you were the one who did the research alone. He will und