Harris Carter and his date, Sandra

~ Back to present ~

The cab returned and got her back to the restaurant. Aiya hurried out of the vehicle.

“Ma’am, should I wait for you?” the driver asked, thinking she might have forgotten something in the restaurant and she came back to pick it up.

“No! You may leave!” Her tone was a bit rude and the driver nodded with a bitter expression, while ALiya stood in the same spot until he could be seen no more.

………………….

It was late when Harris arrived home. That was a couple of minutes after he left the woman he thought was Sandra. He rushed into the house, since the phone call seemed very urgent and he was afraid something really bad had happened.

“What happened, Sean?” he asked, worriedly. “I was about to ask you the same thing. I just received a phone call from you that grandpa had a heart attack.” Sean said with astonishment and Harris's eyes widened with shock. “What are you talking about? I received the same phone call from you, telling me that grandpa had an attack!” Harris shouted in surprise.

“Wow, you both are screaming when I’m right here, or you want me to have a real heart attack, huh? Reduce your voices. And what the hell is all this about? I’m fine as you can see.” Mr Carter said from the couch on which he was laying. They immediately veered at the old man with widened eyes.

“Are you sure that you are fine, Grandpa?”Harris asked after exchanging a look with Sean. “Of course! So if not for that so-called call, you guys wouldn’t have bothered about me, right? How I wish I had a real attack…” he said as he sat up on the couch.

“Don’t say that grandpa! Your health is very important to us and nothing like that will ever happen to you, ok?” Sean said as they sat by either of his sides and Sean held the older man’s hand. “Thank you, Sean!” Mr. Carter said while giving Sean a gentle tap on his hand. Then he added, “Well, I guess the date didn’t go well”. Harris glared at him.

“Of course, grand Pa, it didn’t because I’m here and not there” He smiled at his grandfather as if his statement was quite obvious.

“Whatever, I'm sure you didn't put in much effort anyway!” the old man said. “So, why are we here?” Harris asked. “I don't know. I thought one of you would tell me.” Mr Carter replied with slight confusion in his eyes.

“Wow! So no one knows exactly the reason why… I'm out of here” With this said, Harris moved outside to leave but Sean rushed after him and stopped the other man. “Hey don't get mad at the old man,” he said. “I'm pretty sure the false alarm was all him. The old man behaves like a child sometimes. You know that!” Harris said, rubbing his forehead in disappointment. “I thought as much! Nonetheless, don't be too mad at him.” Sean insisted.

“I know but, man… I was having a date and that chick was hot as f*ck. The badass type, you know how that turns me on!” Harris said with a titillating tone. “Oh, you mean, the one the old man organized for you or another lady?” he asked and Harris nodded his head. “Yes, the one he set me up for the date.”

“Wow! That's a first. I don't know any grandpa's friend who has a badass as a daughter. I guess I don't know them all as well as I thought…” Sean said. “I guess that’s the case… I mean, I'm so mad right now! I didn't even have time to take out my big game.” Harris whimpered. “Does it matter? It's true, I know how much you love and get intrigued by sexy badass chicks, but still, it's not like she was the one... You have so many of them. This was just one in a thousand. No big deal, bruh.” Sean said carelessly. He knew Harris's addiction to women.

“No, Sean, this one is different,” Harris said thoughtfully. “I can see. I have never seen you talk about a chick this seriously.” Sean freaked out. “Whatever! Never mind, she will fall for my charm as every other girl” Harris said confidently. “I guess so!” Sean glared at him weirdly then the whole place became quiet. “But, Don’t you find it strange that we both got tricked by the same lame phone calls?” Harris said thoughtfully as he broke through the silence.

“Grandpa had us good, but I doubt he had the sense to pull such a trick and he said that it wasn't him,” Sean said. “We have to get to the bottom of this. Why would he want us both here so badly?” They stood there guessing until they got tired and went back into the house.

~~~~~~~

As soon as the driver was gone, Aliya ran back to the van to meet her partners in crime; Sammy and Nate since Dave had left before the mission even started.

“Did you succeed?” Aliya asked Sammy as soon as she hurried into the van. Then she added, “I wasn’t able to hold him long enough, he received an emergency phone call. I hope that call had nothing to do with us, because that man knows my face now.” She put her hands on her hips, lips in a thin line.

“There was no way we could enter his house without being detected, his Secretary was home. So as a genius, I tricked them with a phone call. That was our only option to keep the man out of the house and we placed the cameras successfully!” Sammy bragged as he victoriously narrated his procedure.

“Crap! I was so scared they caught you!” Aliya puffed with relief.

“I could never get caught. Nate was pretty on time today.” He said and they laughed because punctuality wasn't in Nate's dictionary.

“Whatever!” Nate laughed, shaking his head. “I am a man of my own schedule and time.”

“Sure, Nate!” Both Aliya and Sammy said. They called it a day as they drove back home to celebrate the first phase which had been well done.

~~~~~

The real Sandra drove furiously until she arrived home. Angrily, entered the living room, where her father was sitting on the expensive sofa. They were wealthy and, as expected, Sandra was one spoiled creature.

“My baby girl! How was your date?” Sandra’s father asked, putting down his newspaper, a bright smile on his lips. He had great expectations for that date, even though Harris Carter was one hell of a hard big fish to catch.

“Dad, it was so humiliating! He didn’t even give me a chance to speak. He just walked out of me as if I was one insignificant log of wood in his way!” She sat by her father’s side, arms folded in front of her chest, with a frown. “I can’t believe until this very moment he had the audacity to do that to me!”

“Hmmmm… Mr Carter told me to expect the worst from his grandson, and he was right, I guess.” Her dad said, shrugging.

“That man is a jerk! Why did he accept to go and have dinner with me if he was planning on stood me up, in the end? I just hate him now!” She yelled furiously, but soon, her expression changed and she dried her tears with a resolute smile. “You know what, dad? I won’t let that piece of… that man affect me with his negativity. I won’t!”

“Night, dad. I’m terribly exhausted.” She yawned. “Okay princess. Sleep tight. I promise I will make it up to you.” He promised her. She went straight to her room, locking the door behind her. She furiously sat at the edge of the bed and took out Harris’ picture from her little handbag.

“Foolish man. You’lll pay for this, dear Harris Carter, — you will pay for the humiliation. No one insults me and goes scotch free!”

She brutally tore the picture with a drop of tear escaping her red eyes but she wiped it off immediately and she continued to tear the picture into very small pieces.

………….

They all went to bed after the celebration. Aliya took a nice shower and got ready for bed. Dave was into sleeping together, but she was still a bit mad with him because of their little fight from before.

She fell asleep but, at a certain point she was unable to breathe properly. She painfully twirled herself in bed as if something was suffocating her. She was surely having a very bad dream. Her constant twisting in bed made her sweat. She was putting in so much effort to breathe. Suddenly, she broke into a scream and her eyes widened as she got up from her sleep. She was shivering in fear.

“There’s no way I’m letting it slide, — they will pay for what they did” she held onto her pillow, angry. Suddenly images of the night before she was brought to the orphanage came to her mind. “I'm so sorry, I let you down, sis.” she burst into tears as images of fire burning her parents and sister floated into her mind. “I promise you, sis, I will find all those behind that fire and I will make them pay dearly!” She furiously clenched her fists so tightly that her nails were slightly cutting into her palms.