Missing Piece

Chapter Twelve

Melanie

I walk out of the big glass doors and step out of the building. The sudden cool breeze makes me pull my jacket a little closer and adjust the strap of the bag on my shoulder.

"Goodbye, Henry! See you tomorrow." I wave at Henry, who works as one of the security guards in the building.

"Be careful on your way, kiddo." I scrunch my face at that name.

"You are older than me by only three years. You can't call me that."

"I'm still your elder." The goof counters.

"Okay, Grandpa Henry. See you around."

"MEL!" His booming laughter echoes behind me.

I shuffle making my way through the busy sidewalk. The city basks in the perfect shades of purple and pink as the sun is just about to set.

My mind reels back to the incident that happened today at office. Benji finally found out that I work at Wyatt Corps. I was foolish to think that I could hide from him forever. He definitely thinks that I'm here to cause more trouble for him. And his hatred for me might have just been increased ten times today.

I still can't believe he defended me against Mr. Garner. I thought he'd relish in Mr. Garner's cruel words for me. But he stood up for me. There might just be more to Benji than his 'I don't care' attitude that he presents. I wonder how he would've treated me had we met under different circumstances. Would he have befriended me or still would have seen me as his enemy.

I come to a stop at the bus-stop. Sitting on one of the empty metal chairs, I pull out my phone to pass the time till the bus arrives.

My phone starts to ring just I was about to scroll through it.

It flashes with Jay's name.

I quickly answer, "Jay. Long time no call-"

"Where are you?" He cuts me off. I could barely make out the words with blasting music in the background. "I'm at the club and you're not here." That explains the loud music.

"I don't have a shift today, Jay."

"Great! This day just keeps getting better." I try to listen to him clearly through the loud noise and then all of sudden the sound muffles. "Move your pretty arse and come get me ASAP, I'm ten minutes away from braking down in this creepy alleyway."

Something in his voice feels off, so I hold back my questions and respond, "I'll be there in 20 minutes. Just hang in there and don't break down. You'll scare people with your ugly cries."

And I hang up.

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It takes me almost half an hour to reach the club. My eyes were on the meter for the whole ride in cab. As soon as the cab stopped, I paid the cab driver, thanking him, I got out.

The bright neon blue and green light sign of Pentagon stares back at me. Instead of going from front, I take route leading to the backdoor.

In the dimly lit alley, I find a figure leaning against the wall.

"Jay?" I call out and the person's head snap to me.

"Mel," he says and before I know it, he runs and slams into me. I barely get enough time to wrap my arms around him before we both fall down.

"Ow." I mutter when my back meets the hard ground. Jay clings to me as first sob breaks through him. "Shh. I'm here." I run my fingers through his shoulder length blond locks.