Running from Him by YH Yohi

Chapter 38: End game

Many hours had passed since Arin left. With no other choice, Omar stayed back at the house as Taren left to the island. As he neared Arin's aunt's grave, he was already expecting the worst. A nervous breakdown, fainting or disappearance. Suddenly, the raging river seemed nauseating to even look at. Never, not possible. He prepared himself, praying for nothing to have happened.

But what he least expected was for Arin to be sleeping beside his dead lover, who didn't really seem dead. Hallucination? He stood still, unsure what to do or what to think. Pari slowly got up as if noticing a presence, her surprise seeing Taren barely lasted a second before her iconic serious face. Yes, there was no denying it, Ms. Pari was right there in her flesh and blood.

"M..Ms..Pari" Taren stammered as Pari left Arin's side and approached him. 

"Long time Taren" Pari replied calmly.

"How?...I mean you were...I don't understand"

"Calm down, there's enough time to explain everything that happened. I will ask you just one question, and you better answer it honestly. Whether the truth is sweet or bitter, I'll accept it. So, this is your only chance to do it right. If I find out, you lied....Arin is going to bear the consequence of it and you know I'm capable of." Pari warned.

Arin was Taren's soft spot; she knew it the minute she saw them together. Omar, Arin and Taren were inseparable despite their employer-employee status. Omar and Taren were children of the security and secretary heads in Kare's, naturally they took over their parent's roles. Most of their childhoods were alienated, that's the world of the rich, so they leaned on each other and became each other's strengths.

"Yes, anything but please come back. He's not himself anymore and.." Taren begged her but was cut off

"Did Arin know that island, specifically the hotel was a brothel? You better be honest Taren. Even if he did, I won't harm him, if you are honest."

"He didn't. Please believe me. He would have never taken you to a place like that, he really loves you. After you died...I mean left...he went crazy. After he realized everything that happened, he imprisoned all of them and tortured them day and night. The man who harmed you, no longer has limbs nor a face recognizable, Old Madam was imprisoned in that towers with nothing and she has gone crazy while Tania didn't show any remorse for what she did, so he threw her into a mental facility, she's gone as well."

Pari was shocked hearing all of this. So much had happened since she faked her death.

"That's not it Pari. Arin left you there because he wanted to solidify his position before bringing you back, you would have been the easiest target. If it'd hadn't been for the storm that delayed our flight, he could have kept his promise to take you back."

"Now what?" Pari questioned herself. Was she happy? or confused? She didn't know how she felt at that moment. Could his words be trusted? Even if it was trustworthy, what now. Can they ever go back to the way they were? Will the scars disappear just because they love each other?

"Taren, who do you think was behind the trial failures and Dr Palentine's death?"

"We tried finding out, but it was dead-end. Tania was our only lead but she didn't say a word till the end. The only thing she kept saying was 'He was right, you are no longer one of us' to Arin."

"One of us...was she in this orphanage as well?"

"Yes. After Arin got power, he immediately came back here. But it was too late. Aunt was dead and all the kids had left. He was overwhelmed by guilt like the only survivor in a sinking ship. He tracked down most of them, gave them a good education, jobs, support and everything they needn't to live a comfortable life. Tania was a working on the streets when we found him, she denied all opportunities and insisted she stayed with Arin. Arin always the orphanage children as his siblings so he couldn't deny her but..."

"But she wanted more" Pari said remember what Arin had told her in jail, everything was slowly making sense. The reason he hired her as a secretary and tolerated her, it was all his guilt and sense of responsibility. Even the drug trial failure, the reason Arin tried to find another scapegoat, which happened to be Pari, was to hide Tania's blunder.  That's why he anonymously helped Pari get off the hook even before they met, because he knew investigating the trials more might lead back to Tania. Pari's was furious, Arin played with her life, another innocent person's life to save Tania's; but would she have done it as well to save someone she cared about?

Pari wasn't confident she could answer that. Yes or no, the answer is more complex and tougher than that, that's how people are, all people. Now's not the time to think about it. Something still didn't make sense to Pari...

"Do you think Tania sabotaged the drug trials alone? With the level of security and monitoring"

"I don't think so. I wanted to find out more but Arin stopped me since it might implicate Tania"

"Who do you think was behind it? Dr. Palentine?"

"No. I looked into him, he was a refugee that recently joined."

"No wonder we couldn't find him in the database!" Pari recalled the time, Malon said the man didn't have an identity. "Then, how did he manage to get into the labs?"

"From what I found, the research head personally recommended him as an assistant, and since we run a welfare project for the displaced, it was easier for him to go unnoticed."

"Even then, without properly looking into him we..."

"Yes, that is a fault on our parts. AISC company and the governments' , because of our 100% success rate we took it lightly" Taren sighed, Pari felt regret too. How could she have overlooked such a simple procedure?! She had to make this right now; she somehow played a role in this failure.

Tania, Dr.Palentine, the research head all seemed too distant from one another, too different. The single string of thread that tied them all together was Mr. Namer. He had contact with each of them, or at least some sort of relation like a maestro guiding his musicians to play ominous composition against Arin.

"Taren, can you do something for me, but not a word said to anyone, even Arin."

"Yes" Taren had already accepted Pari was Arin's companion, he respected and trusted her the way he did with Arin.

"Investigate Mr. Namer of the marketing dept. Find out everything about him, his connection with Tania, he relation with the research head."

"Mr. Namer, why him?"

"No question Taren, trust me this once. Do you know why I am asking you this while I am an entire team ready when I give a sign?"

"Why?"

"I want you to use the underground. The club at bluestone hotel, I know it's still there and all those miscreants" Taren uncomfortably coughed in response "Find out if there have been any dealing Mr. Namer has been doing with Arin's rivals or the drug black market."

Taren was surprised at Pari's order but not entirely. She was known for being quite practical and efficient in her work, it was showing now. 

"Yes, Ma'am...and what about Arin?"

"He thinks I'm just an illusion. Let me think that way."

"But..."

"Won't be for long Taren, it's better to keep him in a dark till this is resolved. It won't be for long"

"Ok." Without any more questions, Taren picked up Arin over his shoulder and left. With one last look at Pari with pleading eyes, he disappeared along the trail, leaving Pari alone.

Pari wanted to go back to her life, but it wasn't time yet. Not until she gets those bastards who messed with the people she cared about. She wasn't going to let them go. After all, the people didn't call her the 'bulldog' for nothing, because once she bites on to something or someone, she never lets it go. Never.

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Until next time,

Adios!