Joseph hated the electrifying energy his legs possessed when his heart failed to summon courage; it helped him mount up the stairs and reach the apex in a little time. His fists tucked inside his pants pockets. The glass doors slid open automatically. Somehow, the setting reminded him of the time when they had their first meeting. The nervousness was so sharp, back then, and even now.
The only source of light was the three-light LED pool table pendant befalling on the green of the pool table and her shiny auburn hair.
When he looked up, he struggled to find the sparkle in her eyes. She no longer looked happy.
The game room was large in size, and rectangular in shape. Its suspended ceiling gave it a compact look. There were bright purple, green, orange, and pink lights blinking in the pinball area and a huge flat screen on the side wall displaying the Hall of Fame.
The sounds from his shoes echoed in the room as he went onward.
"Here to give me a lecture on my dysfunctional popularity, Mr. Holden?" Ruby opened her dialogue with a voice exploring the bout of mirthlessness, focussing to hit the cue ball with power by placing her index finger on top of the stick and the thumb at the bottom. "I saw hate pages popping up on social media every minute."
"Big names have their self-worth tied to other people's perception."
"So, should I exceed the number of sleeping pills tonight?" Ruby's laser-eyed focus trailed from the table to his eyes.
Joseph's heart rate slowed after hearing this confession as he moved his lips and made no sound.
"Cool your jets, Mr Holden." An evil smirk clogged his breath in his throat.
"It was a joke."
He breathed. "Mrs Warner wants to take you out for some little trip. So, be ready by seven in the evening. Pack some winter clothes." He couldn't bring himself to look at her.
She was a novice at the game and that was something anybody could admit at one glance. From the way, she held the stick to the unpliant curve of her back as she leaned on the table. But the confidence she wore at that time made her look no less than any player who'd defended the championship title a dozen times. Her competitive spirit roared for all the chances she was going to take.
He left a big puff in the air and grabbed his stick from the other side of the table and gave an easy shot, the ball was riding the edge of the table and dropped into the pocket.
Shucks! thought Ruby.
Suddenly she felt the heat rose to her cheeks and with a frustrated stroke the cue ball bounced off the table. "Arnold Garfield was your accomplice! Why did you hide it from me?" she yelled inexorably.
With slack-jawed and shady eyes, he cast his mind back to Arnold calling him a fabulist. So, he already had a word with her. But how and when?
"What did he tell you?"
"Don't sweat, Joseph. He didn't reveal anything about your interest in this fraud," she assured fulsomely.
"That's okay then," he murmured to her utter objection and bent to aim at the red ball.
From the frontal view, Ruby got on his level and saw something instilling in his pupils. His eyes shifted to hers and then back at the object.
"Tell me why did you keep it from me? You didn't care to tell me anything about Tasher as well. It was Mark who told me to stay away from him 'cause he loves to use girls."
"He's a dangerous man. And his son is walking on the same path. Arnold deals with things that I'll never find appropriate to share with you. Or with just any girl." He demurred calmly and then reckoned with his failed vetting on Tasher's residential roadmap. "I went with my guts, which hinted to me that Tasher would never get to meet with you and would
return to Hong Kong peacefully. So there be no meeting. But everything was bound to change . . ."
"So, what am I gonna do now?" She lifted the stick in her hands and ran her eyes at its length.
"I'll talk to him. But, for now, you should focus on this break time." He glanced at her occasionally, wanting to hear her voice that was sometimes irritating like a metal song── sometimes soothing like an angel sending messages to the prophets.
"Can't you come along?"
Joseph raised his face and saw her looking into nothingness. He wasn't prepared to hear this from her. The words abounded of the love which he had thought she would've replaced with hate. He wanted to wrap her into a warm hug, whisper in her ears that he would find a way to comfort her forever. He realized it after recalling how alone Ruby must have felt after the party incident.
"I can't. Mrs. Warner─"
"I can talk to her. She'll never object," she snapped, raising a suggestive eyebrow.
"Still, I can't. I've to see someone at the hospital--- tonight." His heart hammered violently in his chest. In realization, he had started getting used to keeping her under his surveillance and those bang-on facial contortions. It was hard not to get a sight of her for a couple of hours, let alone a couple of days.
"No problem. I'm sure I will have a good time. I, too, needed this so badly," she said with a fake passion.
"Hmmph . . . don't take fancy clothes in there," he objected, looking at her red short dress hugging her body. "Instead take some jackets and slacks. That will keep your body warm. Don't feel overburdened with your hairdo just wear a beanie so that it saves you from the snowfall."
"Don't waste your breath. I think you have more important work to do than telling me what should I have in my backpack," she pronounced under the facade of the toughest warrior. He waltzed through the door, nodding.
His implicit affection was trying hard to break through the walls and bring a smile to her face, however, she resisted. Two willful people calling black-as-black would be a customary tale. Let's make it more real.
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃
A few hours later, Ruby was in her room just looked as if had undergone a raid by the police. With clothes, heels, and accessories; everything was scattered.
That necklace. The only valuable thing she owned in her life was not to be found anywhere. It was very important to her just like a mascot.
"Where did I keep it? I remember I took it out of this jewelry box and wore it to the party," she murmured, discouraged.
She shambled to the wardrobe and looked into the small drawers thoroughly, panting. "How can I lose it?"
Neither did she pay any attention to the knock on the door, nor addressed the maid who had brought her mid-day meals.
The discerning maid held the glass of orange juice and asked a question from standing behind Ruby, "May I help you?"
"Yes. Please. Have you . . . have you seen the necklace which I normally wear? The pendant is of this shape." She drew a shape on her palm with her numb finger.
Her thin arched eyebrows flew up in the air as she shook her head.
"Damn." Ruby fleed to the changing room.
As the maid found no trace of the owner of the lost necklace, she removed the top layer of clothes from the bed and saw her phone peeking from the edge of the pillow cover's frill. She surveyed the entire room and quickly put her phone in her skirt's side pocket.
As she turned around she saw Ruby glaring at her with crossed arms. The maid got terrified and covered her mouth.
"What are you hiding from me? Did you see the necklace?"
"No-o. . . I didn't," she stammered, a cold shudder ran through her, and for a few moments, there was silence.
"Get out of my room then!"
Word count - 1227
a/n; who wants to have her phone?
A) is it, Mrs Warner, spying on her own daughter
B) is it Mr Garfield with some spooky plan
C) her brother Mark
D) or, is it Mary who isn't dead
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0.1 | No Exit from Deception ✓
ChickLit❝ What you seek is seeking you.❞ ❝ What you seek is seeking you.❞ ❝ What you seek is seeking you.❞ Ruby took his words casually - very casually - and that marked the beginning of a lifetime experience. *** Joseph Ho...
