If She Knew

Chapter-7

"Thankfully this café stays open 24 hours a day."

Jonas locked the car with Bruno peacefully napping on the back seat, one of the windows rolled down slightly to let some air in. We ordered two cappuccinos, oven baked pasta and two servings of tiramisu after settling down on two opposite chairs around a small table at a corner. There was a short silence, and I went back to wallowing myself in the creeping sadness over the recent events that took place.

Jonas probably noticed that and immediately made an attempt to cheer me up.

"You know what? I think the restaurant is related to you."

"Why so?" I asked softly.

"Amyra and Amore-quite similar, isn't it?" he grinned. "Okay it was lame, I know."

I couldn't help but let out a small giggle at his usual lame attempt at uplifting the atmosphere. Well I would be lying if I say that they didn't work on me at all.

"I hope it's a treat from you today for helping you escape," he laughed.

"Sure," I smiled back a little.

"So now that we're friends, can I call you Amy?"

"You know the fun fact is that my little sister's name is also Amy!" he added with a curious look.

"Who told you that we're friends?"

I waited for his reaction.

"Wait, we're not?"

I chuckled a little before saying, "I'll call you June."

I finished up the scrumptious appetizers more quickly than I was supposed to do, compensating for the past one and a half day. To my surprise, Jonas also finished at the same time; he was a foodie, no doubt.

Just after the waiter had put the bill on our table, I noticed something across the table. Someone, to be precise.

Two men in guard uniforms were standing outside the café; 'hiding' would be a better term actually. I recognized them to be our security guards from Valdez Mansion. They were eyeing us carefully.

They had been following me till here.

I gulped and produced an artificial cough to catch Jonas's attention. When I was successful in doing so, I tried to gesture to his back using my eyes. He understood the signal maybe, because he didn't look back.

"Are they here?" he asked in a whisper.

I nodded.

"How many?"

"Two," I murmured.

"Pay the bill and get up normally," he directed.

I put the money on the table and got up promptly, not waiting for the change. I could almost sense the adrenaline coursing through my body, ready for the 'fight or flight' action.

Jonas had risen up too, and casually proceeded towards the other door of the café while I followed him. When we stepped out of the café, Jonas whispered, "When I say run."

I was not listening to him. My eyes were on something else.

"The cat," I murmured.

"The cat?" Jonas repeated in surprise.

The car was approaching. I had to save the cat.

Without a second thought, I jolted towards the injured cat in the middle of the street, scooped it in my hands, and hurled myself with all my strength towards the opposite end of the road, my arms still wrapped around the cat. The car whooshed past us at high velocity, missing contact with my body just by inches. The impact was too rough, and I landed on the pavement on my arms instead of my feet; thank god the cat was safe atleast. I screeched in agony as my left arm seared with pain.

Fear took over the pain as I noticed the guards approaching towards me.

"Amy, are you okay-?" I heard an anxious whisper in my ears, and looked around to find Jonas kneeling down by my side.

"They are here-" I mumbled without answering his question.

"Can you run?"

I nodded, even though I wasn't very confident.

He helped me get up quickly, and exclaimed "Run!"

He said it so suddenly that before I knew what I was doing, my legs were carrying me forward, the cat still in my arms, as Jonas pulled me along with him. I didn't dare to look back, but I could tell that they were following us from the loud thud of footsteps behind us. When we were about five feet from the car, June unlocked it using the button on his car keys, and we got in immediately from both sides as soon as we approached. He put the key into the ignition, and the metal body reverberated to life almost instantly.

I jerked back as the car lurched forward with full velocity, the speedometer reading going up to 70 km/h in the blink of an eye. I viewed the side mirrors to check if they were still following us. They were visible until June took quite a few jerks through this and that path, making it seem like we were driving through a labyrinth. The road wasn't that jammed, thanks to the fact that it was still 6.30 am in the morning.

"Are they still following?" he asked in a worried voice after a while.

I glanced at the side mirror again, and muttered a "No" when I was sure they weren't there. We both breathed a sigh of relief.

He finally brought down the speed to a gentle range and drove towards his destination. He brought the car to a halt in front of a two storey plain but elegant bungalow. It wasn't that far from our mansion; it would have been a 20 minutes peaceful journey if not for the uncountable zigzag routes Jonas took. He carefully parked the car in the parking space, adjacent to the entrance of the first storey.

"Here we are," he said with a slight smile.

I could see his forehead beaded with perspiration; he was indeed scared. The escape was quite rough, and it seemed like he had pulled it off more by immediate instincts rather than detective planning.

As if he could read my mind, he answered, "To be honest, this will be my first own official case, you know" -he paused a little before continuing- "I had always been more or less like side kick to Xav Bro, as your cousin had pointed."

"You'll do great," I assured him. "Thank you June," I ended with a smile.

He chuckled in response. A meow echoed in the car, and it took us a while to realize that there was still a cat in my lap.

"You're really good-hearted, you know," he commented, looking at the cat and then at my injured arm.

"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?"

We both giggled in unison before getting Bruno out from the back seat of the car. At least someone enjoyed a peaceful sleep while we went through all that mess.

As we proceeded, my eyes fell on the nameplate of the house that read "Xaviers' Bungalow".
                         

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