[CHAPTER ONE]
When I gathered the clock was past three o'clock. There was light outside but I still didn't visit drowsiness. I keep sneaking on my phone from time to time with Carin's message to me, but to this day there is still no dot message from her. I'm camping but no matter how much I worry about her.
I love Carin and with her I imagined a family I want in the future. She's been there during my ups and downs and I'm so lucky because she managed to give up her rich life to come with me.
She always supported me in things I wanted to address even more impossible and contrary to her own beliefs. She loved me and I'm fuckin' aware of it. So I understand why she doesn't want another woman around me except her. And that's the reason why I had to sleep here again at Raj's house. Whenever Carin and I were arguing, I would rather go far so we could avoid getting into the both verbal and non-verbal manner.
I also decided to get up on the couch and look at the view from the other side of the window. It looks good I see but my mind is too shallow and doesn't see much to care of anything. I'm missing Carin but I can't do anything but wait for her go signal before I get home. It's only weird now because it should be by this time I have a text or call that I have received from her.
Carin is so sweet and that sweetness of her is my daily dose. So I missed her a lot less than a whole day later when I left home. I didn't want to go home without realizing her mistake. Well I admit that I have a flaw in our relationship because of my job as a research agent and we are good at that issue. Time is never an issue because she knows my job. The case here is that, she was always jealous everytime with another woman around me.
Actually, even if shee doesn't say I avoid getting closer to other women besides her. Besides we are sorry that I have past traumatic experiences in women as well. It seemed like a sudden it was given to me that every time a woman came to me they would be doomed.
It took me a while to get the last one to ruin a woman near me. And it seems that the curse was actually lifted by Carin. Weird but since Carin came into my life, all the bad things in my life have stuck. She's an angel that saved me from the curse that fucked me up in the past.
So even though we had a fight a few times, I won't let her go. We will fight but I cannot agree to separate.
Just a moment later my phone suddenly vibrated. So I immediately unlocked it because I'm sure that's the message I was looking forward to from her. But I was disappointed when I saw that I was wrong. The message was sent by my team leader. He's calling out the whole team and asking us to rush over the headquarters.
I was really wondering what happened to HQ and it seemed like we needed it there. Why this early? And why now yet me and Carin has something to fix?
I just sighed as I tried to absorb everything that was happening in my life today. While walking back to the bed, he accidentally opened the bedroom door. It's Raj chasing his breath. He looks so panic and I think I know what brings him here. I had no expression of him as he waited patiently to speak.
"Sheldon 'our project!"he said.
My eyes went round at that instant. I was shocked to come to him and waited for him to speak again.
"What's up with our project?"I'm curious.
"It was a found broken! And the team leader says it's not just bad luck because it was crushed by someone when they saw it this morning!"Raj continued.
I automatically frowned myself. We've been working on that project for a long time. It's not just a bad project 'cause we just don't sweat and spend time there. There lies my team's pride, honor and credibility. Calling our team crazy because of that, then when we were about to prove everything, then it happened. Shit!
"Who destroyed it?"I asked him.
He shook his head and said, "I don't know! The team leader mentioned nothing to me."
That moment I guess we really need to head at the HQ as soon as possible. Raj and I didn't waste time and we went to HQ.
From there we were met by our other teammates and of course the team leader. We both seem to be plunged by heaven and earth while looking at the fragmentation of our project.
I immediately approached the project in which Kali's crushed parts were scattered. Kali in Sanskrit means the Goddess of Time, Doomsday and Death.
It was too much of a will to see and hold Kali in that way. All the misery and effort we had to finish was just gone.
"I found out that Kali was like that and because of the fact that I messaged you all right away," said our team leader.
Everyone was quiet and no one had the courage to ask so I do it myself and turned my eyes to our team leader.
"Is it too late to fix it?"
He avoided looking when I filled him with that question. He seemed to be more lost in his self when I heard what I was saying. He even gathered courage before speaking again and said,
"It's so happen that all the CCTV footages here on our place are deleted. So technically, I'm also clueless about who's behind it."
We were all surprised after hearing those words. Not even to say the ones that run through their minds I know we have only one thought.
The footages by themselves are not made available. If true of the deleted all footages on the wing we without any power interference or systemic error is obviously someone who has delegated that. People are sure to have something to do with our project.
"Since we just winged it and found no problem with the system, I presume that someone wanted to do it," TL revealed.
"In short, there is a sabotage happening?"Raj said and in confirmation TL nodded. There opened many doors to the question in everyone's mind. Questions even one of us couldn't answer.
Who?
Why?
How?
The silence wrapped our wing because of the frustrations of what happened to our Project Kali. Add to that our thinking on questions we don't know how to answer. I automatically clenched my fist out of my frustration. I was angry because of the sabotage on our team and that anger was even more intense because we had no lead in who everyone was planning.
I walked around the corner of our wing and sat on the thick layer of research papers. I don't know how I can release all the negative emotions that make my breath go away. I was able to touch my face. It went straight to my head and I slowly pulled myself out.
I thought I had enough today but not yet. My phone rang for a while. And first, I thought it was Carin who's calling me but it was indeed Lily - a friend of mine. I didn't answer it because I would first entertain another issues unless related to Carin and Kali. I was going to put my phone in my pocket when it vibrated because Lily was texting me. I had no intention of opening that message because we were in the middle of the meeting and the team leader was still discussing at us, but when I saw Carin's name attached there I immediately opened it.
"Carin and Rikka. They're all over the news. Do you know?"
I was shocked after reading that message. What did she mean? What news? What happened?
"News? What's with the news? Why are they in the news?"I replied.
Raj immediately noticed my anxiety and immediately asked if I was okay. I nodded so that our conversation wouldn't go down. For now, I want to know first what is in the news that Lily is saying. And to gratify my curiosity, I patiently waited her to reply.
Soon she reply and sent me a link. Weird but I don't like what my instinct is running. I quickly pressed that link and it redirected me to a news website. Loading the whole article as well as the pictures. First the headline saying ,
"Woman, found dead in Villa Teresita."
Rikka came to my mind first and I found her looking for my teammates. The ferocity I felt intensified without seeing Rikka. My companions immediately noticed the tension and frustration I was showing and one of them asked,
"Sheldon what's wrong?"Clyde turned my attention to my comrades. I let go of a heavy breath while biting my lower lip.
"Rikka, is she here?"I asked them while trying to find Rikka for the second time.
"I texted her earlier but she didn't respond yet."
Coincidentally when I returned the article I was clearly seeing the whole of it. As I read the words printed there, my eyes almost widened.....
To be continued
Waiting for the chapter 2 😍