Chapter Three

School ended like it usually did. We'd always amassed at the assembly hall to say a closing prayer since the school was owned by some Reverend, and basically listened to the ranting of some teachers before going home. I tried doing that with them for a day or two only to see whether the Lucifer in me would fancy such gatherings, but nope! So whenever the bell rang, I always took it as my cue to disappear. Why was today feeling different? I wanted to stay, to roll in with the crowd for just a little while longer. Maybe I would see him. Maybe.

I ignored the buzzing on my phone and ambled with the rest of the students to the assembly hall. The driver would have to wait a little longer. Students charged out from various rooms, various cliques that is. Some brawny dudes in football jersey paraded next to some angelic skinny bitches in cheerleader outfit, cheering and jubilating for some reason. Now that I thought of it, the whole school seemed to be happy for some reason. Cheerful and smiley faces, beautiful ones, ecstatically marching side by side. It was a beautiful moment. So beautiful that I'd even dared to briefly imagine myself in their midst, cheering and laughing.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" The voice again. I quickly snapped out of my fairytale, preparing my most savage response ever. It had to be something out of the ordinary, of course. And a sweet believable lie.

"I school here, remember?" I said confidently. If only that was how serious I was with my life here in school.

"But I don't think I've ever seen you join us for the Assembly's closing prayer."

"You don't think, but I do come here a lot. For real now." I lied. Obviously, even a fool would know I was.

"Well if you say so." He concluded. His grey pullover was already tied round his waist, leaving a plain black polo on him.

"So, shall we?" I asked.

"We shall. But first, um," he said, scratching his head like he'd suddenly forgotten what he was about to say. "I'm uhh, listen." He sighed. "I'm sorry about the other time."

"Hmm. Noted." I tried for a smile, hoping it'll turn out pretty and all. I probably just looked like an ugly girl cartoon character that's always as happy as a dog about to receive its favorite treat. Or maybe the ugly girl cartoon character would be even prettier than me. "So... Shall we?" He smirked, the soft and gentle kind. For some reason, it brought out a sense of friskiness, an innocent fun, and it just seemed to dawn on me. I had always carried this heavy weight on my chest, this intense feeling that I was never good enough. I had to be better. For myself and my father. There was no other choice. Although I knew I wasn't sick like the nonsense those doctors said. I was hale and healthy, but I still had to show it. They needed to see that, and ways of showing it to them just hadn't been invented yet. But that smirked, it showed me. The funny thing was how I'd had no idea how simple it was all along.

"Let's go then." He stretched forth his hand and I smiled at how huge it was. Then I placed my tiny hand on his and like Romeo and Juliet, we marched down to the Assembly's hall. Okay, no. We weren't like Romeo and Juliet. But we were so hot together that it would have gotten those two lovebirds even jealous.

In my opinion.

****

The funny advice of this dude on the radio in the car, continuously rang in my head all through the time I was on my way home. He'd been interviewed and was asked to gibe an advice to his fans, and hr couldn't had thought of anything else to day then; "be the change you wish to see in the world." I could try to be the change, but does the world wants that kind of change otherwise, I would only be getting in my head. I hadn't even realise we were back home till the driver horned like fifty times for the gate person to open up. The lanky man ran like mad from inside and opened up the mansion sized gate. Literally. I lived in a mansion.

"What happened to the remote?" It probably failed again, but I just needed to hear from him.

"It-- it was stolen." He lied, then quickly came out from the car to open up the door at my side. Why would he lie about the remote being stolen? Ohh. Unless.. Unless father asked them to hide it from me again. For some strange reason, he always tried to lock me indoors, like; 'she's a super villain and I must stop her from causing chaos into this world.'

The gates opened ajar and the mighty hell of apartment revealed brightly. The very building got the name; "heart of the town" from the people here, because really, it was beautifully situated in the middle of the city of London(The Big Smoke that is). The first the that would draw attention the most to anyone would probably be the mighty oak tree that stood gently and effortlessly close to the entrance of the compound. What really impressed me however, was the spooky eerily silence that overwhelmed one the moment they step in a foot to the compound. Dark, but peaceful. 'Plant an oak tree now and inhabit homeless creatures'. That was exactly how the organization would have probably said to father, well I was glad he took their advice. The tree was definitely older than I was judging from it's humongous size since one I'd heard from a doctor once that they take about twenty years to mature.

"Miss Zoe?" A slightly old man in his mid fifties maybe, stopped in a Yamaha golf cart and I hopped in. I always loved the idea of riding a golf cart to your door step. Dreams did come true when you have the money.

Ahh, what can I say about the inside. It took us about thirty five minutes or so to get inside. I always loose track of time each time I was on the golf track. The outside was all magnificent with dazzling flowers and nature's essence livening the most depressed soul of all, but its inside? It was much more beautiful. Right from it's first living room leading the furniture TV controls and porcelain, the right side proudly flaunting a beautiful lamp, a table with weekly edition of magazines that no one ever reads. Under the table showed a carpet of very intense blue colour, and behind the luxurious furniture are two pictures of me and my dad, and a rare vase with long and dry branches. All of it's six bedrooms were exquisitely lovely and only a fool would have the opportunity of living in such a place and still hated it. I was such a fool. I mean it was nice, lovely and all, but what was a richly built college without any students? Or a prison with multiple rooms without a single prisoner in them? It was like you were on Calypso's island. Being all alone, stuck in the isolation like a discarded toy sitting around, waiting for someone to play with you all day, everyday. Only the company of the maids and other workers to keep you going.

It was almost evening and since it was a Friday, time for my cooking class was almost up, so I went up to my room to get prepared. But first, I needed to quickly make an impossible mission, possible. A call. After dialing the number on screen since I'd mastered that particular number about seventy times now, I waited patiently for my call to get to the other end.

"Hello Miss Marie," a deep voice called from over there.

"Hey there, Kang Ju. Hand the phone over to father at once." I ordered the P.A and it was not even up to long before the call got to him.

"Zoe," An even more deeper voice boomed over the call, "Lovely, I, ahh, I'll be home soon, okay? I just need to--" He sighed.

"When will that be exactly? And why did you ask that the gate's remote should be kept away?" I asked but didn't even wait for a reply. There was not much time. I could already hear muffled voices beneath, calling back his attention. They were probably in a meeting or something. "I have a tiny favour to ask."

"Alright, my dear. How much do you need in total?" Money. He always thought I wanted more if this fucking cash!

"It's not cash, father." He mumbled a little; "oh," and I took it as my cue to fire away. "There's this business you're about to start, and you'll need a land, of course. You're already planning on getting the site where this, this restaurant is located."

"Ahh back in London, right?" He asked.

"Yes. Here in London." I confirmed.

"So what's the problem, love?" The voices in the background grew on further and further and I could really hear someone or some people, persuading him to hang up.

"Don't buy it, else you'd be closing up the restaurant." I said, making my point simple and elegant as possible, but to my dismay, he'd only chuckled and replied; "stop saying nonsense now, honey. Go prepare for your music class." How dare he! I know be was my father, but how dare he refuse an request from me? "Dad? This is serious. You have to stop it for real. Don't buy the land." I pestered.

"Who told you nonsense about the restaurant closing down? Okay fine, I'll settle the owner. Just forward me their details. And I'll settle you as well. Love you bye."

"No, no..wait!" Too late. He'd hung up already. And in that moment, I knew just how terrible my life had been. Even my own father, rejected me. How could he? Why? Almost immediately, I heard the buzzing of my phone and hurried to answer the call without even looking at the name of caller. He was probably only joking. Thank God he was calling back.

"Hello? Zoe Marie?" The voice called, sounding strikingly familiar.

"Who's this?" I asked.

"It's over. It...it's gone." The voice whispered, but loud enough for me to hear the despair and disappointment. "Our restaurant, it's gone."