CHAPTER 11

"Hey guys. Good morning" Alex greeted

"Conference meeting first thing in the morning, and after team dinner the day before. This must be serious" Jade said

"It is. Although this is not a way to start a day after having team dinner, it just had to happen" Alex said. Everyone could see how serious it is

"What is it?" Mel asked

"Olive" Alex called. From the day I arrived, Olive seemed to be the Personal Assistant to Alex

"We have two news, and unfortunately, it is bad and worse news. Which do you guys want to hear first?" she asked us

"Is it connected?" Sky asked

"Yeah" Olive answered

"Then the bad news first" Sky answered

Olive looked at all of us

"I agree" Ken said. After getting all of our consent

"Okay then" she started

"The bad news; the witness at the FBI was sent out yesterday-"

I sat up at the mention of 'the witness'

"How is that a bad news. It's a good thing, we can even go to him" Jade said

"The worse news," Olive continued, "the witness is dead"

"What?!" Mel exclaimed

"The witness is dead" Olive repeated

I clenched my fist, it's not possible

"How?" Ken asked

"Well," Alex started, "it seemed like the murdered knew about the witness. So he killed him"

Another person. I am going to kill him. This is the third person. I am going to torment him then kill him slowly

"Do we know how he died?" I heard Sky asked

"Are we certain that it is the murderer?" Jade asked

"From the people that were around at that time, as he was crossing the road, a trunk suddenly came from nowhere and hit it. It was a case of hit and run" Olive answered

"The police are still trying to find the trunk" Alex added

"How do we know that it is him?" Mel repeated the question

"One of the passer-by said that she saw a hit of something black on his neck and on his arm, like a tattoo. But, since he was driving fast and didn't slow down, she couldn't see it well" Olive replied

"So, it's him" Shy concluded

"We think so" Alex said

"Jace, are you okay?" Olive asked me

"Yeah, bro, you okay? You are all red" Jade asked

How can I be okay? I answered to myself

"Yeah" I managed to grumbled out with harsh breaths. Just then, my phone rang

It was him

"Jace, are you okay?" Alex asked

Without answering, I went out of the conference room. I would have gone straight home but I would either have an accident with my car, or be sent to the police station for attempted murder, so I just went to the rooftop

MEL'S P.O.V.

I don't know why, but the moment I heard Olive say,

"The bad news; the witness at the FBI was sent out yesterday",

I immediately turned to look at Jace and I noticed that he sat up

However Jace was feeling, it was more at the sight of the caller. From that, I guessed that it was the same person with that day

When Alex asked him if he was okay, he just got up and left

"Is he okay?" Ken asked

"I think we should check on him" Jade suggested

"No!" I said louder than I intended

"I mean, no need. I will go check on him myself"

"But, we can all go" Jade argued

Shut up, Jade

"I think it will be more comfortable for him if I check on him alone"

"Why?"

I will beat you to a pulp if you don't stop talking

"We are office buddies?" I asked rather than said

Thankfully, Olive interrupted before Jade could say anything else

"I agree with you, Mel. Go and check on him. Tell us if anything is wrong with him"

Thank you Olive, but I don't even know what exactly is wrong with him myself

"Certainly will" I said and with that, I immediately left before anyone could stop me

I checked the office just for checking sake but, as suspected he wasn't there. I saw his car outside, so I knew where he was

The moment I stepped into the rooftop, I heard the sound of smashing; Jace had just threw his phone, forcefully, to the floor

"Jace" I whispered his name gently

I wasn't sure he heard so I called his name again

"Jace, are you okay?" I moved closer to him

He suddenly turned around that I gasped

"Hi" I said nervously

He took a deep breathe

"What are you doing here?" He asked

"Uhm, to check on you?"

"Go" he said more like ordered

I blinked my eyes

"What?" I asked

"Go. Leave" he repeated

"Excuse me, I-" He interrupted me

"Go away, Mel" he raised his voice at me

I blinked my eyes again

"Did you just raise your voice at me?" I was now angry

"Mel, I-" It was now my turn to cut him off

"At me?!" I asked again

"I'm trying to help you and you raised your voice at me?!"

I was sad and pitying him when he raised his voice at me the first time. This time, I am angry; he has no right or justification whatsoever to raise his voice at me

He signed

"I don't need help, Mel. Neither from you nor from anybody else" he said in a calm voice

I calmed down- I guess if it was me, I could get riled up

"Was it the same person that called you that day?" I asked him

He clenched up

"Jace, what's wrong?" I asked him before he could say anything

"See you tomorrow, Mel. Tell Alex I will talk to him later"

Oh, no. You don't

"The murder" I said immediately he passed by me

He stopped. I turned to face him even though he was still facing the exit

"Does it have anything to do with the murder?"

He turned around so fast that I thought he was a vampire, or flash

"Stop it. You don't know anything"

"Is something about you connected to the murder?" I ignored his warning

"Mel-" he clenched his fist

"Is the phone call connected to it?"

"Stop-" he was shaking

"Who was the person calling you"

"It" he was angry

"Did someone you know die?"

"For goodness sake, Mel, SHUT UP!!"

"Bullshit!! You hear me, bullshit. Something is wrong with and there are only two things that can happen. Either you tell me straight forward- although I know that will most unlikely happen- or, I find out myself"

"Can't you just mind your business?!"

"I always mind my business but, at this point, no"

He took a deep breathe

"I am fine but, even if I'm not I don't need your-"

"Says who?"

"Says me! Just mind your business, okay?!" He turned but I blocked him. He tried averting to the sides but I did the same, still blocking him

"Move" he ordered

"Jace, listen to me" I said calmly

"Now"

"I just want to help"

"No, thank you"

"Even if you don't to tell me what exactly is wrong, can't you just tell me something. I know something is wrong, and even though you say nothing is, it keeps on bothering me"

"Ignore it" He move to the side and I moved to the left

He closed his eyes and opened them

"You want to know what's wrong? You are a pest. You are a serious bother and it keeps on bothering me" he repeated my words against me

"I am not"

"You think you can do everything, you think you can know everything and solve every problem? You can't"

"Stop it" They were coming back

"Stop what? You are nothing but a bother. Is this what you wanted? For me to snap? Tell me, is this how you normally are? Bothering people till something unfortunate happens"

"No" I was finding it hard to fight back the tears by now

"Learn to know when to stop. When the person says no, it's no. When the person says stop you stop. For goodness sake, Mel-"

"I just wanted to help!!" I shouted. I could feel the tears flowing down

"I did not know that was going to happen" I said in a soft tone

"I just wanted to help" I whispered, the tears flowing down

"Mel-"

"Fine, I will stop being a bother" I wiped the tears away

"I will leave you alone. Sorry for bothering you"

"Mel, I-"

I turned to the door. Before I left, I turned to him

"Just one thing," I started

"I don't know if you have been alone, but this time, you chose to be alone" And with that, I left, the tears coming back

JACE'S P.O.V.

I messed up. Badly

I didn't know what came over me, I just snapped. And I'm regretting it right now. Very much. She was just trying to help me. I knew that but, when she said,

"Does it have anything to do with the murder?"

I started to really lose it. I slid my hands through my hair

'Good job, Jace. Congrats, you've finally gotten what you wanted' I groaned

'But this isn't what I wanted. I didn't want this. I didn't want her to stop bothering me'. Scratch that, she wasn't even bothering me- she was just trying to look out for me

'I also neither wanted to snap at her nor for her to leave crying'

When I saw the phone call, I lost it and- like the dumb human specie that I am- I subconsciously decided to release my anger on her, thinking that I might feel better but, no, I didn't feel better at all. Instead I feel very much worse. Rubbish and nonsense just spewed out from my mouth hurting her to the extent that she even cried. Although I did not what I exactly said that made her cry, I knew that it was my fault

Groaning, I started my walk back to the office, part of me hoping she will be there although I didn't know what I was going to say to her

"Oh hey Jace I was just going to look for you. Do you know what happened to Mel?" Olive asked me at the hallway, few feet from the office

"What happened?" I asked. I hope she is okay. How can she be?

"I don't really know. When you left out like that, Jade wanted us all to go check on you but, she insisted on going alone. But I just ran into her, and she was crying" she replied

"She was crying?" I asked. Of course she will be crying, douche. Did you think she will be skipping on her feet to go eat ice cream?

"Yeah. What happened?" she asked

I just signed

"I will see you tomorrow" I said quietly, and full of guilt

"Are you guys okay?" she asked concerned

"Yeah. Help me apologize to the guys and tell Alex that I will see him tomorrow" I said

Probably knowing that I wasn't going to say anything that I didn't want to

"Okay, sure. See you tomorrow. Take care" she said and left towards the direction of the lab

I walked to the office, took a deep breathe outside entering but, it was not needed, she was not inside. Her bag was not, so I guessed she left

Such a great day after a team dinner