c24

Harmonie raised her head and looked at her friends, seeing the smiles on their faces, she turned off her phone and put it in her jacket pocket while she too had a little smile on her lips.

_________-----------------________---------________-----------------_________

On her bed, Cassandra was struggling against her demons, she could be seen fidgeting frantically.

Suddenly, she jumped up, eyes wide open. She looked out of breath.

"Ah..."

She had just had another nightmare. The pounding of her heart was almost unbearable for her, so she tried to breathe in and breath out to calm down and reduce her heart rate.

"Not again... Fuck!" she whispered,

Her eyes then began to blur, tears started to appear. When she dreamed - or rather when she had nightmares - the theme of the nightmare was always the same, only the context or what was happening was different...

Soon it'll mark three years since she had her nightmares, but let's just say that it had become a little more bearable for her after some time, however, since Harmonie's return, what was happening in her dreams was making her more and more afraid...

Cassandra took a quick look at the clock, it read 4:21 a.m.

Judging that she could not go back to sleep, and feeling a little soaked, one of the negative points of these nightmares, she removed her sheet and left her bed. She started to undress little by a little while heading to her bathroom.

She entered the bathroom, put her clothes in the hamper, and headed for her shower.

She liked to take warm showers, but when she woke up like this, she considered cold showers to be what helped her the most.

So it means every morning she showered in cold water.

But this is what calmed her when her mind was tormenting her.

...

After taking care of her hygiene, the bathroom door opened, and she came out of her bathroom and went to her closet.

When she finished getting dressed, she glanced at her clock again, which read 5:40.

Judging that she had enough time left before work began, she decided to go and correct the students' essays, but before she started, she made herself a light breakfast.

She finished her food, cleared the plate from her counter, then took the bag that she had brought with her from the kitchen, took out a pile of papers, put it on the counter, took out a red pen, and started to mark the essays.

Except for the sound of the pen scratching on the paper and Cassandra's light breathing, no sound could be heard, as if she was the only one present in the habitat.

And that was the case since Cassandra was not at her parents' house. She was in her apartment, which she had bought for herself almost a year ago. The apartment was composed of two bedrooms, two bathrooms, one attached to her bedroom, a living room, and a kitchen.

It had been for a while that she wanted to get a place she could call home. And when the opportunity came, she took it.

Now that she has her place, the only time she stayed at her parents' house was when they were away on a honeymoon.

....

1 hour later

Cassandra had just finished correcting the essays and decided to get ready, to go out, she changed her jogging by a tight red skirt which went until her knees, put on a black blouse, her hair was firmly attached, no hair was sticking out, she decided to have a slightly darker make-up than the usual one which put enormously in values her hazel eyes, her lips were colored in red neither too dark nor too bright. She put then her earrings, a necklace quite discreet, and her wristwatch and sprayed her perfume.

After finishing everything, she observed herself quickly in the mirror and was satisfied with her appearance.

She then picked up her bag and walked to her front door, dropped her bag on the floor, took her feet out of her bunny slippers, also grabbed one of the black heels from her shoe rack, and put them on. She straightened up, unhooked her red coat with black buttons from the coat rack, and put it on, the jacket went down to her calves.

After finishing buttoning up her coat and making sure she had everything she needed, she decided she was ready and left the apartment without forgetting to lock the door.

--------------

Cassandra finally arrived at her destination, she got out of her car with her things and headed to the entrance of the school.

She entered the school, climbed the few steps, and headed to the hall, there were stairs on both sides, and she climbed the right stairs. At the top, she followed the long corridor that led to the classrooms.

2 minutes later

Cassandra finally arrived at her destination, her students were expecting her in front of the classroom, she went to the door and opened the classroom.

She let the students pass while greeting them one by one. Then it was her turn to enter, and she closed the door.

She then went to her desk, put down her things, took off her coat, put it on the coat rack next to her desk, and started to organize herself while ignoring the not-so-discreet look of the students.

The class went off without a hitch, and when the students had to participate, they always raised their hands.

For Cassandra, this class was the least difficult to manage.

....

The day was going very well for Cassandra, she only had her little sister's class left, and she would finally be done for the day.

"Good morning,"

"Good morning, ma'am!"

....

Cassandra looked up as she heard her name, it was Cassidy who had called her.

"Hm?" she said after seeing that it was just the four girls and her,

Cassidy moved closer to her,

"Tell me, sis, how did you manage to make yourself look so hot today?" said Cassidy with a smirk on her face,

Cassandra ignored her sister and looked at the other girls,

"Don't you have class later?"

The girls shook their heads,

"No, our teacher is absent. So we're done," Chloe shrugged at the end.

Cassandra nodded and continued to put her things away,

"Seriously? Don't ignore me?" wined Cassidy,

Out of the corner of her eyes, Cassandra spotted Harmonie whispering something to Chloe, and Chloe nodded her head.

"Cassandra!" Cassidy said, snapping her fingers in front of her,

Cassandra's attention finally shifted to Cassidy, and she asked,

"What's wrong?"

Seeing that Cassandra said nothing and only raised an eyebrow, Cassidy understood what she meant and explained:

" I've been calling you, but it looked liked your mind has been elsewhere."

Cassandra only hummed and continued to button her jacket,

"But why are you ignoring me so-" Before she could finish her sentence, Chloe took Cassidy's hand and walked with her to the door,

"Why-"

"Let's go get Adelaide," Chloe replied before Cassidy could even formulate her question.

Corine suddenly looked up from her manga and said,

"Wait for me, I'll come with you!"

Ever since they met the little one, they had been gaga over her.

The door closed with the figure of Corine trying to catch up with her two friends.

Ping

Harmonie looked at her phone and realized that she had just received a message from Valerie, informing her of her arrival tomorrow at the airport around 3 pm. Harmonie sent her a thumbs-up emoji, turned off her phone, and put it in her jacket pocket.

When she looked up, her eyes widened. During the short moment in which she answered Valerie, Cassandra took advantage of her lack of attention and silently moved closer to her.

They were thus close one to the other. Cassandra's eyes quickly landed on Harmonie's lips.

It was a short moment of contact, but Harmonie, who had not taken her eyes off Cassandra's, noticed this brief movement.

Cassandra's eyes focused once again on Harmonie's eyes. Little by little, Harmonie noticed that Cassandra's ears became slightly tinted. She understood that Cassandra knew that she noticed it.

Cassandra on her side knew that Harmonie busted her because the latter had slightly raised eyebrows and a questioning look.

Cassandra lost in her thoughts was surprised by what Harmonie whispered in her ear, which worsened the color of her ears and that had spread all over her face.

Harmonie seeing this had a slightly mocking smile on her face, Cassandra then suddenly took her face and started to bend over-

#FLASHBACK#

"H, do you really think this is a good idea? "Chloe asked as she looked at her friend,

"I don't know, but frankly I think it's better than nothing. "Harmonie said with a slight shrug,

"Maybe you're right..."

"All I hope is that they will understand...

Chloe suddenly laughed, Harmonie, seeing her like this had a quick micro-smile without letting Chloe, lost in her giggle, the time to notice it.

After having finally calmed down, Chloe took back her seriousness,

"You say that while we, too, have not understood anything about this whole matter,'' said Chloe pointing at Harmonie and herself, at the moment she pronounced the pronoun "we".

Harmonie only shrugged her shoulders again and said nothing more.

They then heard the doorbell ring, Chloe went to open the front door, while Harmonie was watching her,

"Hi, girls! Welcome to our home!" said Chloe, a stiff smile on her lips, but none of the girls noticed. Chloe stepped aside to let the girls in, then closed the door behind them and followed them into the living room.

Their living room consisted of two sofas, one that was black and one that was L-shaped and white, a coffee table and a TV in front of it, the decor was very minimalistic and simple.

The girls sat on the L-shaped sofa facing the TV. Each one looked lost, they didn't know why they were invited, but they felt deep down that the reason for their presence in the house was delicate.

"Just a word of advice, guys... For your safety, at no time should you turn around. Okay?" said Chloe, in a serious tone, the girls did not understand but nodded anyway.

They then heard the sound of a door opening, then closing, and finally the sound of several people walking closer and closer,

"Well, it looks like they've arrived," Chloe began and then turned to Harmonie and asked:

"Are you ready, H?" The girls followed Chloe's head movement, saw Harmonie straighten her head and looked at Chloe for a few seconds, then answered with a slight shake of her head;

"No, I'm a little stressed..." she said softly, then lowered her head again, one could notice a certain vulnerability in her eyes, Chloe seeing her friend's reaction, raised her arms a little in the air,

"Well, this is a good start!" After saying this, they heard the sounds of footsteps, even more, closer than before, so it was silence on the side of the girls ...

A few seconds later

They had finally arrived, Chloe looked at them and Harmonie on her side had quietly turned around,

"So this is how you welcome me, my dearest niece?"

The girls instinctively wanted to turn around but were able to stop themselves, from the corner of her eye Chloe saw Harmonie put her hands in the pockets of her jogging suits. She then understood that Harmonie knew that this would somehow attract everyone's attention, hence the reason why the other girls did not turn around. A small smile formed on Chloe's lips, which did not go unnoticed by her uncle,

"I see you're still happy to see me."

Chloe's attention returned to her uncle, one eyebrow raised as if to say, "You can still dream!", Chloe then heard Harmonie's feet tapping lightly on the floor. She understood that the latter was getting impatient, and so she hastened the whole matter,

"Well, we don't have all our time. Let's start, grandpa, shall we?"

Harmonie's grandfather, followed by a man in a suit, sat down on the black sofa with Chloe between the two men,

"Everything is already filled in, all that's left is your signature," said David, pointing to the sheets of paper on the coffee table and passing the pen to her.

Pen in hand, Chloe signed her part and said, "Harmonie, it's your turn!"

Harmonie turned around, walked over to Chloe, took the pen, and crouched down to sign as well. When she finished, she put the pen on the sheet of paper, making sure to cap it, and stood up.

Suddenly, Chloe saw the hands of the three bodyguards of the uncle and the uncle reaching for their guns, seeing this movement Chloe, the lawyer, and the grand-father also took out their guns while getting up from the sofa. The action had happened so quickly that the girls did not know what had just happened. They were petrified,

"Tell me, Harmonie, why shouldn't I kill you and your family right now? Convince me?" asked the uncle,

Harmonie shocked everyone but Chloe, she started to smile, the uncle even wondered if she had somehow lost her nerve with the stress but seeing the gleam in her eyes he understood that she had all her wits about her, the thing that was the strangest was that her expression showed total euphoria.

Harmonie then moved closer to Chloe, put herself on her right side, took the hand holding the gun, and brought it closer and closer to Chloe, until the end of the gun was placed on her right temple, Chloe let her do it. Little by little, Harmonie took the weapon from Chloe's hand, and Chloe lowered her arm when she no longer had the weapon in her hand. The uncle raised his eyebrows,

"Chloe, you can do better."

Suddenly, they didn't even have time to react when Harmonie had already put the gun to Chloe's left temple and had the weapon in her left hand.

She then pressed the Hammer and pulled the trigger, since nobody expected her to do anything and the action was quick, they were all shocked again except Chloe who didn't even blink,

"Tell me, are you convinced now?" said Harmonie as she removed the gun from Chloe's temple. When she did all these actions, she never stopped glaring at him.

Finally emerging from his stupor the uncle smiled and said,

"So you had everything planned?"

"Yes and no, we figured knowing you, we had to be prepared for everything. But what I didn't know was that you were also crazy, but know this, you may be one of the most wanted and dangerous, but I am the crazier of the two of us, and I can promise you that if you want to find out how crazy I can be, test me again. This is the first and last time you do this to me..." said Harmonie in a cold tone,

The Padre, as he likes to be called, laughed,

"Pffft-Y-Y-You really thought you could scare me with those words?" He then calmed down and regained his seriousness,

"Watch your mouth, kiddo. You're not playing in the big leagues yet, ki-" He stopped in his speech when he saw Harmonie's euphoric expression return, he then cleared his throat, turned around, and went out with his bodyguards.

After hearing the door close, Chloe turned to the two men and said,

"You, too, should go, gentlemen," they nodded and left as well,

"He had to throw a tantrum again!" said Chloe as she rubbed her face, a small moment of silence passed, Chloe, knew her friend needed time before she was able to go back downstairs,

"He just wants to know you're safe, you're even the only family he has left..." said Harmonie, Chloe scoffed and turned back to the three girls,

"When did they pass out?"

"Cassandra, when the guns came out, she was always sensitive," Harmonie shrugged,

"Cassidy followed her right after and Corine the moment I pulled the trigger."

Chloe nodded her head...

#END OF THE FIRST PART OF THE FLASHBACK#