Chapter 8

"T-T-The p-p-plane! The freaking plane! There is a fire in front of the pilot seat!"

Armando was confused. He tried to look up and check what was happening to the plane. He confirmed that there was something wrong with the vehicle.

"We need to ask for help! Armando! P-Please do something! Call the 911! Please!"

Hale felt so overpressured. He regretted that he let Xander enter the plane. If he already knew this would happen, he must have warned him early.

While he is dramatically sobbing with tears, Armando calls the office for pilots to ask for assistance. Luckily, there is a big helicopter coming near the risky plane. There are only a few passengers, thus all passengers successfully transferred to helicopters.

After three minutes, the problem has been solved. Hale breathed deeply and sighed. He still catches his breath and keeps lowering his heartbeat.

Xander exited the helicopter safely. He went to Hale and hugged him so tight. The tears of Hale spread again from his eyes. Xander cannot stop himself from crying. They never expected this will happen to them.

Xander is not yet ready to die. From now on, he noted to himself that he would not travel anymore. He will never care about the offer of his parents. Besides, he is now a CEO; he doesn't see any room for improvement.

In this era, all things can be learned online. He can enroll there, why does he need to sacrifice his life for just a single certificate and award? Those are just paper as he thought of them.

"Thank god you are alive and safe. Please don't leave me alone. I want you to be at my side today."

"Promise. I will never leave you anymore. I will remain with my company. I decided to reject the offer."

"But how about your parents? They were expecting you will come. I don't to be the reason for their disappointment in you. I love you but don't treat your family that way."

"I only care for you. You don't know what is behind my hatred of them. This is my act of revenge. I will let them suffer for being too upset. After they betrayed me, I didn't recognize them as a part of my life. To all of my sacrifices, they have just laughed. They didn't believe I could survive."

"They are still your family."

"Will you just stop judging me? You don't know me too well. Soon, you will understand me."

"I am so sorry if I offended you."

"That's fine. In fact, I am grateful because I released my anger. My heart is like a bomb that going to explode. I want to live a normal life without hatred. I just want a happy life."

"Good! Then why don't we go to a restaurant? Let's go to Tokyo Tokyo. Their menu is a hit."

"Ohh that's a great idea."

They walked together and went inside of the car.

"You are lucky, you are still alive, Xander."

They looked at each other. They became afraid when they realized that their driver was wearing a black head mask.

"W-Who are you? Why do you know my name? And why did you just say that?"

"You are not just greedy in power, you are also a thief. How dare you steal what is mine. You asshole!"

"I don't understand. What did I steal from you? Who the fuck are you! Just make it clear! Why are you just keeping it cryptic?"

"You really want the truth? If I reveal them, will you spare Hale for me?"

"Why would I do that? Who are you? Why do you know my girlfriend?"

"Did you just say 'girlfriend'? You are wrong! Hale is not your girlfriend and will never be yours!"

After a minute, the suspicious driver pointed his gun at his head of Xander.

"Will you please clear what you are saying? I am confused. I don't know you but why it looks like you know me?"

"Because I really know you. We met before, remember. You are a fool if you didn't recognize me."

"Honestly, I don't really know you. For god's sake, will you spare us? Don't trick us! What do you want?"

"I want Hale."

"What if I don't?"

"You will surely die."

Hale's eyes zoomed in. The man who keeps pronouncing his name is quite a mystery to him. He is trying to figure out the personality of that man, from physique, voice, and the way how he wears. In the end, he didn't recognize anything.

"I am sad you forgot about me. We were on good terms a long time ago. We were friends, and you were so kind to me. But things have changed, you ruined my life. You made me go like this!"

"I don't remember anything! What if you take off your mask, will you?"

"Not too fast! Why would I do that? You will report me to the police? Well, let us end this drama."

"No! Oh god! Oh god! NOOOOO.... Xandeeeeer!"

Bang!

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Hale immediately woke up. His mother opened the door and came to him.

"Hale, you are having a nightmare. Just relax and calm yourself. Your Mama is there, don't be afraid. Dreams are just imaginations, they will never come to life."

"Ma, he is dead! Someone did a gunshot to his head!"

"Don't say bad things, Hale. That is a bad sign. Just get to your senses and have a sip of soup that I prepared."

Hale is so worried. The scenes of his nightmare were so lively. He assumed that was happening in reality. Due to his anxiety, he contacted Xander to confirm if his bad dream was not true.

The phone of Xander is vibrating. He is still presenting in a meeting in a conference room.

Hale just left a voice message. Just a minute has passed, and he received a text message.

"I am sorry, I didn't answer your call. I was presenting in the conference room. Why did just call?"

Hale tried to remember anything, but unluckily he forgot the lines. He hates this! At the time he wanted to remember anything, he suddenly forgot them.

"Xander, I think I can remember now. The one who killed you in my dream is the person you are close with."

"What!"

Xander becomes speechless. His hands are trembling and he is sweating with cold sweets.

(Call disconnected)

After 5 minutes...

He just texted the address of their venue. He is calm now. He needs to be mildly relaxed because he will meet a stressed person. He deeply sighed and called his secretary to instruct the cancellation of the afternoon meeting.

Hale affirmed the text of Xander. He gets ready to come to school. After he washed his face, he dried it and put some baby powder. While facing the mirror, he smiled.

"I will always smile. I am beautiful, and I don't let any stress ruin my beauty. I am strong, the dream is just a dream. It will never happen."

~~~

The afternoon class has finished. Hale immediately exited the classroom and ran to the gate. He waved his right hand to call for a taxi. Luckily, he got the ride. He texted Xander that he was on the way to the venue.

After half an hour, Hale arrived at the place. Xander was already there, he had some boxes of food and two cups of drinks.

When Hale finally saw Xander, he ran to him and hugged him so tight. They kissed romantically and eventually gasping some air.

"Thank you, Xander. I love you very much!"

"I love you more than you do."

Hale doesn't have an idea what Xander is holding with a plastic bag. "What did you bring here?"

"Ahh! Yeah, these are our snacks. I ordered an ala carte package of Tokyo Tokyo. And I bought a mango frape, I know you gonna like it."

"That is too much, Xander! We will have a snack but what you just brought would be our early dinner."

"As I have said, I give special treatment to you. This is my way to make you happy and happier."

While they were eating, Hale opened a topic. It is about his dreams, he hopes that Xander will feel bad like what happened earlier.

"By the way, is it okay with you if we talk about my nightmare?"

"I am okay, what do you want to tell aside from what you have told?"

"Actually, I want to know who is the man with a mask I saw in my dreams. And why he know about you?"

"To be honest, I have some suspects. I feel bad about it because they are the people I trust the most. I don't want them to betray me."

"Then you must be more careful. Just observe their actions, but don't act obviously."

"Yes, I will. I am a man, and a man will not easily be fooled by someone. Better they carefully act, or else I will be the one to destroy them."