IS DIRECTOR REALLY MISSING?

.....Two days earlier.....

"You are her guardian for a reason! How did you miss this?" Ateso asked Feturi in disappointment.

They were in the Receiving Room, debating Yuki's scandal.

"Forgive me for my incompetence and negligence, your Majesty." Feturi bowed.

"Did she really show no sign at all?"

"She did, your Majesty. But I didn't take it seriously because I thought she heeded my advice."

"What was that about?"

"She made mention of seeking revenge for the late crown prince, your Majesty."

"What! And why am I just hearing of it now?"

"My deepest apologies, your Majesty. I believed it to be a trivial concern, considering your Majesty's demanding duties to the throne lately."

"Was that the project she mentioned to me earlier?"

"I cannot say for certain, your Majesty. I had believed she would drop the matter after my clear warning, your Majesty."

"Find out! And if you confirm that this was the reason, send that human away from her house. We have nothing to do with those frivolous beings and that is how it shall be!" He declared and stormed out of the room.

"Yes! Your Majesty!" Feturi bowed.

It had been two days since Yuki's stay in the sanction court, and all she did was meditate and pace around the room aimlessly, due to boredom.

Usually, losing your powers did not require staying in the sanction court. But because she missed the general cleansing and her graduation, she was confined in the sanction court as her punishment.

Yuki was someone you could never find in the same spot, constantly moving from one place to another. As a result, restraining her movements was a terrible experience for her, and the most effective punishment her father and female guardian agreed upon, considering her restless nature.

It was a cloudy morning, and Yuki, deeply engaged in her morning meditation, did not notice the presence of her siblings.

"You look better than I thought." Oviasu began, as soon as Yuki opened her eyes.

"Ọmwẹ!(brother)"

"Pfft!" Onah scoffed. "You look worse than I thought."

"Onah." Yuki turned to her.

She raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't call my name!" She retorted.

There was a moment of silence before Oviasu spoke up. "Feturi told us everything," he muttered.

"I just don't get. Is it that you don't still have sense?" Onah wondered aloud.

"Onah." Oviasu called, soothingly.

"Look, Yuki," she took her hands in hers; "Oviasu and I would have avenged him ourselves, if it were an easy task, or even ideally possible."

"Exactly! Let's be real here, Yuki." Oviasu added;

"We don't even know what she looks like. Ọmwẹ was yet to introduce her to us before his death. In fact, his core cam could not capture her face. Now, how do you think we can ever locate her?"

"That's why I'm starting now. If I move through the faces of the earth, even if it takes me a hundred years, I'll definitely find her." Yuki replied.

Onah sighed. "And when you find her, what will be the the next step? Will you kill her? Make her suffer? Will it bring brother back?"

"The standard age for humans to live is seventy five years. By virtue of strength maybe they can get to one hundred or one hundred and twenty. Now listen, she must have been at least thirty years before this incident, so let's imagine she lives for an additional seventy five years before you find her, of what use would be your revenge by then? Just stop wasting your time on unnecessary things, Yuki." Oviasu chipped in.

"What I'm doing is not irrelevant." Yuki protested.

"She's not even ready to change her mind." Oviasu shook his head.

"Believe me," Onah looked at Yuki wearily; "you'll regret this later. You're just hurting Abah and us in the long run."

Yuki was now silent.

"Think about it, Yuki. Don't let anger becloud your sense of judgment. Your priority now should be, maintaining the image of the major clan." Oviasu added.

Yuki hesitated, collecting her thoughts before responding. "Well, now that I think about it, you're right. I was overwhelmed with anger and considered doing something stupid. Please forgive me for being so immature." She pleaded with her siblings, her eyes cast downward in regret.

However, behind her apologetic facade, Yuki had already resolved to avenge her brother's death. Her father's and siblings' words, or anyone else's for that matter, would not dissuade her. She just wanted the discussion to end quickly, allowing her to focus on strategising her next move.

"I'm glad you're now beginning to understand our point of view," Oviasu smiled; "right? Ọwíọ̀(sister)," he nudged Onah, whose doubting expression suggested she wasn't convinced by Yuki's confession.

"Mhm, right." She nodded.

"So what have you two been up to?" Yuki asked, changing the topic.

"Nothing much. Just the usual routine, signing deals with impatient humans and taking the souls of those that are due," Oviasu replied; "oh! And Onah Ọwíọ̀, can turn back time by five minutes. That's her newly unleashed potential resulting from this year's general cleansing," he added.

Yuki's eyes widened in happiness. "Wow! That's great! I'm so happy for you, Ọwíọ̀(sister)," she grinned.

"If you didn't miss the general cleansing, you would have unlocked a new potential too." Onah retorted.

"Aw, we're back to that again." Yuki rolled her eyes and sighed deeply.

"Okay! Okay! That's enough. At least you're back on track," Oviasu nodded at Yuki; "that's all that matters," he added.

.......... Present day ...........

Jaita's eyes twitched at 5:57am, she slowly opened them, disoriented and confused, like emerging from a dark, foggy chasm. A loud piercing, buzzing sound reverberated in her head, echoing the chaos of her scattered thoughts.

Memories of what happened before she passed out began to resurface, but only in painful, disjointed fragments.

Using her hands to gauge her head, she slowly lifted herself from the floor to a sitting position, commanding all her strength, but her brain refused to steady itself, producing a swaying motion that made the room tilt around her like a rollercoaster.

She was sweating profusely despite the cool weather and almost every part of her body hurt terribly. She was desperate to breathe sometime ago when Feturi was still with her, but now, breathing was extremely painful.

'Is this usually the after effect of losing consciousness?' She thought to herself as she struggled to stand to her feet.

Feturi's advice and warning kept ringing in her head as she fought to maintain her composure. She was unsure of what to do, as she couldn't trust either Yuki or Feturi at the moment.

Pondering on what Feturi had told her, she took out a bottle of chilled water to calm her temperature down. If everything Feturi said were true then she was really on the losing end, because Yuki would definitely dump her after getting what she wants, which would in turn confirm her dishonest nature, which wasn't surprising, given her kind.

However, Feturi could also not be trusted. In fact she might be much worse than Yuki. 'What if she lied to her?' Jaita thought. 'What if she does as Feturi instructed her, but ends up getting killed by Feturi soon after?' Jaita shook her head at the thought. If that happened, they would still have her soul, which meant she was still at a disadvantage.

She sighed, got dressed for work and felt surprisingly well, considering she had passed out just a few minutes earlier. She needed to see Yuki for a start, at least to confirm if she was really seeking revenge for her brother, since she understood the grief of losing a loved one.

'If it was true that Yuki was looking for revenge only, then there was a possibility that Feturi had twisted the whole story to make her back down.' Jaita concluded.

Whatever the case may be, she resolved in her mind that speaking first with Yuki was her main goal. By the time she got to the office, it was 6:58 AM.

"Good morning, Miss Jaita." The receptionist greeted as soon as she walked in.

"Morning, how was your night?" She replied and picked up the attendance register to sign her attendance. Going through the register, she noticed that the whole staff had already arrived.

"Is director around?" She asked.

"No."

She was about to say something, when she spotted Didjana from a distance. Closing the register, she hurried over to where their secretary was.

"Hello, Didjana," she greeted.

"Oh! Morning," she paused to think; "Jaita. Jaita right?"

"Mhm. Jaita."

"Great. How are you? Where is director? I've been trying her number since I got here and didn't find you both, but she wasn't picking. Hope there's no problem?"

"You also don't know where director is?" Jaita gasped.

"Mhm? What do you mean? Didn't you come with her?" Didjana asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"I've not set my eyes on her since Friday night."

"What?!" She let out a shriek, then covered her mouth immediately, to avoid gaining undue attention. She quickly glanced round to make sure no one was looking and dragged Jaita, who wore a look of embarrassment as she was being dragged away to the elevator, and to her office upstairs.

As soon as they got to her office, she banged the door shut and let go of Jaita's hand. "You've not seen her since Friday night?" She asked again in a calmer tone.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you call her?"

"I don't have her number."

"You don't, wait, you don't have her number?"

"No, I don't," Jaita replied quietly.

"Her number wasn't going through this morning," Didjana sighed and took out her phone to dial her number again; "and it's still not going through," she added, after calling her so many times.

"What are we going to do?" Jaita asked. "I thought you would know where she is and I was going to take her number from you. But she's not even picking."

"Or is she missing?"

"Missing?" Jaita humphed. "I doubt that."

"If she's not missing, what else can we describe this situation as? We should involve the police at this point." Didjana countered, a worried expression written all over her face.

"I'm telling you she's not missing. How can a person of her kind go missing?"

"A person of her kind? What do you mean?"

"Well," she paused to think. Given her perplexed expression, it could be possible that she didn't know who Yuki really was. "I mean, you know how boss is, she definitely can't go missing just like that."

"She could have been kidnapped, you know?" Didjana replied, and began pacing about the room.

"Or she could have travelled?"

"Travelled? Where will she go to without letting you or me know?"

Jaita nodded thoughtfully. That was a fair point. At least if Yuki didn't tell her of her whereabouts, the case shouldn't have been the same with Didjana.

'Was she really in trouble?' Jaita tilted her head. 'How bad was it, that she couldn't defend herself? Did the woman who confronted her, earlier know about it? Was that why she came to send her packing?' So many thoughts raced her mind.

She looked at Didjana firmly, "I think we should really report this to the police."

"Yes. Let's do that now," Didjana replied, satisfied with Jaita's suggestion.

She led Jaita out of her office and they quickly decided to go to the nearest police station.

While they were in the elevator, Didjana's phone chimed.

"Wait," she murmured, as soon as she glanced at the screen.

"Mhm?" Jaita asked.

"Director, she just texted me." She replied.

"What did she say?" Jaita prompted eagerly.

"Wait let me open it," she paused; "I'm attending to something very important right now, handle the affairs of the company together with my PA, for today. That's what she said."

Jaita blinked several times. "Wow," she managed to say.

"Well, thank God we didn't raise any alarm." Didjana chuckled.

The elevator had stopped moving, so they pressed the button to take them back to the floor of their office.

"But, if she's in trouble, let's say she was kidnapped, it's possible she was forced to send this, right?" Jaita voiced out suddenly.

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean, she has not been around for more than two days now, and she's just texting you now."

"What should we do then?" Didjana asked after giving it some thought.

"Let's call her first," she suggested.

"That's a great idea," she nodded and dialed her number; "but she's not picking," she added, after calling her several times.

"She's not picking?"

"Actually it's not going through." Didjana corrected.

"It's not going through?" She repeated; "someone that just texted you?"

The elevator stopped again at the last floor.

"We should return to the ground floor. We need to go to the police station," Didjana stated.

"I agree," Jaita replied and pressed the button to the ground floor on the elevator.

Few seconds later, Didjana's phone beeped.

"Yuki?" She called.

"Yes."

"She just texted again," she looked at her and signalled for her to come closer so they could read it together.

"I said you should handle the company today, and forget about me, secretary." They looked at each other after reading the text.

Jaita immediately understood what was going on. Yuki was around them, or better still, she knew what they were planning to do. She was not in danger then.

"How did she know?" Didjana asked in surprise.

"Maybe she figured we would not be satisfied from not being able to reach her." Jaita replied.

"You think?"

"That's what it is," she insisted. She didn't want her to dwell further on the matter.

"Alright then," she sighed; "we'll have to work together," she added and Jaita nodded in agreement.

The rest of the day went smoothly. Jaita and Didjana took proper management of the activities of the day, since Didjana had already been working with the company for a long time, it was not so difficult for them handle.

When it was their closing time, they waited for the other employees to leave. As the last ones left the building, Jaita felt a sense of relief - she didn't have to stay back and work extra time, thanks to Yuki's absence.

She hurried home as quickly as she could to check if Yuki had arrived.

After freshening up and changing into something comfortable, she walked up to Yuki's flat. However, when she knocked on the door and waited for a while, she didn't hear any reply.

She dialed Yuki's number, which she had gotten from their secretary, but it didn't go through. 'Has she not returned yet?' She pondered, and continued ringing the doorbell.

After a while of getting no response, she let her intrusive thoughts get the better of her, and gently pushed the door knob. To her utmost surprise, the door creaked open. She took a deep breath, debating whether to enter, but once again, she shrugged off her reservations and walked into the parlour.

The house was quiet, too quiet for someone to be in.

"Why would she leave the door open?" She said aloud and looked round the parlour. The decor was truly a stark contrast to what her apartment looked like, she observed. The room was a bold mix of black, orange and flame red with gold accents and a hint of blue. She shook her head, mystified by the room's peculiar blend of dullness and energetic flair.

There was a big golden wall clock hanging on the wall, and in a spacious corner, numerous hour glasses of similar shapes and colours were arranged on a massive wall shelf with multiple compartments, securely attached to the wall. The hour glasses had golden necks, dark glass bulbs, and glittery red sand that created a reddish-purple hue.

Yuki's parlour was not just spacious – you would think it was a museum if you were just placed in that room all of a sudden. A medium-sized fire place sat in another corner of the sitting room, although the fire was not lit at the moment.

The drawn curtains cast a darker shadow over the parlour, except for the warm glow from the various chandeliers and light bulbs, which came in a range of sizes, shapes, and colours.

One other obvious detail was that, Yuki's parlour was far more sophisticated than hers. 'Which human designed this building exactly?!' She wondered, shaking her head in awe and continued scanning the parlour. She didn't know what exactly she was looking for, but one thing was certain, she entered the house because of Yuki.

With no sign of Yuki in the parlour, she couldn't help but wonder if the door had been left unlocked for days. Her search for clues about Yuki's whereabouts yielded nothing, so she decided to investigate the bedroom. As she approached the door, she hesitated, expecting it to be locked. But, to her surprise, the knob turned easily, and the lock clicked open once more.

She hesitated, taking a careful peek into the room to certify it's vacancy, before entering.

At first glance, Yuki's phone lay conspicuously on her bed, sending an instant chill down Jaita's spine.

'If Yuki's phone was right here, and there was no sign of her being at home for days, was she really kidnapped?' Jaita's mind whirled with questions. 'Then how did she reach out to them at work earlier?' 'How much danger was she in that she couldn't escape or seek help?' She hissed, her thoughts racing wildly.

She tried to overrule the possibility of Yuki being taken hostage, since she would have heard from Yuki that night - a cry for help or some other signal. But the unlocked doors told a different story.

She gathered enough courage and picked up the phone to see if the battery was dead, but when she pressed the power button, the screen sprang to life. She attempted to unlock the phone, only to find a password and fingerprint lock, both of which were inaccessible to her.

Jaita wanted to confirm if it was the same phone that texted them that morning, so she attempted to check the messages. However, since she couldn't access the phone, she decided to call it instead. She retrieved her phone from her back pocket, dialed the number, but was astonished when the call didn't go through.

Moreover, the phone in her hand did not ring, despite being turned on and having a stable network connection.

Jaita had seen Yuki so many times with that phone, and that was the phone she used to receive calls all that time.

There was only one way to find out what really was going on; she had to access the phone's content.

She immediately put the phone down and set out to scour the room for any hint of Yuki's password. She was so busy combing through every corner in the room and opening almost every books and files she came across that she didn't even have the time to admire the elegance of the room.

Minutes passed, and Jaita remained engrossed in her frantic search, opening and closing drawers and wardrobes, picking up and dropping books. Suddenly, a cold voice pierced the air: "What are you doing here?!" Jaita paused, then turned to face the speaker, only to see Yuki standing in the doorway, staring at her with dead eyes.