CHAPTER NINE

The drive back home was a little awkward for Mr. Kim and his personal assistant at first. Other than giving Mr. Fred the address to her house, Lisa had not uttered a single word in the car.

Despite the liveliness of the street, it felt as though they were on a lonely and deserted road. They could hardly hear anything as they were only darting glances at themselves and Lisa, trying not to be obvious.

"You should focus more on the road sir, so that we won't get into any kind of accident," Lisa finally said to Mr. Fred. She had been noticing him from the corner of her eyes but had decided to ignore him until she couldn't take it anymore.

"Ah, that's what I'm doing," he replied.

"No that's not what you're doing. You've been stealing glances at me since we...."

"It must have been a very rough evening for you, secretary Lisa!" Mr. Kim butted in quickly from where he was seated, directly behind Lisa. He had been waiting for an opportunity to start this conversation, since Mr. Fred and he had a lot to say but were unsure of how to approach it.

"You can say that again!" Mr. Fred replied on behalf of Lisa. "So did you manage to provide the police with the necessary information to give them a lead on the criminal?" He asked.

"I wish!" Lisa hissed and looked out of the window.

Mr. Fred turned backwards to Mr. Kim quickly and directed his attention back to the road.

"You wish?" Mr. Kim adjusted himself on his seat. "What do you mean by that?" He leaned forward instinctively.

Lisa twisted herself to face her boss and started in an almost high pitched voice. "Can you believe they thought I was his ally?!"

"What!" Mr. Fred exclaimed.

"Well, I understand that in situations like this, this kind of assertion tends to be palatable, but didn't you at least show them your national ID card?" Mr. Kim asked.

"The officer refused to believe me. He said it was forged, in fact I went ahead to show him my staff ID card and that only worsened the situation." Lisa explained.

"Why? Didn't they see the name of the company? Don't they know it's mine?" Lisa's boss asked.

"Well, he argued that he happened to know your secretary and since my job position on the card was a secretary, he didn't need anymore evidence that I'm fake."

"I think this should be your sign to stop changing secretaries the way you please," Mr. Fred murmured to himself.

"What did you say?" Mr. Kim turned towards him.

"Me? No I was just mumbling about how unacceptable the officer's behaviour was," Mr. Kim grinned sheepishly.

"Right?" Lisa nodded. "I mean, as innocent as I look, how could I possibly be a criminal?"

"You know, it's always the innocent looking ones that are worse," Mr. Kim thought to himself.

Only that his thoughts were quite loud.

"What?" Lisa's eyes widened.

"Pretend you didn't hear that," Mr. Fred snorted. "He's always like that."

"No, I didn't literally mean you in particular. I was specifically talking about Accountant Azi," Mr. Kim defended himself.

"Your timing was quite wrong," Mr. Fred rebuked. "And also, she's no longer our accountant."

"Yes, right." Mr. Kim nodded. "So, what do you say Secretary, do we go back to the station tomorrow?"

"Ok, no problem sir," Lisa agreed; "the earlier the better. By the way, how did you know that I was in a wrong vehicle?" Lisa asked as the thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Well, he slept off soon after we left the restaurant and woke up few minutes after, claiming that he had a bad dream and that you're in danger," Mr. Fred replied on behalf of Mr. Kim.

"Oh, I see," Lisa nodded slowly; "but how come you didn't dream of this yesterday, why did it have to be this evening?" She asked.

"It's just as I've told you earlier today, I happen to see things like this only after the damage has been done or when there is nothing that could be done in time to avert it," Mr. Kim replied this time.

"Have you thought of a particular reason? I mean there should be a reason for it to happen that way, so that if there is, you can be able to make the necessary adjustments. Like me now, I usually have enough time to act when I see into the future only that...."

"Exactly!" Mr. Kim cut her off; "since your case is quite better, why didn't you know that you would be in danger before boarding that taxi?"

"I didn't look into his eyes. I intentionally avoided his eyes just like I do with others. You know, it's not a pleasant experience to know about a person without their permission."

They were now in front of Lisa's house, so Mr. Fred parked the car at a corner of the road opposite her house, where it wouldn't obstruct oncoming vehicles.

"That was the more reason for you to look into his eyes! In situations like boarding a taxi, entering an unfamiliar location, you should be more careful of the people around you," Mr. Kim argued.

"That doesn't seem like my fault. I mean, it's not like I've offended anyone I can remember, to be a victim of a premeditated murder. And what if I didn't have the ability to see into the future?" Lisa asked in defense.

"Then that would have been a very different case. You see, when you have something, you make the most of it. You escaped today through the skin of your teeth. Imagine you had seen this before me, you wouldn't have had to go through all the stress you went through this night. Think about it!" Mr. Kim dragged.

"We're in front of her house, I think we should let her rest for today." Mr. Fred appealed to Mr. Kim when he noticed that their conversation might not end anytime soon.

Mr. Kim took a quick glance round the street. There were a few security guards in the area, hovering around just beside their guardhouse. The street was not so dead, as they were still few movements of people around, although some traders had begun to close up their stalls and shops to mark the end of their busy day.

"I'm glad your area is well guarded. Nevertheless, you should still be very careful. That criminal might still be lurking around somewhere. You should take a good rest for now, tomorrow is going to be a busy day, because we need to get to the root of this matter," Mr. Kim sighed.

"Ok sir," Lisa nodded. "Thank you sirs, for the ride!" She gave a slight bow to Mr. Kim and his PA, and hopped out of the car.

"Don't mention!" Mr. Fred hollered at her. "Don't forget to eat well and sleep well!"

"I will!"

"And make sure you come to work on time tomorrow!" Mr. Kim called out.

"Yes sir!" She replied and crossed the road to her gate.

"I was going to tell her to take the day off tomorrow if she felt overwhelmed in the morning but I see you have other plans," Mr. Fred whispered almost inaudibly.

"I believe I'm the owner of Vechron," Mr. Kim replied stiffly; "please start the car now," he ordered immediately.

Mr. Kim started the car but kept his eyes on the oncoming car on his lane through the wing mirror. "I was just making a suggestion as your PA, since that's the most natural thing to do in a situation like this. But of course, you wouldn't know, when the only thing that interests you is work!" He replied and reversed his car when he saw that the driver of the car behind him had given him some distance enough to reverse and drive off.

"Just go home. She isn't a child, she should be able to handle such things," Mr. Kim replied in a distant tone which Mr. Fred definitely did not miss.

"Are you okay back there?" He asked but got no reply so he looked up at the rear view mirror, and true to his prediction, Mr. Kim had drifted away into sleep. "I knew he was tired all along!" He laughed to himself and took his attention back to the road, driving away in silence.

"Lisa!" Someone yelled, as Lisa was about to open the gate to her house. She turned to the blaring of a car horn behind her and saw Jena waving at her. She waved back and quickly entered the compound to open the gate for her to drive in.

"Oooh!" Jena teased Lisa as she got out of her car. "What are you not telling me?" She asked.

"What are you talking about?" Lisa asked back, genuinely confused.

"What do you mean? I saw you get down from that fancy car just now," she clarified. "Who was that?"

"Oh! That? That was my boss," Lisa replied and opened the door to their living room.

"Your boss? Kim Dylan?! You mean I almost saw Kim Dylan face to face?" Jena squealed behind Lisa who nonchalantly walked into the living room and headed straight to the kitchen.

"Yes. But that's not even the issue right now."

"What do you mean?" Jena asked, her face was still radiating with smiles.

"Just one second late, and you probably wouldn't have even seen my corpse to bury," Lisa sighed and downed the water she took from the freezer in one go.

Jena's face changed immediately. "What do you mean?"