Chapter Fifty Four

"Henry!"I yelled.

"Master Henry just went out through the back door. He asked that, I keep an eye on you." The robot said. "Have your seat, Miss Kam, he'll be back soon."

What is all this? Why is he keeping me in his house?!

"Have your seat, Miss Kam," she repeated.

"Shut up!"I shrieked. "I'm not sitting. I have a place to go. Get the door open now!"

"Only Master Henry can open the door."

I snorted. "And why did he fucking leave me here?!"

The robot was quiet.

I dropped my bag on the couch.

Checked the time, it was still very early, 10:12am.

I took a walk round the hall. All the other doors were locked.

"How do I get to the studio?!"

"Move three meters forward, to the door on your left."The robot answered as if expecting the question.

The door to the studio was wide open, it was in a mess. He broke his guitar!

Bad moment. I muttered, remembering how I had broken mine.

"Seems like our instrument is the first thing we place our aggressions on as musicians," I said aloud, picking up the broken pieces of the guitar. 

I remembered that I had a lot of calls while I was driving to his house, so I checked my phone. The first was Ria. She called about five times, she left a voice mail.

"Paige, piage, I hope you're okay. Some guys came by for you. They looked dangerous. Don't come to the house yet. It's dangerous. I'll be at Kim's shop. They're still out. I'm leaving through the back door. Love you Paige."

Wow!

My house?!

Now I'm stuck here. What is it about this day?!

Henry called too, a lot of times. I had picked his last call. Why didn't he mention it when I arrived at his house?

I moved over to the piano in the room.

"I can't play,"I said. "Damien can. Lord, is this Damien? I thought he was dead. Are you trying to compensate me for my loss with this new guy? Henry is Damien, right?"

The answer I wanted was "Yes", nothing but silence replied me.

"Is he in some kind of trouble? Why did he rush out like that?!"

There was a picture frame at the far end of the studio. At first, it was too much of a blur and I was uninterested. But then I realized it was a woman's picture. As I moved closer to it, I realized it was a girl. And closer. And closer.

It was...

"Paige Kam in high school!"

I screamed in shock.

*

"Will you trust me, please?"Henry went to his godfather's house to confront him.

"Give me a reason why."Brianne snapped a knight off the chess board which he was playing with himself.

"I've spent three years of my life with you. If I wasn't in for this deal, I'd have escaped a long time ago. You weren't watching all the time. Isn't that enough reason, huh?"

"Not enough!" Brianne said. "In business, the past can't justify the present."

"Please, give me two days. I'll get Paige for you. I'll start my part of the deal. Please."

"I'm done with you!" he yelled.

"No you can't. You need us!"

"Stop giving me reasons to keep you..."His phone beeped.

"Master, we've searched all over for her. She nowhere around her home."

"Check her school! Haven't you been on her trail?!" He yelled.

"We lost her."

"You better do your job or I'll have your damn head cut off tonight!"He yelled and hung up the phone.

"Did you keep her?"He asked Henry.

"I'm ready to do your deal. If you'd let me."

"Then get on with it!"He wailed. "Leave my house!"

"Thank you!"Henry said as he walked out of the house.

*

"Welcome back, Master Henry. Your visitor is in the studio."

I heard the robot announce from the living. I checked the time on my wrist watch, 1: 21 pm. I've been hugging that picture for about two hours now. 

"Hey."He was at the door. Picture in hand, I walked towards him. I must have forgotten that I had tears on my face. I saw him whisper some things to himself.

"Who's this?"

"My Idol,"He said.

I almost laughed. Not funny.

"Are you..."I swallowed. "You're crazy, you know, right?"

He was quiet.

"Or, I'm the one who's crazy?" I laughed, in pure pain."Why did you let me go through all that stress? Your family, everyone was shocked at your..."I wanted to say "death". "How long were you going to hide? From me. Do you know how much..."

I moved closer to him. "The girl in that picture is Paige Kam. And she's not an Idol. Can you explain..."

Paige, you're blabbering! And why isn't he saying anything?

"How did you survive, Damien? You were killed right in front of me. I... saw it. Damien!"

He seemed lost in thought. He was staring so intently at me. I wanted to shake him, scream into his ears to stop the damn pretence, to stop making me feel like I'm crazy.

"Aren't you gonna say anything?! What the heck?!"I dropped the picture on the floor.

"Come open the door, I'm leaving."

I tried to walk out of the door but his hand stopped me.

"Wait."He murmured. "And listen to me."