"I am sorry for bothering you," he said, walking after me.
As I hastened my pace, he kept pace with me.
"Wait....Sandra, please listen," he called out, then he suddenly grasped my arm. I spun around, trying to shake him off, but his grip tightened.
"Let me go!" I yelled, and he released my hand immediately.
"I mean no harm, Niamon, you have to listen to me. Running away won't help."
"Why do you keep calling me that when you know my name? And how do you know my name?"
"It's a long story, Niamon, one I promise to share with you, but not here." He glanced around the garden, then whispered, "Meet me at the old oak tree in the town square at sunset. Come alone. There's a man who has a full history about you, and he is heading this way anytime soon to use you for his revenge against someone, and everything that happened to you about the gunshot is real, you are not crazy, the man orchestrated everything."
Anna came out and said, "I was about to head out to get something."
She waved at him from behind and winked at me.
"It's not what you think," I said, rolling my eyes.
"Come on, you don't have to act tough. I know you guys are not an item, but look at him. If you don't want him, I'm going to take him. I mean, what's your name, mister gentleman? My name is Anna," she brought her hand toward him for a handshake.
"I will be taking my leave," he said, turning to leave.
I wanted to stop him so bad, but had to watch him leave.
I received a text message. When I brought up my phone, I saw a video of a man pressing his foot against my brother's head. I gasped, completely shocked.
"Enter the car!" a man yelled.
I looked up at him. It was the man that approached me with a car, the man that knows my full name. He was in his car, pulling down his glasses as I turned to look at the back seat. I saw Anna. Her mouth was tied.
So I got in without a single question. I should have seen this coming and moved to another apartment but ignored it.
"Where are you taking us?" I demanded.
"I have one job for you. You have to assassinate that man in that video within thirty days. While working for him and gaining his trust, ruin his name, torture him, and let him die the same way your brother died or worse. Don't worry, I have it all planned. The first mission is for him to hire you as his worker, he is seriously in need of a personal maid according to the information I got from an insider. But you have to pull the trigger at the very end of it all, I'm Mr Leonard by the way,"
"What are you saying? What are you on about?" I asked. I looked back at Anna.
"What are you going to do with my friend?"
"I'm not going to do anything to her. I know you're very stubborn, very, very stubborn, and you are no different from your past life."
"I'm so confused. What do you mean by past life?"
"Niamon. Did that click to you?"
My heartbeat kept pounding in my ears. My heartbeat was answering back to that name, Niamon.
"Remember what I said, his name is Andrew Finard, he has his name on the number plate of his car. Pretend to be crossing the road when you hear the signal."
I nodded and turned to the back seat, and I couldn't tell what Anna was thinking.
"Why did you pick me to complete this mission?"
"Is that supposed to be a question? He murdered your brother!"
"Stop! Please stop!" I clenched the hem of my skirt, holding back my tears. "Stop using my brother as bait to get me to do your plans. It's just that I am not cut out for this, I can't fight back, I don't want to even get killed by the same man who killed my brother, he would be disappointed."
"So you're already declaring yourself dead? How pathetic of you." He chuckled. "He wouldn't dare kill you if you follow my orders and stop being a five-year-old," he yelled and stopped his car in the middle of the road. "He will be driving past here soon. Do not mess this up!" he said, then drove off, leaving me standing on the lonely street.
I gasped the moment I saw a few people come out with a thumbs-up. They were all part of the plan. One lady was with a dog, pretending to wait for a taxi, and the other guy in green pretended to be taking out the trash. The other lady in pink pretended to be fixing her shoe on the side of the road. But for now, their direction was fixated on the left side of the road.
I flinched as the earpiece made a loud beep that almost blocked my eardrums.
"Now take five slow, measured steps," the voice of Mr Leonard could be heard. I immediately started moving. One, two, three, four, five, and I could feel the speed on my left.
"Jump," he ordered, and I somersaulted in the air and landed on the car, rolling to the floor. That was never me, I was too shocked to believe I pulled that trick. It felt as if my own body had been hiding that trick from me or more like part of my memory was triggered, like I had done this before. I got scratched from hitting the ground, but I was sure my legs were doing fine.
"She is dead?" a voice uttered from the car.
"No sir, she's alive, but she might have broken her leg," one of the men who appeared to be one of the guards replied. I sat up and looked over to the man who ordered and gasped.
I saw the murderer of my brother, he was right in front of me. Andrew Finard. He was the one in the video Mr Leonard sent to me. My hand trembled when he came close to me.
"Are you okay?" he asked as he handed me the blanket from his pocket suit. I clenched it with rage and stopped myself from yelling out my pain.
"You're sure lucky to survive the accident," he chuckled, and nodded at his guard, who then threw me three stacks of money. Andrew had already predicted this. I was absolutely fine, but pretended to stand on my feet and didn't dare to touch the money on the floor. I fall back on the floor.
"Sir, she is bleeding, should we leave her?"
"People are watching," he mumbled under his breath as he squatted to the floor and lifted me in his arms.