Chapter 2: The Request

There were cans on beer on the floor and right next to them lay a beautiful woman with her thick brunette hair that had blonde streaks in them. She was sleeping on the floor and was in such deep sleep that she was drooling.

*knock knock*

Someone knocked loudly on the young lady’s door. She made a slight movement as if she heard the knocking. The door was knocked at again and this time it was louder with her name being called out.

“Natalia! You are getting late for your university class! Get up!”

Hearing the word university, she suddenly opened her eyes and hearing the word late, she got so terrified as if she had seen a ghost. The knocking continued with the man calling her name again.

“I’m up! I’m up!” She rose from the floor and rushed to the bathroom. She had a slight headache with a stomachache but she ignored it. She washed her face, brushed her teeth and came back to her room. She picked up her phone and saw the time. It was 8:05. Her class today was at 8:30 and it took almost 40 minutes to get to her university department.

Being horrified looking at the time she screamed, “Somebody should have woken me up earlier! I told you I had a morning class.” She hurried her things in her bag and changed out of her pyjamas. Looking at her wrist watch she panicked even more. She threw her hair in a messy bun and dashed to her car.

“You are already late, it’s better to sit down and eat breakfast than rushing to the class when you already know you wont make it there in time.” A man in his late fifties was standing in the door frame that lead to the garage. It was her father, Mr.Vladimir. He was a tall man with slight beard and a moustache. But he was weirdly thin and looked somewhat sick by face. Yet he was quite charming.

“Dad you should have woken me up if you were at home!” Natalia said to her father in a complaining tone.

“You told me not to talk to you yesterday. I am shocked how quickly you forget things,” the man said with a gloomy voice. His eyes looked like as if he was hurt by what his daughter had said to him and as a father it was hurtful to hear your own child say they would rather not talk with them.

Natalia was embarrassed but at the same time she was still angry at her dad and still stood by what she said to him during the heated discussion last night except for the fact that she would rather not talk with him. She knew she hurt him. Her love for him was far more than that one could imagine so seeing her father hurt by her words, she felt her eyes burn and tears form in her eyes.

Her voice started shaking, “I-I am really sorry. I really did not mean to say that. It just came out in the spur of the moment. I was angry because of what you said and I gave you my reasoning but you were not ready to lis…”. Just as she was about to finish her sentence, she felt a lump in her throat and all of a sudden, the tears started to roll down her cheeks.

Her father was standing in the frame of the door looking at her. He did not look guilty for what he had said to her last night but he did seem sad about seeing his daughter cry. He came down the stairs into the garage and then came closer to her and gave his daughter a big hug.

Natalia, while crying, tried to resist the hug as she had not forgiven him for the last night’s discussion but she then just gave in. She cried out her eyes while her father patted her back.

“I know what I said might have hurt you. It definitely did. I know I shouldn’t be making such a huge decision in your life but I want to see you happy. I want to be sure that you will be with a man who takes care of you, worries for you, is loyal to you, loves you more than I did after I die.” Vladimir’s voice was soothing and low but the things he said were gloomier than his eyes.

Hearing the word die come out of his mouth, Natalia pushed away from the hug. With all the tears in her eyes she again started crying, “Why would you say that you are going to die? Didn’t you say that you will be with me forever. And no man can love me more than you, dad. Not a single man, not a single woman. Even I cant love myself as much as you love me.”

“That is somewhat true but I am sure that…” just as he was saying it, he decided to stop talking otherwise his daughter would cry even more.

He wiped the tears off her face and then brought her back inside home. Natalia’s vision was blurred from all the tears but she followed her dad back into home. It was already past her class time so she just decided to give up one class.

As she sat down in the chair, her stomach started to hurt. She was slightly hungover from the last night’s booze. She had forgotten all about it because of the panic for her class and the talk with her father. As soon as she had calmed down, she felt like throwing up. She ran to her bathroom. Gladly she didn’t really puke. It was just a nauseous feeling.

She came down the dining hall where her father was sitting and waiting for her. She was served with honey in warm water to help her with the hungover. After that they had a light breakfast. Mr.Vladimir was deep in his thoughts. He buried his head in the newspaper he had in his hand. Natalia was texting her friends telling them that she wouldn’t be coming to university today.

Mr. Vladimir stared at Natalia from the side of his newspaper. He then inquired, “is that James you’re talking to?”

Hearing this Natalia turned her head towards him and said: “No, I was telling my friends that I wouldn’t be coming. Do you want me to talk to James?”

Her father narrowed his eyes and said, “no.”

“I thought so. You already told me to break up with him last night and get married to some weirdo out of nowhere. No way you would want me to talk to James.” Natalia said all this nonchalantly but then she realised what she had said. She did not look sorry.

Her father stared at her hoping that she would follow his advice, “So? Are you going to break up?” He was anticipating a positive response.

Natalia looked at him and then shook her head suggesting that she would not break up with him. It was disappointing for her father but he could not force her further. He did not want another heated argument between them like last night. So he picked up the newspaper again and started to read it.

...----------------...

“Ok sir, I will call you back as soon as I get the tax report from them.” Viktor said in a professional manner while holding the receiver in his right hand.

‘Phew, working is hard,’ he thought to himself. ‘Glad I joined the company though. New exposure everyday is better than staying at home while my parents talk about my marriage out of nowhere.’

Viktor was lost in his thought. All of a sudden someone called his name. “Mr. Krupp! Come to my room for a second.” Viktor rushed to the room and there was a man standing next to the office table.

It was the Company’s Director’s son, James Atlas. Him calling Viktor to his room was always a bad news. Viktor was older than James yet he was still an intern whereas James, at an age of 24, had inherited the company. It was generational wealth.

“Are you stealing from this company, Mr. Krupp?” James asked Viktor straightforwardly. Viktor was taken aback by such remarks.

“Pardon?” Viktor looked surprised.

“I asked if you were stealing from our company by not showing us the correct tax return reports.” James asked in a harsher way.

“No, I am not sir! I always give the correct report.” Viktor said trying to calm himself down.

“Then who is stealing from us? I asked everyone else and everyone had a valid reason and a strong alibi, whereas you Mr. Krupp, have no proof to show that you haven’t been stealing from our company. You have no strong alibi. You are just an intern yet you are the last to leave the office? Why is it so? Care to enlighten me?” James asked him leaving Viktor speechless.

“I feel like you have been snooping around our office in the hopes of finding some useful documents to send to the rival company.” At this point, James was shouting at Viktor for everyone in the office to hear.

“Sir, i may not have evidence to prove my innocence but you have no right to accuse me of something that I didn’t do. What proof do you have to say all this?” Viktor finally said to James.

James looked at Viktor whose face looked like it was boiling with anger. James did not like Viktor. He had no reason. He just thought of him as some sort of enemy that he should crush before he became stronger.

Hearing Viktor’s reply James said, “well do not worry sir, we are already looking into the evidence and once we find it, you are going to be taken to the court. But if you resign right now, we may look over it and not report the lawyers and it wont go on your cv as well.”

Viktor suppressed is pride. He had done nothing wrong but there wasn’t a single way to prove himself. He didn’t really know what to do and what had happened. He jut got scared of what James had said about him. He sucked in the curse words and headed out of James office. Everyone there stared at him as they had heard what James said. He felt suffocated and ran to the office rooftop to take a quick breather.

Just as he went out to the rooftop, he felt at peace. He thought he was alone when he let out a few curse words for James and lit a cigarette, “Who the fuck does he think he is? He thinks that generational wealth gave him the right to treat people like shit?! He is the worst. Wish I could slap that ugly grin on his face. He is younger than me and still has no respect for me.”

Just as Viktor continued and puffed the smoke, he felt presence of someone close to him. He turned around and saw a woman sitting on the bench near him. How could he have not noticed her. He felt like a fool. Shee probably heard everything he had said.

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