Long chapter incoming

_

"Hey, let's catch a movie tonight." Desmond suggested as he snaked a hand around Zaria's waist, recalling how great it was to watch with her the previous week.

"It's my dad's birthday tomorrow." She pulled away, so she would slip out of his hold.

He frowned in displeasure but could only hold back, recalling that they were still near the hotel and someone could see them. "Since his birthday is tomorrow, we can watch a movie or two and you will go home to wish him tomorrow."

"I want to spend the whole day with him. Starting from midnight." She declined.

"Why does it need to be that way?" His voice was full of complaint, but he could do nothing about what she had decided. He had never heard of anyone planning out an entire twenty four hours just to spend with the person they loved.

"There's still many hours before midnight." He coaxed pleadingly.

"I need to plan it out. Find some snack or something to keep your mouth shut and stop bugging me." She cast him a threatening look and answered a text message she had received earlier from the online shopping application where she had ordered baking ingredients.

When he dropped her off, Ryan was waiting below the apartment building.

"What is this guy doing here?" He so badly wanted to turn the car around and go to his house instead.

"Goodnight. Remember to behave yourself." She looked at him sternly, making him give up on the idea of causing trouble with Ryan. Although she liked Desmond, she didn't want to unnecessarily wreck her friendship with Ryan. If it was possible, she wanted to maintain peace between them.

"You are defending him. What if he steals you away?" He asked with his brows furrowed.

"If that were possible, you would have zero chances with me." She reminded him that she and Ryan had grown up. If she were to fall in love with him, she would have done so as a teenager. "Be good and go back, okay?"

Seeing that he was still looking at her sulkily, she leaned over and raised her head to kiss his cheek.

He swallowed to prevent his smile from surfacing, then pointed at his lips to indicate that he wanted them kissed too. Resigning to her fate of having to sit a big baby, she pecked his lips. "Happy now?"

"I am. But I would have been happier if you did that out there in front of him." He chuckled.

"Don't be so childish." She chided.

After pacifying the big baby with more kisses and hugs, she finally left the car and walked to Ryan, whose eyes were full of anger after having witnessed what happened in the car from the windshield. "Ryan, why are you here?"

He swallowed back his anger and stopped himself from saying something stern. He knew that she would be angrier and that might just push him closer into Desmond's arms. "It's Uncle Theo's birthday tomorrow, right? Do you need help preparing everything?"

"It's okay. I will manage it on my own." She modestly turned him down.

"Are you sure?" He asked, knowing that it was not a lot of work. Although it was not too much, she would have gladly accepted the help if this was a few weeks ago. They were drifting more and more apart by the day.

"I'll go up now." She spoke up while pointing towards the elevator.

"Please give this to Uncle Theo." He took out a card from his pockets. It was a VIP membership card for a golf club.

"Thank you." She took it and wordlessly went to the elevator.

"Zaria, did I lose you?" He muttered with a sigh when he saw the elevator doors slide to close. If he didn't run his mouth off and tell her what he felt for her, would he still be her best friend?

…

Once home, Zaria took a quick shower and prepared the ingredients to bake a blueberry cake. Theodore wasn't home, making her wonder just where he was spending so much of his time lately.

Seeing that it was almost 11pm, she set the cake to start baking while using the chance to decorate the house. When she was done baking and decorating the house, he was yet to arrive. She picked up her phone to check up on him when she noticed his text message that he had sent about two hours ago.

She tiredly slumped onto the couch, and when Des rushed to snuggle onto her belly, she rubbed his ears with a sigh. "He's in Luxenville again and will only be back tomorrow Morning. What has he been doing there anyway?"

Of course, Des had no answer to offer. She could only speculate and unknowingly, she fell asleep on the couch and woke up to the feeling of a soft blanket sliding onto her body.

She rubbed her eyes as she woke up and sat up. "Dad, you are back. What's the time?"

"How could you sleep on the couch all night? You could catch a cold."

Only then did she realize that it was already morning. She caught sight of the balloons, most of which had burst—probably because Des thought of them as fun toys and decided to take a bite.

"Happy birthday." She said through a smile, glad that she had kept the cake in the fridge.

"Thank you." He sat on the couch as she went to retrieve the cake. As she set it on the table, he softly called her name. "I'm sorry I was not here last night. You even prepared a surprise for me."

"Don't mention it." She didn't want to dwell on the trivial matters. "It must have been an important matter if you had to rush to Luxenville on such short notice?"

"Yes, it was." He vaguely agreed but did not offer any explanation.

She could only continue to speculate. Was it the same matter as the last time?

...

On Monday, Desmond sought Zaria soon after they were finished with their first meeting.

"Do you need something?" She asked when she noticed him standing unmoving behind her.

"I'm going to court."

He didn't need to elaborate for her to know that he was going to attend his mother's trial.

She didn't know what to say in solace so she smiled. "I will take care of things here."

"I love you Zaria." He pulled on her chair to make it swing, so she would properly face him. Leaning down, he pressed a soft kiss on her lips.

"Good luck." She said in return.

"Walk me to the car." He demanded like a clingy child and she sternly shook her head.

"I will have more mountains of work today. Do you have the heart to make me walk back and forth as well?"

She was right, and he didn't want to tire her out either. "I will make sure to return as soon as I can."

....

In the Imperium Criminal Court, Samantha was called onto the witness stand since she had claimed to have walked into her mother who had just murdered her father.

Desmond sent a reassuring look to his mother who had been handcuffed and was sitting on a high chair between two policemen.

"I would like to ask the witness a few questions." Asked Desmond's lawyer, a middle-aged man who was known to have managed to win most of the cases he took on.

When the judge granted him permission, he looked at Samantha while adjusting his glasses. "Miss Samantha Fort, where were you on the night of 11th August?"

Samantha frowned about having to narrate the tale she had already told. "As I said, I was at my friend's house then at about midnight, I decided to go back home."

"I see." The lawyer adjusted his glasses once again, but his action gave Samantha goosebumps. "May I ask what the two of you were doing?"

"We talked about her engagement to my brother." She answered with a shrug.

"Who is your friend?" Came the next question.

"Natalie Sparks. My soon to be sister-in-law." She was starting to feel irritated but had to hold her ground.

"I would like to confirm the credibility of your words. Is this friend of yours nearby?"

"She is here now." She impatiently pointed at Natalie who was beside Desmond. The latter looked surprised. The eyes of both lawyers, Alyssa, the judge, and the few onlookers all flew at Natalie—everyone for their different reasons.

"Miss Natalie, could you step into the witness stand?" The lawyer requested after getting permission from the court.

Samantha glanced in the direction of Alyssa and tried not to look smug. She was confident because she really was at the Sparks' villa on that night and they had indeed talked about her engagement.

Natalie was sworn in as a witness before the first question rolled out. "Can you confirm that Samantha was at your home on the 11th of August?"

Natalie glanced at Samantha and shook her head indifferently. "No, she wasn't."

"What? She is lying!" Samantha exclaimed. "This is no place to joke around, Natalie!"

"Order!" The judge bellowed and Samantha, along with everyone who was whispering had to shut up.

Natalie continued, "On that night, I was with my fiancée all night. Samantha did not seek me, nor did we talk about my engagement."

"She is lying, I swear!" Samantha wanted to pull her hair off. This bitch!

"Her parents saw me there." She yelled even though she was not allowed to talk outside the witness stand.

However, Natalie countered her. "My parents were outstation."

"This is unexpected." The middle-aged man eyed Natalie. "Do you have a way to prove that they were not home either?"

"Yes. I have a copy of their schedule but it's not here with me. However, I can prove that I was with my fiance and not with Samantha on that night. I still have the photos we took in Ciel on my phone. We also booked a hotel room at L'Hotel Onice and I have a record of that."

The lawyer asked for the evidence and Natalie gave her phone to him. The lawyer gave it to the judge, who immediately summoned the expert in charge of checking the authenticity of electronic evidence. A few moments later, the judge called for order once again and declared sternly, "Due to her statement which is inconsistent with the truth, Miss Samantha Fort has been disqualified as a witness."