“Poos, wake up”

Er… what..? I struggled to open my eyes suddenly getting woken up.

Who’s here?

“Wake up. We need to leave”

Who’s this even…

“Okay, I’ll count three and then I will drag you out, One, Two..”

I instinctively shot up from the bed but was still extremely disorientated. My confusion did not clear up at all when I found Ema staring down at me standing next to my bed.

“Ema, is that you?”

“Come on. WE HAVE NO TIME. We gotta pack and leave now”

“What’s going on - how are you even in my house?”

“I’ll explain while you are packing”

Jesus, what’s going on. I looked at my watch and it was 03:45 AM. I recalled the evening before we had that big fiasco with drunk Hina, I came back home close to 01:00 and just crashed to bed. Why is Ema in my house now and what is she even talking about.

“Ok, whatever. I’ll pack. Please do explain”

“Good. And not good”

“What is it?”

“Hina’s on the news”

Ah fuck.

“Is this about her going missing?”

“Unfortunately no”

Unfortunately…?

“You are also on the news”

“Wha-”

Without saying anything Ema thrust her smartphone onto my face. It was so close I had to squint my eyes to make out what the picture was about

“What the fuck”

“Yes. WHAT THE FUCK. That’s what I want to say. Now pack. Follow me. Explain. And then I will kill you”

I really believed Ema would do just that, literally.

“This is a total misunderstanding, Ema”

“HURRY UP! We could have paparazzi waiting outside your door any minute now”

What the hell did I get myself into…

After hurriedly packing my things, without having any idea of what I should pack, where I’m going, and for how long I will be gone, I duly obliged and followed Ema to the basement parking of my apartment building.

“Now explain”

Ema demanded while driving the SUV at full speed without taking her eyes off the road.

“And then you will kill me?”

“Yes”

“Gees, look this is not how it looks. Ms. Hina was talking something very serious and considerate, and it was for that very short moment she put her hand on mine”

“What is so serious she needs to hold your hand”

“She was talking about late Mr. Biaz for God’s sake”

“Why does it look like she is showing you affection while talking about her father”

“She was asking for my support - FOR WORK”

“Then explain why it looks like you guys are having an awfully good time laughing in the next picture”

“I have no idea. Must be a picture chosen out of hundreds of other burst shots, taken out of context”

“Why are you guys crossing arms and doing love shots with Tequilla”

“It was a toast she proposed as ‘Brothers in arms’, a silly pun”

“How the heck are you her brother in arms?!”

“It’s a long story”

“You’ve been saying that a lot today. Next. Why do you guys look so lovey-dovey in the next picture?”

“Oh come on, you know this. Alcohol was hitting her and she was getting tipsy and leaned on my shoulder, that’s all”

“Are you sure you have absolutely no ulterior motives for Miss Hina?”

“Seriously, Ema - we haven’t met much face to face but I thought you would know me well. You know everything to do with the Biaz family. Would Mr. Biaz keep someone like that around him? And entrust his one and only daughter to be taken care of by such a man after he passed away?”

“:Sigh: You are right. I’m sorry about threatening to kill you”

“You are overreacting”

“I meant it though”

“I bet. You really do treasure her”

“Yes, and you are already bringing trouble to her”

“I’m really sorry… so what’s happening now. Where are you taking me?”

“You will have to stay in the Biaz mansion for a while”

“Wouldn’t that be even weirder if news got out I was now living together?”

“No. We have an underground bunker. Nobody will see you there”

“Jesus, you are scaring me”

“We also have a guest room. Maybe. I can’t remember. I might remember if you start to behave correctly from now on”

“What do you want me to do”

“I don’t know. We only thought about the possibility that there may be news about Ms. Hina’s supposed health problems or disappearance. We TOTALLY DID NOT expect that you guys would get pictures taken by paparazzi and get framed as a lovey-dovey couple. ‘Teenage Heiress on a night out with her lover, who is he?’”

“So what now?”

“Mr. Roto Biaz is back at the mansion. He will talk you through it I suppose”