She strutted toward the young belt of abundant flowers washed with the fresh morning dew stretched for about a mile. Sadly, the scenic view didn't hold the power to seize her interest; she was thinking about him. About Joseph Holden.

Gosh...how long would he take to show up?

She let out a laugh abruptly, reminiscing the accounts of her earlier life. She was used to sleeping till the sun was done with its half day's job. In literal terms: she hadn't seen the beauty of the morning sky in her entire life.

She stole a glance at the Rado ocean green wristwatch she was sporting. Her eyes lingered on the expensive sports watch for more than ten seconds.

"What did I do to deserve this?" She pondered and roved her fingers delicately across the dial. "Here, ten of its types are jammed inside a box no one would care to open. Wastage of money that is." She paused. "It's an unjust world. One has to fight for all of it."

The beautiful sky looked like blotting paper with variant stains of blues spread across the expanse. She was finding ways to come back to earth.

Being in Love consolidates the creativity around you. You began to notice things that you never cared about before.

"Gosh Jose, I'm so nervous to see you. Please come and calm down this girl before she passes out." Ruby placed her hand on the left side of her chest, feeling the heartbeat go from boom to BOOM.

Ruby looked up at the effulgence leaking out of the sky in the form of a tiny dot resembling a star just below the moon peeking out of an obscure patch of cloud.

"Good Morning Elizabeth!"

Mrs Warner was someone who offered a masterclass in how to stay chic, and classic, and more importantly, was always appropriately dressed without skimping on color or glitz when needed.

She was wearing a bright pink jacket teamed up with flashy white trousers and Edgebounce Adidas running shoes. She paused the song on her phone armband.

"Morning . . . Mrs. Warner," her voice trailed off into galactic dust and so did Mrs. Warner's little hope of hearing 'mom' from her mouth.

"Mother will take a while. No problem, I understand. Take your time," she pronounced, looking sideways in mutual agreement.

Simultaneously, Ruby's neck muscles jolted on hearing a car slam brakes suddenly ─ of a rash driving style somewhere within her earshot. She squeezed her eyes, retrieving the memory of Joseph driving in the same way.

Yes, it was Joseph, she thought to herself. She directed her gaze at Mrs. Warner who was beaming and internally storing every minutest detail on her face in her memory.

Her ash-colored eyes broke a connection with Ruby's; her jaw pressed firmly showing discontent at the arrival of the person who stood behind Ruby.

"Mr Joseph, what on the face of the earth are you up to? My daughter had to spend her night in a guest room on her very first day instead of having her own room that was unfortunately not equipped with a good lighting arrangement. What can be more shameful than this?" Mrs Warner accosted as her eyes narrowed. The words were flavored with limpid sarcasm which made Ruby jump to her feet.

She also had this side: an aggressive side. Ruby wished to never get her in this mood. Never.

"Tell me, Mr. Joseph."

Joseph . . . lightning?? Never did he share about working as an electrician?" Various thoughts battling in her mind caused her fingers to curl up in fists and she whirled around savagely to shoot a dangerous look at him--- preferably at Joseph Holden.

She was taken aback when a middle-aged man with salt and pepper hair nodded frantically. Ruby's eyes glazed with surprise and a wave of relief hit her.

Oh. It was another man!

"Ahh..." She was standing between the two of them, looking at her and then at him which continued for a minute.

"I slept like a baby in that bed. I beg to differ, but the room was really good. I don't want to shift to some other place."

Mrs. Warner gulped, she was slightly shocked by her reasoning. It took her less than five seconds to demolish Mrs Warner's efforts and wish to provide her daughter with the best of everything.

"Well, I don't see a problem. If my daughter likes that room, she will use that room. Mr. Joseph thank you for your time, you may go now."

"Okay, I shall get going as well," Ruby said and moved away.

"Oh, I just forgot to tell you."

It seemed like it was not easy to get oneself out of her grip. Ruby rolled her eyes before facing Mrs Warner.

"What is it?"

"Your best friend...I mean Tasher. He's probably at the basketball court right now. He will be over the moon as he sees you. You used to tease him by calling him 'Football' because of his obesity, back in your school days," she giggled sweetly.

Her best friend! And in the form of a football! It couldn't have been more disappointing. Another round of interrogation related to the happy, sad, and absurd memories created together which meant! An enemy would've been much better to deal with.

The statement felt like a kick in her stomach. She nervously tucked the lock behind her ear. "Tell me where is the basketball court?"

***

"Blooming heck! Joseph never told me about my best friend--- okay Eliza's best friend. How can he be so unprofessional? It shows that he is new in this business. What if this bloody Tasher digs out some events from the past I'm unknown to? C'mon let's face it, I don't know anything besides his name: Tasher. Not even his surname. Wow."

In the space of a few seconds, a small pebble rolled past her feet. She mentally roared and saw Mark flounce from behind and face her fully.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" she asked amused.

"Just wanted to check the color of the sky," he chuckled and pulled a face while looking up. "Pretty much the same."

"Yeah. It will happen if you remain locked in your room for two weeks prolongation." Ruby laughed and thrust her fists in her sweatshirt.
"I'm delighted to announce you have an amazing sense of humor."

"You think so?" Mark said calmly, peeking over at her. "Anyways, where are heading to?"

"The basketball court."

"You like to play it."

"No, actually I've to greet my . . . Tasher."

He cocked his eyebrows and pointed a finger in the other direction. "You are walking in the wrong direction. Follow me. I know the quickest way to the BB-I building "

"This place is so darn confusing; there are so many paths and small quarters--- only God can help us." Ruby huffed and wiped her face with the back of her hand.

"It will take some time. Only if you have noticed, there are small signboards every fifteen meters. See one is here." He wagged his thin finger at the light blue board.

Ruby swallowed hard and nodded in realization. "Yes, my bad."

A question cropped up in her head, an important question. "By the way what kind of person is Tasher?" Ruby didn't give him time and added, "No, no, no, let me present it in this way; I mean, you know that I have not seen him in ages. All I remember is that I used to call him Football. So would you mind spilling the beans on his character?"

"Licensed Pervert; born womanizer; thousands of girls join a queue outside of his bungalow with abortion bills. He also lives on the magazine covers."

"Hold on! Does his father know about his son's doings?" Ruby's eyebrows knitted.

"His father is busy handling some other money games---is on the next level. He runs a chain of clubs in Hongkong," Mark recited the story of the perverted men and suddenly stopped.

Ruby grew nervous and asked, "W-Why did you stop?"

"Hey, I bet you have seen him-- that stoic stout body with yellow teeth on that day when you were here; he was present amongst the other people." He caught doubt in her eyes and scrutinized her face.

Taking one minute of serious contemplation regarding how to turn the tables, she didn't gather anything. Another minute went by where she raked her brain and her intelligence was proven as she recalled, "That hairy chest you mean to say?"

He nodded wistfully. She saw puzzlement surging through his face as his frown dropped to his lip.

"Let's jog at the same time. It's refreshing." She forced a smile to distract him and once he smiled, Ruby exhaled facing sideways. Everything was okay.

The journey that seemed like a marathon came to a halt as they reached their destination. Ruby mentally cussed and found no difference when the distance talk came to the forefront.

The court was empty and as they went down the tiered seating, she saw the same blue-eyed guy at a bay with his supposedly fat friend sitting close to the court and munching on something.

Ruby grinned at the tall guy who was dribbling while not missing the opportunity to check out her butt from the corner of his eye.

Ruby sank beside the chubby guy who didn't look too much older than her; she graced her lips with a pretentious smile. "Hey! Tasher you still look like a football. What an over-healthy surprise you are! Do you remember me? I'm Elizabeth. We were besties back in our school days."

Mark's mouth turned into a big 'O' as he raised his hands in a warning, but decided to withdraw his actions.

"I'm not a football---" a piece of spinach came out as he spat.

The puppy fat still deposited on his cheeks as they puffed up; Ruby shoved the messy sandwich in his already full mouth, blocking him from speaking anything in his defense.

"Work some fat off, dear Tasher . . ." Ruby squished his cheeks and observed his shyness; it didn't corroborate the definition given by Mark. He didn't look like a pervert instead, the other one significantly did.

"Sir, Tasher sir! Your father's calling you for the fourth time." Someone sprinted inside primarily to receive his response holding a phone. The man stood beside the blue-eyed guy as he murmured something in his ear, Ruby jacked up from the seat--- cognizance dawned upon her eyes.

"I'm not Tasher! I'm Paul. How many times should I repeat myself!" He stood up and grabbed his sandwich as he trudged toward the exit door.

His carton of juice was sitting on the seat.

"Hey, Paul, you forgot your mixed fruit juice . . ." Ruby's voice faltered as she cast a glance at Mark who shook his head. Paul never returned to get his juice, anyways.

A burst of boisterous laughter resounded within the four walls. Tasher snaked his arms around his abdomen and had him falling about the place laughing.

Ruby hesitantly closed the distance and began with a bathos element present in her speech, "So, it's you."

"I like the little show you put up there," he spoke hoarsely as he wiped a tear that rolled out his cheek and got up weakly. "Don't skip that part. Didn't know you were so much obsessed with a Football version of me."

"Hmph . . . it was a joke. I wanted to tease you," she lied flatly and expertly; her eyes fixed on his neon shirt. Well, lying was a must in this job of throwing dust in their eyes.

She turned on her heels and was about to leave the court, just then he grabbed her hand. Ruby saw him appearing in front of her.

"Cmon, we have not even done our proper introduction. Come and play with me." His hyacinth-blue eyes bored into hers.

"Excuse me?"

"Here," he lifted his other hand and an orange ball filled her vision. "Best-of-two."

"Eh, I can't."

"No, don't say that. I'll help you brush up your skills."

"No sorry I'm in the mood."

"Ssshh... I'm your coach for today. Now come here." He pulled Ruby to the free throw in a line. She reluctantly had to act like an underling.

"First step: dribble in toward the hoop with an angle, right?"

Ruby exhaled a huge ball of breath and nodded. As the ball hit the floor it bounced off and went far away.
Ruby pursed her lips before uttering bitterly, "It's not my game."

"No, this is no correct posture." He dashed behind her and his husky voice propagated in her ear. "Need to crouch in a lower position. Like this..." He placed a hand on her back and smoothened his hand along her waist.

"At a distance please." She eyed him and rolled her shoulders behind.

The shot went off the hoop. Again.

She was practicing to dribble as he ranted to her about the details of the game and accidentally something happened between."See, dribble it two times with enough force--- Ouch!"

Mark bolted upright as he saw Tasher Garfield hopping on one foot, in pain, as he held his other foot in his hand.

"Oops sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. It's your fault for circling me when you know I'm a novice." Ruby bent down in panic mode and covered her mouth gingerly. "Mark we need help!" She called out in a worrisome voice.

****

Joseph held a file in one hand and his sunglasses in another; his phone slid between his shoulder and left cheek as he stood still at the threshold of the building attending to the call.

He ended the call and saw Ruby and Mark marching toward him.

Mark held his hand high in the air and Ruby tiptoed, cheerfully smashed her hand against his making a loud sound.

"You are a rockstar!" Mark proudly stated.

"Hey, it just happened unintentionally. I didn't mean to kill him tho." She cackled, ignoring Joseph standing right before her eyes.

"We should have brought that Paul's mixed fruit juice along." She slapped his arm, leaving Joseph utterly confused and broken from the inside.

"You will get plenty. I'll ask the servant to fill your room with that."

"Yes and spare that messy sandwich please." Ruby dramatically joined her hands in a pleading manner.

"Eww, never." He pulled his face in disgust and went inside, Ruby accompanying him.

"Killing him? Paul's mixed fruit juice? messy sandwich? Where is she coming from? And Mark? I never knew he even had teeth. But I was wrong he was laughing a minute ago flashing his clean teeth." Joseph sucked in a breath as he strolled en route to Mrs Warner's office. "I need an answer, Ruby."

Word count - 2462

a/n; oops my second lead got hurt at the very beginning...

Jose needs attention 😼