Beneath The Mask

117. For There Is No Michael Without Catherine!

Not even a wednesday reminder pratishtha1811 ? Too bad! I am happy with the amount of faith you have in me! 😑 (note the sarcasm😜) Anyways I really enjoyed writing this chapter, and I hope you guys enjoy reading it too!

I would like to dedicate this week's chapter to user68319732
meme0985

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Cath's POV:

My heart stopped beating at the sight of the message, and I couldn't pull my eyes away from the screen. Maybe secretly, a part of me wished that it would disappear if I stared at it long enough, but instead the phone started ringing, making my heart race faster than before.

"Are you going to take that?" Daniel's voice made me jump. He tried to peek into my phone, but I pulled it away from his sight, and smiled at him. Hopefully, he wouldn't find the slight tremble of my lips, or hear the racing of my heart. But Daniel being Daniel didn't seem to let it go, as he scanned my face, making me even more nervous.

"It's just a friend from college. I'll talk to him later." I declined the call, hoping that I hadn't signed up for my own doom. If there was one thing that I had noticed about 'Private Number' was that he hated being ignored, and the thought that I had given him another reason to do something that could hurt the people that I loved only made panic rise within me.

"Him?" Daniel raised his eyebrow skeptically. "I didn't know you had friends in college."

"P-Project partner." I stuttered.

"His name?"

"Uh.." Why did I have to state it as a 'him'? Now I had to think of someone he wouldn't know. A lot of names past through my mind before it stopped at one. "Adrian." I froze at the sound of his name. Why the hell did I say his name?

Daniel didn't seem to have noticed my stiff demeanour as he pondered over the name. "Adrian? Hmm.." He was about to open his mouth when the phone rung again.

His eyes immediately went to my phone, but luckily I already had my hand covered over the screen. "I have to take this." I muttered, and walked past him, into the house. I took calculated steps as I felt Daniel's gaze burning at the back of my head. The door shut behind me as I exited the kitchen, and entered the hall.

I pressed the answer button, and rushed out of the house, scared that the call might end again, and I would lose my chance at stopping him from doing whatever he had planned for me.

"Hello." I whispered breathlessly once I hid myself behind one of the trees in the front garden. The distance seemed safe enough to answer without anyone knowing, but the silence that ensued in the line didn't make it seem any less scarier than hearing his voice. I didn't know which one was worse.

A semi robotic chuckle sounded in the line, and I couldn't help but sigh in relief when I should be doing exactly the opposite of it. "Did someone miss me? Or is that fear that I smell in your voice?"

My body shuddered as goosebumps emerged on my arms that had nothing to do with the chilling breeze that hit my body. I wrapped my arms around my body to keep myself warm, and stop the shivering of my fingers.

"What do you want?" The mere force of my voice surprised me since I felt exactly opposite to how I sounded.

He chuckled again. "Well, well, looks like someone's grown a back bone. I kinda like this side of you. You're impressing me."