LA, LA, LALIANA

CHAPTER EIGHT

                                 "How much for the Asian one? " " Fifty bucks !" "What! How about forty?" "No can do! Just look at how long and straight her hair is," Voices of a man and a woman could be heard negotiating. The man's voice was deep and wanting and the woman's voice was sly and pitchy.
                                     Laliana slowly opened her eyes. Her pupils dilated to adjust to the dim lighting of the room she apparently was in. Her hands and legs were all tied up. She was lying on her back on the cold concrete floor. Tilting her head to either sides, she was able to see several young women in the same state as she was except some were still unconscious.
                                 The room was large enough to be called a hall but at the same time small enough to be considered just a big room. An abandoned mini supermarket could perfectly fit it's description judging by the two metre tall empty shelves covering ninety percent of the place. The walls badly needed repainting and had cracks. Laliana and the rest of the women were at the farthest end of the room.
                               In front of them were two heavily built Caucasian men. The blue jumpsuits and gold coloured duck masks used for hiding their identities made them quite intimidating. The men could almost be mistaken for statues due to their static nature.
                                 A sudden dark realisation hit her. Zari and Joni were not with her! She tried to get herself up without her arms for support but it was all in vain. It felt like doing pull ups with a very full stomach to Laliana.
                                   "Hey! What do you think you are doing!" One of the men roared at Laliana, definitely terrifying her.
                                    The place was ominously quiet. The voices of the man and woman were the only ones that echoed from the other end of the room. "Where the hell am I?" Laliana asked after gathering all the courage she had but it seemed more of a demand. The women who were next to her looked at Laliana in awe. They marvelled at the amount of courage she used to talk to the scary man in that manner.
                                       "Woman you better shut up or..." " Where are Zari and Joni! Tell me where they are! Let..." Laliana was singlehandedly lifted up by the man. A powerful punch landed on Laliana's delicate cheek cutting her statement short. Laliana spat blood from her mouth immediately.
                                      Laliana's breathing grew faint and more faint by the second. The man had a chokehold on her. Laliana managed to see a someone approaching them. It was a woman.
At that time, her black multi inch heels could be heard clicking and clacking.
                                         "Let her go!" The woman ordered. The man irresponsibly loosened his grip on Laliana's neck causing her to fall to the ground hard. She put her hand on her chest as she desperately gasped for the air that was initially restricted from her.
                                           " Young girl look at me!" Laliana's head was still facing the ground. She was taking very deep slow and heavy breaths. The woman bent to Laliana's level and forced Laliana to look at her by grabbing her by the chin. It took a second for Laliana to scan the lady from head to toe.
                                   Apart from the black heels, the lady had on tight leather trousers. She too, was Caucasian and the tight zebra stripe print blouse failed to hide the numerous tiny black spots on her exposed cleavage. Her hair was short and blonde but was died blue at the end of the strands. Laliana could not be able to see how her eyes looked like as she had on designer sunglasses with gold pellets embedded around each frame.
                                    Laliana looked straight at the lady's sunglasses. Laliana was in tears by then. She regretted not having listened to the man. Now she was scared and anxious of what punishment was coming her way.
                                       "Wow! You have such beautiful skin!" Those words surely creeped Laliana out. The woman softened her grip on Laliana and used her other hand to stroke her left cheek, spooking Laliana even more. "Please tell me...where my children are," Laliana pleaded.
                                    The lady put her index  finger on Laliana's mouth. "Shhh! Your children are safe. Don't think about them ever again, " Laliana could sense deceit in the woman's tone. The woman stood up from her position. She snapped her fingers at the men. "Carry her to the front ! Let this be an example for anyone who tries to defy any of my orders!" The woman said in finality as Laliana was briskly carried to the front.
                                  Laliana could see the man the blonde lady was talking to. He was tall and in a black two piece suit that hugged his big and manly biceps tight. His head was shaved at the sides leaving only the long brown- black hair in the middle  put in a ponytail. The deserted cashier counters confirmed that the place indeed was a mini supermarket.  The daylight that passed through the small windows was bright enough to make Laliana see another young woman of Asian descent also present there. She was on her knees and her face was as gloomy as a cloudy day.
                                Something peculiar happened however when Laliana spared another glance at the man in the black suit. She noticed that the man had his eyes still on her. When Laliana finally found his eyes she somehow could not manage to get them of him. The two had a discrete and non- competitive staredown as their eyes interlocked. Laliana was amazed by the man's charismatic blue eyes while the man was captivated by Laliana's bold brown eyes.  
                                Laliana was again roughly thrown to the ground, cutting short the staredown. She was soon on her knees like the Asian girl. Before the blonde woman could utter a word, the man in the black suit suddenly fished out a gun from his trousers' pocket. "Freeze! We got you surrounded!" He shouted.

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