Lia
"Aaron, I am sorry. I have to break my promise. I can't do this. This is crazy. At this point, I think I am risking my life. Who knows one day you might see my face on the news with the headlines being something along the lines 'The famous, handsome, heartbreaker, dream of a zillion girls, billionaire Daniel Kingston is murdered by his doctor flat-enemy!'" Mr. Drama Queen said on the video call, making Aaron laugh out loud.
"There are only eight billion people on this planet," I said, smirking.
"I am considering parallel universes. Wait. You shut up!" he yelled at me, making me cringe, and Aaron laughed harder.
"Lia! Daniel, can you please give the phone to her," Amy said, and I rolled my eyes, pouting.
She is gonna scold me for sure, and I am not gonna be able to argue with her. Why is she always so reasonable and rational?
"I am not giving her any more of my things, Amy. I am sorry, but just call her on her phone. I am not risking my phone right now," he shook his head, and I laughed.
He glared at me, and I raised my eyebrows at him in defiance.
"Fine. I'll call her," Amy chuckled, and I heard my cell phone ringing in my room.
I ran to my room and quickly picked it up, "Before you start scolding me, I swear it was an accident."
"Was the accident pre-planned?" she asked me, and I couldn't help but laugh.
"Lia!" she exclaimed.
"Amy, man. I swear I told him so many times yesterday. But he didn't budge at all. I even tried Amy way, and then, do you know what he said? He said that he would love to see me in jail. That's so mean! I couldn't sleep at all, and I had a night shift. I was yawning the whole time," I told her.
"So, today morning, you came and decided to just get rid of the root of the trouble itself, didn't you?" she asked me.
"No, I had planned it last night, to be honest. But, I came home at six, and we have a rule of not fighting before seven. So, I waited for the clock -"
"Wait, wait, wait. You guys have a rule about when to start fighting?" she asked me, confused.
"Yes," I said, frowning as I didn't understand what was so surprising.
"Sorry, continue," she said.
I nodded and said, "Yeah, so I waited for the clock to strike seven and for him to get up and go to his gym. That's when I sneaked into his room. This rich ass kids, I tell you. He has three laptops, two phones, and a tab, and god knows what else. It took me a while to find the correct one, but I did it before he returned, and then I just went to the pool. I was walking around the pool with it until my leg sl-"
"Lia, stop. I know the details. Daniel already yelled all of it to Aaron. You do realise that it is five in the morning right now, and I am dead tired. I don't want to hear this again," she groaned.
"Why are you tired? Long night?" I teased her.
"Wh..what? N...No. It's just all the...the sight..sightseeing," she stuttered.
"Sightseeing or rolling between the sheets," I teased her.
"Shut up," she said, and I could literally hear her blushing.
"The honeymoon's on a swing, huh?" I chuckled.
"Something like that. Aaron is just very romantic," she gave in.
"I am so happy for you, love," I told her genuinely.
"Thank you," she said.
That was so smooth, Lia. Good job.
"Now, before you celebrate your victory, no, I have not forgotten what we are supposed to discuss," she told me.
Darn it. Almost.
"I wasn't trying to make you forget anything," I lied, biting my lip.
"Right," she said, sarcasm dripping from her mouth.
"I am not gonna apologize to him, Amy. He deserves it," I told her straight away.
"It was super wrong of you, Lia. What if he had done something like this?" she asked me.
"I would have chopped his dick off," I told her.
"Lia!"
"What? Laptops are expensive," I told her.
"No shit, Sherlock!" she said, bewildered.
"Fine, I won't harass him anymore, as long as he doesn't do anything either. If he does something, I am gonna retaliate," I told her.
"No, you won't. If he says a few rude things, just bear it for a couple of days. He has all right to be angry right now. Promise me no physical harm either, at all," she told me.
"Amy! Don't you trust me at all?" I asked her, faking a shock.
"No, I trust you very much, and that's why I am saying this," she told me, and I snickered.
"Fine, I promise no harassing him at all and no permanent physical harm," I told her.
"I knew you would find a loophole around that!" she clicked her tongue, and I smirked.
"I love you too," I told her, cheekily.
"Then, don't cause him more harm," she told me.
"Why are you on his team? You are my bestie," I pouted.
"Because he is my brother in law and you both are the same to me," she said, and I gasped.
"Take. That. Back," I told her angrily.
"Okay, fine. Sorry, you are more important to me than him," she said.
"Not more. Way more!" I told her angrily.
"Yes, way, way more important," she reassured me.
"Good," I said and relaxed.
"But, then, you have to do as promised, okay?" she told me.
"Okay. Now, off you go," I told her.
"Cool," she said.
"Oh and Amy?" I added quickly.
"Yes?" she answered.
"Wear that black one, and don't worry. If Aaron tears it, I'll give you the address of -"
"Good night, Lia," she said and quickly hanged up, leaving me to laugh behind.
After I was done, I calmed myself down and clenched my jaw as I realised that now I would have to talk to that drama queen.
Come on, Lia. There's no escape to this.
I groaned and got up from the bed. I went outside to the living room and saw him pacing around with his laptop that was still dripping.
A smirk spread across my face, but I bit my lip and hid it quickly.
"Listen -"
"Don't. Don't even think of saying sorry. Your sorry will not fix this," he cut me off angrily.
"Look, I -"
"How can you even do this, crazy woman? Did you even think twice before throwing it or not?" he asked me angrily.
"No, I did. I was initially going to burn it. But, then, I thought that would be extreme cause the house might catch a fire. So, I thought of just drowning it," I told him honestly.
His jaw dropped to the floor, and he looked at me like I had grown a second head, "Did you just really say all of this, or I was just imagining things?"
I narrowed my eyes at him, "Are you suffering from hallucination or psychosis? No, right? Then, I obviously said it."
"Uh! It was just a rhetoric question, crazy woman," he said in frustration.
"Mental disorders are not jokes, Mr. Idiot. They are severe conditions. You need to see people suffering from it," I told him angrily.
"You just find excuses to fight, don't you?" he took an angry breath and said, "Three thousand and five hundred."
"What?" I asked him in confusion.
"Three thousand and five hundred dollars is what you owe me for my laptop," he told me.
"Three thousand and five hundred dollars?! For a laptop?! That is my three months of rent! What the fuck was in there? Diamonds?" I asked him in shock.
"It is actually seven thousand dollars. But, Aaron told, no ordered me to share the loss cause according to him it is partly my fault too," he said and rolled his eyes.
"I am not paying a penny for this! I had warned you already. It is just your fault," I told him and raised my hands in defence.
"I didn't even ask you to pay for it. I just told you that you owe me that much. Aaron is paying. Also, you should be thanking me cause I have changed my mind and I am still letting you stay here after this stunt," he told me angrily.
"Firstly, you are doing no favour to me. I pay rent to stay in this house. I have already paid the whole month's rent and second, Aaron shouldn't pay for this either," I told him.
"If you don't realise it, day after tomorrow is the last day of this month. Your rent is due on the next day and if I want, I can just refuse to accept it and kick you out. Aaron is paying cause he is the one who wants me to still keep you in this house," he gritted at me.
"What a stingy billionaire you are!" I scoffed.
"I thought you liked to keep your balances settled," he narrowed his eyes at me.
"Yeah, I do," I nodded.
"So, do I. Hence, I charge people for things that they break. Also, there is one more settlement that needs to happen now. I am warning you too. I am not sure what's gonna happen. But, beware," he challenged me.
"Hey! You can't do that. I just promised Amy that I wouldn't harass you anymore. If you do something now, then, what will happen to that?" I tried to reason.
"Did you ask me before promising her? You called for war. Now, you can't do anything but wait for the enemy's move," he told me and turned to leave.
"Look, I am warning you. If you do something then, I will also not back down," I told him.
"Be my guest. Let's see who wins it. But, don't forget, I am a billionaire and I can go on paying for things I break but, you? You are just a residency student on a small stipend," he threw me a dirty smirk and left to his room.
If he breaks something for me, I will have to retaliate and break something for him. If I do that, Amy will have my head and if I don't then this idiot will win.
So basically, I am stuck.
After an hour of groaning and brainstorming for ideas to get out of this situation, I decided to call Amy again and tell her about the latest update.
After a few rings, she picked up, "What is it now, Lia?"
"Sorry, sorry, sorry. Just wanted to say that I am not gonna be able to make good on my promise cause that duffer is gonna do something and then, I will have to do something," I told her in one breath.
"What is he planning to do?" she asked in confusion.
"I don't know," I told her.
"Then, find out Lia. I am sure we can plan the retaliation in advance," Aaron pitched in.
"Why don't you just do one thing? Just wear a referee's jersey and go live with them. It will be better to keep the scores there than staying here and pitching in ideas," Amy scolded him, making him laugh loudly.
"Also, Aaron, I am sorry you have to pay for the laptop. I will pay you back as soon as possible," I told him feeling guilty.
"What are you talking about?" he scoffed.
"No, Aaron. I mean I know three thousand dollars is a lot. But, I'll pay you in parts. If I had known that the laptop was of seven thousand bucks, I wouldn't have -"
"Seven what?!" Aaron asked in shock.
"Seven thousand dollars," I repeated in confusion.
"Who told you that?" he asked again.
"Your brother," I answered.
He scoffed and laughed, "That fucking liar."
"What?" I frowned.
"He is messing with you, Lia. The laptop was for just four thousand dollars and it was an old one anyways. The new one's gonna be for five thousand dollars and I am paying all of it cause I had to gift him a new one for Thanksgiving anyways," he laughed.
"Say what?!" I yelled in shock.
"Yes, we had a talk about this last month. Way before you even thought about giving it a bath," he laughed.
That lying son of a bone! Bloody motherfucking asshole of man!
"He knew it! He so knew that I would be depressed thinking that you are doing me a favor. Hence, he lied. Your brother is a bloody manipulator!" I yelled on the phone.
"Relax, Lia. Don't worry about it now. But, don't tell him I told you that, okay?" Aaron asked me.
"Yup, you can be my trade secret while I teach him a lesson, Aaron and Amy, I am not sorry anymore. I broke his laptop and he manipulated me. We are even now. If he does anything now, I repeat anything, I will retaliate just as I told you. I love you but, I can not and will not let this manipulating bitch win the war," I told her.
"I get you Lia, but promise me, you will do something only if he does something. You will not start it and if he is just verbal, you only get to be verbal and not physical," she told me.
"No permanent physical harm. I won't back down on that one," I told her honestly.
"No physical harm at all, Lia!" she told me.
"Okay, not unless he crosses his limits," I told her.
"Deal, as long as you both are alive, I am okay with it," she chuckled.
"Now, Lia, I am sorry but we are gonna have to hang up cause we have an early morning appointment," Aaron said and we hanged up.
I bit my lip and looked at the window.
I can't wait enough for the enemy to make his move now.
Two days later....
"Yes, Ophy. Don't worry. I'll take care of it," I heard Mr. Idiot say as the door to the house opened.
Ophy? I have heard that name before.
I shrugged and got back to eating my lunch.
It has been two days since I damaged his laptop and since then, I am waiting on my toes to see what he is planning to do. But, he has been acting pretty normal since. In fact, he has been acting way too normal for his usual self. I am starting to become suspicious that he is planning something massive. Almost makes me think twice before going to the hospital. Almost.
But, I have something planned too. The fact is that I do not have any really expensive electronics. I have been living a very budgeted life since last eight years and hence, even getting a smart phone was possible only recently after that crazy night a few weeks ago. So, I am sure that there is nothing from my things that he can actually break. So, he is probably planning to hide my things or some other crazy stupid prank.
But, he doesn't know that I am the master when it comes to pranking people.
People usually follow other's ideas of pranks, whereas I? I develop new ways.
So, I am ready. If he pranks me, I will prank him back.
"Bye, Ophy. See you soon," he said and hanged up.
"Ophy? New girlfriend?" I asked him, mockingly, stressing on the word girlfriend.
"None of your business," he scoffed and frowned.
"What?" I asked him.
"How much do you eat?" he asked.
"Excuse me?" I asked him offended.
"Whenever I meet you, you are either eating or heating up to eat or cleaning up after eating. Is that all you do everyday?" he asked me frowning.
"How dare you! I can eat whenever, however, whatever and how many times ever I want. Who the heck are you to judge?" I told him angrily.
He shrugged, "No one. It is just that looking at you no one would say you can eat like a whale."
I gasped and my jaw dropped to the floor, "You!"
I took a step towards him but, then I recalled my promise to Amy that I will only hit him if he crosses his limits and practically, he hasn't done anything except mock me.
"What? Can't hit me anymore, is it crazy woman?" he mocked.
Fuck him. He knows it. He knows that I am tied by my promise and that is why he is using it against me.
I took a breath and spat, "I pay for these groceries and thus, I eat from my own money. So, you are no one to say anything."
"Sure. Day off?" he asked casually putting his bag on the floor and sitting down on the couch.
"No, my shift starts at three," I shrugged.
"Three in the night?" he frowned.
"No, idiot. Three in the afternoon. If it was night, I would have been -"
"Sleeping right now. I know. That's all you do. Eat, sleep, repeat," he mocked me again.
"I work too!" I yelled angrily.
"Yeah, cause you have to. Not cause you want to," he mocked again.
"You! My work is very important to me, okay?" I told him angrily.
"Doesn't look like it," he said.
"What the fuck do you mean? I am very serious about it, okay? If anything, you are one who is not serious. Look at you, home already at midday on a week day," I said narrowing my eyes at him.
"You said your shift starts at three? It is two thirty already and you are still in your pyjamas. I am sure the hospital is at least thirty minutes from here, isn't it?" he said.
"It is two what?!" I yelled jumping out of the couch.
"Two thirty," he said.
"But, that clock shows one thirty!" I exclaimed in shock.
"Are you blind or what? That clock has been lagging since two days. The batteries are down," he told me.
"Say what?!" I yelled in shock.
"You are watching television, for heaven's sake. There's a clock on the shelf right next to it," he said.
"That is not a wall clock. It is an alarm clock. It is so small. Why would I strain my eyes so much when I can just look up on the wall?" I told him.
"I can go on discussing this. But, do you honestly have time, right now?" he asked with doubt.
"Fuck no!" I said and rushed to my room.
I quickly changed into my jeans and grabbed my bag. I went out to the living room and took my phone from the coffee table.
"You don't need to rush you know? Just call them and let them know that you will be late," that idiot suggested.
"It is not my mother's hospital that they will listen to me. My senior doctor is so toxic that she will probably have my head!" I said quickly and dashed out of the house.
I ran to the nearest subway station and skipped on the stairs, leaving a few people shouting behind me. Luckily, my train was waiting right there. I caught my train without looking left and right. Once I was on it, I checked my phone which showed that it was quarter to three.
I mentally groaned knowing that it would take me exactly forty five minutes to reach the hospital making me thirty minutes late.
My hospital staff was really nice, I wouldn't deny that. But, my senior doctor, Dr. Sherly was nuts. If she was good at what she did and was passionate about having everything done perfectly, I wouldn't have been saying that.
But, the problem here is that she doesn't do anything! She just takes credit for all the good work and blames me for all that goes wrong. She literally assigned all the night duties for the month to me saying that it will be a good practice. Now, the fact is that being a neurologist, most of the patients visit during daytime. The night time doctor is just there for emergency cases so that we can start the basic procedure until the surgeon is here. She did it because the other junior, Dr. Jake is licking her ass all the time cause he wants her in his bed, and she doesn't want to ruin her beauty sleep.
So basically, both of them are making my life a mess.
I got out of the train as soon as it stopped on the station and ran to the hospital as soon as I could. Luckily, the hospital is just one block from the train station.
I literally cried in relief when I saw the J. K. City Hospital board.
"Hey, Dr. Lia," said the receptionist as soon as she saw me enter.
"Hey," I nodded at her and took the elevator upstairs.
I reached upstairs and saw Dr. Sherly waiting right outside.
"Dr. Lia!" she exclaimed as soon as she saw me.
"Dr. Sherly, listen, I am sorry. I know I am late. But, the train was stuck and -"
"What are you talking about? Late? You are thirty minutes early!" she said.
"What?" I asked her in confusion, catching up on my breath.
"Yeah, your shift starts at three," she told me.
"Exactly, at three and it is -" I pressed the button on my phone to check the time which said three thirty.
"Two thirty. Look," she said pointing to the clock on the wall.
"What?! But, this is.." I trailed off in confusion.
"Your phone needs repair, Dr. Lia. Anyways, since you are early, why don't you start right away while I take a short break," she said and left.
"What the.." I said as I stared at my phone in confusion.
"Excuse me. Can you move please?" I heard a person speak behind me.
I turned and saw a young man standing right behind me with two male nurses and a boy lying on a stretcher next to him.
"Oh, I am sorry," I said and shifted to give way for the stretcher.
"No worries. Take him inside and set everything up. I'll be there shortly," he told the nurses, who nodded and left.
"What's the time by your watch?" I asked him.
He frowned and said, "Two thirty one, to be exact."
"How is it possible?" I muttered in confusion.
"Is something wrong?" he asked.
"Yeah, uh, no, it's just. My phone is showing three thirty," I said and showed it to him.
"May I see it?" he asked.
"Sure," I nodded and gave it to him.
"The password?" he asked.
"There's none. Just swipe up," I told him.
"Your phone is not locked?" he asked me in shock.
"Yeah, no," I said shaking my head.
I am not used to using smartphones and I never really saw the need for it. This is just quick and I have nothing to hide. But, he doesn't have to know it all.
"That's not very safe," he said and started working on it.
After a few clicks, he said, "Ah! There you go. It's just that the location setting changed to Bermuda, which is one hour ahead of the eastern time. But the best way is to just set the location as automatic. So, it will never change. Had you changed it manually before?" he asked me.
"No, I didn't," I shook my head.
"Weird," he said and gave me the phone back, "Anyways, it's fixed now."
"Thank you," I smiled at him.
"No worries. David, by the way," he said and offered his hand.
"Lia. Dr. Lia," I said and shook it.
"Oh! I didn't realise. I am a doctor too," he smiled.
"Really? You work here? Never seen you before," I told him.
"Yeah, I was on leave for a month. I am in my final year of ortho residency so, I don't get many leaves. So, when I do, I make the most of it," he shrugged.
"I am an intern. First year of residency in neurology," I told him.
"Wow, you're smart. Well, nice meeting you. I will catch you later. I have a surgery scheduled," he told me.
"All the best," I told him as he nodded and left.
I stared back at my phone and frowned.
It was working fine until this morning. How the hell did the time change?
My eyes widened in shock, and my jaw dropped to the ground as realization hit me.
"No!" I gasped as I realized that Mr. Idiot is behind it.
Fuck, Lia!
He is planning something. He is doing something in the house right now.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. No!
I can feel it. I can feel it in my heart that he is doing something right now.
Oh god! Lia, you are so foolish!
Shit! Shit! Shit!
"Dr. Lia? You are still here? Didn't I ask you to start working?" I heard Dr. Sherly's voice and I groaned.
"Yes, ma'am. Right away," I told her and started walking towards the changing room.
God knows what I might come home to tonight!
The entire day proceeded so slow that I almost pulled my hair at the end of it.
The whole time I was feeling jitters in my stomach thinking about what must be happening at the apartment. Curiosity and anxiety were killing me slowly and I almost wanted to call in sick. But, then I saw Dr. Sherly and recalled that I do not have any leaves.
I tried to keep myself busy in the kid's ward for sometime talking to the little patients and hearing their stories. I even talked more to Dr. David during my break.
Finally, the day came to an end and I rushed back home.
I pressed the elevator button a couple of times hoping it would be down sooner and as soon as I stepped in I pressed the floor and close doors button faster than ever.
As soon as it hit the floor, I jumped out and literally ran to the apartment and flung the door open.
But, to my surprise, everything seemed really silent.
The apartment was as I had left it. Nothing waiting for me to burst in anger.
I frowned and walked in. I looked around the living room, searching for it. I even peeped into the balcony and towards the pool to see if anything was there but nothing.
Just then, the door to the idiot's room opened, and he walked out, "Hey, crazy woman. Welcome back. How was the run this afternoon?"
I gritted at the reminder and said, "You are so childish! It was such a pathetic idea. Learn to make better plans!"
"It was pathetic, and yet, you fell for it. How pathetic does that make you?" he laughed.
"You have no manners! You can not just use anyone's phone without permission!" I scolded him.
"That's very wrong, crazy woman. You should be thankful. I taught you a very valuable lesson today. Always lock your phone. Who knows what one might do?" he shrugged and threw me a dirty smirk.
"Bullshit!" I scoffed.
"Oh, and just for your information on how it happened, the wall clock and the table clock, both were working fine. It is just that last week, when the daylight savings time ended, I didn't correct the time for the alarm clock. Hence, it shows an extra hour. I hope that you have already guessed that I changed the location on your phone when you went to change," he laughed.
"It was a baseless plan. There was no backup whatsoever. What if I had checked the time on the platform before boarding the train? What if I had checked my phone before you changed the location?" I scoffed.
"But, you didn't, did you?" he smirked, "This is the benefit of making punctual people think that they are getting late. They just start focusing all their attention on reaching faster and nothing else. Learned it from living with Aaron."
I glared at him and stomped to my room.
Stupid drama queen! No, wait. Lia, you are stupid! How can you fall for this? I mean I know Sherly is a bitch but, you are surrounded by enemies. You have to be careful!
I threw the door of my room open angrily and went to my bathroom. I washed my face a couple of times trying to get today's defeat out of my head.
It's okay, Lia. You lost the fight but, the war is still on!
Finally, after a while, I took a breath of relief and wiped my face.
I went to my closet to grab my night dress before going for a shower.
I switched the lights on, and to say I was shocked would be an understatement.
"What in the fucking world happened in here!"
My jaw dropped to the floor as I saw the torn pieces of all of my clothes lying in every corner of the closet.
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Hello Readers,
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New characters introduced. How do they sound?
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Thanks for reading.