It was 2 in the afternoon, the freakin" sun is out and a stalker is somewhere near them. He is seemingly brave to scare Hannah like this in broad daylight. Who could this possibly be?"Well, at least he knows how to compliment. I do look cute in this pink dress." Hannah said as she stared at her phone.
How can she still act calmly? Samantha is already worried about her safety.
"Can you be serious? This isn"t funny, Han!" Samantha was so worried about her best friend. "I"m calling the cops!". Samantha took out her phone from her bag and started to dial.
Hannah stopped her, "S! Don"t be silly, this is just child"s play.. Don"t worry okay? I"ll feel this out first and I"ll tell the police myself."
She didn"t want to leave Hannah by herself but she needed to go back to Trident Company. So after a few more persuasions, she left The Busy Bean Cafe and headed towards her office.
-
Late in the evening that day, Samantha was on the phone with Daniel.
"How was your day?", he asked
"It was okay, it was pretty much routine work. You?"
"It was boring, I had meetings all day and I was missing you."
"Tch. Mr. Cho, are you flirting with me?", Samantha chuckled as she got her tub ready.
"Yes, got a problem?"
Samantha just giggled, they talked for a bit on the phone before they said their goodnights.
After she got off the phone with Daniel, she was about to take a bath when she remembered to check on Hannah, so she grabbed her phone again and called her.
After 4 rings, Hannah picked up, "Hey, S! What"s up?"
"Just checking on you. How are things over there?"
There were some noise in the background like Hannah was organizing some things.
"It"s fine, though I think I need to hire another employee. One staff just resigned today so I have to close the shop myself. Ugh talk about interviewing --"
"Wait you"re still at the cafe? And you"re closing?"
"Yup, in about 30 minutes."
Samantha glanced at the clock, it was already 11 in the evening. She began to worry for her best friend.
"It"s late, Han. Wait for me there, I"ll help you close and we"ll go home together." Samantha ordered as she closed the tap on her bath tub.
"It"s okay, Sam. It"s just---" Samantha had already hung up, cutting off Hannah.
Samantha frantically put on a hoodie and sneakers and quickly drove her mini cooper towards "The busy bean". She"s really getting anxious for her best friend but Hannah seems to take this threat very lightly. Someone was creepily stalking her this afternoon. And has been sending her threats since a few days ago. How could she just ignore that?
The Busy Bean Cafe
"Sorry Madam Hannah, I can"t stay longer... my father is waiting for me outside.", said the employee.
"It"s okay, it"s almost done anyway. You can go ahead."
Hannah was now the only one left at the coffee shop, she had already put the "closed" sign and started cleaning up. She was putting away stuff to storage boxes when her phone rang. She checked it but the caller was an unknown number, she hesitated while her finger hovered on the answer b.u.t.ton. Before she could decide, the rings had already ended.
She shrugged and put her phone on the counter beside the coffee bean jars on display. Hannah went outside to take out the trash and then brought in a wooden menu standee that was placed just outside the door. And while she was carrying the standee inside, the windchime from the door behind her rang and footsteps were heard.
"Sorry, we"re clos--" Hannah turned around but was stunned to see a masked man sprinting towards her, covering her mouth and dragging her outside the cafe. She dropped the standee as she tried to struggle away from the masked man, she kicked and hit the man with her fists but she was helpless; the man was bigger and stronger than her.
The masked man dragged Hannah outside and into a van, everything happened so fast and since it was late in the evening, there weren"t people around the area.
Just as Hannah was being dragged outside, a mini cooper had stopped near The Busy Bean Cafe. Samantha has arrived, since her car parked a few meters from the shop; she saw the scene. "Hannah?"
When she witnessed Hannah being forcefully brought inside a van by a masked man, that"s when she realizd what was happening and her instincts kicked in. She dashed forward but the van had already sped off. "Hannah!!!", she screamed.
Samantha ran back towards her car and followed the van that just left. She reached for her phone and called the police. "h.e.l.lo? Calling to report a kidnapping van"s plate number is QWE587 Silver van heading towards the east of the city please hurry." Samantha said everything in one breath. The operator on the other line took note of the details and warned her, "Ma"am the information you gave has already been noted and a team will be dispatched. Please do not engage--" Samantha hung up the phone silencing the operator"s instructions.
"Hannah, what the h.e.l.l. Please be safe." Samantha was still trailing the van. It turned at corners and pa.s.sed by traffic lights.
The people inside the van weren"t aware that someone was following them so they just drove at a normal speed nearing the maximum limit.
While this was happening, Samantha"s phone rang and when she saw her brother calling her, she immediately canceled the call. Another call came in and without realizing who it was, she rejected the call. But what she didn"t notice was that it was Daniel Cho calling her.
Samantha was already at the tail of the van and when she found the chance, she pressed her horn frantically. She rolled down her window and yelled towards the van. "You as*holes! Let Hannah go!!" *beep* *beep* "Motherfudger!!" *beep* "Hey!!" *beep* *beep* You sons of b.i.t.c.hes!! *beeep* "If you harm even a single hair on her, I will kill you!!" *beep* "s.h.i.+t!". Samantha was yelling and pressing the horn to the van but it didn"t really do anything.
--inside the silver van--
"This woman, is she crazy? Why is she yelling? Did she see earlier?" The driver of the silver van was distressed. He was not sure what to do.
Hannah was already unconscious as she was knocked out by the masked man when they got in the van and so she was oblivious to Samantha"s attempt to rescue her.
"We can"t screw this up, lose her!" said the masked man.
The driver sped off ignoring the stop lights.
----------------
Daniel Cho"s penthouse.
Daniel just got out of the shower when he remembered that he wanted to take Samantha out tomorrow for a drive out of town. He changed to a set of loungewear and dried his hair with a towel.
Daniel reached for his phone and dialed Samantha"s number. It rang for a couple of times until it was answered. "Hey... I was--" Daniel was cut off by Samantha"s screaming on the other side.
Yes, the call wasn"t actually rejected! Because of Samantha"s anxious state, she accidentally pressed the "answer" b.u.t.ton. Daniel Cho heard all the swearing and yelling and beeps of the car horn. He was appalled by what he heard but he couldn"t figure out what was happening. "Samantha? Sam? What"s going--", the call was disconnected, at this point, Samantha and the silver van that she was trailing entered a tunnel.
Daniel tried calling Samantha"s number again but it wouldn"t get through. He tried to recall what he heard over the screaming Samantha. Although he couldn"t understand what was happening, he was sure that she was chasing someone by car and was furious.
Without delay, he started grabbing his coat and car keys and sprinted towards the exit of his penthouse while he dialed a number.
"I sent you a number, trace it right now!" Daniel roared on the phone as he fumbled his car keys to unlock the car.