“You can’t leave.” one of the men stated calming. He held a stick of lit cigar in his hand. He had strands of grey hair on his hair. He had thick beards too and spoke with an accent. He was a black American.
“Well, Michael didn’t tell me so.” Damian argued. Michael was the man who had introduced him to the organization. He never spoke of the process to leave the organization, and that was because none of them brought it up. Damian didn’t know if it was possible to leave, but he had to push his luck.
“Why do you want to leave?” Karen’s dad asked, his voice calm, yet demanding.
“I made a promise to someone I loved, that I was going to come back for her, and I hope to fulfill that promise.” he answered, leaving the men speechless. Karen’s father bent his head in shame and regret as a sharp pain hit his heart. He had left his family many years ago while he was poor, and even when he got his hands dirty and got rich, he refused to return to his family instead, he stayed back, making more wealth and letting his family suffer the consequences of his actions.
The room remained silent as nobody spoke, everybody waiting for the other to speak. Karen’s father took a large drink from his glass of whiskey before slamming it gently on the table, making the drink spill out from the tip.
“We will decide tomorrow” One of the men stated and he nodded, walking out of the room.
The car drove few metres away and stopped. There were three men in the car including the driver and they looked to be normal men.
“She is in the cafe.” one of the men spoke into the phone. He had made a call to his boss when the car stopped.
“Good. Hang around and tell me when she leaves.” The voice from the other end replied before the line went dead.
“Turn around. I’m going into the coffee shop.” He called to the driver. The driver parked at a safe distanced and he stepped out of the car, walking into the cafe.
He walked in and swept his eyes across the room, looking for Cafe. When his eyes caught her sitting by the window, he dusted imaginary dust off his suits as he walked to a table beside Karen’s. Soon a waiter came up to him and he placed an order for black coffee.
“A cup of black coffee. No milk.” he stated. His eyes trained on Karen who was oblivious to his stare. His coffee arrived few minutes later and he took a sip before dropping it back on the table. He stared at his watch impatiently, taking sips from his coffee at interval.
Karen sat on her table relaxed. A cup of coffee and a plate of burger was on the table. She was in no rush as she took little bites from her burger, humming to the song playing lowly from the speakers. She wasn’t here today to work. Just to relax. Her mind went from Jack, the second man she had fallen in love with and she thought about her actions. Maybe she had taken things too far. Maybe she should have given him the opportunity to apologize, but she acted in the anger of the moment and now, she somehow regretted her actions.
Her mind drifted to her dad. She hasn’t seen him in over nineteen years since he walked away from them that night. She was just five years old when that happened. They had a small unhappy family of her, her younger brother who was barely two years old and her parents. After her father lost his work and things became tight for her family, her mother started complaining and nagging. She was too young then to understand what was going on. She blamed her dad for leaving. Maybe if he didn’t leave, her brother could have still been alive, they could have still been a family. That night when her father walked away with just a bag containing his clothes after he had a heated argument with her mother, she had watched from the window as he took those decisive steps away from them. She had wept and called out to her father to take her along, but he refused. She loved her father, even more than her mom. He was her best friend. He was always the one who took her to school, get her her favorite doll and play with her so for the next couple of days after her father left, she stayed by the window watching, looking out if her father came back for her, but he didn’t. A week passed, a month, a year and she was convinced he was never going to come back. Then her hatred started.
Her younger brother had caught a fever and had been terribly ill. Their dad had spent everything he had on medication for him but he defied all treatments. After a visit to the doctor once day, the doctor had suggested he be brought in for surgery. Her father didn’t have the amount, her mother knew that. Hell, Even her that was a child knew that too! That was the night her parents got into their biggest argument. That was the night her father left. Her brother had died few weeks later and that was when her mother changed towards her. She blamed her for the death of her brother. She remembered the times she would cry herself to sleep due to the harsh words of her mother. Her mother got involved with alcohol, prostitution and drugs, and when she was done with high school, her mother left. She never saw her again, and she never wanted to. She hated her mother too. Even more than her father.
She had worked for some months before she was able to get enough money to see her through her first year in college thanks to the little trust fund account her dad had created for her college education. He had wanted her to be a doctor so right from her tender age, he created the trust fund and when he left, the money in it was too meager, it couldn’t even take her through her first year in college and it was in college that she met Damian, her first love. Her first ever boyfriend.