A DREAMARE: Chapter 7

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Chapter 7

The Long Highway

At 5 o’clock in the evening, a man dressed in all black hurried out the black XUV and entered the Amethyst cafe.

Sakura thrust her hand deep into her pocket to reach her vibrating phone. She smiled as she saw the name on the phone screen. “Hello CJ!”

“Hello Sakura, I reached the cafe. Where are you now?”

“Finally you called!” Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.  “I think I can’t make it today! My boss wanted me to stay back due to a production issue at client’s end.”

“Oh well,” he paused. “I can wait here if you want me to.”

“Oh no! Looks like it’ll take forever. We will meet some other day please?”

“No worries. Today is not the day then.”

“I was waiting for this evening. My bad luck!” she said disappointedly. “um.. but you can give me your phone number if you wish,” she paused.

“I will.. when we meet.”

“Alright. I’m sorry again CJ!”

“No problem. I’ll call you back later. Take care.”

Sakura disconnected the call and then dialled Afra’s number. “Mom.. pick up, pick up, pick up,” she murmured.

“Hello? Ma!”

“Yes Sakura?” Afra asked.

“My boss asked me to stay back. There’s this last-minute request from the client. I’ll be home late tonight.”

“Ok,” she paused. “Please come home and eat your dinner here.”

“Huh? Bye Ma!” Sakura said rolling her eyes.

“Take care honey!”

A car door slammed, and the man got back in the black XUV. He drove past the red Indica that was parked a few meters away in the left aisle. “Gotcha, you sick liar!” Sakura said as she turned the steering wheel to follow him. She tore away her aviator glasses and watched him take the lone highway.

She drove along the highway, thinking, “Not in my wildest dreams did I think that someday I’d be following a criminal on my own! It all feels like a real life thriller!”  There was a prolonged period of silence while she steered the car, deep in thought. “I’m here right now because..” she began to muse about the scenes from last night.

“If it’s not Razia, who is doing it? Is CJ a real person then?” Sakura cried out in shock and fear. 

She pushed back her dinner plate, sat up in bed and thought hard, “How does he know about the dreams that I shared with Razia..and Madhu too?!” She gathered the events that happened over the week. “And.. how does he even know about Ma informing Razia that I didn’t sleep the previous night?”

Sakura shook her head, biting her lower lip in anxiety. “This is all confusing!” She closed her eyes and breathed out deeply. She opened her eyes wide open, and was stirred by the sound of message notification in her phone. “Oh! Wait a minute.. I think everything’s connected to the phone! Don’t tell me he’s listening to all my phone conversations!” she froze in horror.

Sakura called Madhu on the phone as a first thing in the morning and spoke to her about the dream that she hadn’t dreamt about. She waited for him to call.

She smirked as she saw her phone ringing. “This is what I was waiting for!” 

“Hello CJ!”

“Good Morning Sakura. Did you have fun in the Disneyland?”

“OMG! I shared my dream with you last night? You’re such a pro at this!” she mimicked with equal enthusiasm. 

“Haha. I think I am.”

“I can’t wait to meet you tonight!”

“Me too Sakura. Don’t forget to wear black. Good Day, bye.”

“Bye CJ!” she said as she hung up the phone. “My phone is being tapped,” she predicted, “I gotta find this guy!” 

Sakura turned her gaze away from the never ending highway as she heard a honking truck behind her car. She focused on the black XUV again.

To be continued…

(If you haven’t read the chapter 6 yet, please click the given link) https://swagachi.com/a-dreamare-chapter-6/