The Devil's Harem

“Welcome, welcome, Mr Lulu. I hope your journey was comfortable,” it was already evening, and Alex was standing at the entrance of the resort welcoming the last batch of newcomers.

Alex and most of the crew came the day before, but the director, his personal staff, and the actors were to come today. And by the evening, many of them had arrived in batches.

Mr Lulu, the director of this project, was the last one in this line. With a series of hits behind him, Mr Lulu was the hot potato right now. It must have cost Theation a lot of bucks to get him on board.

“Thank you... Thank you...” the short, stout Mr Lulu greeted Alex back with a beaming smile. With his eyes squinting as he smiled, Mr Lulu grabbed Alex’s hand and shook it vigorously and with ample excitement.

Mr Lulu had a pretty clean name in the industry. There were no scandals against him, and he was said to be rather polite and hard working. The only issue with him was the discipline he forced on everyone when it came to the job at hand. But for the investors, it was a good thing. There was no wastage of money, quality was assured, and the schedule was kept. What more can an investor ask for?

“... This here is my daughter, Lily. She is going to be my assistant director this time around. Come, Lily, greet Mr Rottenfart,” Mr Lulu gently pushed her daughter forward. Ah, one more thing, when it comes to calling you by name, you don’t want to be anywhere near him. Alex just hoped that at least his family was not on the receiving end of such brutal name twisting. Well, he will know when the girl in front of him introduces herself.

.....

Lily turned his attention to Alex, hearing her father and could not help but squint her eyes staring at him. What a handsome face and a well-toned body he has got. So, why would his family go with something like Rottenfart? Even if others in the family were not this good looking, they would have still avoided themselves Rottenfarts, wouldn’t they?

But still, not wanting to look rude, the girl forwarded her hand to greet Alex, “Lily, let’s work together and create a masterpiece.”

“Alex, Alex Rutherford,” Alex said as he gave a meaningful glance to Mr Lulu, “I don’t know about the masterpiece. It’s all in your hands. All I can do is pump in money.” Alex said with a slight smile on his face.

“Oh...” Lily looked embarrassed after knowing that he was not a Rottenfart but Rutherford, “My father has a habit of, you know, forgetting names.” Lily tried to explain.

“I know, I know. In fact, everybody in this line of business knows this. At least Mr Lulu is not messing up your name,” Alex chuckled, “Come, let’s go inside.” Alex said as he sidestepped, giving way to Mr Lulu, Lily and the others.

Soon enough, everyone was seated around round tables in the large hall of the resort. About a hundred or so people sat around the twenty-odd tables in groups of fours or fives.

Alex, Rebecca, Mr Lulu, Lily and Veronica were sitting at the largest of the tables, farthest from the entrance.

When everyone had settled down and, drinks had been served, Alex gave Rebecca, who was sitting next to him, a soft nudge.

‘What?’ Rebecca raised her eyebrow and gestured.

“Say something,” Alex whispered.

“Say what?” Rebecca looked at Alex, confused by his sudden request, ‘Don’t tell me he wants a quarrel in front of everyone.’

“Anything. This banquet is to welcome everyone. We have to say something,” Alex urged Rebecca.

“Oh... that,” Rebecca understood the meaning behind his words, “But why don’t you do it? After all, you are the highest authority here. In charge of everything,” Rebecca questioned Alex’s willingness to do it while she taunted him for being the in charge. She was not satisfied why her sister would put forth such a condition.

“There are so many of them. I can’t do it. Please... Please... Please... you have to do it,” Alex held Rebecca’s hand below the table and pleaded to her like a child.

“Leave me... I won’t do it. Leave my hand,” Rebecca twisted her arm, trying to break free from Alex’s grip, but all she could achieve was hurt herself, “Aaww... Aaww... Aaww... Fine... Fine... I will do it. Fine, but ouch... let go of my hand first... Ouch...” At the end of the day, Rebecca was, after all, a delicate bud. She could run her mouth all she wanted, but she had to submit in front of brute force.

“So, sweet...” Alex let go of her arm that very moment and held her chin between her fingers and said flatteringly.

“Leave me, you barbarian...” Rebecca pushed away his hand in irritation and held her wrist, “Aahh... my hand.”

“Hey... Hey... Don’t take too long,” Alex said, ignoring her whining, “They all must be hungry.”

But all he got was a glare from Rebecca. Every word of his increased her blood pressure by a point. If she was not surrounded by so many people, she would have pounced on him, thrashing that smile off his face.

Grudgingly, Rebecca picked up the glass in front of her and gave it a couple of strikes. This got her the attention of everyone, “Hello and welcome to all the known as well as new faces. Today, we embark on a new journey, like many others you guys have been a part of. But with every new destination, the journey is unique. You meet several new faces. Some of them stick with you even after the journey comes to an end, but some fade away with time as well. I hope all of us belong to the former and become a part of each other’s life even after this journey comes to an end,” Rebecca looked at everyone as she smiled.

“... I know... I know you guys are all hungry and want me to stop,” Rebecca chuckled, which also sent a wave of laughter among others, “But before we dig in, I would like Alex, our project head to say a few words.” Rebecca said with a smile, but as soon as she turned towards Alex, her smile turned into a smirk.

‘Why?’ Alex looked at her with a helpless look on his face.

‘You only asked me to begin. You never said that I can not pass on the baton to you,’ While there was a smile on Rebecca’s face, Alex could read her thoughts pretty clearly.

‘Was this necessary?’ Alex gestured.

‘Ouch,’ Rebecca gave her body a jerk and held her wrist, ‘You should have thought about it earlier,’ Rebecca was clearly not ready to let go of her resentment.

“Sorry,” Alex mouthed, hoping that Rebecca would help her out, but she was clearly not in the mood.

“Let’s hear some nice round of applause from you guys,” Rebecca turned towards everyone and asked as she grabbed Alex by his arm and pulled him up.

Under the thundering claps, Alex looked around nervously and gave a slight nod towards Mr Lulu and Lily as well. It took a moment before the claps stopped and those from ‘AR’ were the last ones to stop clapping.

“Ahem...” Clearing his throat, Alex looked around, hoping for a last-minute miracle to happen and sweep them all away in flood, or maybe the earth cracked open, and they fell right into it.

But nothing of that sort happened. And Alex had to start.

“Hello...”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“What happened? Why were you not answering my calls? And why would you just end the call like that?”

“Johnny was here,” Audrey answered. After her verbal skirmish with Johnny, she decided to play it safe and not answer any call. There might be a chance that Johnny was tapping her calls. He might not be the supreme guy in the organisation, but he was the son of the ultimate boss and held significant control over others.

“Why was johnny there?” the guy asked but then refused to know, “Never mind, don’t tell me. I just thought maybe something happened to you. Now that you are alright, let’s...”

“We are not done yet, turtle” Audrey stopped the guy named turtle from ending the call, “You still have to answer a lot of my questions.” ℯd.cm

“Look, Audrey,” before Audrey could ask him anything, the guy named turtle spoke up, “I know how much you loved him. I loved him as well, maybe not as much as you, but I did, in my own way. And if he is alive and still has not contacted you, he does not want to be found.” The turtle tried to make the girl understand.

“... You should know better than anyone else what he is like and what he was behind. Clearly, you going to him might not be in the best of interest neither for you nor for him.” Turtle tried to explain, “You understand what I am saying, don’t you?”

“But I want to know if he is alright or not,” Audrey knew him very well. He loved her, but she was not his priority like he was hers, “I will just look at him from far.” Audrey tried to justify herself.

“Will you be able to hold back?” Turtle asked.

“Aren’t I holding myself for this long?”

“Then wait for my call,”

* * * * *