The Devil's Laughter
Zsadin dismissed the batch and strolled towards the garden. There was a cold wooden bench near it surrounded with flower plants giving a sense of tranquility. The sound of leaves rustling calmed her nerves. Zsadin sat on the bench and glanced at the sky which seemed to be overflowing with stars. When she was a child she had heard numerous times that her parents had become stars as they were good people. As she grew up, she became more practical and understood that stars are not her parents but celestial bodies. When her parents had died, she had no one by her side, she was all alone in this villa. She spent a long time looking at the sky, unaware that two pairs of eyes were looking at her intently. Finally, Zsadin went to her room. She applied medicine on her wounds, ignoring the pain and sting she felt from each bruise. She laid on the bed, thinking of many things and dozed off.
***************
The night was dark and silent. But the atmosphere inside this seemingly abandoned house seemed more dark. Bone-chilling screams of a man could be heard. Suddenly the screams stopped and another man laughed and laughed like a maniac. This was not the laughter you hear after a joke, but seemed like the devil's laughter after a death. Two men took the body away and threw it in the furnace. The man's laughter faded and his expression turned dark.
"Brandon, you are a useless idiot! It is just a boy band for god's sake! And you couldn't even handle them? Now, they have hired bodyguards to protect themselves. How on earth are you going to complete this job?", a man dressed in an expensive suit, yelled at the one who was laughing. "Just shut up and let me think. Next time you come yelling, confirm about the complete information first, and then forward it. I would have blown up the car if you had informed that the goddamn car was bulletproof". Hearing this the man in suit pursed his lips and turned to leave the place. "And yes, YOU are a fucking idiot, not me, next time I will roast your tongue and feed it to my dogs. Now, get lost!"
The others could just tremble in fear. Watching the person go away, they sighed in relief.
"Denis, start preparing for the attack next week. Get me their schedule. And yes, the morons which are protecting them, get me their information also", saying this Brandon left the room.
***************
SHRILL! SHRILL! SHRILL! SHRILL!
D startled awake at the ugly, ear deafening sound. 'Where on earth am I?' He slowly remembered the night's events and calmed down a little. But the noise was irritating enough to make him lose his mind. He began to look where the noise came from and opened the curtains in the process. But the moment he focused outside the window all he could see was Zsadin in a training outfit, looking downright gorgeous. Her dark black eyes were fixed on the person in front. After speaking, Zsadim turned and started running on the border track of the main ground. The batch of ten followed her in perfect sync. SHRILL! SHRILL! SHRILL! The sound didn't stop and D almost fell due to the sudden noise. 'Just from where is this damn sound coming from!?' He left his room to see Vell and the others searching for the source. Finally, they saw a bell hanging from the ceiling, followed by the same stupid sound. They were about to curse out loud when Nancy entered the main hall.
She saw the boys seemingly irritated and questioningly glanced at them. Raanz looked helplessly at the bell and Nancy chuckled. She turned towards the main door and turned off a yellow coloured switch, "That is the alarm, we also use it in emergency situations". 'Why is she not running outside?' Nancy noticed the curious glance of D and replied, "I did a total of 80 laps last night, I am not Wonder Woman!". 'What? Eighty laps? Weren't it 50 something?' "I committed another grave mistake", muttered Nancy rubbing her neck, embarassed. "Hey, Nancy, is she always that strict? It is kind of scaring me", said a petrified Raanz. "Um...it depends. She is like this from the start. She won't be bothering you much but please do not upset her. She doesn't speak much but she is not irrational. You have to show some belief. And yes, she can certainly break bones!. The boys were relaxing themselves but after they heard her last sentence, they gaped in horror. Seeing which, Nancy burst into laughter.
Before she could frighten them further, they heard chatter coming inside. "I have checked their schedule. They have practice from 8 am till 10 pm today. Tomorrow they have a press conference at their studio. Send Gabe to the studio to enquire how many reporters are coming and from which media channel. Ryan, get some people from the HQ to analyze the studio and study the security over there", Zsadin was commanding Rose and Ryan, she glanced at the boys and nodded at them. She turned to leave for her room but stopped midway as she remembered something. "And yes, inform everyone to wear casual clothes tomorrow. Let's not alert the enemy. Also, make sure to get bulletproof vests for the band. It is 6:30 am right now. Assemble in the main hall in 45 minutes." Saying this, Zsadin left, leaving the others to wonder what caused the attire change. Nancy gestured to the boys questioningly, 'Did you all say something about appearance or do you all want to die early?' The boys shrugged at her, unable to read between the lines. Ryan ignored the scene and nudged Rose and the others. "Let's get ready. We haven't got all day", he seemed pissed off for some reason and threw a frown at the boys. Confused, D just glared at him. 'What did we do to anger him? Ah, even these juniors have a weird vibe'
Getting impatient, D finally asked "Do you want anything?"
"No".
"Then why are you glaring like that?"
"No reason", and Ryan just went to his room.
Nancy chose to ignore this scene, smiled at the boys and took to her feet. Finally, the others left to get ready for the day ahead. D sighed and nudged the boys, "We need to pratice today. It is likely that they are going to accompany us. Let's get to business". The boys nodded and left the main hall.