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"Don't worry, I'm fine. What's going on?" My voice reverberates throughout the corridor, and then there is an awkward pause.
The warmth of Zak’s smile diffuses throughout my groggy body as it spreads across his face. Before I can come up with a reasonable explanation, he rushes across the tight space, grabs me, and gives me a bear hug.
He leans in close to me and whispers into my hair, his voice slightly trembling, "Darn, you scared me, Izzie." It seems as though he is afraid that I will vanish if he lets go of me and his arms are wrapped around me tightly. It’s just a little bit too long and a little bit too tight, but to be honest, I don’t mind either of those things. I do, however, mind the fact that my father can see us now and is likely wondering why we seem so cozy. I pull away from Zak and clear my throat.
I glance over his shoulder and lock eyes with Mel. Her expression is a mix of relief and something else, something unsettling. A knowing look that seems to hold an unspoken secret. Her gaze darts between Zak and me, carrying a subtle hint of suspicion. She knows. Fuck.
Old friends they might be, but Zak's emotional upheaval upon seeing me and Mel's knowing look hint at the brewing conflict beneath the tranquil surface. Their reactions seem to give away more than my foggy mind can piece together at this ungodly hour.
I pull back further from Zak, from that comforting hug, and look up at him, my heart hammering in my chest.
"What are you talking about, Zak?"
His eyes are clouded with worry. He looks at the three of us, looking more disheveled than I have ever seen him. He coughs awkwardly, probably also realizing now how strange this whole situation is.
"I received a video...it showed...you being...kidnapped." He speaks carefully as though treading over a path filled with treacherous spikes.
I freeze. A thousand turbulent thoughts race through my mind. Kidnapped? Is this some sick prank?
"Kidnapped? Zak, what are you going on about?" I question, racking my slowly working brain, trying to make sense of this.
"But my private investigator looked into it, and he felt it didn't seem right. He – he said the video looked like some sort of fake. But I thought it was so real…it looked so real.” His eyes look away, remembering some horrible image of me tied up.
“So, I had to...I had to come and see for myself," Zak continues, his voice going soft at the end, trailing off into a whisper.
“But, it's okay," he looks up at me. "you're okay."
My father stiffens beside him, his eyebrows knitting into a confused frown.
"Zak," he begins, a strain underlying his voice, "What I’m not understanding is if you thought this video, this kidnapping, was real, even for a moment, why wouldn’t you go to the police? You scared us half to death.”
Zak's deep-set blue eyes widen, an expression I'm more accustomed to seeing at last-second curveballs and not in the middle of our hallway. "I, um..." He stammers, clearly taken aback.
I can feel my father's gaze burning into him, expectant and questioning. Zak stutters again, "I didn't...I mean the police...they...they could take time, and I..." He trails off, looking for the right words but finding none.
Standing in the familiar glow of the hallway, nestled between my father's penetrating stare and Mel's knowing look, Zak seems like a stranger caught off base. His usually relaxed demeanor is replaced with an unveiled anxiety, his words fumbling around like a lost player on the field.
Overwhelmed by the chaos, I sink onto the stair behind me, my mind attempting to decipher the swirling maelstrom of information. Zak had a private investigator on call? He had rushed to check on my well-being even if it meant possibly outing our situation to my father? He had risked everything just to ensure I was safe and here.
“Oh- oh god!” I shout, remembering the text I had received earlier in the day, so that wasn’t spam. That must have been a real threat.
My father, Mel, and Zak all look at me at once, the three pairs of eyes boring into me, questioning my outburst. I can't tell them what I’ve realized, not without showing them the message. If they weren’t suspicious now, when they see that the blackmailer referred to Zak as my "little boyfriend," they would certainly put two and two together.
I give Zak a look that I hope will explain that I’d tell him later, and to Mel and my dad, I simply shake my head and explain,"Oh, uh, sorry, I think I just woke up, and the whole situation just hit me and became real. Ya know?” My father gives me a sympathetic smile and walks over to hug me. Affection is still unfathomable for me, but I accept gracefully, actually feeling quite like I needed a hug.
“Yeah, this is a shock to us all,” my father says, still holding tightly onto me. "How about you head back to bed, and the three of us will finish up here? We can sort the rest out in the morning. You get some sleep Iz, okay?”
My dad instructs more than suggests, going into leadership mode effortlessly.
All these questions hang in the air, thickening with every passing second. His actions don't just seem over-cautious; they seemed... personal. Suddenly, Zak's 'friendly' interactions flash within my mind – those long hugs, the intimate conversations, the warm smiles, all entangled with the secret that held my sleep-wrapped household tethered in a precarious silence.
Amidst the fear and confusion, I feel my heart leap at the thought that there might be more to our friendship than meets the eye. But that also means more complications and unforeseen storms. Little do I know, this night is just the beginning.
Zak
My eyes sting from the lack of sleep. After fumbling around and coming up with weak excuses to Dave as to why his daughter was used as blackmail against me, I head home but can't rest for a moment. My heart is still racing, still pumping with the adrenaline from the events of the day.
I think Dave might’ve bought it. That it is perfectly normal for someone to use a person’s employee as ransom. That there is no other reason why it might be great blackmail to use Izzie against me, like the small fact that I am totally and completely in love with her. I'm not sure that Mel does, though, women are often more perceptive than men, and I catch her a couple of times looking between Iz and me with suspicious glances.
