Twenty Four

                                    

                                          
Daring 
"Ezra."
At the sound of her name, she abruptly turned around to see Rose standing at the end of hallway near the kitchen from where she had just come from. 
"Your tutor is here for your practical lesson. She's waiting for you in the veranda." She announced before walking away, Ezra stared after her with a blank expression. 
"Oh right." She huffed, abandoning her plans to escape the little kitchen situation and trade it to wallow in her room. Her room. She trudged towards the veranda, sighing as she saw the tutor set up through the large glass windows that enclosed the space. She really couldn't understand this situation. Why was Yong going out of his way to make sure she was up to date with her education? How was he even able to make these arrangments, especially with her literally studying medicine, a degree you couldn't just self-study? His power and authority scared her. The fact that he could make the Dean create a whole education plan and provide home tutoring for the practicals she was missing was crazy, unheard of infact. It had to be more than just money, the school had thousands of students paying more than thirty-thousand in fees. They were far from desperate for money. Was it intimidation? Did Yong threaten his family? Her mind went into overdrive as she tried relentlessly to figure out the puzzle behind her current predicament. 
"Ezra. How are you?" Her tutor, Yuna, was in her late twenties, having recently finished her degree but was still waiting for an opening for her dream specialization, orthopedics. Ezra had already tried to find a way to use her to her advantage, perhaps send a note through Yuna to her friends or just anyone who could help but Yong was smart. Two of his armed men were with them at all times, giving her no space to say or do anything to solicitate her help. Besides, Ezra was convinced Yuna was working for Yong somehow. She was too unbothered by the presence of all the guns around them and on days when they had a lesson and it was obvious Ezra was in some kind of distress, such as after getting hit by a car, Yuna hadn't batted an eyelid in her direction. 
"What do you think?" Ezra muttered nonetheless, she wasn't going to join the game everyone was playing, pretending all of this was normal because it wasn't. Yuna didn't say anything, instead handing her a stethoscope. Ezra stared at the object. It reminded her of Ian and their study sessions together. She missed him, she missed them all. 
"Let's do some skills practice. Thank God you're only a second year or you'd be missing out on some serious patient contact hours." Yuna said, flicking through some pages as she spoke. 
"Will I even make it third year? Will I ever get to be a student again?" Ezra asked, voice soft with emotion. Yuna paused, staring down at the page but not reading anything. 
"Just do as he says and you'll be fine." Ezra wanted to ask more questions but she glanced back at one of the men who stared at her, raising his gun slightly and she knew to shut up. 
***
"I need you to kill him." 
Yong sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before moving the phone to his other ear as he closed his car door. 
"Julian, I'm not going to kill someone just because you said so." She laughed sardonically into the phone, a sound that seemed so sweet but was filled with violence. Yong  often wondered if she was the devil's incarnate or at the very least his spawn. And yet, he had still slept with her. She was a siren and he was but a man. 
"Yes, you will Mason. You want to know why? Because I own you. Everything you have, everything you are today is because of me. So when I say kill, you kill. You're nothing but by my bitch darling. When I say bark, you bark. Do you understand?" His jaw was clenched, the grip on the phone so tight it was miracle it still worked. In the far distance he could see the veranda lights were still on and through the large glass windows he saw Ezra still studying with her tutor. He smiled slightly. Sure, he might be Julian's dog, but Ezra, she was his symbol of defiance, retaliation against Julian and her orders. Julian wanted her dead and here she was, alive and well. Sure, he didn't initially intend for things to turn out this way but well, shit happens.