It was a Wednesday morning, the sun had barely risen, the autumn breeze hit Zora’s face, causing her to wrap her scarf round her neck.
Kiara had called her yesterday asking her to come to the venue so they could start planning and decorating, they walked into the large empty hall.
Kiara put her hands on her waist and tilted her head to look at Zora.
“This is the venue for the banquet.
What do you think?” Zora scanned the hall, although it’s a massive hall, it looks ancient, the walls are cracked, and the exterior environment was nothing to write home about.
“I think the people in charge are greedy.
Although the hall is big but nothing exciting, it looks like a home for horses.”
Kiara chuckled.
“It’s going to be hard.”
Zora nodded.
After checking all the things that needed repair and searching for laborers, they were able to fix the cracked walls and broken windows.
They also found someone to help them bring in the small fountain they bought.
Zora checked her watch, it was almost time for her shift, so she left after Doom!
She was literally doomed.
fountain was brought in.
While she was at work, she made plans for the next day, they would start decorating the hall and look for good catering service to help with the cooking.
After her shift ended, she did not go to bed.
She called Kiara at 1am in the morning to tell her about the plans for the next day.
By morning, they both met at the venue; the laborers who were able to get there were also there.
They decorated the hall and contacted a few catering services.
It turned out that all the reliable catering services were booked.
Zora groaned.
“Ugh!
This is so frustrating.”
She scrolled down her phone.
“How is it possible that all the catering service are booked?”
Kiara bit down her lower lip.
This definitely wasn’t a coincidence, every single catering service booked, even the local ones.
Seconds later her phone rang, it was her elder sister, she tapped the answer button.
“Sister!
How is it going?”
“I heard that every catering service in Rosewood has been booked, I was so worried.”
Kiara blinked in the tears that were threatening to come out her eyes her sister continued.
“You know this is an important banquet.
The Ming family is one of the most influential family in Pink country, if something goes wrong mother may never give you a chance… and you might be thrown out of the villa.”
Kiara wondered how her own sister could hate her so much, it was very obvious that she had set this up.
Kiara clenched her fist she would not let her sister succeed!
There must be a way.
Her eyes darted to Zora who kept thinking of a good catering service she knew, but nothing came to mind.
The food was the most important in a banquet, if guests came and had nothing to eat, it would lead to countless disasters.
Kiara ended the call before her sister could say anything else.
Kiara logged into her social media accounts and posted
“EMERGENCY CATERING SERVICE NEEDED!!”
She waited for some minutes but nothing happened, she had hoped that she would be able to get a hold of at least a good chef if not a catering service.
She was about to press the off button when a notification popped on her phone.
A wide grin appeared on her face.
She ran towards Zora waving her phone on the air
“I’ve gotten a hold of a good catering service, they are the best in Hickory!”
A proud smile was plastered on her face.
Zora breathed in relief, at least they found a good catering service, but then Zora realized something.
“Hickory?
Isn’t that a state in Brown country?”
Kiara nodded.
Zora’s eyes widened.
“How are you going to get them to come to Rosewood in twenty-four hours?”
Kiara smiled.
Zora sighed, food problem solved.
They took the entire day decorating the hall, but Zora left at 6pm because of her shift at the bar.
On the third day, they met with the catering service called “H Foods”; they discussed the foods they would prepare.
Everything went well that day, but Zora still had a bad feeling about everything, she kept checking everything over and over again to make sure nothing went wrong, totally ignoring the headache and dizziness she had been feeling.
Finally, it was the day of the banquet.
Zora went to the venue very early in the morning to check if everything was in order.
By evening, the hall was filled up.
All the seats except one at the high table were filled up.
Everyone found the hall to be intriguing, the different shades of gold and touch of white used in decorating the hall gave off an elegant but soft look.
The family hosting the banquet was satisfied with the look of everything.
Mrs.
Ming smiled as everyone praised her for hiring quality event planners for the banquet.
Kiara smiled excitedly as she spoke with Zora.
“I can’t believe you were able to pull all this in just three days.”
Zora chuckled.
“There was no way I would have done it without you.
The banquet is not yet over, let’s not let our guard down.”
Kiara agreed with her.
A few minutes later the hall went quiet.
Zora, who was talking to the head chef of H Foods, felt goosebumps all over her.
The atmosphere changed in just a few minutes.
When she heard little whispers and saw all eyes looking at the entrance of the hall, Zora turned to look, there she saw a handsome young man with a cold aura walking into the hall.
She swore with her life that the face was familiar.
When their eyes met, Zora shuddered.
Why was Alistair invited?
When Alistair saw her, his gaze became colder than usual, if eyes could kill, Zora would have died a million times.
She involuntarily took a step backwards.
The Ming family was surprised to see Alistair.
In the past years when they invited Alistair to any of their banquets, he never attended, so they got used to it, they would reserve a seat for him but not with the hope of seeing him.
It was a surprise to them to see that Alistair attended their banquet.
Sera Ming, the second daughter of the Ming family, was so happy to see Alistair; she had been making a fuss all day, but seeing Alistair, she composed herself.
This was her first time seeing Alistair in person.
She wanted to make a good first impression so that he would notice her.
Mr.
Ming went to greet Alistair, Alistair bowed slightly at him.
Mr.
Ming offered him a seat, but Alistair refused.
“My apologies, Mr.
Ming, I am not here for the banquet.”
Mr.
Ming understood, they both left the hall.
Zora saw that they had left.
She sighed.
Her hands flew to her chest.
‘Why is he so scary?’ she thought.
Outside the hall at a very far end stood Mr.
Ming and Alistair.
His bodyguards formed a thick wall separating them from the banquet hall and also preventing anyone from seeing them.
Alistair stood with his hands in his pocket, Mr.
Ming, who was already in his late fifties, stood with a walking stick as a support.
“Have you heard that the cats have formed again?”
Mr.
Ming sighed.
Alistair smirked.
“It’s a surprise that the third in command of the cats did not know until yesterday.”
Mr.
Ming tilted his head to look at Alistair.
“I was banished from the cats even before the war with the dragons.
So it’s only natural that things like this would take longer before coming to my hearing.”
Kane brought chairs for them and left.
They both sat down.
“Mr.
Ming, I am sure you must have heard about the attack I got.”
“What does that have to do with me?
I am no longer in the cats, and I have no say in the dragons, we both know that the cats are careless and do as they please.”
Alistair brought out a lighter from his pocket and started playing with it.
“Tsk tsk tsk.
You know that the cats act as they please, yet you held a banquet today.”
Mr.
Ming read the meaning behind what Alistair was trying to say.
“I am sure you’re not here just to chat, just go straight to the point.”
Alistair finally became serious.
“The cats are not meant to exist, with them around, the bloodshed would be much.
We agreed to be at peace, but it seems like the cats are not good at keeping promises…”
He paused, his eyes looking at Mr.
Ming.
“You should give us the key.”
Mr.
Ming closed his eyes, the last time that door was open, a lot of innocent people died.
Was history trying to repeat itself?
“Is that necessary?
They haven’t posed any major threats yet.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Mr.
Ming ignored him.
“For a moment in there I thought you’ve finally showed me some face, but it seems like I’ll keep dreaming of that day.”
Alistair relaxed on his seat.
A question formed in his mind.
His gaze settled on Mr.
Ming’s face.
“I heard a claim that the cats are now divided, is it true?”
Just a few seconds after Alistair asked the question, loud screams were heard.
Mr.
Ming turned to look at Alistair, the next second, gunshots followed.
Mr.
Ming stood up immediately, he limped towards the hall in a hurry.
Alistair smirked, he knew that they would come to the banquet, so he decided to come and see for himself the strength of the new cats.
He stood up and walked to the banquet.
In the banquet everything was a mess, some people hid under tables others were running to the other end of the hall.
Zora and Kiara were trying to open the other door so that people would escape through it, they successfully did, and everyone started running out through that door.
The gunshots became louder and more serious.
At that point Zora was trying to save as many people as she could, she totally forgot about herself.
She took the little children whose parents left them behind while running, she took them to hide in a small greenhouse close to the banquet.
Kiara was with them.
Zora knew things would not go well because she kept having bad feelings about the banquet.
Because of how small the greenhouse was, the place was filled up there was no space for Zora, so she decided to go out.
Immediately she went out of the greenhouse, a hand dragged her with force and put her into the car.
Zora, who had not slept for two days and had not eaten all day, fainted.