TRUE COLORS || MR. DALVIN.

[ Chapter 13 ]

Something In My Heart by Michel'le played on my Walkman as I got ready for work, and I couldn't stop myself from humming along.

First of all, the girl could sing, even if she did talk weird. Second of all, the song was too fitting right now.

Days later and I still couldn't believe it: Dalvin and I had kissed. Finally.

The feel of his lips against mine still lingered while I tied my hair up in a ponytail and I made a mental note to call Dalvin later. I wondered how he was taking it, us finally kissing after all this time.

"Bianca, come here!" I heard Aunt Pam yell frantically from the living room and I took off my headphones and ran out there, worried.

"Auntie, what's wrong?" I asked, noticing the horrified expression on her face.

She turned up the TV and I watched. It was news channel, and they had a camera filming right outside of....Mrs. Huang's store.

"Four bodies were discovered in the back of Mei Huang's convenience store at about 7 AM this morning by José Aguilar, the owner of the dry cleaners next door to the store. He claims that he had been smelling a foul stench since Wednesday afternoon and finally, called the police when Huang had not returned as promised on the paper taped to the front door of the store."

The camera switched to Mr. Aguilar's face, looking visibly distraught.

"I smelled something for a few days, but I wasn't sure what it was. At first I thought maybe she left something out while she was gone, but when she still hadn't shown up at 7 o'clock, I knew something was wrong. She always opens a little bit before 7."

I stared in shock, unable to speak.

Mrs. Huang was dead.

And I might've known who did it.

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When I got to the store, there was a large crowd of people outside - and four body bags being hauled off into two separate vans.

"Oh my God," I whispered to myself, my breathing shaky. I was starting to get lightheaded, and it almost felt like I was about to pass out.

"Ma'am," a police officer approached me, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thank you," I said, and then someone from the crowd spoke.

"Hey, don't you work here?"

The police officer looked down at me.

"Uh, yeah. I do."

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" He inquired, and I shook my head. He pulled me off to the side, away so no one else could hear us.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"Bianca Thompson, sir."

"When's the last time you saw Mei Huang?"

I'm not gonna lie, this was a nightmare come true. 4 homicides and a white police officer questioning me, an employee - and probably the last person to see Mrs. Huang alive.

"On Monday, around noon."

"Was she acting strange in any way?"

"No? She did send me home early though, after this - altercation," I said, hesitating.

"Between you and her?"

"No, not me. With someone else."

I exhaled hard. I really didn't wanna say who, because....well, I just didn't. But at the same time - I couldn't not say anything. It would haunt me for the rest of my life, if there was a possibility that Nate might've killed Mrs. Huang and her entire family in cold blood.