Ruffle

Chapter-7 The girl with spectacles.

"Well, that was the worst meet up ever," she thought.

she was dejected.Stephen left immediately after bidding goodbye to her. She expected him to stay a little longer so that she could ask some more questions to him and understand him. She was taken back by the coldness in his demeanor.

"He never bothered to thank me as well, neither did he bother to even listen to what I wanted to ask "

"what a weirdo!"

The reaction she expected from Stephen wasn't the one she got.Instead of tears in his eyes, all she could find were a gleaming pair of eyes.They say eyes are the index of the mind, it was true in Stephen's case.She could sense the excitement in Stephen's mind.

Leigh siede was an investigative journalist working for a popular news channel in the country where Stephen's mom had died.She was the person behind the successful rescue of the 30 women from the sex trafficking ring. Uncovering the truth behind the illegal brothels around the cities had brought her immense respect.She became the face of journalism and received various awards for risking her life in the journey towards finding the truth.

She personally accepted the responsibility of bringing them back into the society.Twenty-nine of them were able to easily reintegrate with the society, however, one couldn't do it .she was oldest of them all and had been caught in the ring for the longest.It was a miracle that she survived this long . she was intrigued by the old lady and wanted to get to know the story behind her survival of one of the worst experiences ever.

The more she got to know the lady, the more she cared for her.She would hear the word, Stephen often and how she longed to meet him.Her suicide came as a rude shock to her, the determined lady who she thought was forged in Iron had finally allowed the past to get her.As the hospital had no one else to inform about the death, they called her informing about the demise and the note the lady had left behind.

She received the note in a plastic pouch. The note was in a pretty bad condition and the pouch was a precautionary measure to avoid further damage.She paid her respects to the deceased and prayed for her.

The night she received the note she couldn't sleep, the note kept flashing in her mind. she had to do something about the note, the note couldnt be kept to herself.She knew she had to find out the rightful person and give to him.The old lady's face was fresh in her mind, she had to do it for her, and that -that would have been the old lady's wish.

Thanks to her popularity she was able to pull the right strings and identify Stephen. The fact that he was a scavenger and managed to survive on his own alone from the age of eight made her respect his will to live.She called the dump site in his city and asked them to connect him to her.

The voice on the other end of the line was deep, calm and collected.She heard a standard uninterested hello emanating from the other side.

"Hello, is this Stephen ?"

"yes, may I know who is speaking?"Stephen replied.

"Hi Stephen, I'm Leigh from global times, I want to talk about your mother.Is it a good time to talk to you?"

"Sure, no problem, I'm listening"

"Stephen, your mother died in a hospital near our HQ a few months back.Unfortunately, we couldn't contact you as it took us quite a lot of time to identify you in the first place, " she replied and waited so that Stephen could digest the information.

she continued "I know it is a lot to digest.If we could meet in person I would be able to clarify all the information.I'll be in your city for two days next week, can we meet in the park near the city hall? .I'll be wearing the global time's tag so you will be able to identify me easily."

There was a brief pause.when Stephen tried to reply she could hear the cracking in his voice.

"s....sure ,at 6.30 pm next Monday"

the call got cut after that.Leigh made a mental note regarding the date and marked the time as important.For she had many questions to ask.She thought this would be her another opportunity to make a sensational story.

Little did she know that it would be a disappointing affair.