Bradford Schofield

Part 10

He took me to the garden making sure no one is present there. He then took off his black Ray Ban sunglasses, and asked me, "Do you trust me?" "Of course not. I do not trust you AT ALL. First thing, I don't understand what you are and who you are. After this all, you still think I'll trust you?" is what I thought I would say but I rather replied, "Yes, I do trust you."

I had no idea why the hell did I say so, I mean, I DID NOT trust him at all. I don't know what I was thinking at that time. After my reply, he looked at me as if he wanted to tell me something I didn't know about. He said, "Listen, I know what you've been imagining me this whole time and I won't blame you for that. 'Cause by now, I am sure you know all my three identities. But today, I am not any of those identities." This made me think again. I could not understand what he meant to say. Who the hell is he? What is his true identity? Ugh, this man was making me crazy!

He went on, "Also, I cannot tell you the complete matter right now, but I can give you a riddle- Not your neighbour not your friend, you know the person very well. 'Everything is fair in love and war' is the perfect quote for me to explain."

He left me there alone; astounded by his words. It felt like my feet were hammered to the ground as I couldn't move an inch. My head was about to explode any moment then. He left me thinking yet another time.

I went to my house straight after this. As I started thinking, I tried to gather up everything from the beginning. The flight, Mr. Schofield delivering speech as a founder in my hostel, my arrival to San Diego, weird people facing Bridget's house, the article, other identity of Mr. Schofield, the dream, the strange letter, awkward meet with Mr. Schofield in the restaurant, the eerie phone call, Bridget's death, another identity of Mr. Schofield and the final outlandish conversation with him. All these had absolutely no connection to each other. How the heck was I supposed to solve the riddle with no hint at all?

For the first time ever, Penelope asked me about the reason for my worried face. From when did she start caring about me? Whatever, I simply told her it was nothing but headache; the one that made me insane. She sat beside me and requested, "Please do let me know when your headache's over. I didn't see you happy or smiling in any of these days. What's the reason pulling you back from contentment? You have total right on your bliss. I don't want to know or get into your personal life because you are big enough to solve your problems on your own. But still, if you think just for once that you can share something with me, then your elder sis is right beside you."