The Killswitch; Return of the True Heir

Sariah

" O my gosh your outfit is so beautiful " A girl with black hair said.

" Oh common you know I'm the real beauty here Julie." Sariah puffed up her chest and dramatically flinged her hair to the side.

" Guys Christian finally agreed to be with me." She thrusted the phone to their faces.

They shot her a look.

" Don't tell me you asked him out yourself Emma." Sariah shot her a disapproving look.

" Anyways that isn't why we are here, we are going on a shopping spree, let's go girls. " Sariah said.

The soft melody of classical music greeted them as they stepped into the luxury boutique, designer handbags lined up in the shelves while the rows of dresses shimmered beneath the crystal chandler .

Sariah strolled through the store with effortless confidence, Julie and Emma trailing behind her.

" Oh, this one is so pretty, isn't she pretty guys ," Julie exclaimed, lifting a cream coloured handbag and turning to them. " I'm most definitely getting it."

" And I'm taking these heels," Emma said, pointing towards a pair displayed behind the glass cabinet. " They're limited edition. "

Sariah barely glanced at them before waving her hand dismissively.

" I'll take the handbag in black, the white one and the burgundy one. Add the heels too." She pointed towards another display. " Actually...all take all three colors."

The sales attendant smiled politely as she noted everything down.

" Certainly, Miss. I'll have them wrapped immediately. "

The three girls continued browsing, laughing as they wandered deeper into the boutique.

Fifteen minutes later, the attendant returned carrying several nice looking shopping bags.

Sariah and the rest of the girls accepted their bags and then she peeked into one of them.

The smile on her face disappeared.

" This isn't black."

The attendant blinked a bit confused.

" I'm terribly sorry?"

" I asked for black. "

The young woman looked into the bag, her face paling.

" Oh...I sincerely apologize, Miss. It seems another customer-”

" You seem?" Sariah interrupted, her voice rising just enough for nearby shoppers to turn their heads.

" I don't pay this much money for you to seem anything."

" I'm very sorry Miss. I'll replace it immediately. "

" Immediately? " She let out a short disbelieving laugh.

" Do you know how long I've been standing here?"

" No, Miss but I can-"

" No you can't. "

She dropped the bag back to the counter. " This is basic customer service," she paused. " If you can't tell the difference between black and navy, perhaps you're in the wrong profession."

The attendant lowered her gaze. " I'm truly sorry."

" You should be."

The entire boutique was enveloped in an uncomfortable silence.

Julie tugged her hand, " I'm sure she's learnt her lesson now, let's get going."

Sariah shrugged. " Okay. "

The attendant hurried to the stockroom clearly flustered. As she disappeared through the door, Emma laughed.

" You scared the shit out of the girl."

" I corrected her."

" Well let's go girls. " Julie said. " Wait hold on, we need to get the order that she got wrong. "

.......

The three girls settled into a quiet corner of the café, their shopping bags occupying the empty chairs beside them. A waiter arrived moments later, placing three iced coffees and a slice of cheesecake in the middle of the table.

Julie took a sip before leaning back with a satisfied sigh.

" Best shopping spree we've had in months."

" You say that everytime." Emma laughed.

" Because every time it's true."

Sariah stirred her drink absentmindedly, her attention fixated on the untouched notebook lying beside her handbag.

Julie noticed that. " What's with that face?"

Sariah groaned. " Don't remind me.”

" Is it an assignment?"

She reached into her bag and pulled out a printed course outline. " Professor Henderson has been chasing me all week."

Julie laughed. " What did you do this time?"

She opened it, and slid it to Julie, on top of the page was topic:

A mathematical framework for stability in a non linear quantum lattice system.

Research proposal - 40% of final grade.

She stared at the title for several seconds before sliding it back. " I understood...maybe three words?"

" Exactly! " Sariah threw both hands in the air. " Neither do I."

Emma laughed.

" So what exactly is the problem?"

" The problem is that Professor Henderson thinks originality grows on trees." She leaned back dramatically.

" He keeps saying he doesn't want recycled theories. He wants us to propose something entirely new and different."

They both raised an eyebrow.

"... For an undergraduate class?"

" That's exactly what I asked! "

" What did he say?"

Sariah mimicked her professor's deep voice. " The greatest discoveries begin with students willing to think differently. "

They all laughed at that.

" I swear," Sariah muttered. " That man is trying to ruin my semester. "

Julie stirred her coffee thoughtfully.

" Can't you ask someone for help?"

" Who?"

None of the girls said a word. Then Emma looked up. " What about your brother?"

Sariah blinked. " Cassiel? "

" Isn't he ridiculously good at this kind of thing? "

Julie nodded. " I remember he won some national mathematical competition years ago, I also remembered hearing he skipped half of his university classes because the professors kept giving him post graduate problems and didn't he spend half of his life scribbling equations?"

Sariah rolled her eyes. " He's obsessed. "

" But yes he'll probably solve this before dinner."

" Okay girl, you better get going. "

Sariah shoved the book into her bag and grabbed her shopping bags and stood up, " See you girls later, lover ya muahh!" And she hurriedly left and got into her car and drove home.

She made her way upstairs. " Cassiel!" She knew he was around because he had taken a leave from work today. " Cassiel!" She got to his room and opened the door.

He was sitting on his desk with several papers scattered across his desk and no his laptop displayed her page filled with mathematical expressions.

" Busy?" She stepped inside and kicked off her heels.

" When am I not?"

" Well first off, I want to apologize for not responding that day during breakfast. I was irritated that morning. "

" Or you were just being bratty as usual." He remarked turning his chair to face her.

" So what is the issue this time Riah."

" You make it sound like I don't come to check up on you normally. " She sat down on the bed. And placed a paper in his hand. He took it and glanced through it. " When is it due?"

" In the next four days."

" And you're starting now?"

She smiled sheepishly. " I've been....occupied."

" With shopping ?"

" It's not what you think."

" Well it's not a difficult topic."

" You're joking."

" No I'm not, come sit in this chair"

He brought out a new sheet of paper, before writing a few things." This model assumes that the lattice behaves symmetrically under disturbance, that is why it is problematic."

They spent over an hour trying to solve it.

" Ahhh I'm tired, I'm hungry." Sariah stood up and fell face flat on the bed.

" Let's order take out, mom and dad aren't coming back today anyways, I want pizza and chicken wings."

" Okay we will get that. "

Sariah slept off on the bed and the order came in 20 minutes.

" Riah, Riah, wake up, the pizza is here. " He shook her gently.

" Ugh I don't wanna wake up....wait did you just say pizza?" She sprung up and stared at him.

" Yes, now head to the bathroom and change into this." He held a cloth in front of her.

" Okay wait for me, I'm coming. "

She took it and ran to the bathroom to change.