My CEO Boss Is A Masked Internet Sensation-Chapter 212: A Secret Room?

(Arata)

Christmas day passed amidst heartaches, gift exchanges and devouring delicious food. I would have loved to eat more, especially the meat, but I couldn’t.

Ranold left in the evening, and Camilla retired to her room. Karsten had hit the gym, he didn’t miss it even on Christmas.

Suddenly, feeling tired, I returned to Karsten’s room, changed and lay down.

Picking up the phone, I began to scroll down on social media.

My phone pinged, and a notification from an unknown number floated on my screen, and my heart jolted.

With a shaky index finger, I clicked on the message, and I found the words woven in a bloody red bold font.

"Merry Christmas, Arata! I hope you enjoy my little message."

A video link had been attached to it. Terror ran like waves inside me but I still clicked on it to see what the asshole was up to now.

The video began playing. The darkness had shrouded my screen as fear tingled its way slowly down my spine.

A single bead of perspiration appeared on my temple and trickled down. A figure appeared on the screen and I almost jumped out of my skin.

The background was pitch black, so I could only watch the figure in fear.

Wearing a horrifying brown mask, which seemed to have been sewn together using large black stitches. It appeared like dead skin. The hollowed eyes depicted two burning red coals for pupils, while the lip area was like flaky, wrinkled, and shrivelled skin.

The more I stared, the more it terrified me until the person behind the mask began to speak in a distorted voice.

Enjoying Christmas? Have fun while it lasts, it’s not going to be long..." The head tilted and leaned closer to the screen, so all I could see was the horrible image of his mask. It unsettled my stomach, and I wanted to retch as he again spoke in a creepy voice, "I am coming for you."

My body trembled so badly that the phone dropped from my hand, and the taste of nausea filled my throat.

Getting up, I rushed towards the bathroom, bare feet—my hand covered my mouth.

Soon, I was emptying my bowels out in the flush as I tried to hold back tears.

The whole Christmas meal came tumbling out of me. Huffing, I picked up my shaking body from the floor and moved like a zombie towards the sink. I cleaned and rinsed myself while my mind tried to process what I had just seen.

I only knew one guy who loved wearing masks and had developed some kind of obsession with me. It had occurred to me at times why Azul gave me special treatment when he had never done so with any of his other female fans.

So why me?

And could it be him? I couldn’t see the body of the person who had just sent me the video, so I had no way of knowing.

Gathering myself while remaining knee deep in disturbing thoughts, I exited the bathroom and looked for water. With Asbela gone, these small tasks were often overlooked, and I forgot to bring water.

Dragging myself out of the room, with a jug clutched to my chest, I headed downstairs and found everything to be eerily quiet.

Where was Karsten? Shouldn’t he be done with his gym by now?

Filling a glass with water, I downed it in one go, so that the rotten taste in my mouth would go away.

As I left the kitchen, curiosity got the best of me. I wandered towards the gym. Or maybe I was deliberately looking for him and didn’t want to be alone.

His presence, irrespective of his behaviour, felt assuring at times.

My feet carried me towards the glass-walled gym, but the lights were dimmed, and it appeared empty.

I peered inside, and my eyes roamed.

He wasn’t there.

Where was he?

I moved further into the villa, to the parts I hadn’t gotten the chance to explore, when I reached a door. It was locked and had a keypad attached, meaning a code was needed to open it.

Why would Karsten need such a door?

The thought disturbed my mind, which had constantly been in fight or flight mode recently and was filled with negative thoughts.

Was he hiding something?

Or it could be related to his being associated with the Mafia World.

Slow sounds of someone climbing the stairs on the other side of the door had my heart frantically racing as I quickly retreated, not wanting to be discovered.

I ran as if someone was chasing me, until I arrived outside the kitchen. Rushing inside, I grabbed the jug and began to fill it with water while my overly active heart thudded in my chest.

So loud, the sound was so loud that I was afraid Karsten might hear it.

Just as expected, Karsten appeared soon after and made his way towards the kitchen too.

I tried not to glance in his direction, but it was impossible to ignore his hulking presence as he opened the fridge right beside me and extracted what seemed like his protein shake.

I finally turned and found him leaning against the fridge, his eyes pinned on me.

He took large sips from the bottle. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he downed the green drink while his toned legs were crossed at the ankles.

He was terrifying and at the same time captivating.

Was he still a liar, too?

"Intense workout?" I casually asked, knowing too well he wasn’t in the gym.

But my heart beat so fast and I couldn’t stop my body from trembling.

He separated his lips from the bottle, leaving them damp.

"Yes, just finished." He dragged a hand through his dry hair. Karsten always showered after working out, and he wasn’t very fond of blow-drying his hair.

So, how come his hair was dry?

It meant it had been a while since he had taken a shower, and God knew what he was doing behind that door, which led to where?

Once a liar, always a liar.

Seeing me frozen and flushed, he asked.

"Are you alright?"

Stealing my gaze away, I clutched the jug closer to my chest and answered.

"Yeah! I should get some sleep."

Hoping he didn’t catch me shaking, I left him and the kitchen behind.