The Eleventh Hour

Chapter 16

I was fidgety when we finally reached the large, double doors to Nathaniel’s home. I’d thought about what his place would look like so many times in my head, and I never believed I’d actually come to New York and see it, ever. I was absolutely buzzing with excitement.

He seemed oblivious to my fidgety, excited self and opened the door. I followed him in.

As my eyes scoured what was in front of me, I was left feeling momentarily disorientated. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I didn’t expect to see this.

At first glance I saw myself in a huge, ginormous room, but then I realised I was stood on something that resembled an indoor balcony with wide, curling white marble stairs leading down. I peeked over what I first thought was a half wall and saw a beautifully decorated, modern, luxurious rectangular shaped open planned apartment – down the stairs.

I put my hands on the bars and gasped as I took it all in. The upper floor entry way looked over the whole main room with a sparkling, gigantic kitchen on the left hand side accompanied by a kitchen island with a breakfast bar attached to it.

At a closer look, I saw the kitchen was fitted with – of course – state of the art appliances and the surfaces and kitchen colour scheme was dark with glittering sparkles etched inside.

The rest of the room had a white and beige theme going on, with light laminate flooring and pristine white walls. There was a large, rectangular shiny black dining table seating a dozen chairs directly below me with silver place mats set out. The whole east wall consisted of glass, where a large balcony outside was visible. There was a grand fireplace on the opposite wall where we stood which had a large, fluffy beige rig and two matching suede bean bags in front of it.

In the middle of the room, a very large square shaped rug sat, three large L shaped white sofas were placed together over it, mimicking the square. A large glass coffee table sat in the middle, decorated with dark brown coffee mats and a few papers from what I could see.

My eyes finally left the great room and rested on his to find he was already looking at me, his eyebrows were slightly raised and there was a hint of a smile on his lips. He looked so perfect it hurt.

He made his way down the marble stairs and straight towards the kitchen area. I followed him down and looked around in awe. Wow, this place was truly amazing. I glanced back towards the marble stairs to see a wide archway underneath the upper floor entry way next to them, on the back wall.

Through the archway was a wide but small hallway, but I couldn’t make out what was passed that. Maybe that was where the rest of the rooms in the apartment were.

“Have you eaten?”

I turned round to face Nathaniel to see he was perched by the kitchen island. I shook my head and made my way over to him.

As I reached him, I heard faint footsteps from behind me until a figure reached the archway under the stairs. A blonde, smartly dressed woman appeared. She looked to be in her mid forties, and was very attractive.

“Nuala,” Nathaniel smiled as she made our way over to us, “this is Lola Rose Summers. Lola Rose, this is the housekeeper, Nuala.”

She smiled warmly as she reached us, shaking my hand. “Hello Miss Summers, it’s lovely to meet you.”

I flushed slightly with all the formalities. “Please, call me Lola.”

She smiled warmly again. “Are you hungry?”

“Very.” Nathaniel answered for us. I hadn’t even thought about food, it had been such an eventful day – in which I’d lost my beloved agent Tanya, who turned out not to be Tanya at all, who turned out to be working for me so Tanya wouldn’t lose any money. I sighed.