Pervade and Faint

Chapter 23

I woke up because my hand got stuck in between the slot between the seatbelt and the seat. I looked at Cindy. She was wide awake, but the redness of her eyes exposed her sleepiness and stress. I was just about to ask her where we had reached, but a huge sign of RICHMOND answered my question. I sensed by her confidence and the way she had looked at the streets, that she was aquatinted with them.
"We're here?" I asked half answer and half question.
"Just twenty minutes", she said.

Cindy drove through the streets as if they had belonged to her. She even closed the GPS. After about ten minutes, Cindy took off her seatbelt. A huge gate appeared. It was red, with a few strands of blue. A peculiar contrast of paint, especially for a gate, I thought. A man in a black suit opened the gate. There was a huge lawn on the right. A golf court on the left (according to me, a golf court is also, technically a lawn, but for the rich ones. God).The carpet green grass was cut perfectly. The plants were cut and shaped equally. Cindy's luminous eyes ran in each direction.

"Wait, is this your house?" I asked, because the environment was much more of a house than a neighborhood, or town.
"Yup", she answered, a vestige of vanity dissolved in her voice. Or probably I was just over thinking.
"It's a separate continent", I jested, but not really.
The car traveled for a few more seconds until we finally reached spacious garage. The garage automatically opened, as if it had been waiting for us. It was the first time I had ever witnessed an automatic garage. It was elaborated, but not my type. Cindy parked the car and we stepped out. There were many cars parked in the garage. The garage was commodious. Jaw dropping cars in it were parked, gleaming under the faint golden lights. There was a pristine Bentley, shiny green. Probably the mayor's car, I thought.
"All of these are yours?" I asked, utterly transfixed.
"Kind of", she answered.

We walked to the main door and Cindy opened it. I was anticipating her entire family to be standing in front of her door, desperate for her welcome. But no one was to be seen when she had opened the door. There was a huge, incandescent chandelier hanging in the middle of the living room, or hall, or whatever it was. The ceilings were lofty, with a unique carving on the corners. There was a red, fuzzy carpet embellished on the dark wooden floor. I found myself uninvited and to a great extent, degraded. Her house was fancy, expensive.
We walked up the stairs, which were wide enough to pass a whole Range Rover. I wondered whether there was an elevator or not. Cindy opened a door, revealing a huge room, a room as big as our living room. Cindy entered the room and I walked in.
"You can rest over here", she said, gesturing towards a king size bed.
"Cindy, what are your parents going to say?" I asked, worried.
"Don't worry, I called them", she said.
"By the ways, Mom and Dad aren't home", she said and I sighed, but not much relief.
"You don't feel alright", she asked, sensing the anxiety in my mood.
"No _ I'm okay. Just exhausted", I said.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
"Of course", I said, enthusiastically, she smiled. She leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips.
"I'll bring your bag", she said and stood up.
"The bathroom is at the end of the hall", she said and left.

A prawn and masculine man entered my room after a while and he gave me my bag. I scrolled through my bag, checking what she had packed. There was only one t-shirt, and one button down shirt. Two pairs of black trousers and black jeans had also been placed. I took out my trousers and t-shirt. The t-shirt was the one which Ben had gifted me. Despite the fact that I loved it, I furiously threw it back in the bag and decided to simply wear the shirt that I was already wearing. I stepped out of the room, taking surreptitious glances of both, the east and west ends of the hall. I opened a door and peeked in, just to make sure that I was entering the bathroom. It was the bathroom, luckily. There was a bathtub and a shower. Things that are also in non-mayor houses, I thought. I filled the bathtub with water and inserted myself in it. I closed my eyes, thinking of how difficult it would be for me spend two days over here. A weed in the brilliant lawn, which was me in her house.

After the shower, I opened a closet and took out a fluffy, impeccable white towel. I quickly changed into my trousers and folded my pants, putting them back into the bag. The night was getting terrible. A claustrophobic feeling bothered and I couldn't sleep. The bed was large and comfortable, but I didn't find it charming, not even comfortable. I missed the single bed which I had, back in my room. Comfort is never a matter of luxurious things. Its a matter of mental satisfaction. And my mind was definitely not satisfied. However, I contrived spending the night. And the night, according to the laws in nature, played its role. It lasted for long.
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