It has been a whole week since I last saw Rome and to say I'm miserable would be an understatement.
I have had sleepless nights and I don't remember the last time I ate because every time I try to eat I just feel like puking. Mrs Goula was so worried yesterday when I poured hot tea on my hand instead of inside the cup, she decided to give me a few days off work and said I should come back when I feel a hundred percent fine.
I'm now two days into my second week of miserary, I'm lying flat on the floor, looking at the ceiling because I don't know what to do anymore. I guess self isolating myself was not such a good idea now I am craving even the tiniest bit of affection.
Rome was not supposed to affect me, this is wrong I'm supposed to be planning how to get into Alinsky without being noticed, not that they know me anyway but Alinsky is a powerful kingdom and they are very cautious of who goes in and out their kingdom.
From everything my mother told me about the Bartley's I'm curious as to why they didn't change the name of the kingdom, or maybe they didn't want to look suspicious to other people, Kali Maa Bartley is a cunning woman and I will have to be smarter than her that's the only way I can win.
I was still lying on the floor and overthinking myself into depression when someone knocked on my door which is odd because I literally never have visitors.
I went to the kitchen first to retrieve a knife and then I went to open the door, now I wish I had those doors with peeking holes on them. I opened the door slowly while hiding the knife behind my back. When the door was fully open I had to blink twice because there standing outside my apartment door is non other than Rome, my insides jumped with joy, he looks the same, a little tired but still as handsome as before, he had a paper bag with the name Lebeeron on it, I could not help myself from pulling him in for a tight embrace, forgetting about the knife in my hand as it hit the floor behind me.
Rome hugged me back and I felt complete, like I found a long lost piece of myself. "I missed you too Hera" he said into my hair, I didn't want to let go, I want this moment to last forever but I know that is impossible so I reluctantly removed my hands from around his waist.
"I never said I missed you" I crossed my arms and smirked, he just smiled down at me and walked into my apartment "oh, of course you did not"he said over his shoulder, I had to ask myself how did we get here, I just shook my head and followed him inside after closing the door and picking up the knife I presume he did not see.
I enjoyed the Mediterranean Shrimp Linguine he bought from Lebeeron, I enjoyed it more because I haven't eaten in 2 days and the days before don't count either.
I haven't had close relationships since my parents because it is just too hard to let someone in when you can't trust anybody, right now I don't know what I am doing with Rome.
I don't even know anything about him and that's not good I have to do something about it. "So where you born in the Emerson kingdom?" I decided to start with the easy stuff, he looked up from his plate to me and answered "No I was born and raised in Alinsky" his answer had me going into a coughing fit so much for planning "So you are here in Emerson for business?" I asked again
"Yes you could say that, what about you?" he asked and continued eating, what about me? What about me? I fear this question very much "Uhm I was born and raised here" I answered, it was not a total lie because I did not say exactly where right...?
"And how old are you? I mean not that you look too old or too young, I'm just curious because you know... Uhm" I tripped over my words
"It's alright Hera, it's not easy to trust strangers, that's probably why you open the door with a knife in your hand but to answer your question I am 29 years, born in March the 27th" he said with a smirk, oh my goodness he saw the knife! How embarrassing, just play it cool
"I'm 19 turning 20 next week on the 17th and you are right I don't trust easily and I believe a person should always be cautious in life" I said looking down at my empty plate, to my surprise Rome moved my plate to the side and pushed his towards me "I know you are still very much hungry" he said I was about to protest but he added "You look like shit, even a blind person can tell that you haven't been eating" I guess he is right and the food looks appealing so why not, with that being said I finished another plate of fancy food.
"I would like to stay but duty calls" Rome said as he stood up from the kitchen island stool. "I will see you soon" he came around the kitchen island to my side and kissed my forehead, I just smiled I mean what could I say, don't disappear on me again, I just have to welcome loneliness again "Yeah see you soon" I forced a smile and I hoped it looked genuine.
Rome turned and headed to the door but he stopped abruptly and turned to face me "You know what give me your number just in case you know" he said but little did he know a cell phone is the last thing on my mind. "Actually I don't have a phone that is the problem" I said matter of factly "Oh, okay you hold on to my number for the moment I'll fix this problem soon" he said while pulling out a card from the pocket on the inside of his suit jacket.
The card is gold in color with texts written in black, on the card is his number and company name but what caught my eye is the company logo, a Phoenix with fire wings.
My mother said the Alinsky kingdom had a wolf symbol since it's creation in the 1600's because when the castle was being built there were many wolf attacks in the area. The symbol only changed after my Grandfather married Kali Maa, the new symbol being of a Phoenix with fire wings as per Kali Maa's wish.
But now my question is why Rome has a company with the royal symbol, I turned the card around but his name was nowhere on the card so I asked "Don't you put your name on your business cards?" he looked taken aback for a moment but he regained his composure quickly "These are personal cards I give out myself so there is no need to put my name on it when I'm the one giving it" he answered "I should really get going right now" he added and turned towards the door without another word.
§§§§
It has been two days since my last encounter with Rome but unlike last time I am not depressed.
I am more curious with every passing second, the card that Rome gave me has been bothering me but what is bothering me most is, who is Rome? But where can I get the answer, I have considered calling the number on the card using the land-line at the apartment's building reception but what if I'm just being paranoid because the Alinsky kingdom is involved I mean Rome did tell me that he was born and raised in Alinsky so obviously he is a part of that kingdom and he just forgot to mention that he is one of the high ranking people or maybe he didn't mention it on purpose either to not make me feel bad and to try to be a normal person for once or because he has a motive and probably knows that I'm an Alinsky blood but whatever it is I have to be cautious around him from now on but how can I do that when I can't think straight around him.
I was so deep in my thoughts when I heard a knock at the door, it could be Rome so I did not take the knife this time, I made my way to the door and opened it without hesitation but then I regretted my decision and I froze.
A man in a black suit was standing in front of me, no let me rephrase that a huge man in a black suit is standing outside my apartment. To say I am scared would be an understatement.
Did they find me? Was Rome involved in all this? Is this how I die? Oh my goodness what should I do.
"Hello, do you need something?" I asked pretending to be unfazed by him if anything were to happen I will deny everything and I won't go down without a fight "Mr Rome sent me to give this to you" he said and held out a sky blue paper bag that I hadn't even noticed he was holding, I took the bag and he bowed his head then turned to leave, weird. I went back inside and made sure to close and lock the door, I'm taking no chances. I sat on the couch and looked inside the bag, there are two roses in the bag, a white and a red rose, they are attached to each other by a note so I took them out to read the note
As promised I have
Fixed our problem
R. B
I put the note with the roses aside and looked inside the bag again and I saw a new cell phone with a blue ribbon tied around in a bow, it's expensive because well it looks expensive and I am sure Rome is not one to gift cheap .
I switch on the phone to see that it already has Rome's number saved, I bit my lip and contemplated on whether I should call him or not but I decided not.
Today the Bartley's are crowning a new king, I heard it's the son of the king and that he is very young. So they are holding a coronation at their castle, they said anybody can come poor or rich but in reality only the fancy people are going to be attending that coronation and this is why I saved so much money over the years just for this special occasion, I need an expensive dress, expensive shoes and top class make-up and hair artists.
The coronation doesn't start until 9pm and it's only 7am now so I have some time but not enough, so without wasting a second I began my journey to find my expensive outfit. Here in Emerson there is only one shopping mall with fancy shops so I'm going to do everything there and then I will go straight to Alinsky from there.
Okay so finding a dress is not easy when there are 7 different stores with thousands of dresses but you only need one, I was about to give up when a girl approached me, she looks my age, "Hi I am Natasha but you can call me Nattie" she said in a friendly tone and held out her hand for me to shake so I brought my hand up for the handshake "I'm Hera, nice to meet you Nattie" I introduced myself back.
Natasha is the same height as me which means she is short, she looks to be Indian but the red hair looks Irish so maybe she's mixed, she's wearing casual, blue ripped jeans, a blue tank top and black sneakers. "I see you are struggling to find a dress" she said in a teasing tone and I nod with a sigh "I used to work in this store so I know where they put the best dresses, come with me" she added and pulled me along with her to the back corner of the store.
I was so tired I didn't even check this corner out and she is right the dresses here are top class but one stood out for me, an emerald green gown and I tried it on immediately, it has fluffy flowery shoulders and the v-neck goes down just above my belly button, it flows all the way to the ground, the skirt of the dress is made in a cloudy manner, the back is open and has zig-zag strips that tie at the top just below my neck.
This dress is perfect "Hera come out so I can see you" Nattie shouted impatiently from outside my dressing room door, I sighed and opened the door, I stepped out and felt nervous all of a sudden because Nattie was just staring at me with an open mouth and the people passing by all turned their heads in my direction some of the women even whispering, I probably look like a clown, I looked down and thanked my coffee complexion because they couldn't see my embarrassed blush
"Damn! Girl!" Nattie shrieked scaring me in the process I'm pretty sure the whole mall heard her "We are so taking this dress, you look hot the prince will totally pick you" she added jumping up and down with a lot of enthusiasm, I don't know what she meant by the prince picking me but it doesn't matter because that won't happen.
We continued shopping for Nattie's dress because she's also coming to the coronation, turns out she's the daughter of the financial minister in the Alinsky kingdom, she knows a lot about the Bartley family, like that the prince soon to be king likes spending time in the Emerson kingdom and that Kali Maa got her son's wife killed after giving birth to the prince for no reason whatsoever but obviously no action was taken against her.
Nattie bought a backless red dress with a slit that goes up to the upper thigh, it has strip shoulders made of a gold thin chain. We both chose matching silver shoes covered in diamonds. She pulled me to the make-up and hair salon at the end of the mall. By the time we were finished it was 7pm.
My hair was half French braided and the other half tied in a bunnytail because my hair is the afro type, Nattie did the same hairstyle as me but hers is a ponytail. I had only Gabriela matte lipstick, some eyeliner and a dirty pink eyeshadow to match my lipstick a little, I don't like make - up unlike Nattie who did all sorts of things on her face but the result looks amazing.
By 8:30pm we were on our way to Alinsky in Nattie's dad's car which she stole without her dad noticing because he is very busy due to the coronation arrangements. I wish my parents were still alive, I just miss them so much it hurts and that's why I try not to think about them a lot.
Since I am with the high minister's daughter passing through the gates of the castle was easy, we stopped at the front door of the castle at exactly 9pm.
I don't know why I'm so eager to go inside but it feels like something is pulling me inside the castle. I just hope tonight goes well and I get what I am looking for. I remembered everything my mother told me and deep down I hope the castle was not redecorated because that would ruin my plan.
I just wonder how my life will be like, my mother always told me I should study, get a good job and find a good partner whom I can trust enough to tell them the truth about my past. She wanted me to move on but yet she told me all the stories that my grandmother told her, stories that spiked my curiosity and now here I am doing exactly what the stories told me to do.
Nattie snapped her fingers in front of my face and that snapped me out of my daze.
"Come on dreamer girl let's go we can't be any more later than this" she said while pulling me to the big double doors.
The outside of the castle is made of grey stone and there is a huge fountain in the middle of the driveway that has a rose with water coming out between it's petals at the top, there are fairy lights placed around the fountain making it look magical since it's dark outside.
There are top sports cars parked on one side of the castle, I think that's a parking lot, I could see some cars being driven into the garage so they must belong to the important people right? Because this world is all about status.
I started getting a restless feeling, if I could be anywhere in the world then it would definitely not be here. My brain kept telling me to just turn around and run from all of this but my more sane part pushed me to continue.
There is a herald at the front door, who asked for both mine and Nattie's names "Natasha Evanos, daughter of Minister Rouge Evanos, of Alinsky" he announced Nattie first "Hera Asteo, of Emerson" he announced me next, all heads were turned to Nattie and I.
It's like I could hear them blinking, and I kept repeating in my head Imagine everybody naked.
That restless feeling is still nagging me but I'm trying my best to push it to far end of my mind.