If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.~*~*
I pushed my hair behind my ear as a strong wind blew, making the trees and flowers dance to its rhythm, the birds chirped louder from happiness. I walked through the cherry blossom path, with petals on my feet welcoming me to another part of the garden. The bamboo fountains, decorated with all sort of pebbles rocks took my breath away, the sound of a bamboo rocker arm hitting a rock was so peaceful I wanted to get lost in this beauty. Like I mentioned earlier the gardens were magnificent, flowers were so appealing, I had hard time averting my gaze from them, and there were birds everywhere I looked. This was a heaven of its own.
"Rosaline has an exquisite garden," I praised in utter awe, while looking around, but in the back of my mind he was still there, my heart was beating a little faster than normal.
"I agree," Mia grinned, bending gently ruffling their dog's fur. I laughed when the dog made an effort to escape.
"This place is really amazing," I appreciated stealing Mia's attention. She nodded agreeing with me. I looked at the unique fountain surrounded by green; it was something which you see in ancient queen-like houses. So concentrated and so well designed. May be it was my first time seeing something like this but for them it was constant.
"Yes, we have a place better than this one but Cloud likes to keep it to himself," Alina said with a roll of her eyes. I knit my eyebrows not getting her. "You will know," she added at my expression and chuckled.
I was about to investigate further that's when we heard someone clear their throat, all three of us turned to see him. I sucked in a breath!
"Cloud," squealed Alina throwing her hands around the mysterious man. He smiled a full smile and wrapped his hands around her. "When did you get here? I was just talking about you,"
"I got here about an hour ago," the man name Cloud said, in that rich voice. I stood stiff, eyes blinking and trying to breathe.
"Good to have you back with us. How was Siberia?" Mia asked, hugging him she was short and only reached his chest so the man dipped lower and gently hugged her back.
"It was very cold but compelling," he chuckled, standing to his full height then turning his head toward me, my heart pumped against my chest when I had his full, undivided attention.
"Oh! How rude of me," Alina bit on her tongue," This is Faith, Mr. and Mrs. Baron's only daughter," Alina introduced. I felt the moist in my hands from this bizarre feeling, he reached for my hand.
"Nice to meet you," the man in front of me said calmly. My stupid heart was beating incredibly fast, like I was falling off a cliff. It took everything in me to stand there and remain calm. I slowly moved my hand, going through a cartwheel of thoughts in my brain. When my skin touched his, it calmed down, completely normal! I looked up at him,in his stormy eyes; taken aback thinking was this happening to him as well? But, no, he was undisturbed.
Cloud let go of my hand, looked at Alina than back at me, to my utter astonishment my heart took another flight. Not being able to say a word I looked down at the grass, confused, aghast. What on earth is happening to me?
I did not pay attention to what they were saying my mind was lost, "Excuse me Ladies," here I peered at him, he was smiling, a small smile. A smile that had so many feelings it would take a whole page to express. "I better go and meet our guests, it was nice meeting you, Faith," He said and left; I was staring after him trying my best to figure out what was my problem? Was I scared of him? Was he intimidating more than the big man, Tybalt?
The birds took flight distracting me from the train of thoughts. Mia was sitting on a bench, enjoying the sun. I sighed thinking maybe I was over reacting, may be this was normal, because I was never normal around rich people to an extent that there were times I thought I hated rich people.
Shaking my head I walked and observed flowers. They had every flower, even the ones which were out of season, I am sure this had cost them a lot, flowers which don't even grow in this country were present, then again they were very rich. Though my favorite, Tulip wasn't here. I looked a little more for it but no luck. I suppose they do not like Tulip!
We sat around the table. Alina began random conversations; she was wise, really wise. Her eyes caught every movement and the way her hands moved showed how many thoughts were going through her mind. As for Mia she was way too kind, I started to like her the very moment I saw her, she was great, her personality made you open up, but I couldn't, rich people rang in my brain like they a constant reminder, an alarm that went off without warning.
My guard was up and no matter how much I tried to calm down, mainly because I was shy not comfortable with people like them. After a while we were called for dinner, when the mighty sun hid behind mountains and left a beautiful image on the waving ocean to welcome the other half of the world, we left the gardens and went inside to have dinner. I could feel my throat going dry and palms moist again.
~ ♥~♥~
Just like normal people we were seated around a table made of fine wood, so many plates I lost count of them, with food so perfectly cooked I was amazed. They were enjoying dinner. I remained silent for two reasons. First, even if I moved an inch I got their attention. Second, the most disturbing one was Cloud. I could feel his eyes on me. It was a miracle I hadn't sunk back in my chair, my ears were red but thanks to my hair they were veiled.
The conversation got heavier seeing that as a chance the huge man turned to me and I gulped anyone but him. "So Faith what do you like to do in your spare time?" I placed my fork down and smiled at him, or tried to.
"I have a blog, I write there," my answer was curt.
"Write about what?" Tybalt urged, chewing on his food and catching more attention to our conversation, which I didn't want at all.
"I try to bring forth the real face of unreal and dangerous myths," I said, with a shy tone, eyes only on Tybalt. I knew if I looked elsewhere I would go red of embarrassment. He arched an eyebrow, his scared one, cocked his head to the side then averted his heavy gaze just for two seconds in that two seconds everyone was looking at me and his gaze was unnerving the most.
"About what may I ask?" Tybalt questioned politely. I dug my toes in my shoes from all the unwanted attention.
The pumping of something in my chest increased, the bouncing of my foot slowed down and there was a little shake in my fingers, gathering my strength I answered," Assassins," when the words were spoken I heard mom gasp and Baron stare at me wide eyes.
They did know about my secret blog but they were not expecting me to say it here in front of Jayden's, in their house. As for the other family I couldn't explain their expressions, some were taken aback, others were impressed and the only person who was calm was Cloud.
"Is that so, why do you write about them?" Mrs. Jayden asked, pouring herself a drink. I did not want to drop the curtain of what exactly I did to my parents this way; they were disappointed I could see it in their eyes just like the time they found out what I use to do hours in front of the screen, going through books and journals. No one in this era talks about Assassin's, yet their quiet and reserved daughter writes about them in a blog is quite a shock.
"Certain matters the world should know about," my throat was dry so I paused letting my parents sink the information, the atmosphere on the table was as though my words were a warm air spiraling upward in the storm creating a deadly Cyclone.
Mrs. Jayden nodded, "That is really impressive, takes courage to write about Ansatsusha," my eyes widened when she said the word, the real name for those monsters. I glanced at mom, she had gone a little pale, the look in her eyes told me we had a lot to discuss and I sighed silently.
After the eventful dinner, desert was served, some left the table to the living room and I followed them taking a seat on the couches with the younger generation. I was slowly very slowly blending in but something that gave me hard time to even raise my eyes was Cloud's curious glances.
He was sitting right across me, never hesitating to stare in my eyes or at me it annoyed and scared me at the same time. I had to ask him something, anything so he might stop looking at me. His gaze was not of hatred or annoyance but of pure curiosity, why? I had no idea.
"Cloud," I bit the wall of my mouth hard as my eyes met his. "What activities you do when you have spare time in your hands?" I inquired in a small voice, looking in those mysterious eyes. A chill ran down my spine when he kept staring at me for more than five seconds. I looked away, if Tybalt's gaze was a blaze than his gaze was hell fire!
"I enjoy reading books, historical books." Cloud answered making me look at him, he smiled or I thought he did because it was hard to notice. How do people in this house stand his presence? How can they look him in the eyes, eyes that burned a blue fire?
I ignored him after that, did not look toward him and Tybalt. With the clock ticking, the topic turned to the violence in the world, we all had our views to share but I took a special note of something that interested me or you can simply say which annoyed me. Cloud had some harsh views regarding this topic, when I listened to him more closely I understood it hurt him seeing innocent people dying. Another different thing, as far as I know rich people are selfish and do not care about what happens to the poor, or the weak ones. His thoughts were dark toward those who caused the weak and poor pain and misery.
Surprisingly their chat never bored me, I am not a person who likes to have long talks on such serious matters but with them it went smoothly. They informed me that Tybalt and Rory helped their father in their business. Cloud wished to have his own company with his friend Alexander. As for their last brother, Wade, was different from all these serious men he lived his life, enjoyed being under the shadow of his brothers.
Trust me when you listen to people telling you about business you naturally feel down and low but the hospitality they gave was heartwarming. Then again I did not worry, I was independent, had a job brought a very good sum of money home, my parents were proud of me.
~*~*~
At almost 11:00 PM I decided it was time for me to leave, "Mrs. Jayden," I grabbed her attention, she looked at me with interest in eyes. "I think I should go home now, it's getting late and I have a meeting with the owner tomorrow," I smiled and looked at mom, sending her a signal with my eyes.
"But honey," mom and I stood up, everyone else copied our moves.
"We would love to stay more and talk about old time, but I think work comes first. Don't you agree Jayden?" Dad asked, Mr. Jayden who nodded.
"Faith can go, I understand she is busy and work like Baron said comes first," Mrs. Jayden then turned to mom. "I can't let you go, Iris, I want to have some more chat with you. How about you stay a little longer?" she added, mom glanced at me.
"Its okay, you can stay I really have to go," I told her, taking my bag.
"Cloud, would love to drive you back home," Mrs. Jayden said looking at Cloud, who sighed.
"Okay, thank you so much for the wonderful time," I said my farewell to all of them.
Well, it went well nothing out of usual happened.
Walking back to the door with Cloud, the man who captivated everyone, was not really a good idea, because my heart was beating fast. I was nervous, very nervous. He led me to his car which to my surprise was an expensive Porsche Panamera in white. Elegant and classy at the same time, I had to admire his taste in cars nothing so fancy like some men wish to have.
Just like the gentlemen they were or trying to be, he opened the door for me; with a small smile on lips I sat in and let out the breath I didn't know I was holding! Why is this man making me so nervous? Cloud sat behind the wheel and started the engine, again my heart worked overtime!
After a while of driving in complete silence he cleared his throat, "Faith, are you okay?" I looked up at him questioningly, a little taken a back at his weird question.
"Yeah am fine," then mumbled a silent lie.
"It was really wonderful meeting you and your family," he said, taking a U-Turn.
"Same here,"
"You did not tell us about your siblings," Cloud questioned, turning on the radio and leaving the volume low. I thanked him in my brain for that, the silent in the car was eating me.
"I was adopted, don't really know my family. Mr. and Mrs. Baron they are the only family I have," I smiled. He nodded not looking at me focusing on the road.
"Do you like working in a super market?" he asked. First I thought he was making fun of my job then the look on his face told me he was simply asking, trying to kill the awkwardness. I smiled a sad one and looked down at my hands in my lap. "I apologize for my investigation," he added quickly.
"No, its fine, as for your question It's not like I love working there, under my best friend but with all the situations I have to," I answered truthfully. This time he glanced at me, clearly wondering why I was working in a place I didn't like. He gave a short nod then looked at the road, the rest of the way we were silent.
After what seemed like eternity he stopped the car in front of my house, got out opened the door for me.
"Thanks," I got out and smoothed my skirt. "I hope I didn't cause you any trouble," I took a step forward.
Here he chuckled, making me stare at him for few seconds. Cloud shook his head. "It was a pleasure knowing you, Faith," there it was again, the smile on his lips, a smile I didn't know.
"You sure you don't want to come inside?" I added, biting my lip nervously.
"No thank you, It's quite late I better go," he replied, gently. I smiled, turned to leave that's when I remembered something so I spun around to face him again, he was standing there, mysterious and calm.
"Cloud, how did you know my address?" I frowned. He stared at me for few seconds.
"Your father gave it to me to make sure I get you home safe," Cloud simply shrugged his shoulders, with a last smile I turned and went inside.
The thing is I didn't see him talk to dad!
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