"Rum, I'll sell my hair to you."
My grip on the door tightened as I watched all 12 pairs of eyes staring back at me blankly. Rum's stormy eyes studied me intently that I could feel my stomach turn queasier with each passing second she watched me. And then her face broke into an unreadable smirk, which only served to make me even more queasy.
"Arianna," her perfect pearly white teeth were in full display.
I smiled nervously as I watched her stand up from the same pedestal she sat in last night. "Hi, Rum," I gripped the doorknob tighter the closer she approached my direction. She paused right in front of me before slinking her arm to mine. I froze as I stood awkwardly at the door before getting pulled into the room.
"Now, now, let's not just stand by the door, shall we? A business deal should be done in a proper setting." She looked so calm and collected leading me to the corner of the room where four leather chairs surrounded an intricate marble table - It was a far cry from the storm of panic swirling inside me.
"Sit," she instructed and I immediately obeyed. I unlinked our hands and sat on one of the chairs.
Rum gracefully sat opposite me and proceeded to cross her legs, her smooth shaven legs glistened under the dim lighting of the room. Instead of the skin-tight red dress she wore last night, she wore a dark emerald dress with a plunging neckline. Averting my gaze from the sight of her well-blessed bosoms, I met the gazes of ten men, a set different from last night's ten, who were staring at us with interest.
I looked back to Rum, who had carved a sultry smile on her face.
"So you want to sell your hair. I'm interested to hear your price."
I felt a little gassy from all the nerves so before I spoke, I took a deep breath before blurting out, "I need a fake passport to go to England."
Rum looked at me curiously, her head tilted to the side.
"Oh!" I suddenly remembered. "And you can't tell Tristan."
Rum's smirk returned before she let out a throaty chuckle which sent shivers running down my spine (in fear). "That's two requests in return for one. That's not how it works," she tutted.
I bit my cheeks, feeling slightly deflated at the half-rejection.
"But," Rum sing-songed playfully and my ears perked up.
"But?" I smiled hopefully.
"I won't say anything unless he asks. That's better than me dangling the cheese in front of him, yes?" She winked.
I weighed down her offer and shrugged in acceptance. Honestly, it was better than I expected as I really needed the passport more than anything else. "Okay." I accepted her offer. "And the passport will be ready soon?" If I could get it within the next few days, I'd be able to catch my parents in London - I'd just need to get my tickets now.
"It'll be ready in one hour."
My eyes widened. "One hour?"
Catching whiff of my surprise tone, she chuckled again. "I'm a woman and therefore very efficient." I smiled a little at her statement. "So when will I get that golden lock of hair for my payment?"
I smiled resolutely at her, relieved that my plan was going without a hitch. So far, at least.
I retrieved the scissors from the back of my pants and held it up to her surprised eyes - in some ways I revelled in the surprise look she was sporting because I was pretty sure not a lot could ruffle her feathers.
"I'll pay you now," I told her without thinking and proceeded to bunch my hair at the side of my left shoulders and snipped them off in one go.
Shit.
I released a breath I didn't realise I was holding when I chopped my locks off and looked at the gold strands of hair in my hand with a mixture of disbelief and awe.
I was crazy.
But I smiled because this was the first time I was actually doing something to save myself without anyone else's help and feeling like a helpless damsel-in-distress. A small surge of pride welled. And so I decided that whatever the outcome may output from tonight's actions I was not going to regret it.
I smiled bravely at Rum and handed over the metre's worth of golden lock. I watched her eyes gaze longingly at the sight of my hair and spied the restraint in her movement to all but grab the hair from my grasp. It felt weird watching Rum cradle my hair so lovingly but it was even weirder to see her sniff it.
My smile faltered.
I mean, I knew my hair was a unique shade of gold that could turn heads on the street but was it worth being creepy over?
Apparently yes to Rum because she looked at me and grinned almost manically and said, "Did I tell you I love gold?" She then snapped her finger and immediately one of the men from her shirtless harem ran towards her. "Give this to the wigmaker."
O-kay.
"I... Uhhh... I think I'll go now. I'll come back in one hour to get that passport," I stood up from the chair awkwardly, silently seeking her permission to be excused. Thankfully, she waved me off, her eyes still eyeing my thick mass of hair greedily as it got carted off by one of her henchman.
I made my way to the door to quickly scram but then halted as I thought of another favor I needed. "Hey, would you guys mind lending me a phone? I need to call someone." I bit my lip and looked at the nine guys standing at the side. All of them turned to look at Rum who flicked her wrist in a gesture of consent. I watched this dynamic with slight fascination and a lot of horror.
This woman. What was she?
One of the men handed me the phone and I quickly dialled in Penny's number.
"... H-helo?" she answered after what felt like ages. Honestly, it was really uncomfortable being stared at by nine guys as I made the call.
"Penny!" I brightened up in relief. "Okay, so I know this is ultra crazy late. But I need your help."
"Riri?" I could hear Penny shuffling on the other side of the line and the flicking of a switch - probably her light. "Are you okay? Oh, my God. Are you in trouble? Did Connor kidnap you? Should I call the police?!" Penny's frantic voice got louder with every question she asked.
I tried to calm her down. "Hey, Penz, no! No, really, I'm fine." I chuckled nervously as I realised that I had just disturbed this blonde's beauty sleep. "But I do need your help though. Can you meet me at the airport in three hours to help me buy tickets to London?"
A pregnant silence fell between us.
"WHAT?!"
I winced as I pulled the phone away from my ear.
"Penny, I swear I'll pay you back. Can you just help me buy the tickets, though? I can't do it because if I do it with my card then my Dad will know that I'm leaving the country."
I could feel Penny rolling her eyes from the other end. "I will kill you if you pay me back. But that's not what I mean. Why are you going to London? You are so bad at giving me context, you know that?"
I didn't know where to start. There were so many things I needed to fill her in from after she had left earlier today and so I promised her that I would do so tomorrow morning at the airport, which really was just three more hours away. That got her to shut up.
"Okay, meet me near the check in counter. I need to make coffee now to wake up."
I smiled gratefully to her even though she could not see it. Thank God for good friends. "Thank you, Penelope. I owe you big."
"Well, maybe you should start paying back your dues then," she muttered before ending the call. I sighed in relief that things were falling into place.
I then turned to the man who lent me his cellphone and sheepishly smiled. "One more call?" I didn't wait for his okay and just quickly dialled Hunter's number and asked him to meet me at his car in two hours. And to make sure that Tristan or any of his uncles/friends did not see him.
While I waited for them to get me my passport, I sneaked back up upstairs, going past Gin without him noticing me, carefully tip-toeing across the hall before making a break for the room I was sleeping in earlier. I needed to freshen up. I didn't even brush my teeth before I slept this afternoon and so my mouth tasted like a sewage tank.
Turning on the bathroom lights, I finally came face to face with my face post-hair cut. I tousled my hair to let the choppy, shoulder-length hair to fall into place more naturally and gently shaped my face.
I smiled.
I actually looked quite good with this hairstyle, surprisingly enough, given the fact that I just let it snip with a kitchen scissors.
My hair had not been short for a very long time - last was when Conor chopped it off in Switzerland. My parents always felt that women should never have short hair - archaic, yes, but with the little amount of time I ever saw them, rebelling and fighting about hair was just not worth it, so I kept it long to keep up the pleasantries during the brief moments I had with them. But this was definitely the shortest my hair had ever been. I could imagine the reaction my parents might have later when they saw me. I mean, besides the part where I had sneaked into the continent with a fake passport when I should have been under house-arrest in the first place.
After washing my face, brushing my teeth with the toothbrush I assumed Tristan left for me to use, I went out and looked for a piece of paper and a pen. It took me a good ten minutes to pen my words on the piece of paper and finally, I left it on top of the bed that I carefully made up again.
I shut the door behind me and felt a pang as I realised that I wouldn't even get to see Tristan's face before I left for good. I really would have tried opening all the doors to see which room he was in but he would have figured out in a fraction of a second that I had gone to Rum when he saw my hair. That boy was intelligent, there was no point denying it.
With my heart and mind resolved, I quietly bid Tristan, Someplace Downtown, and it's occupants goodbye, and went downstairs to retrieve my passport and left the place with Hunter's car.
_________
"You realise your Dad's gonna kill me, right?" Hunter was dragging my suitcase for me as adjusted the mini satchel that contained my cash and fake passport. The airport was not full, but considering that it was still early in the morning, there was a considerable amount of people wandering about. I silently manoeuvred us both towards the direction of the check-in counter.
I looked at him and smiled assuringly. "It's fine. That's why you're not going. I'll just tell him I sneaked out and did all this behind your back."
"That's not going to save me."
"Hunter, I won't let my Dad murder you," I gripped his free forearm and gave it a squeeze but I knew that the possibility that my Dad would grow ballistic towards Hunter was ridiculously high, no matter how much I could try to absolve him from any involvement.
"OH, MY GOD! ARIANNA! YOU CUT YOUR HAIR?" Penny's shrill voice drifted across from all the way the other side of the airport.
I grimaced at the sheer loudness and shrillness of it all, along with all the other patrons in the vicinity. But Penny had the thickest skin I knew and she just marched on, ignoring all the dirty looks she was receiving from everyone, and bounded over to us. "You look fabulous!" she grinned.
Hunter eyes her distastefully. "Really? I couldn't tell from the whisper that you just let out just now."
I rolled my eyes at Hunter and nudged him playfully. "Just an hour ago that was you, you know." I laughed as I shook my head. When I had met up with Hunter earlier by his car, he had shrieked and completely flipped his lid when he saw my short hair. I had to immediately cover his mouth in fear of him waking Tristan or Liam up, which, I supposed, was unlikely given the music that was blasting out from inside the club.
"Anyways," Hunter changed the subject. "So you sure this passport's gonna work? You're not going to get into trouble?"
I breathed out. "Well, I certainly hope not," I said as I passed the passport to Penny so she could go buy my tickets. "They gave me this clear glove to wear when I scan my fingerprints at immigration later," I held up my hand to show them. It did not look at like I was wearing a glove and it was supposed to be a 100% replica of human skin. It felt weird.
"Okay," Hunter nodded his head. "Are you really sure about this?" He asked again and I smiled at his concern. It was very sweet of him to worry about me.
"Yes, I'm sure. I mean, it's something I have to do," I reminded myself to stave the jitters away.
"But London? Alone?" He eyed me with skepticism.
"She's not going alone. I'm going with her."
My eyes positively bulged out of my sockets. "What? Penny, no, you are most definitely coming with me."
Penny rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm not going because I want to tag along with you. I'm going to see an old friend over there and you just happen to be on the same flight that I had intended to be on in the first place."
All three of us knew that was a lie.
I was judging her so hard. "Penny, you can't come."
"Ugh. Not everything's about you, okay. I'm serious. I'm going to visit a friend."
"Sure," I rolled my eyes again. "And your parents are okay with this?" I asked her pointedly. That was right. I pulled the parents card. As much as she claimed herself to be a wild girl, Penny was a surprisingly obedient daughter.
But then she smirked at me so confidently and I was immediately uncomfortable at whatever that was about to spill out of her mouth. "Yeah. I told them I was visiting a friend and they even gave me their credit cards to spend while I'm there so HAH!" She flashed her credit cards to me as if to prove her point and I could only bite my tongue from sticking itself out immaturely. She flipped her blond locks to the side. "Besides, what are you gonna do? Drug me so I can't get on the plane? Ugh, are you even trying?" She put her shades on and started dragging her designer luggage to the check-in desk.
I wanted to scream at her and say 'Who even wears shades at 6 a.m. in the morning in a building!' but opted otherwise because I was a sophisticated woman who did not do such uncouth things. But I did throw a beanie at her, which she promptly ignored as she proceeded to purchase our tickets at the check-in counter because the tickets office was still closed.
"Okay, Hunter, time for me to go!" I turned to my cousin and gave a nervous smile, because that was exactly what I was feeling.
I was going to confront my parents.
Holy wow.
Hunter gave me a brave smile and hugged me tightly that I could barely breathe. "I'm proud of you, kid. Doing big things on your own now. Feels like it was just yesterday that I was driving you around the city so you don't get cabin fever." I laughed at his dumb joke.
"That did happen just four days ago," I corrected him.
He let go of me and grasped my by my shoulders. "You stay safe, okay? And call me if anything happens."
My nervous smile changed to a soft one. "Thanks, Hunter. Sorry I'm always a brat."
"Stop saying this like you are saying goodbye. What? Are you not coming back after this?" He asked incredulously as if it was a nonsensical thing for me to say but the thing was, I actually did not know what was going to happen next. And so I kept quiet and just gave him one last quick hug before joining Penny at the counter.
"Alright, Ms Penelope Hayes and Ms Geraldine Yates, enjoy your flight!" The attendant smiled at us chipperly
"Yes, Geraldine, let's go before we miss our flight," Penny grinned cheekily, to which I ignored and proceeded to walk to the departure hall. I still had immigration clearance awaiting for me and suddenly, the coffee I had just ingested began to sit uncomfortably in my stomach.
But it turned out that I had nothing to worry as I passed the Immigrations officer barely bat an eye at me as I passed my fake passport to him and scanned my fingerprints. With a yawn and disinterested look on his face, he yelled "Next" and that was that.
I was going to London.