Kapitel 12: 12. Visit

Rory thought she didn't hear right. Yes! Maybe she had heard wrong.

Her what? Her new room?

Her eyes were wide open, mouth agape as she looked at Hayford and then turned to look at the room.

It was a big room. Very big. About two sizes her room back home. Or maybe bigger... And the room was well furnished. There was a queen-sized bed in the middle far end of the room, behind the bed at the head end was a huge blue-black curtain, covering from floor to ceiling. A beautiful white bulb shone the room to life. The room had light blue painted walls, and a rug matching the curtain was spread in front of the bed. Her eyes moved to the left of the bed, where a vanity mirror made of dark blue painted wood stood with nothing arranged on it. She wondered if this room was previously occupied or not. There was a door just to the right of the bed, and she guessed it would be the washroom or the closet? She wanted to have a look, but she was so shocked to even move.

This was her room?? What happened? Why were they being nice?

"This... this is my room??" Rory asked, still with a surprised expression.

"You don't have to move back to the old room. Your things will be sent up here. And let me know how you like the arrangement and furnishing. I'll change whatever you don't want to be here."

Are you kidding me, she wanted to say.

"I like it this way, sir."

"Hayford." He corrected.

"Hayford..." Rory repeated in a whisper as she nodded.

"I'll be leaving. Get yourself familiar with the things in here." Then he left.

Wait, this must be a dream.

Rory now could move. Her legs carried her to the door she saw earlier and opened it gently, as if afraid to see someone in there. As expected, she saw a range of cabinets. Okay so that was the closet, she thought. She couldn't wait to arrange her stuff. She walked further into the room when she saw another door. The washroom. It looked very cosy with the bathtub and the shower. She suddenly felt like having a bath.

Suddenly she heard a knock, followed by someone entering. She went back into the room and saw Hayford leading about three guys with her things. They sent them to the closet and left.

As soon as they left, she pinched her cheeks hard and hissed in pain. So this was real!! She wasn't dreaming!! She got a new room? Unbelievable!

Okay, she should just get to work and arrange all her stuff. She loved to organise her stuff and stand back and enjoy the view with a foolish smile. She used to do that all the time back at home. She would sometimes drag her mother to come and have a look at how she had arranged her stuff. She laughed at the thought and started unpacking her things from the chest. She was having fun arranging her new room. She was humming and folding her stuff as she moved up and down, dancing to her songs till she was done with her work of art as she called it. Then she fell on her back on the bed to relax.

God! The bed was so soft and comfy. She turned to her side and smelled the sweet roses scent in the light blue sheets. Wait, it looked like all the colours in the room were shades of blue. Was a man the previous occupant? She thought, as she looked around and thought of what to do with the walls. She loved painting. Maybe she should paint some fun stuff of these walls to bring more life to the room. She would do some space-themed arts on the walls to compliment the colours in the room. And she loved flowers and plants. Her room back home had flower pots at all the corners and on every table. Even in her washroom. Yes, she should bring flowers in here...

Suddenly her smile faded as reality donned on her...

She was in bondage. She was almost like a prisoner now. There was no way she could be comfortable. And for a moment she thought maybe they had misheard the instruction and she was not supposed to be in that room. Maybe the boss had ordered her to be thrown into some dungeon and not in this luxurious room.

Her shoulders fell. Why didn't this come to mind earlier? What the hell was wrong with her to think of behaving like she was free? Looking around at her arrangements, they looked like mockery in her eyes now. She felt so ashamed of herself for doing all that. How funny it would be if it turned out she was not supposed to be there. She chuckled wryly and sniffed, and that was when she realised she was crying.

Wiping her tears, she got up and walked towards the vanity. She would pack all her stuff back into her bag. She couldn't look at all that mockery. She dragged her chest towards the vanity and started throwing her cosmetics in. She felt so humiliated. Her dad left her in such a state. Thank him so much for that.

She sent the chest to the closet after she was done. She looked at all her clothes she had hanged and thought of removing them all, but stopped. She felt tired of all the emotional turmoil. She needed some rest. She went back to the room and fell on the bed and cried. She had accepted from then that her life had changed. For the worse, if not worst already.

Rory didn't know when she fell asleep, she only woke up with a splitting headache. She attempted getting up, and a wave of dizziness hit her, causing her to fall back on the bed with a low growl.

Foolish girl, she scolded herself. Why did she cry that much?

She managed to turn in bed, and felt some warmth around her. She realised she was covered with a blanket and she pulled it tightly around her to sleep some more. Her head ached, and she felt a bit weak to get up, so she might as well sleep some more. She closed her eyes and relaxed in bed when realization hit her.

How was she covered in the blanket? She didn't remember covering herself. Wait, she sat up on the bed, closed her eyes and tried to remember...

She had removed her things from the vanity mirror and came back to bed and cried and... And what? She just slept off. She didn't cover herself. How...

"Drink some water." A deep, masculine voice almost caused her to fall off the bed. She stiffened and remained looking the other way. Her head refused to turn. Did she hear someone's voice? Or maybe she was just imagining things now...

Slowly, she turned to her side, where she was sure she heard the voice come from, and met the smouldering gaze of him. The boss, Mr. Dangerous Man, Seated in the dark blue Victorian chair just by the vanity.

Rory sprang up quickly from the bed, almost falling off because of the rush and bowed her head low. Oh no! what was she supposed to do now? Apologise? Greet? She didn't have time to think through her options when she found herself speaking.

"Go...good morni...Sorry... good afternoon, sir." Her voice came out hoarse and patched. Her throat felt dry which made her swallow her own spit to cool down her throat.

Derek almost couldn't hold the chuckle that threatened to force it's way from his mouth. This lady, how could she be so cute? He was so amused that he didn't realise one side of his lips had curved into a slight smile. But it was a quick gesture that quickly vanished as it came.

"Good evening." He corrected the disoriented lady in front of him.

Rory bit her tongue in embarrassment. Right, so it was evening already and she was here greeting morning. How embarrassing... Her head was still low as she shifted her gaze from foot to foot.

Derek got up and strolled carefully towards her, causing her heart to almost leap from her chest. She lifted her gaze to his face with wide eyes, but quickly turned her eyes away when they met his. She took some few steps back, and Derek stopped.

Was he that scary? Why was she looking so shaking in his presence? Derek thought as he looked down at the girl as he stood about three feet away. His eyes shifted to the glass of water he placed on the bedside drawer and turned back to her.

"Drink some water." He said in a more relaxed tone, trying as much as possible not to scare her too much.

Well, he couldn't blame her. Most people feared him. Even his comrades feared him at some point when they started working with him. They still do, just that after some years of being with him, they've come to learn his different moods and expressions and tried not to be on his bad side. So it was completely normal to him when someone showed fear towards him. So why was he not okay this time? Why did this lady's actions make him feel... somehow... What was it that he felt at all?