( Beverly Hills, California. )
Arian froze the second he stepped out of the elevator. The familiar voice echoing down the hallway caught his and his heart skipped a beat!
He whipped his head fast enough to break his neck to prove his senses weren’t playing a trick on him. Among the busy hallway filled with patients, nurses, doctors and visitors, his hopeful eyes caught a delicate figure running ahead.
The sweats confirmed it was a female. But what pumped Arian’s curiosity was the brownish blonde hair peeking out of the hoodie she wore over her head.
His eyes widened and his heartbeat accelerated out of control as he turned to run after her, but a restraining hand pulled him back.
“Arian! Where are you going? We have to sign out, remember? Let’s do it quickly. Tommy wants to murder me with his hamburger cravings.” Selena breathed, tugging him the opposite direction.
Tommy, being the manipulative little fox, faked a pout so the trip to the mall would be faster.
Arian looked back at the mystery girl but she was nowhere in sight. He stood waiting with his eyes in that direction, hoping she’ld come back but Tommy’s persistent whining softened his determination.
“Shall we?” Selena tugged at his sleeves impatiently. He looked over once more and bit his lip before scooping Tom into his arms.
“Yay!” The little fox squealed.
“Hey, remember your promise to behave! You guys go on, I’ll sign the discharge papers.” She watched them walk off before heading to the reception.
Selena bumped into someone.
“I’m sorry.” They apologized uniformly. Jake smiled politely and walked off to find Natalia.
As he walked away, Selena couldn’t take her eyes off him. Despite the fact that he was really cute, he looked very familiar…. too familiar.
She kept on staring, racking her brain to remember where she knew him from when the nurse on duty asked her to sign out in order to attend to the rest standing on the queue.
Selena flushed and signed out, wondering what they thought about her shameless gawking.
“Where have you been? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.” Jake almost scolded when Natalia stepped out of a random ward.
“An emergency came up. I didn’t even get my chocolate bar.” She groaned.
“Do you still want one?” Jake softened up.
“No. Let’s just head home.”
“We can have lunch at a restaurant if you’re still hungry?” He offered but Natalia wasn’t listening.
Her focus was distracted, gazing at something on the floor near the elevator. She walked over slowly and crouched to pick up the fancy brown bracelet which held a lot of memories.
Her fingers trembled slightly, feeling the warmth still on it.
Natalia forcefully blinked back the traitor tears and stood up when Jake asked her if she was alright. Her misty eyes looked around the hallway like a nervous girl on her first day of school.
“Take me away from here.” She whispered shakily. Her subordinate obeyed and swiftly led her out of the hospital…
***
Later that night, Elva forced an entire barbecued turkey down Natalia’s throat with a bowl of caesar salad and fruits.
The night was cold and she felt a little nostalgic. Sitting on her bed and clad in her nightwear, Natalia touched the bracelet in her hand and remembered, against her will, how it came to have so much meaning to her…
~~~
“But Sugar, I want to win you something nice.” Arian smiled when he caught her staring at a group of couples playing darts to win a prize.
It was the day they had snuck out of school and were at an amusement park after visiting the underwater aquarium.
Natalia declined feeling shy, but Arian persistantly pulled her over. So after a friendly competition, he won the extra large tigress doll which was almost the same size as Arla!
As per usual, the princess expected him to feel smug but instead, Arian went down on one knee to present it to her. She almost melted into jelly out of embarrassment because the crowd started cheering.
It was so romantic that she fell in love with him all over!
When their truancy later led them into a tourist market, she personally made the bracelet for him since she wasn’t athletic enough to win any prizes at the park.
Even though Arla had jealously ruined the big doll the second she saw it back at home, it was one of the most precious memories of their relationship…
“Hey, shuush! I’m here now.” Elva cooed and pulled her into a side hug. Natalia didn’t even realise she was tearing up. She hugged her knees and leaned her head on her chest as the tears fell more.
“I don’t know why it comes back to taunt me, El. B… but it hurts like hell!” She pulled her closer.
“It’s supposed to hurt. You can’t hide the pain anymore especially as you’re still in love with…”
“But I don’t want to!” She breathed and broke free. “I don’t like being weak and pathetic.”
Elva stood up too. “Natalia, being in love doesn’t make you weak.”
“No, it makes you stupid! Especially falling for the wrong person! Elva, you know how I possessively give my heart out to the few people I love because they’re all I have! Do you know the slow death I’ve been living since these past few months? The hurt feels suffocating! I wake up every night gasping for air like I’m drowning!
“Despite spending my entire life training to be independent, strong and self willed, he shattered me in a matter of seconds! Why? All because of a single period of weakness and intense stupidity!
“He ruined me, El! Arian destroyed my strength which was my heart. He sparked off all the anger, hate and bitterness consuming me on the inside! He betrayed me… He… he made me feel this way….” She fell weakly on her knees crying painfully. Elva left hers running and rushed to her.
“He’s literally married yet he still made me fall hopelessly for him. He wasted my love and played with my feelings. He made me feel cheap and used and manipulated all at once! I hate him, El. I hate him so much!” They sat together for minutes, bawling their eyes out.
Natalia needed the relief she felt afterwards. Soon, her tears reduced to a trickle. Elva never stopped brushing her hair softly and Arla kept meowing at her where she laid, cuddled at her feet.
“Ari… You know he might be at the event tomorrow night… with Selena. Will you feel up to it?” Elva whispered uncertainly. She was worried Natalia would melt down and break down again in public.
.
.
But how wrong she was.
“He can be present with whoever he wants. But that won’t stop me from being the phoenix I was raised and trained to be.” She gritted with cold determination in her eyes…
***
( The Croft’s Palace, Los Angeles. )
“Good evening, viewers at home! I’m Olivia Gomez from XYZ television, bringing it hot, spicy, juicy and live at the red carpet ceremony of the La Croft Empire’s 500th year anniversary!….”
Hundreds of reporters, both invited and not, actively wagged their tongues, reporting every detail of the ball above the chaos and madness of the crowd outside.
The evening was crazy! Flashes of the paparazzi brightened the darkening day. Countless elegant and hard to name cars and limousines parked in formation at the driveway, as their stylishly dressed occupants stepped out into the magnificent red carpet, to be greeted by the blinding lights of the cameras.
Everyone fought and pushed to get the best view! The camera and video men from different media houses struggled to capture the best angle at every stunning entrance.
Critics poised quietly to update every minor or major flaw in fashion and etiquette from the various invited celebrities and moguls. Bloggers trooped in to see things live for themselves as the fans screamed their lungs out at the sidelines.
The entire palace of the La Croft was bubbling with activities! One of the Empire’s biggest source of revenue was from the influx of tourists from all over the world to tour the Palace once every year under strict supervision.
So holding the greatest grand ball in the history of the famous Moon lake garden saved the invited guests millions of dollars to pay for a Royal tour!
The Moon lake garden occupied several hectares of land with different beautiful flower gardens and ancient, artistic stone sculptures. It was like a fairyland in reality.
The early guests roamed the gardens while the rest made their appearances at the red carpet outside.
Security crawled the Palace like bees. They wore the logo of the Empire on their coat pocket which was a white stallion in the middle of red roses. They controlled the insanity caused by the uninvited guests when any famous figure stepped out.
The smartly dressed valets diligently did their jobs of re-parking the limos owned by the guests into an underground parking lot. The pretty attendants guided them into the party while the hosts personally welcomed them.
The old Emperor Miller La Croft and his Queen fell into this category.
“Richard! Salvador!” Ricky’s dad, Sir Winterfield called out to his old friends, holding his stunning wife. They’d just left their limo and met them at the end of the red carpet.
“Michael! It’s been a while.” They smiled. Work never gave them time to meet.
Just then red, orange and white sport cars parked at the driveway and Ricky, Jeffrey and Damon walked out. Their entrance alone made the crowd go wild!
Some of them were students from school whose families weren’t influential enough to get invited. And the rest were from Beverly Hills… a place where everyone knew anyone.
Jeffrey’s plus one was Nicky, Damon came with Minji (Trust me, you don’t wanna know the details!) and Ricky came with Rihanna, Queen Bee’s bestie (Double trust me, You DON’T wanna know!!).
They walked over but Mom Rose became suddenly hypertensive.
“Where’s A….” She started but was cut off by the roaring engine of the latest A-mobiles upgraded sport car pulling into the driveway!….