A soft knock on my bedroom door woke me up and I prepared myself for the sun to attack my poor eyes. But it didn’t. I slowly opened them and saw the sunlight hidden behind the curtains of the windows. I pulled off the comforter and swung my legs to the side to get out of the bed. I walked towards the bedroom door, running a hand through my hair to ease out the tangles.
I opened the door to reveal a grinning Samara.
“Good morning, ma’am,” She greeted me.
“Samara, call me Juliet,” I said, giving her a small smile. “Uh… what time is it?”
“It’s past eleven in the morning. Mrs. Jenson asked me to wake you up for breakfast with her and your friend. I hope you’re not angry with me for waking you up,” She said as she looked at me nervously.
I gave out a chuckle. “It’s absolutely okay, Samara. Actually I’m glad you woke me up. And God, had I been sleeping for that long?”
“You must be pretty tired. Your friend told me that you went to bed at three in the morning.”
“Yeah… I wasn’t able to sleep. But anyways, you are calling me for breakfast?”
“Yes, ma’am,” she said and I raised my brows at her. Realizing her mistake, she quickly corrected herself.
“J-Juliet, yes Juliet.”
“Good,” I said. “Is my dad and uh… Ethan going to be there?”
“No, they couldn’t be there to have breakfast with you. Mr. Jenson has gone to work in his office and Mr. Evans had left for Marseille at five.”
“Oh,” I said, internally celebrating the pleasure of Ethan’s absence. I hope he stays there for the duration of my stay here. I can already tell how much I was going to enjoy not seeing his face. I was surprised at how I took an instant dislike to him.
Shaking my head to shove thoughts about him out of my head, I smiled at Samara and told her that I’d be there. I shut the bedroom door and made my way to the bathroom which was very spacious. There was already a tooth brush and tooth paste there. After brushing my teeth and making my hair look less than a bird’s nest, I walked down the stairs which led to the kitchen on the adjacent. I instantly caught sight of the many chefs, about four or five, working on an elaborate breakfast for us. On seeing me, one of the chefs who was working on something on the stove, straightened up and gave me a charming smile.
“Hello, miss Jenson. Good morning. Mrs. Jenson and your friend are waiting for you.”
“You all are making me feel like I’m the most unpunctual person in here,” I said.? And? you? all? are? treating? me? like? I’m? some? kind? of? royalty.? And? that? is? making? me? realize? how? I? don’t? deserve? all? this.? And? the? guilt? is? eating? me? up? alive? and? I? can’t? even? correct? myself.
“Uhm… I’m sorry, ma’am. I didn’t mean to make you feel that way.”
“Just call me Juliet, please,” I said, looking at the other chefs who were watching me. “And yeah, I wanted to say that you’re really excellent at whatever you do. You all have amazing culinary skills,” I complimented them.
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“Juliet,” I corrected him.
He looked uncomfortable. “I don’t think Mrs. Jenson would like that.”
“Oh come on, it’s alright.”
“O-okay,” He stammered and I chuckled.
“See you all later!” I said cheerily. The smile on my face dropped as I saw their dumbstruck expressions.? Juliet? doesn’t? do? that? then.? Damn.
“Um… continue with your work,” I said as curtly as I could manage, and quickly slipped out of the kitchen.
“Julie!” I heard Olivia call me and I whipped my head back to look her seated at a table.
I went over, taking a seat beside her.
“Where is my mom?” I whispered to her and I saw a slow grin spread across her face as she heard me call Mrs. Jenson, my mom. I rolled my eyes at her.
“She just left. Apparently, you were taking a shit load of time to get ready and she had a business to look after. She said she’ll be with us in an hour. Our shopping trip has being postponed. It’ll be tomorrow. Mrs. Jenson told me that we are having a spa day today. We should see ourselves. We look like utter crap.”
I scrunched up my nose before looking down at myself and then back up at her. “No we’re not. We look normal.”
“Whatever. For them, we look like shit,” Olivia deadpanned. “She told me that she has restricted entry of other people into her mall. We have the whole freaking mall to ourselves where we can get shit from the top designers! Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Zuhair Murad, Prada, Jimmy Choo, Christian Dior, Versace! I can go on forever!” She exclaimed, eyes wide and her mouth hanging open. I was pretty sure my face resembled hers right now. She leant back in her chair, reassembling her facial expression. “She owns the mall. So that must not have been hard to get the whole mall empty. And she did this just so that you, Juliet would be comfortable,” she said, looming at the table, “She must really love her daughter.”
“I don’t know what to say,” I muttered.
At that moment, the servers came out with our breakfast. My stomach growled as I smelt the delicious smell of the food. Plates of apple pie oatmeal, chocolate chip waffles, chocolate crepes and applesauce pancakes were placed in front of Olivia, giving her a variety of breakfast options to choose from. My mouth watered at the sight.
But? then I saw something really horrific. Before me, was cold cereal, yoghurt, a fruit salad, a glass of low fat milk and water. I eyed the dishes in front Olivia and me.
“I believe these are for you,” I said, pushing the plate of salad and cereal towards her.
“Nuh uh,” Olivia said, her mouth already stuffed with waffles. “The healthy shit is for you and this,” she said, gesturing towards the food heaven spread in front of her, “is for me.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Who told you I will eat this?”
“Your mom. Juliet, I mean you, are a total health freak and doesn’t eat unhealthy food. Juliet spends two hours everyday in the gym. She mostly survives on salad and water. And you have to do exactly the same, unfortunately.”
I shook my head at her. “No way am I going to do this. I can’t do this! It’s impossible. Look, I can survive long hours without food but when I need to eat, I need to eat something I like and not like I’m some domestic animal. Salad and water? What is she, a cow?”
“But-”
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say to me,” I said, grabbing the plate of chocolate crepes from her and shoving it in my mouth angrily.
“At least don’t eat like a pig. You have to act posh and sophisticated,” She said, munching on her chocolate chip waffles and straightening her shoulders.
“I will act the way I want to. And I hate you for doing this to me. I knew I was going to regret it. You are the worst best friend one could possibly have,” I exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at her.
“Whoa, calm down, girl. What’s gotten into you? Do you really think they’ll believe you if you told them who you really are? No! They won’t. So please just accept it and go with it for now. I know we can’t stay here forever. But please, for the time being can you act like Juliet? I promise we’ll try to get out of here.”
I rubbed my hands up my face and pulled at my hair. “I don’t know what to do. What if we get caught? All these people here are treating me like I’m the most important person in the whole freaking world and I don’t like it because I know I don’t deserve this and all this is not meant for me.”
I felt her hand squeeze my shoulder. “Julie, calm down. I know this is not normal and it’s overwhelming for you, the attention and everything. But seriously, just trust me and I promise I’ll try to get us out of here,” She pulled her hand back. “But for the time being, just enjoy because you’ll never get to experience this again. And then you’ll regret worrying about what’ll happen next now, rather than enjoying the moment. You’ll stop worrying about this, right?”