“Only one word; beautiful. This is beautiful,” I whispered, my voice barely leaving my lips as I took in the sight in front of me, where I would be living for the duration of my stay at the mansion.
“So, you like it?” Mrs. Jenson asked and I could almost hear the hesitation and nervousness in her voice. It almost made me want to cry seeing the old lady nervous and anxious to know if I liked it or not.
I shook my head at her. “I don’t like it, I love it,” I corrected, beaming at her, “Mom,” I added.? I? love? how? the? word? sounded? when? I? spoke? it.? I? miss? my? mom.
Mrs. Jenson surprised me by stepping towards me and taking me in a tight hug.
“I’m so glad you’re back,” she whispered, sighing into my hair. “I missed you so much,” she said, pulling back and cupping my cheeks before kissing my forehead. My heart warmed at her motherly affection and although she wasn’t my real mother, I was happy. I hugged her back and we stayed like that for a very long time before Olivia walked into the room, coughing to get our attention and we pulled away to see her standing at the doorway awkwardly.
“Hey, come on in,” my mom beckoned to Olivia and she stepped into the room, her eyes flying wide open and her mouth almost forming an ‘o’. “How is her room?”
“This is so beautiful,” Olivia whispered, saying exactly what I had said. Because my room was just that. Beautiful.
My room was big. Bigger than the room I had been staying in. About two times bigger than my old apartment. It was done up in a white and baby pink color combination with smooth white marble tiles and a purple-white design on one of the walls. Pink was not my color, but I wasn’t complaining. I didn’t have the right to complain either, seeing as I didn’t own anything of this. I preferred blue and black. Black, if I had to choose between the two. But the colors wouldn’t look cheerful for the room, if any, it would be depressing to look at.
There was a big walk-in closet in my bedroom which was bigger than my bedroom at my old apartment. It had all those big compartments to keep clothes in with a full length mirror with a table on the side. It had a big wall mounted shoe rack, which I was sure would fit more than hundred pairs of shoes. The whole closet interior was also done up in baby pink, which I thought was slightly extreme. Too much pink but okay, I had no right to complain, I reminded myself.
There was a big, queen sized bed with white pillow covers and a large baby pink duvet back in the spacious bedroom. Right on top was a huge chandelier dangling and the wall behind my bed had a simple pink flowers and green branches design. Numerous books were stacked in the shelves and when I asked Mrs. Jenson about it, she told me that she remembered how I loved to read. Seemed like Juliet and I do had a thing in common. I thought we were complete opposites.
On the right was a table with drawers. A sleek black and gold Luvaglio laptop, an iPhone Black Diamond and headphones were resting on it. Seeing the iPhone reminded me of my own phone. I instantly felt relieved that I was smart enough to put a password on my phone. On asking, Mrs. Jenson told me that my phone was safely placed in one of the drawers and although she told me that now I have an iPhone Black Diamond, I still wanted to use my small smartphone.
It was the first thing I had bought with my own money and I was pretty proud of myself. I couldn’t just throw away the phone which I bought with my own hard earned money. It held a lot of sentimental value for me. It reminded me of how independent I had become and no way would I ever give it up. It was one of my priceless possession, besides my mom’s necklace and my dad’s watch which were safe in my closet, locked in a black box back at my small and old apartment. I sighed. I hoped I can get that someday. I didn’t know how long I’d be here among this elegance and finesse.
“That’s great! I’m so glad you both like it! I wanted everything perfect for my baby princess,” Mrs. Jenson said lovingly.
I smiled widely at her and Olivia.
“I’ve got a lot planned for today. We’re going clothes shopping for you and Olivia and it’s going to take a lot of time as we have to shop for shoes, dresses, make up, bags, perfumes and a lot of things. All of your choice, Juliet!” Mrs. Jenson exclaimed. “We better start early. I have made the mall private for eight hours and the public has being restrained from entering the mall for today. I did it all for you so you wouldn’t be uncomfortable.”? Could? this? even? be? possible?? A? mall? private? for? us? for? eight? hours?
I just stared at her as she explained what we were going to do. This woman, right in front of me, was the most amazing mother to Juliet. She did so much for her daughter. I was shocked. She really treated her daughter like a baby princess. That was natural. She had been away from Juliet for two years. And she still hadn’t met her. I was just someone she thought was Juliet.
“And what about the paparazzi, Mrs. Jenson?” Olivia’s question brought me back to the present and I looked over at her.
“Don’t worry about it, dear. I’ve already taken care of it. I can understand that after two long years, Juliet must not be ready to face the cameras. So I’ve ensured that the entrance and exits of the store are heavily guarded,” she said with an enthusiastic smile. “Nobody even knows that we have found Juliet.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Olivia replied.
“Well then, we must get going. I was ready to let my personal shopper pick clothes for you, but you wanted to pick it out for yourself so we should not waste time,” she said.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Olivia said before linking my arm with hers and dragging me out the door.
We were already ready, bathed, changed into clothes and had a heavy breakfast before I was shown to my room and now we were all going shopping for Olivia and I.
“Where are we going shopping though?” I heard Olivia ask my mom as she excitedly slipped in a pair of light blue converses. I was handed the same. “I mean where is your mall?”
“Aventura mall,” Mrs. Jenson answered with a smile. “A nearly twenty minute ride from here.”
“Oh my gosh!” Olivia exclaimed, barely able to hold her excitement. “Aventura?! As in Aventura?!” Olivia asked.
My mom looked over at her in amusement. “Yes. Exactly as in Aventura.”
“I had been there,” Olivia gushed. “But left as soon as I came when I saw the price tags,” she muttered in the end, not meaning for Mrs. Jenson to hear, and thankfully she didn’t. But I did and so I chuckled.
We made our way out of the mansion where three beautiful cars were waiting for us. I gasped at the sight.
One was a black Mercedes-Benz Maybach Exelero, another was a silver Aston Martin One-77 and the third one was a Bugatti Veyron.
“Do we need all the three?” I asked. Will we get our own car to drive in?!
“Well, of course. We are three and so we obviously need three cars. Now come on you girls. Haven’t you seen these cars ever?”? No.
We skipped towards the car, Olivia and I wanting to sit in the same car, the black beauty, Mercedes-Benz.
I reached first and so I hopped into the backseat of the car, giggling as I heard Olivia groan.
“Juliet, will you use the Aston Martin car?” She asked me sweetly.
“Absolutely not, Olivia,” I said, grinning up at her. She looked at me sourly.
“Oh come on, Julie,” she whispered. “Let me sit in this car!”
“No can do, miss. And have you forgotten? I am Juliet Jenson, the billionaire’s daughter,” I said, squaring my shoulders and fake glaring at her.
“Huh? More like the billionaire’s unauthentic daughter,” she scoffed before walking away after giving me a glare. I laughed at her.
A man in black shades and a black suit with a white shirt underneath came up to me and shut the door for me before walking around the car and getting into the driver’s seat.
I rolled up the heavily tinted windows, catching the sight of Olivia getting into the Aston Martin and Mrs. Jenson in the Bugatti Veyron. I smiled to myself. My life had taken a crazy, yet beautiful turn.
We reached the mall in about thirty minutes. As promised, the entrance was heavily guarded. I saw a throng of reporters crowding the entrance. As our cars drove into the mall’s parking lot, I saw their attention shift to us. They were held back from entering and we got out of the cars, not really visible to the people outside, at the entrance. Apparently they had heard that the mall was going private for a few hours and that had never occurred in two years so they were curious as to what was going on.
“Juliet, dear. This way,” I heard Mrs. Jenson say to me and I whipped around to see her. She beckoned for me to follow her and I did with Olivia. As we entered the mall, the first thing I noticed was the bright and cheerful interior.
Aventura was one of the most expensive fashion malls in New York with refined de la Renta furniture and coral stone walls. It was a nearly one hundred thousand square feet mall. It had a magnificent catwalk like shoe display, luxurious VIP dressing areas and outstanding jewelry exhibitions. I had never set foot in the mall ever in my life. This was the first time and I was amazed at being in there, the whole place screaming money and elegance, all of which I was not.
“Just take whatever you want, Juliet and Olivia. I’ll be in the other section looking for clothes for myself,” Mrs. Jenson said. “This feels so odd. Usually, my personal shopper shops for me. The last time I shopped for myself was probably a few year ago,” she mused. I saw a couple of women approaching us. They greeted us with charming smiles.
“What would you like to buy? We have an awesome latest women’s summer collection and an equally amazing range of shoes, bags and jewelry to choose from,” one of them said.
“Show me some beautiful and expensive party gowns. There are a lot of events coming up,” Mrs. Jenson ordered. “As for these young ladies,” she said, gesturing to us, “Just give them whatever they want. The fashion choices for young ladies have changed so much,” she said, shaking her head, “I don’t know what they prefer nowadays.”
“Okay, ma’am. We’ll show you some gowns. If you would please follow me,” one of them stepped forward. Mrs. Jenson nodded.
“Mrs. Jenson,” Olivia called out suddenly. Mrs. Jenson turned around to look at her. “Um… how many dresses are we supposed to pick out for ourselves?”
“As many as you like,” she replied. “Thirty, forty… whatever number of dresses, shoes or bags you want. Don’t care about the price. Don’t even look at it. Juliet surely doesn’t and ends up picking about fifty gowns in one go.”
My mouth popped open.? Damn,? such? a? rich? brat!? Who? would? leave? a? life? like? this? for? as? silly? a? reason? as? refusal? to? buy? your? love? interest?? Stupid,? stupid? Juliet.
“Uh-uhm… al-alright,” Olivia stammered, certainly not expecting the answer Mrs. Jenson gave her. When we two used to go shopping, we rarely bought more than two dresses each. And Mrs. Jenson, so very coolly, as if she told us we can buy fifty candies, told us that we can buy fifty freaking dresses, shoes and bags. This was so crazy.
Mrs. Jenson left us alone with the two women working in the mall. They asked us to follow them and we did. They led us to the first floor of the mall which was the clothing section. I looked around. No one was there. I had never seen a mall this empty of life. It was as if a zombie apocalypse had wiped out the human population on Earth and we were the ones alive. I chuckled to myself. I had always imagined what I would do if I was a sole survivor on Earth. I’d probably rob malls, wear all those expensive clothes I couldn’t afford, eat all of the food in the malls. Probably play paintball with Olivia if she was also alive with me. It would be so much fun.