My imagination was cut short when I realized we had stopped walking. I looked around to see we had entered a store. “I’m Farah, this is Diana and Lucy,” Farah said, gesturing to the other two women by her side. “Mrs. Jenson told me to show you everything that is in our store, and we’re sure you’d love everything. After all, these are all sourced from top brands, right off the runway for parties, events and much more. I think we should start off with party wear because Mrs. Jenson had earlier called us up and updated us with your visit and your schedule for the day. We’re here to help you get everything you’ll need, from casual wear, party gowns, bags and shoes to make up, skin care products and much more,” She said in one breath.
“Okay,” I said, getting impatient to see all those dresses. I can’t believe this was happening.
“Here is our party wear collection from Jovani, Ralph Lauren, Faviana, Terani Couture, Versace, Prada, Giorgio Armani, Gucci and many more. I’ll be at the counter if you need me,” Farah said, pointing to the big counter at the entrance of the store labeled ‘Party in Style’. “I’ll be free to help you out anytime. Diana and Lucy will show you some of our most beautiful gowns. Have fun!” With that, Farah gave us a huge smile before walking off to the counter where she settled herself amongst the posh counter and immersed herself into work. I stared at her for a while, not knowing what to do.
“Juliet! How is this gown?” I heard Olivia say and I turned my head to look at her pointing to a black strapless evening gown hanging on a hanger, with beautiful pattern work around the neckline and a thigh high slit, which Lucy was holding up for us to look at.
“It’s beautiful,” I said honestly, staring at it like a kid would would stare at candy.
“I know, right?” She said excitedly. “Why don’t you choose some gowns for yourself?” She said.
“Uhm… okay,” I said. Diana smiled at me as she held up two more equally amazing gowns for me.
“I think this will look beautiful on you,” she said and I stepped closer to examine the piece of clothing. One was a red wine colored halter dress and the other was a white sleeveless metallic gown.
“I like these,” I said as I examined closely. My fingers ran around the fabric of the wine colored dress before freezing around the price tag.
$5, 700?!
What the hell?! This absolutely gorgeous and sexy metallic gown which looked like it was straight off the runway is for freaking $5, 700?! Oh God!
Just one party dress costs this much! And Juliet used to buy loads of them. That means… oh my God, she must be spending like nearly a million dollars on shopping?
My attention snapped to Olivia who was checking out some dresses but I saw her eyes widen and she looked at me instantly.
Holy? fuck!? I saw her mouth the words to me. $2, 200?!
What? did? you expect? $22?? I
scoff-mouthed at her.? The? woman? is? a? billionaire!
Shit!? I understood what she mouthed. And that was why we were best friends. We understood each other in a way no one could. If someone happened to see our silent conversations, they would think we were retarded.
Olivia shrugged.? It’s? not? like? we’re? going? to? pay? for? it.? She mouthed, to which I just gave her a glare.? What?!? It’s? not? like? they? care? about? it? anyways.? They? wouldn’t? even? notice? a? million? or? two? gone? among? their? hundreds? of? billions? worth of? wealth.? She defended.? Just? think? about? it? as? concession? from their side for? kidnapping? us.? And? it’s? not? like? we’re? going? to? take? these? with? us? when? they? come? to? know? about? the? truth,? although? I? would? have? loved? to? keep? a? few? dresses…? She trailed off.
Olivia!? I scolded her.
Gosh,? I? was? just? kidding, you? saint.? She said, muttering something at the end which I couldn’t quite catch.
Shaking my head, I turned back to the dresses. Guess I had some, well actually a lot of shopping to do, from gowns to bags to shoes to accessories to make up to underwear to bikinis to casual wear to pajamas. At least that was what I was told to shop for.
***
I flopped on the bed, resurfacing and dipping down again slightly on it because it was just so bouncy, and so comfortable that the moment my head touched the pillow and my body hugged the soft duvet, I just wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball with the covers wound tightly around me and sleep as if there was no tomorrow. I was? that? exhausted.
I never really thought that shopping would be this energy and time consuming until today. We had been at the mall for more than four hours. It was as if I was shopping for my wedding, or shopping as if I had no clothes at all at home. The life of a billionaire’s daughter was sure frustrating and tiring. I could not help but sympathize with Juliet. Doing this every now and then would be the death of me. I would literally go mad if I was in Juliet’s place. Or get angry at the slightest provocation. Juliet didn’t seem that bitchy after all. If any, she was strong to cope up with the stress of being the daughter of someone so famous and rich. And she was barely eighteen when she ran away. She was so young and she dealt with this pretty well. I didn’t know her much, heck I didn’t even know how she looked, but I hoped she would come back to her parents soon. Even if that meant that our lie would get discovered and we would be kicked out. Nothing was worse than having to live through the experience of being without their own child. And nothing was more heartbreaking than living without their own parents. I related with that so much.
I sighed, covering my face with my hands. I was dressed in a comfortable pair of short shorts and a tank top. The clothing was minimal but appropriate for bed. Besides, it was not like anyone was going to see me in these clothes here. As I stared at the ceiling, I ran through today’s events.
Together, we had nearly picked about thirty dresses, all very costly, may I add; and beautiful of course. Then we had moved to the casuals section where we had bought a lot of jeans, tops and shorts. After that we had moved to the make up section where Mrs. Jenson was also present, trying out a new eyeliner from some make up brand. We almost bought the whole store. Then we moved to the bags, going through every brand of bags and clutches to go with our clothes. Olivia’s favorite was the shoe store where we bought loads of converses, stilettoes, which were extremely hard to walk into, may I add, and flats and flip flops too. We had had enough for the day and were so tired, I wanted nothing more than a bed right now.
At dinner we had a great meal laid out before us. Thankfully, I wasn’t given cow food again. Although my happiness was short lived when Mr. Jenson announced that Ethan was going to return back from Marseille late tonight or probably tomorrow morning if he missed a flight because he was late for some of the meetings which took up hours of time. Secretly, I wished he would miss every single flight back to New York and stay there in Marseille for as long as I was here.
After that I was shown my walk-in closet which was now fully and completely stacked with clothes, shoes and bags we shopped for, today. The walk in closet was huge and I looked at the long line of clothes neatly stacked on the hangers in amazement. The shoes all fit in the big shoe rack, surprisingly because I was doubting it will even fit half of the shoes we bought. The make up products and creams were in the dresser which had an oval shaped mirror.
Now I was here, at 11:34 at night, completely drained of my energy, after having a warm shower and a long, tiring day. I was already in my bed, flopped down with my arms and legs spread as wide as possible. I flailed my arms and legs around on the bed, like one would do on snow, enjoying the silky, soft fabric beneath me.
Everyone was asleep and I wanted to do the same badly. Just one problem, I was too tired to even switch the light off and take the duvet over me, and I didn’t want to call Samara to do that for me. I was feeling? that? lazy.
Nonetheless, I reluctantly got up after a ton of effort. I went downstairs, peed, drank some water, went back upstairs, kicking the door of the room behind me. I switched off the lights, pulling the rubber band off and running a hand through it, while slightly massaging my head. I quickly dove into my bed, pulling the covers over me while sticking my toes out from the duvet because I just liked to do that for some reason.
The moment my head touched the pillow, sleep engulfed me and my eyes closed of their own accord almost immediately.
***
It felt as if hours had passed. I was dead tired but I wasn’t able to sleep as deeply as usual. I was half asleep. At the back of my mind, I was aware of my surroundings. I could here the faint, almost inaudible sound of the second hand tick by, of the alarm clock resting on the nightstand. It was quiet. Too quiet, as if I awake in the middle of the night but was asleep at the same time.
I snuggled my face deeper into something soft. I found myself trying to recollect some event. Something that didn’t happen but I saw it happening. Suddenly, a few hazy images flashed at the back of my eyes. Someone was crying. In an instant, I knew it was me. I tried to make some sense of what I just saw. It felt unreal. After a while of trying, I gave up on recollecting those images in my head. Wherever they came from, it didn’t feel like it happened at all.
A few minutes must had passed by. I was still aware of how my eyes were tightly shut, as if I was not able to open them, or better, didn’t want to open them. I heard a faint voice of a dog’s bark somewhere outside.
Somewhere in the background, I heard something screech quietly against the floor. I brushed it off as some sort of sound made by the wind. Then I heard even quieter thuds. They were getting nearer, a pause, and I felt something dip beside me, pulling me slightly down with it. I felt a weight around my waist, something warm snaking itself around me.
I didn’t have enough time to think about it, because as soon as I felt something drape around the exposed skin of my waist, I was jerked back in an instant. I felt my back hit something hard and equally as warm as the thing that had settled on my waist. My eyes shot open in fright, causing me to completely wake up by then.
I froze as warm air flushed on my neck, giving me goosebumps. Something moved behind me as I felt something cold lightly graze the back of my neck. The weight around my waist tightened and I gave out a low gasp.
Someone was in my bed, right behind me, breathing down my neck and I was two seconds away from screaming my lungs out and shitting bricks.