Writer’s P O V
“Hey, are you okay?” Isaac asked, following his sister into her new room. He had noticed that since yesterday, she had been zoning out on conversations and sometimes got lost in her thoughts.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Why do you ask?” She didn’t look up at him as she folded her clothes into her closet.
“You just.. you look lost in thought. Since yesterday you haven’t been able to get a grip of yourself. It’s the weekend and I’m gonna go get some groceries for the house. Care to follow?” Isaac asked, hoping to get her out of the house today.
“No, no. I’ll just stay right here. You know the king is around, I’ll stay here in case he needs me.” She answered, offering him a small smile.
“Really? Are you really gonna be okay without me around?” Isaac scoffed.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, about your sister, Kate. She is beautiful and it’s all because of the makeup, designer wears on her. You are way more beautiful than her, stop letting her get to you okay? You are better than her, I just wanted to tell you that.”
Serena smiled shyly. “Thanks, you are always making me feel great. Thanks ”
“So, when are you going to get groceries? What time?” Serena questioned.
“In an hour I suppose. Have you changed your mind about following me?” Isaac asked.
“No, no. I just wanna know, that’s all.” Serena replied, dropping the clothes and going to lay on her bed.
“And I wanna sleep.” She added before losing her eyes tiredly.
“Ok, sleep tight. I’ll be with Kendrick,” Isaac said, walking out through the door and shutting it behind him.
Serena sat back up on the bed immediately Isaac left and checked the time on her phone.
She had two missed calls from Martins and decided to call him back.
“Oh, Martins. I’ve been ignoring your calls and texts, I’m so sorry.” She muttered to herself, hearing the line ring.
But then what Kate said to her yesterday flashed in her head.
“Any guy that dares come close to you will only want to use you. I know guys and that’s why I’m warning you.”
She ended the call before he could respond, her breathing laboured out as she let her phone call to the bed.
She stood up on her feet and paced about for a while before picking up her phone again. She went outside the castle and sneaked to the garage.
She was lucky that there wasn’t a lot of security at the garage. She went to Isaac’s Jeep and opened the truck before climbing into it and slamming it shut.
It was dark and small in there and she was glad she wasn’t claustrophobic nor scared of the dark.
Ok, Serena. This is for the best, this is way better than getting Isaac and Kendrick involved. Issac won’t know that I followed him out, he’ll be confused at my disappearance so no one will suspect him. After a week, I’ll call him and boom we’ll be together after that, Serena thought switching off her phone.
But then again, Isaac will worry himself to death. Maybe I’ll call him three days later, not a week but three days later and inform him of my whereabouts. I really can’t involve him, his plan looks perfect but it’s better I get in trouble by myself.
Isaac has done more than a brother would do. He has shown me how much he cares about me, my only regret is for not meeting him earlier.
I wish I really met him earlier. My life would have been so much better, so much easier with him. Okay, okay. I need to keep breathing in here. Serena breathed deeply, adjusting herself in the tiny space. Her feet knocked over a spanner but aside that she was fine.
It was really dark with little or no air in there and she hoped Issac didn’t go around the castle looking for her first.
She didn’t know how long she was going to last, but she could only pray Isaac drove out of the estate soon.
It was another minute when the engines roared and Serena jerked in surprise, stretching her feet before relaxing to avoid any movement that would give her away.
The car started to move and she started to feel a little nauseous.
Isaac on the other hand has gone back to tell Serena that he was leaving but having met an empty room figured the king must have requested for her.
To him it was just perfect. After working for the king, she will be damn tired and he will inject her with the syringe that will make her heart stop beating like she was dead.
Then he would tell them she fainted and eventually died. The king would ask him to take her out of the castle and bury her and he would gladly do it, paving their path to freedom.
All he needed to do now was to get the groceries, get back and act normal so no one would suspect anything, or odd behavior from him.
On getting to the three checkpoint gates, bhe was allowed entry and he zoomed out of the castle. He went past the speed limit and in a few seconds, he was at the mall.
He double checked the list of items in his pocket before getting out of his car and headed for the entrance.
Just then, he bumped into Kate.
As they drove quietly to the mall, Serena could only pray they got there quickly, it was getting harder to breathe.
Eventually they stopped and she waited a while after Isaac left before opening the truck and jumping out of it, ignoring the stares of passersby.
She stretched a little then straightened her hair when a pair of familiar eyes caught her attention.
“Martins.” She called in shock. He had been staring at her since she came down from the vehicle.
“Yes, Serena. What are you up to? You haven’t been picking my calls either. I am worried,” Martins answered, walking up to her.
“No. No. This is not the time to talk to him. He can’t see me, I have to leave.” Serena said nervously.
Martins looked confused and it hurt her.
“Um Martins, I’m so sorry but can we talk later. I’ll call you.” She said, turning away when he grabbed her quickly pulling her to his car then shutting the door thereafter.
“What are you doing?” Serena gasped in shock.
“No, you tell me what you are doing putting yourself in danger. You came out from the truck of a car.” Martins retorted.
“You are angry.” Was all she said.
“Yes, Serena. Yes, I am angry. Why are you putting yourself in danger?” Martins groaned.
She couldn’t say anything except stare at him unbelievably. This was not the reaction she had been expecting from him.
“Okay, I need to move you far away from here. I’m guessing that’s what you want.” He said again, climbing to the driver’s seat before starting the car.
She relaxed, peeping out of the window in case she could have just one more glimpse of Isaac. Her heart clenched with disappointment when she didn’t.
It was a quiet drive as they reached a lonely road, she stared up at him in confusion.
As she reached the door, Martins stopped her.
“Serena.” He called softly.
“Please, let me help you. You need help, tell me why you are running away?” Martins requested.
“I.. I can’t tell you.” Serena mumbled, locking her gaze with his.
“Please, I can help you if you’ll just tell me. You need help right?”
“No, I.. I gotta go.” She started to reach for the door once more when his next words froze her in place.
“I know you are the king’s slave. You are probably running away from him.”
Serena paused, then she turned back to look at him in surprise.
“I know, a lot of people know. The wolves in particular, and if you are trying to run away from him, not only running away. You’ll also need to stay hidden then I can help keep you where no one can sniff you out till you are ready to go on your own. It’s your own choice, I’m just looking out for you because I care about you.”
She stared at him in awe, not believing his words. The part where he said he knew didn’t bother her, but caring about her. She blushed.
“I’m serious.” He said again.
“Let me help you. I’m also taking chances, if I get caught with you here then we are both done. The king won’t spare either of us.”
As if on cue, she looked around the lonely road, imagining the king appearing and dragging her back to the estate to face unimaginable pain.
“Take me.” Serena whispered softly.
“Are you sure?” Martins asked, his eyes lightening up with excitement.
“Yes, take me to the place where you’ll keep me safe until I’m ready to go.” She pleaded.
“With pleasure.” Martins smiled briefly before driving off.
They got to a huge mansion, and Serena couldn’t admire the exterior out of nervousness and a bit of excitement. She was free. Martins had been quiet the whole drive and she was glad.
“So, this is the sitting room. It’s my grandpa’s house actually. Then my dad lived here when my grandpa died. No one comes here again and the environment is surrounded by magic I guess, because no harm comes near the house.” Martins explained, dusting the table with a cloth hebhsd found.
Serena turned to face Isaac, a satisfied smile on her face.
“Thank you, thank you for bringing me here. I actually had no idea where I was headed. I guess I didn’t plan everything out very well.” Serena mumbled.
“Yeah. It’s okay. Let me take you to the guest room.” He pointed to a hallway.
The house was bigger on the inside and she noticed the exquisite furniture and chandeliers hanging above them.
Martin held out the door to one of the rooms and she walked in, nervously.
She could hardly believe that Martins had offered to help her, so she turned to him.
“Why are you helping me?” She asked.
“No, no big reason. I guess I don’t want you getting hurt.” Martins chuckled.
“Really? That’s just it?” Serena furrowed her brows in confusion.
Martins exhaled before walking closer to the big bed at the center of the room, pulling her beside him.
“You know I had a sister I used to care about a lot. She died a few years back, she was just as fragile as you are and needed my protection. I guess I saw a lot of similarities between you two and felt the need to protect you. So forgive me if I am going too far. I have no control over my own emotions, I can’t control how I feel. I just can’t.” Martins said, staring deeply into her eyes.
She remained still, processing all he had said and a sense of relief, joy and happiness flushed inside of her.
And when Martins moved closer, and closer to her, she didn’t pull away until his lips almost touched hers before he sighed, pulling away.
She felt disappointed.
“Let me see what I can find in this old house. Let me make something for you to eat, I’ll go out and get groceries tomorrow. It seems like you are gonna be needing it.” He said, rising to his feet and not giving her time to respond before he left the room, shutting the door behind him.
Serena gasped and stood on her feet, her hand quickly went to her lips.
Our lips brushed, he tried to kiss me! She thought, as her cheeks stained red.
Outside her door, Martins went into another room far from hers and put a call to his dad.
“Dad, I have her here with me at the old house. That’s a lot to explain, this will be a very big advantage to our plan.” He said, a devious smoke on his face before ending the call abruptly.
He breathed out heavily and reached for his lips. For a while, he almost got lost, he almost lost himself with Serena but he knew better not to develop any feelings for her.
********
*Back at the mall. Few hours earlier.
Isaac and Kate kept staring at each other for a while without uttering a word.
Her words to his sister kept resonating in his head and he couldn’t help but glare hatefully at her..
“Hi, I’m Kate,” Kate extended her hand for a handshake but he made no move to respond.
“Okay, can we talk? Serena must have told you some weird things about me but I want to clear it up okay. I’m not a bad person. So let’s talk please?” Kate requested.
“Sure. Let’s talk.”