Beneath The Manor's Veil

12: New Position

The soft beep of a monitor fills my ears, and I flutter my eyes open, only to be blinded by light. I groan and squint my eyes. When my eyes are adjusted to the light, I look around the room, realizing that I'm in a hospital.

I try to remember how I got here, but I can't really focus on that. My right hand feels heavy, and I lift it up, only to see gisp around my arm.

The worst part is that it's the hand I use most. The small window on the right side of the room is open, filling the room with sunlight.

A door opens, and a man walks in, a big coat over his shoulders, and when he sees that I'm awake, a smile stretches his lips.

"Afternoon, Miss. How are you feeling?" He asks, and I suppose he's the doctor. "Fine, I guess." He lifts an eyebrow, and I look away.

"Mind telling me how I got here?"I ask suddenly, startling him. "You were in an accident. You got hit after you left your home." I frown.

"I don't remember anything."

"Soon. Your brain still needs to process the shock. It will take some time. And in the meantime you should rest. Your family will visit you soon." He says and offers me a smile then walks out of the room.

Family? I don't remember having a family.

My eyes snap open when I hear footsteps walking inside the room. I look around, and before I even spot him, the intoxicating smell of his cologne reaches my nostrils.

He glares at me, but then his eyes soften, and he walks closer.

His mouth opens to speak, but I interrupt. "Why am I here?"

He takes a seat on the chair that is next to the bed, and I realize that the hospital room looks quite fancy.

"It's a private room." He says, as if he can read my mind.

I nod and then glance at his clothes. Denim jeans, a white T shirt, and a leather jacket over his shoulders.

"I came here to offer you a job, another job." He clears his throat and looks me dead in the eyes, and I force myself to look away.

"Okay."

"You're staying in the hospital for about a week, then you'll rest at home - the mansion for two weeks. After that, we'll train. You'll be my bodyguard, and I hope I'll gain your tr-."

"Bodyguard?" I interrupt him with wide eyes and glare at him. He's not serious.

"Yes, I'll gain your trust."

"Out of all the f*****g jobs, you chose for me to be your f*****g bodyguard? Are you f*****g serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious. I'll rent an apartment for you not far from the mansion. The monthly pay is singular, depending on your work." He narrows his eyes, studying me, and I have this feeling that he's testing me.

"Are you testing me?" I blurt out before I can stop myself.

"Good night, have a nice rest, I'll see you tomorrow. We'll start talking about your job." He stands up and walks out of the door.

The sun streams through the shirt curtain into the room, and I carefully stand up and open the window, breathing in the fresh air.

The door suddenly opens, and I turn around to find a nurse staring at me.

"Good morning, miss. Hope you slept well. I'm here to check up on you. Soon you'll have to eat breakfast so you can drink your medicine." The kindly black woman says, and I offer her a smile.

She takes my wrist and leads me to the bed. Sitting on the bed, she starts checking my eyes and my throat and tells me not to use my right hand, only if I need to.

She walks out and soon walks in with breakfast, and I begin devouring the turkey sandwich and green tea.

"Done." I mumble with food in my mouth, and Destiny, the nurse laughs. "Come, I'll help you shower." With a nod, she leads me to the adjoining bathroom and helps me shower.

She also helps me put on my clothes, and when I'm fully dressed, she combs my hair and braids it.

She hands me a book called 'Crown Of Smoke'. The book is pretty fun. Though I don't think that I'll just sleep with a stranger, then carry his baby. I let out a small laugh. I didn't even do better, I basically also slept with a stranger.

I put the book down and think about what Nickolas said. He said that he'll gain my trust. What for? He never believed anyone, I realized not long ago, and now he tells me he wants to gain my trust. Gain my trust, my ass.

I should be the one to gain his trust, but I don't feel like gaining his trust. After doing something like that, I don't think you can gain the person's trust ever again.

Because even if you want to, even if you try to, every memory of the past is still in the back of your mind and though you are not thinking about it at that moment, it feels like your body understands everything that happened to you, even if not physical.

I let out a huff, and then the door opened, revealing Mr. Rossi and Mrs. Rossi.

"Good morning." They greet in unison, and I sit up on the bed. "Hey." I whisper, too scared to even speak out loud.

Nickolas clears his throat, then sits down on the chair he sat down yesterday and looks down at my broken wrist.

"How are you?" He asks, and I just want to punch his face, but I remain controlled, and I can't even do that because my hand is in gisp. But does his wife know that we already know each other, I wonder, but don't speak my mind. Instead, I turn my face and stare at the window.

The silence speaks louder than anything right now, and it makes my throat tighten. I smile at Mrs. Rossi and she returns it, but her eyes tell me she's angry or something.

"So, you two knew each other far before I came into your life, Nickolas?" She refers the question to him, but her gaze doesn't leave me. She knows, well, it's not bad, but she looks pretty angry.

"You could've told me, and I wouldn't have hired her." She says and runs a hand down her perfect pencil skirt.

"I didn't have to tell you anything because whatever she and I had was fake." Ouch, for some reason my eyes well, but I blink the tears away.

"Yeah, well, he's telling the truth." I mumble out, sit up and carefully walk to the bathroom and lock the door behind me.

"What the actual fuck." I whisper to myself. Well I'm not the one who's married, so I shouldn't be the one in trouble. I arch an eyebrow at my reflection. But it soon fades when a tear leaves my eye, and I silently sob. I'm letting out all the emotions I hid these past couple of days.

They are not just tears for my dad or for Nickolas, but also for myself. For the person I was back then, happy and free.

When I used to go to the library, nothing annoyed me, I was in my own fictional world that I didn't even realize the people around me. But after this devil called Nickolas took him from me, I was so distraught. When I was in the library trying to get peace, all I could think about was when dad called me that day to tell me I needed a dress for the celebration, or the moment I saw Nickolas. I wish everything went differently or that I actually rejected the offer. Maybe if I did it that way, dad would probably still be alive.