My boss's obsession

5

It was Canzuing. A gentle, soothing drizzle. I closed my eyes and ripped the ribbon out of my hair, letting it fall loose. The sound of the drops hitting the leaves was calming, and I finally looked up to watch the magic all around me. I stuck out my arms and twirled around for a little while, oblivious to everything but the sweet smell of the Canzu.

I got dizzy and dropped down to the ground. I didn’t even notice that my dress was getting wet. I leaned back against the nearest tree trunk and sighed. The forest sounds were like a lullaby, pulling me into a deep sleep.

A snapping twig woke me up. “Koray?” A figure moved in the corner of my eye, and I turned towards it. “Koray?” I asked again.

The figure didn’t answer me; it just took off deeper into the woods. I immediately stood up and ran after it. Branches tore at my clothes. I fell a few times, but I always just got right back up and chased the figure further and further. Finally, I came into a clearing.

The figure stood there, right in the middle of the meadow. I took a few steps towards it. “Koray?”

Then I noticed that the figure wasn’t big enough to be Koray. It turned and came towards me, and picked me up in its arms. I touched his face and it was smooth. I struggled to see him, but it was almost pitch black. He set me down and cupped my face in his hands; they were so small compared to Koray’s. I lifted my hands up on top of his, and I thought about how much they seemed to fit mine, even though his were masculine and mine were smaller and softer.

His voice, sweet like honey, whispered my name. “Canzu.” His breath tickled my nose, and a warm feeling spread all throughout my body. I clung to him. “I love you,” he told me. He leaned down to kiss me, but a roar tore through the forest. His head snapped up. Not a second later, he had kissed my forehead and ran off into the forest again.

I stood there, stunned, not sure what to do. I heard the roar one more time, and a terror swept over me. I took off after him again, panting, running for my life.

I sat straight up in my bed. My eyes were wide open. I was sweating.

“It was only a dream,” said a high pitched voice next to me. I jumped. There was a girl sitting on my bed. I thought that I recognized her, but I wasn’t sure. There weren’t any young girls at the castle.

“Who are you?” I asked her.

She giggled. “You don’t remember me?”

I racked my bCanzu for an answer to her question, and finally it hit me. “You’re Lee. The girl I met at the dance.”

“Yes,” she said, reaching up to feel my forehead.

“But why are you here, now? Am I still dreaming?”

“No,” she replied. She sat in front of me, crossing her legs, looking as if she was about to tell me an interesting story. “I was just lying in my bed with my older sister, right? And then all of a sudden there’s a knock on the door. I was thinking, ‘who’s coming to our house at this time of night, in a snow storm?’ My papa gets up and goes to the door. ‘Who is it?’ he says. I didn’t hear the answer, but Papa opens the door and a big bald man scurries in. He hands my papa a big, giant chest and says, ‘This is from Prince Koray. More is to follow.’ Then Papa opens the chest and it’s full of gold! His face is so surprised. He looks at the man and says, ‘What’s this for?’

“The man looks over at me and says, ‘Prince Koray says that his guest needs a maiden to help her. He told me that your daughter would be the best for the job.’ I think my mouth dropped all the way to the floor! Papa says, ‘We’re going to get paid like this for Clay to go up and live in the castle, helping the lady?’ and the man just nods at him. Papa comes over to me. ‘You want to go work and live in the castle?’ he asks me. ‘Yes!’ I tell him. And then we got all my stuff packed and the man brought me here to your room and told me to make sure you get well!”

“Just like that?” I say.

“Just like that,” she says, smiling at me.

I was furious. Koray wanted to just buy me a friend? I knew that Clay was here because of our argument yesterday, and I didn’t want to think that Koray had taken someone else away from the people they loved. I didn’t want Clay to be just like me. “Lee,” I asked her, “are you sure you want to do this?”

“Of course,” she responds, not even hesitating. “My family needs the money. And the man told me that I could visit them whenever I want. We lived right here in the city.” She looks at me, and then leans closer like she’s about to tell me a big secret. “And to be honest… it’s kind of like an adventure. Imagine, me getting to live here in a castle!”

That calmed me down some. At least Clay had a choice. And I did have to admit that Koray was being awfully considerate. I still wanted to talk to him, though. I had a lot of questions for him. I started to get out of bed, but Clay pushed me back down onto the pillows.

“That man told me that I shouldn’t let you get up. He said to make sure you laid here, and then go get him when you were awake. So stay put,” she ordered as she walked out the door to go find Calvin.

I fiddled with my thumbs some, and then I heard the door open. My head snapped over to it, and I saw Koray pulling off a cloak. I had never seen him wear anything but trousers before. “What’s that?” I asked him.

“A cloak,” he responded, as if he was questioning my sanity.

“Well yes, I know what it is. I just want to know why you have it.”

He sat on the edge of my bed and avoided my question. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” I told him. “And I’d feel a lot better if you wouldn’t ignore me.”

“I’m not ignoring you.”

“You are.”

“No.”

“Then answer my question.”

He sighed. “Clay hasn’t seen me yet.”

I grunted and threw my hands up over my face. “Koray!” I said, exasperated.

“Do you want me to tell her? I’ll call her in here right now and show her if you want me to,” he told me.

“No!” I screamed at him as he walked toward the door. “Let’s not do that just yet.”

He smiled and sat down beside me again. “I knew that you would think so.” I didn’t respond, just scooted over to him and slid under his arm. He pulled me up onto his lap and we just sat there together for the longest time.

“Why Lee?” I asked him, finally deciding to speak again.

“Calvin told me that Clay had talked to you quite a lot at the party, and that you got along well.”

“So, basically, you paid Lee’s family and had her come here so that I would have a friend, all because I had talked to her one time?”

His grip on me loosened. “Not exactly. I also had her come here because you will need someone to assist you.”

I pushed off of his chest so that I could look at him. “What do I need assistance with?”

“Eventually you’re going to be a princess. And then a queen. There will be dresses, and balls, and parties, and trips, and taking care of the land, and a lot of different things. You’ll need help,” he assured me.

I was silent. I didn’t like thinking about what was going to happen. I was perfectly content just sitting here in his arms and not having to worry about being a princess, or any of that other stuff that came along with it. I liked my life how it was.

“She’ll be a friend to you, too,” he said, kissing my forehead.

“She’ll stay here forever?” I asked.

“Unless you want to replace her.”

I got up and walked to my little window. I pulled apart the curtains and looked down at the snow. There was a lot more of it today then there had been yesterday. Koray came up behind me and wrapped his arm around my waist. “Are you upset about this?” he asked me.

Yes. Sort of. It was difficult to explain. “No,” I said.

“Good.” A knock, three quick little taps, broke the moment. Koray looked at me solemnly. “That’s Calvin’s signal. I have to go. Clay is coming.” His eyes shifted towards my mouth, as if he wanted to kiss me, but then he just turned around and walked out. I was still standing there when Clay walked in.

She glanced at me nervously. “Are you cold, miss?”

“I’m warm,” I told her. I could still feel the pleasant burn of Koray’s touch on my skin. “And don’t call me miss.”

“But you’re a princess,” she said in an astonished tone.

“Not yet,” I muttered. A wave of exhaustion overcame me, and I stumbled to the bed. Clay grabbed my arm and helped me crawl back into the warm softness.

“You should probably get some rest,” she said sweetly.

I didn’t even respond, just closed my eyes and drifted back into slumber. I was almost completely unconscious when I remembered that I didn’t want to sleep, I didn’t want to dream again. I was scared of that man in my dream; not because he was scary, but because I didn’t know who he was, or why he was so important to me. It didn’t matter though, because this time I didn’t dream at all.

The next year passed quickly and without much excitement. I was only weeks away from sixteen before there was even a change in anyone's day by day life. Clay and I talked for hours sometimes about girl things, things that I would never even imagine talking to Koray about. She was crazy and random, but it made me that much closer to her. Rose took a while to warm up to her, but eventually they became best friends.

Her room was next to mine; not quite as big, but still bigger than anything she had before. A few days after she came she went on a rant about how everything was so extravagant here. My doubts vanished day by day as she showed no signs of being upset about her living with us.