Birth of the Queen

Chapter Five: Meeting him

Prita P.O.V.

I felt a lot better next morning. So, I decided to go back to my daily routine. I got ready for work and went to the dining room. Ma asked me, surprised, “Where are you going?” I replied cheerfully, “To work. I’m feeling good. And I don’t wanna spend the day lying on the bed.” Ma seemed to understand and agreed, “Okay. But don’t be late like the other day.” No, I didn’t tell my parents, not even Ma. I never hid anything from my mother but this incident would affect her mental peace. So, I decided to stay put until I got some answers. I had my breakfast and went out of the house and passing through the street I recalled my encounter with him last night. I wanted to meet him so badly. But I’ll have to wait for answers.

Being at my workplace, I felt energetic. My boss showed genuine concern about my health and he also wanted to give me another day off but when I insisted that I was okay, he let it go. I started working with full attention so much so that I didn’t realize the time until I felt a tap on my shoulder. Rome. A grin broke through my face as soon as I saw him. “Lunch?” he asked. I said, “Let me finish this sentence.” And I typed fast. We went to the food plaza just a few yards from our office building. We ordered our food and sat at a table. Rome looked very serious. He asked, “Now, can we talk?” I could just nod. “Listen, Pri. I don’t want to stress you out but I think you should know this.” I was confused at first. But I let Rome speak. He continued, “ Last night something happened.” He paused. My stomach felt tight all of a sudden. I asked, more like whispered, “What?” Rome did not answer. Anxiety started to build up inside my stomach and I couldn’t hold back my rising worry. I repeated, “What is it, Rome?” Rome fixed his eyes on me and said, “ After I left your house, I was going to catch the bus. But then, I saw someone around the area, almost near your house.” I relaxed a little bit. He must have seen him , I thought. But then Rome told me something that completely killed my mood. “Tristan.” He uttered his name with caution. I gulped down my raising bile and was about to say something, but was interrupted by the waitress who brought our food. After she left, Rome continued, “You know what the strange part is? He saw me. He literally saw me and stopped. Gave me a few glances and then carried on.” Now, I was officially confused. And I didn’t hide it from Rome. “But, where was he going? Was he heading to my house?” Rome said something even more surprising, “No. he was coming from that direction. He was going the same way I was going. Say, did you notice anything weird around your house last night?” I shook my head, “No.” But I didn’t tell Rome about meeting him. We ate our lunch in silence and got back to the office. I decided to look for him today. It seemed a bit reckless but I had no other choice. I had a gut feeling that something bigger was on the way and I should be prepared as best as I could.

I left the office at about 5 pm and made up my mind. I was gonna go look for him. Rome insisted on dropping me off at home but I refused. I made it look like that I was going to the bus stop and waited until Rome was out of sight. I took the sidewalk to Baxter avenue, the road beside the alley. I didn’t know how but I knew that I could meet him there. When I reached it was getting dark and the alley was dimly lit with broken streetlights and looked dangerous than usual. I had never even dared to go in there at such late hour. I strolled in and could barely find the building inside which I met him last time because everything looked same in the dark. I switched on the flashlight of my cell and tried to identify the correct one. I got a rough idea which one it could be and took a deep breath and started taking small steps towards it. I almost opened the half-broken gate when I heard a voice from behind. “Didn’t I tell you to stay away from places that you’re not supposed to visit?” I knew. It was him. I turned around and found him wearing a green hoodie and a pair of jeans. For a moment, I forgot what I was going to ask him. Before I could form proper words, he asked in a cold voice, “Speak.” And this time, I totally forgot what I was gonna tell him. Instead, I said, “What’s with you and hoodies?” I thought what I heard next was a soft chuckle but it was only for a split second, so I wasn’t too sure about it. He then asked, in an I’m-already-bored tone, “Did you come here to ask me this?” There was no hint of humor in his voice. For a moment, I thought that coming here was a bad idea. I wasn’t gonna get any answers from this guy. But then he did something that confused me even more and sparked my curiosity more than ever. He suddenly came near me and grabbed my right hand and stayed still. He was looking down at my hand as if he was checking something. Strangely, in spite of being tall and broad shouldered his touch was soft and he seemed to be conscious while holding my hand as if it would break if he pressed tightly. Then he pulled my hand a little towards him and turned it the opposite way so that my palm faced us. I was about to protest, but then I noticed a small red mark on the downside of my wrist just on the skin above the vein. What the heck? It wasn’t there a minute ago, or was it? I couldn’t be too sure of what I saw or didn’t see these days. He kept looking at the mark. I really didn’t understand how he could look at it wearing this hoodie which was drawn upto his mouth. But I knew he was looking at it because he kept tracing his finger on the mark. I felt weird, so I finally asked him, “What the hell are you doing?” and tried to jerk back my hand but failed. Boy! I needed to learn karate or judo. He did not answer right away. After a minute or two, he lifted his head and asked, “How did you get this, Prita?” “I..I don’t know.” I was stammering again. And it was true. I didn’t know where I got that unique mark from. It was of a special design. It was round and inside the circle, there was what looked like the Sun and a sickle-shaped moon. He finally loosened his grip and I pressed my hand to my chest freeing it from him and grabbed my wrist with the other hand, as if I was trying to hide it from him. I didn’t know what he was thinking. He spoke in his usual cold tone, “Whatever. You should go. You shouldn’t have come here in the first place.” He was about to turn around and go when I grabbed his left hand and demanded, “Wait.” Then, something happened that was scary enough to make me jump on my feet. I could see reddish fumes rising from the sleeves of the hoodie where I touched him. I jerked my hand back. He spun his head towards me and lifted the sleeve up to his elbow and moved his hand so that his left palm faced us. There I could see the same red mark I got under my right wrist. What is going on? He seemed to be muttering to himself, “I knew it.” “What? What is it?” I blurted out. He said he would tell me everything when time was right. This should be the right moment. I needed to know. He stood straight and lifted is hands so that they could reach his hood on both sides and removed it in the blink of an eye. My jaw fell on the ground. He was so… He had a long square face with jaws that could cut anything and dark eyes that were so deep that I could be easily lost in them. What the hell? What was I even thinking? He had honey tanned skin and a hint of moustache and beard which made him look kind of experienced but not old. His hair was simple, medium-short and jet black, a little messy which brought out his facial features perfectly. I had an urge to touch is nose as it looked straight and high. Oh God! I was embarrassed at my own silly thoughts. I didn’t know how long I was doing this but he wasn’t also saying anything. Then he smirked and said, “Are you done?” I was so embarrassed that I felt like the ground should split away and I could just jump inside to save myself from this self-invited shame. But I had my mouth get the best of me when I said something like this – “ No.” He, now, chuckled. A genuine laughter, not a smirk. He looked so..so..so DAZZLING!! Oh no! I really needed to get my mental health checked up. I composed myself a little and uttered, “No. No. I mean..um..no.” “What are you even saying?” He asked, raising his eyebrows. I had my fair share of embarrassment, so I tried my best to sound as placid as possible. “No. I mean that you got the wrong idea.” But apparently, he wasn’t done with me.”And what idea is that?” The smirk was back on his lips. It was a bit annoying but it somehow suited his face. God! This was crazy. “Nothing. It’s just this is the first time I’m seeing you, like seeing your face.” I declared in a shrill voice. “Are you happy with what you see?” I thought he was a cold person but he was a flirt, as well as cocky. That was new. I rolled my eyes at him and his smirk vanished. He now had a serious expression. He took exactly two steps towards me and looked straight into my eyes and growled, “Don’t do that ever again. Do you follow?” I was surprised. How could he just order me around like that? He said something similar last night. All of a sudden, I became angry and shouted, “No. No, I don’t follow.” Although I was a bit scared inside, I didn’t need to show him that I was. He looked very shocked. He was surely not expecting that. His eyes turned darker and furious. Oh Boy! Not good. He took another defining step toward me. I was about to yell at him but then I remembered why I was here. I stopped myself and raised my palm to stop him. He stopped and was about to put the hood back on his head, when I stopped him. “Wait. I’m here to get some answers.” “This is not the place or time to do this.” He said cautiously as if someone might hear our conversation. Weird! I was stubborn. “No. I need to hear them now. You know something. What is it? What’s going on?” “Stop being so impulsive, alright? What did you think when you walked into this alley at this time of night?” he rebuked. Night? what was he saying? It was probably only 7 or half past 7. I checked my phone. Oh My God! It was almost 10. How long had I been standing here? How could time fly so fast? Oh My God! How was I gonna get home? I just missed the last bus. Okay. There was always an option for cab. I could work with that. So, I stood my ground. “It wasn’t nighttime when I came here. You just wasted four hours doing nonsense.” “What? What did you say?” He looked furious. “Okay, you want answers, right? Listen, you’re just a stupid little girl with crap for brains and I don’t want to see ever again. Don’t try to look for me.” it would be a lie if I said that I wasn’t a bit hurt. No. not only a bit, I was hurt, so much so, that I found the corner of my eyes stinging a little. But I didn’t want to cry in front of him. He also might have realized that he overdid this. His expressions softened a little and he started saying, “Listen, I didn’t…” But I was angry. “Stop. I don’t wanna hear anything. Who are you to tell me all this, huh? What did you say? I came looking for you? Yeah, I did.” I shook my head and continued, “Then would you care to explain how did you find Rome and I that day? And what were you doing in front of my house last night?” He sighed and uttered, “Look, I’ll tell you everything. Nobody, trust me, nobody deserves answers more than you do. But…” he stopped for a bit, as if trying to calculate his words, “But you should understand that this is not the situation to explain anything.” He had a soothing effect in his tone that helped me relax a bit. He kept staring at me, trying to interpret my thoughts from my face. He then straightened up and said, “Come on. I’ll drop you home.” I didn’t protest because I knew it would not work. We emerged out of the alley and managed to hail a cab. The cab driver kept looking at me through the rear view mirror. I felt uncomfortable. So, I shifted myself beside him and then, it hit me. I hadn’t asked him his name. We reached home between my thoughts. He tried to pay the fare but I resisted with full force and he gave in. I paid the cabbie who kept looking at us with peculiar eyes. He then drove away and I asked the man, “How’re you gonna get home?” He smiled a little. “Don’t worry. I’ll get a cab. Good night. Sleep well.” I wished him night and was about to go inside but then turned around, “Hey. I didn’t get to ask your name.” He looked me in the eye, his expressions unknown to me. “Erion,” he said before he strode down the street.