The Honeymoon Game

Outfit

“Umm... Darnell has been waiting to meet with you all, he is somewhere around the castle, I believe. Probably in his room. I have texted him about your arrival, he would join us soon.” He made excuses for his child.

“We have a whole month to spend here, definitely you would meet Darnell . Don't be impatient,” my mum sided with her husband.

It was the only couple thing they had done since our arrival. “I am least bothered about meeting him, Ma. Can I be shown to my room? My feet hurts from standing for too long,” I stared at Mr Louis.

“Yes, sure. Elvis would show you to the other side of the castle, I would take Maria to her room. Maybe we could continue the tour after lunch?” He asked.

“That is preferable,” my mum agreed.

“May I?” Mr Louis offered his arm to my mum, who took it with smiles. And off they were gone, following the right wing of the staircase.

“Hi Elvis,” Dianna greeted.

“Hi Dianna,” he replied. They were both staring at each other in a lustful way.

“Excuse me, you both know each other already?” I asked feeling angry at how smoothly everyone else seemed to be getting along.

“Yes. We met at the wedding,” Dianna supplied, not taking her eyes off the guy, like he was a catch she didn't want to let go.

“You were the bridesmaids right?” Darnell inquired.

“I was! You remember.”

“Why didn't Miss Fiona stand in for her mum? She was absent, was she?” Darnell asked.

“She was not. She was...”

“Hello guys? I'm right here. Can you take me to my room before you two eat each other out with your eyes?” I cut her off.

“Oh sorry. Ladies shall we,” he pointed towards the left wing of the staircase and we walked ahead of him.

There were five largely spaced room in the corridor. Two rooms each on both sides of the wall and one at the end of the corridor that seemed larger, facing the entrance. Though the rooms were made of shining glasses, you couldn't look into another room from the outside.

Elvis pointed me to one of the two rooms and showed Dianna to the one beside it. He said the other two opposite, belonged to himself and Darnell . The larger room facing the entrance of the corridor was one of the living room, with a front porch facing south of the building. He explained that there was another living room on the right wing of the house, with a front porch facing north.

At the middle were both branches of staircase met, there was a balcony facing East and downstairs, to the front door, we were facing west. “So at any point you stand, you're facing one side of the world.” he concluded, feeling impressed with himself.

“Can we check out the living room?” Dianna asked.

“Yeah, sure. Lunch would be ready in exactly thirty minutes from now. We would meet at the dining hall downstairs.”

“Thank you,” Dianna hugged him.

He was scared to put his hands around her, he stared at me, the surprise evident on his face. I nodded encouragly at him. It was the least I could do, since it seemed he was seeking my approval. “You're welcome.” He rubbed her back gently. “I also need to unpack, I would join you girls later.” He broke the hug, bowing once more to me, before dashing into his room.

Dianna's face was a shade of pink when she turned to face me. I might never have seen her that excited even though she's always excited. “Common let's go,” she pulled me towards the living room. I grumbled all the way about needing to take off my shoes.

The living room had two giant doors, Dianna pulled one side of it, while i pulled the other side. She flung the curtains, hurrying to the front porch. I lagged behind, taking in the view of the large room. It was dimly lighted, so I couldn't see clearly.

“Oh my goodness! Fiona , you need to see this,” she called from the balcony.

I trudged towards her voice, not interested in whatever she might have seen, but yet, wanting to see it too. There was a guy, emerging out of a pool, his hair was tousled and fell curly against his face, concealing his look. The droplets of water that fell from from his body were like pearls adorning his skin. His abs stood out, so did his muscles.

“Fiona isn't he cute?” Dianna asked, lost in her view.

“He is,” I agreed absent minded.

“Huh? He is?” She turned sharply towards me.

“Yeah,” I shrugged.

“Oh my goodness!” She squealed, her eyes watering.

“What's wrong with you Dianna?” I was transfixed by her reaction.

“You agreed with me! For once Fiona , we are agreeing on something. Oh my goodness,” she kept yelling.

I couldn't believe that all this reaction was simply because I agreed to her comment about the strange guy being cute. “So you're crying because I agreed with you?” I asked, hoping that I was wrong and that she was just over herself.

“Yes Fiona ! Yes! For ages I've tried to win your support but you've always been hostile towards me. For a moment there, you just agreed with something i said which you've never done before.” The tears threatened to fall from her eyes and I just stood there, uncertain about what to do with her confession.

“Oh,” I finally muttered.

“Thank you!” She said loudly, hugging me.

“Okayyy...” It was my turn to seek approval about hugging her back. My hands hung in the air. I wasn't used to such gestures. I turned towards the guy from the pool, only to realize that he was staring at us. He smiled and waved at us, before going on to pick his towel and exit the pool area.

“Hold on,” I pushed Dianna softly.

“What?”

“That guy,” I pointed to where he was standing.

“What guy?” She looked out at the empty space, with a puzzled look, as if we didn't just see a guy coming out of the pool.

“The guy that came out of the pool, he looked strikingly familiar...” I tried to place the image of him in my head.

Chapter Seven

Darnell 's Pov

I didn't bother replying to the text from my Dad. I texted Elvis rather, telling him to stand in for me if my dad needed help with something. I trusted him to do just that. He was here because of my kind heart. He had requested that I talk my dad into permitting him to come.

“My dad is your boss, why don't you talk to him yourself?” I had objected.

“It is exactly because he is my boss that I can't ask him for something like that. Please bro, you have to help me talk to him, I need this break too, been going through a whole lot recently.” He cajoled.

“I remember you had bluntly refused coming with me to the island the last vacation when I needed you the most, so what is your exact reason for wanting to come this time?” I peered at him, searching his heart for the truth.

After a sigh, a brief hesitation and finally a resignation he said, “Remember that thick ass girl i met at your dad's wedding?” He asked.

“The chubby girl, you mean?”

“She isn't chubby, just thick,” he defended.

“Okay,” I waved my hands in surrender. “Isn't she Maria's daughter?” I asked ignorantly.

“Nah, she's the cousin.”

“What does she have to do with this?”

“So we exchanged contacts and have been texting. She would be coming to the island with her aunt.” He confessed.

“Okay?” I asked, feigning not to understand his point.

“What do you mean by okay? I just told you we exchanged contacts and we've been texting and she would be at the Island next week with Maria for your parents honeymoon and you're asking me Okay?” He queried.

“I still don't get what you're trying to say,” I went on with my act, unbothered about his temper.

After flaring his nostrils and squeezing his brows, he went ahead to reply to my question. “I think we share a kind of connection and I need to see her again.”

“Now you're answering questions like the literate that you are.” I grinned. “I would talk to my dad to give you a leave and also to let you come with me cause I would be needing you. Is that okay?”

His face broke into a smile.“Thanks man. But do you think you can convince him?”

I sat up straight on my couch, feeling vexed by his question. “Elvis are you okay? This is my dad we're talking about and you doubt if I can convince him about something as minor as giving you a leave?”

“I didn't mean it like that,” he said.

“Nah, I'm disappointed. You know, you owe me for this,” I told him.

“That's fine with me. Anything.”He agreed.

So you see? He doesn't have a choice now rather than obey my instructions while he is here. I have done my part of the bargain by talking to my dad into granting his request for a leave. He was here now and very soon would meet with his crush. That is, if they haven't met already.

I think she was one of the ladies I just saw at the front porch of the left wing living room, a few minutes ago while rounding up my swimming exercise. They were two, and I'm guessing one of them would be Maria's daughter. Although there were far up from where I stood, I was polite enough to have waved even if I couldn't really make out their faces.

If there weren't making a hell of noise standing up there, I wouldn't have seen them anyways. If there were actually my father's guest, then they'd ruined my plans of meeting them in a more prepared way. But then, seeing me shirtless, especially just out of the pool wasn't a bad presentation either. I smirked at my own thought.

I didn't have to go all the way through the front door and through the steps into my room. There was a small passage Elvis and I discovered through the back doors, eight years ago when we visited. We were just eighteen back then, it was the same year my parents got divorced, so my dad was a heap of mess, he became too strict and less fun.

There was practically nothing to do in the house, so when we found the passage, we used it to sneak out of the castle without the knowledge of Mr Collins, who was in charge of making sure we didn't wander far. We did exactly what we were told not to do, wander far. Swimming in the sea was our biggest fantasy back then. We were tired of the pool in the castle.

Something dreadful happened to kill that fantasy.