INNOCENT ADVENTURE

CHAPTER FIVE

Today must be my lucky day because standing not so far from me is the most perfect handsomeness I've ever seen. He looked young but a bit more matured and I can't even try to guess his age. If earlier I thought Adrien was good looking, then this stranger just topped the chart. But why is he holding the card that has my name on it? Did Gwen send him to get me? I stood right where I was looking at him and he looking at me confused. The sign he held read "Emmy Rosa" and only one person will do that. That's what she calls me when she offends me and wants to bribe her way out of it. But where is she and why isn't she here?...Oh, that might be why.

Mr handsome raised a hand waved and gestured for me to come towards him. On impulse, I turned around to look behind me to be sure I was the one he was waving at but there was no one else but me.

I sighed and walked towards him dragging my luggage behind me. I've always thought I was tall but when I stood infront of this man, I felt small. I had to raise my head to be able to meet his eyes; his very beautiful chestnut brown eyes. And when he smiled, my heart did the flips. I had to blink severally to rearrange my thoughts. While I was getting my thoughts together, he spoke... I think I drooled a little.

"Hi Emmy. My name is Ethan; a friend of Gwen and she asked me to get you"

As beautiful as his voice was, his words brought my senses back and I replied with a straight face

"Hi Ethan. It's Emerald and thanks for picking me up."

I refuse to be bribed. Accepting "Emmy" would be accepting Gwen's bribe for not being able to come to meet me. The still smiling handsome Ethan took my luggage and led me to where he parked his car at the airport parking lot. When we were out of the crowd, he slowed down for me to catch up because he was quite ahead and when I did, he turned to me said

"Nice to finally meet Gwen's Emerald. Your sister talks about you so much"

"Nice to meet you too Ethan. But does she really?" I replied and asked

"Of course she does. I don't think there's a single friend of hers that doesn't know about you" he replied

"Mm... I see" I said mostly to myself. I've decided to hear from her before I decide whether to be mad or not.

When we got to the car, Ethan opened the front passenger door for me to sit and closed out afterwards, such a gentleman. He placed my luggage in the back seat then came and sat beside me in the driver's seat. Before we drove off he asked if I'd like something to eat and I declined stating I had lunch on the plane.

Without noticing it, I had become quite unhappy. I prepared my mind for my meeting her after a long time and even took into consideration the awkward moments. Now here I am with a very handsome stranger who must have realized I wasn't happy. The entire ride was silent except for the music he had turned on early on. There was some traffic as it was the time that people were going home from work. In my home town, you wouldn't see this but you could tell it's around that time because you would see more cars than usual.

"I hope you're not not extremely exhausted. This traffic might take a while. If you are exhausted, you can relax your seat and have some rest."

"It's fine. I am not that tired."

"Great. If you need anything, just let me know ok"

"Sure. Thank you"

"You're welcome"

After about an hour, an hour and half, we finally arrived in front of a huge apartment complex. Ethan parked the car in the parking lot in the front of the building. And before he could decide to open the door for me, I opened it got out even before he could close his door. He went to the backseat and retrieved my luggage. He led me into the building; at the reception, he greeted the receptionist and proceeded to to the elevator. When we arrived on the 5th floor, we walked down the hallway to the left till we got to a black painted door. He took a single key from his pocket and opened the door. He went in first and held the for opened for me to enter. I am totally blown away by how beautiful the apartment is and you can immediately tell that it is Gwen's because of a huge portrait of her hanging on the wall. It looked matured yet girly. I looked around a little bit and Ethan invited me to the sit at the dining table.

"Would you like something to drink?," He asked

Yes please. Some water will do" I replied

He went to the kitchen where I could still see him open the fridge. He returned with as bottle of water and handed it to me. I took it a muttered my 'thanks' and gulped down half of it and set the bottle down on the table. Ethan waited for me to finish before speaking.

"Welcome to the big city, Emerald. Hope you had a good journey."

"Thanks again Ethan. My journey was smooth." I replied

"That's good to hear. Ok, so I won't waste much of your time. I'm sure you'd like to freshen up and change. As you might have already realized, this is your apartment but she is not available at the moment and I honestly don't know when she'll return. She left a note for you right here (while pushing an envelope in my direction). I can't be here with you right now because I have to go to work but she has asked her best friend to come over. If she doesn't come before you decide to sleep, just lock the door and take the key out; Nancy already has her own key. I'll call from time to time to check on you and I will see you tomorrow morning hopefully. Is that ok?"

"So she's not coming tonight." I asked after his 'speech'

"I can't really tell. I'm sure everything she'd want you to know is in the letter in front of you. And if you're hungry, you can either have Nancy to order something or you can call me to bring you something. Where's your phone?" He asked the lady part with his palm stretched towards me.

Without another question, I blindly fished for the phone in my backpack and found it. I took it out and turned it on; there were a few messages from Dad but I think I'll reach out to him after I settle. Just then the phone rang startling me; this would take some getting used to

"That is my number. Save it and feel free to reach out to me anytime. If there's nothing else, I'll show you to your room." He said as he gestured in the direction of the room.

I followed without another question. The said he'd going to work and I don't want to be the reason he's late. We went from the dining room, across the living area and stopped in front of two doors facing each other and he opened the one we were facing.

"This is your room. I hope you like it. Do you need anything else? If not, I'll start heading out"

"Thanks Ethan. I'm ok and you can go ahead. I'll be sure to you give a call or something when I have to."

"You're welcome. I will see you tomorrow; I will see myself out." He said and walking away.

He returned again almost as soon as he left but with my luggage. "Your luggage" he said simply

"Thanks" I said as he walked away again. This time I followed to lock the door. I took out the key and placed it on a table beside the door. I walked back to the door of my room.

I took a deep breath and walked in with both my backpack and luggage. Again, I was stunned at how beautifully the room has been decorated. I wanted to take my time and admire everything but I also need to speak with Dad. I sat on the bed and dialed his number.

Dad: Hello

Me: Hi Dad

Dad: I see you've arrived. How was your first flight? How're you?

Me: Sigh. I'm ok Dad. The flight was ok.

Dad: What's wrong, Em. It's everything ok?

Me: Everything is fine. I guess I'm just tired.

Dad: Ok. Where is Gwen? Is she with you?

Me: No Dad. She isn't. I'm going to freshen up. Can I call you later?

Dad: Ok let's talk later. Get some rest. Bye

Me: Bye.

I laid back on the bed and closed my eyes. This was not how I envisioned this going. Sigh.

I got up and went towards a second door that I suspect is the bathroom. I opened it and truly, I found the bathroom. I went back for my travel shower bag and returned to the bathroom to take a shower. After a much needed and relaxing shower, I came back to the bedroom and plopped down on an ottoman that is set in front of a mirror. I pat dried my hair and left it to dry while I went searching for the shorts and tan top I use as pyjamas and slide them on. I certainly didn't realize how tired I was because not all long after I laid down, I passed out.

I don't know for how long I slept but I suddenly felt as though in a dream that something was hanging over me. I unconsciously waved a hand above my face and felt it hit something. It was the shrill yelp that brought me back to my consciousness with a scare. I sat up with a start and panicked when my eyes cleared to find a girl sitting beside me with a hand on a cheek looking at me as though I wronged her. We stared at each other with expressions of our own but her's slowly broke into a smile. 'what kind of wierd confusion is this?' I thought to myself.

"Hi Emmy. I'm Nancy. Ethan told you I'd be coming right?" She said with that smile again.

"Hey, it's Emerald. And yes he did." I replied calming down a little and still ejecting the bribe.

"Sorry for startling you out of your sleep but the slap was hot" she said while still rubbing her cheek.

"Sorry too. I was dreaming and I thought I was just waving something away. I hope it's not that bad." I tried explaining

"Oh, it's fine. Anyways, your sister has entrusted Ethan and I but mostly me to care for you while she's away so we're going to be spending a lot of time together"

"Care for me while she's away? But she knew I was coming right?" I asked feeling very sad and mad at the same time

"Mm.. Well, I don't know but she said she left you a note, haven't you read it yet?" she asked sounding nervous.

"No. Honestly I don't feel like reading it. I've been looking forward to this day since she... Never mind. I'll read it when I feel ready enough. Right now, I'm just tired and disappointed."

My stomach decided to make its presence known at that very moment.

"And hungry I hear. Want to go and grab something to eat? It will do that noisy baby good." She said pointing too my stomach with her face.

"Do we have to go out?" I asked feeling uneasy going out

"Well, there's certainly no food in this apartment, at could get a delivery but what's the fun in that? You've slept a little so you'd be fine and we don't want your sleep pattern messed up because you slept too early. Besides, the night is still very young."

"Sigh. Ok. I'll get dressed."

"Great. I'll wait in the living area." She got up from the bed and walked out

I got up after she left and went to my still unpacked bag and searched for a jeans trouser and and a sweater. I put on the trouser and was about to put on the sweater but paused and changed my mind and exchanged it for my oversized cardigan with a hood. I paired the combo with the pair of sneakers I came in, turned off the light in the room and went out. Nancy was standing by the dining table with a bottle of water in hand.

"Ready to go?" She asked walking up to me. I saw her purse and remembered I left mine.

"Let me quickly grab my purse. I forgot to get it." I started heading back to the room

"Oh no need. I got it."

"But -"

"It's fine. Let's go."

"Ok."

We stepped out and Nancy locked the door with her key. We took the elevator down to the ground floor and went through the reception and walked out to the parking lot where her car was parked. We drove onto the road and I had absolutely no idea where we were heading.

"What do you feel like eating this evening?" She asked.

"I don't really know. I just want to eat something delicious." I replied speaking my stomach's mind and as if on que a loud growl was heard. Nancy laughed and said

"Well sounds like your tummy agrees to something delicious. How about we get some ramen? I know just the spot." She said while laughing at me.

"Sure. Sounds good to me." I agreed

Soon we arrived at the "spot" which looked way too big to be a 'spot'. She found a an available space to park, we got down down and walked into the most grande restaurants I've ever seen. We were met almost as soon as we entered by a waiter who took us to an empty table. It seemed as though He already knew Nancy as they seemed more casual with each other; she probably is a regular customer at this place. The waiter excused himself to give us time to make our decision. I was completely lost looking at varieties of one food and every 'original' good had so many varieties.

"Have you decided yet?" Nancy asked

I looked up from the menu and shook my head.

"Why? Don't you like what's on there?" She asked again worried.

"No, it's not that. I'm just very confused. There's so much on here I don't know what to do." I replied

"Oh, I got worried there for a moment that I brought you to a wrong place.(laughing) Would you like me to help you choose something "delicious"?" She said, air quoting the delicious.

"Yes please"

After she suggested the ramen she said it's the most delicious meal on the entire menu, the waiter came back, took our orders and disappeared again. The nice aromas just kept making my stomach growl more. Surprisingly it didn't take too long for our foods to arrive. I waited for the waiter to go and went straight at it. 'Oh my. This is good.' I thought to myself. But all my appetite flew out the window when I raised my head only for my eyes to go past Nancy and lock with a pair of grey blue eyes.