The Billionaire's Brother

A rose and a note

Perspective: Nila K.

“Why did I kiss him? What is wrong with me??” Nila kept admonishing herself as she made her way back to her hotel room. She has never done something as impulsive as kiss a total stranger she had just met! What if he is carrying some disease? There are so many contagious diseases that can be fatal nowadays and it doesn’t even have to be an STD, although kissing will not transmit any STDs. 

How stupid can she be? She felt so mortified and embarrassed with herself. How could she ever face that gorgeous American artist again? He must think that she is some loose woman who kisses men as if it meant nothing. She only hoped she doesn’t see him ever again. 

She touched her slightly swollen lips. It was a spine-tingling kiss, that’s for sure. It had her curling her toes and it made her so impulsive, she would’ve continued kissing him for much longer if she didn’t come to her senses sooner. He is really a good kisser too. The fact that he is also smoking hot, the kind that makes women swoon and fall all over his feet, is also a plus point. She has met her fair share of good looking men, been propositioned by quite a few that she had coldly turned down but this is absolutely the first time she had thrown herself on one and kissed him! 

She opened the door to her hotel room and went inside, shaking her head to get rid of the image and taste of kissing Jaden. It just will not do to keep thinking about him. She probably won’t be seeing him again. At least not so soon. Hopefully.

“Why so serious? Something happened?” Cindy’s curious voice broke her train of thoughts. 

This gave her the opportunity to get rid of all images of Jaden Forest and concentrate on her own problems at hand. 

“So, I found a job!” she told Cindy excitedly and her friend immediately jumped for joy, hugging her. 

“I am so glad for you!!! Yessssss!!! Just when I was about to make the drive home too!” 

“Awwww….can’t you stay a few more days Cind?”

Her friend shook her head. It was not easy for her to get days off from work. Her friend works as a chef in a hotel in the big city and it was always difficult for her to get vacation days. 

“You know I had to beg for this one week of holiday, I can’t stretch it anymore or I might go back to no job,” she told her.

Nila sighed. She only wished Cindy could stay with her a while more, if not to keep her company, at least to be there to free her from her thoughts of the threat that is troubling her. 

“I only hope that you running away will solve whatever problem that you are facing at home that you won’t even tell me about,” her friend said. 

She had kept the threat against her life and her family’s life a secret from everyone, including her family. It is her problem and hers alone. She knows it is aimed at her alone and her family will no longer be in danger if she no longer lives with them. She only hoped she had managed to run away from that dark presence in her life. 

“I told you, I can’t stand my parents’ overbearing protectiveness and I can sense they may be arranging a suitor for me to get married pretty soon,” it was a plausible excuse.

“Nila, you are almost 30 and still single, when I was your age, I already had you with Devan on the way!” she said in her best impression of her mother’s quarrelsome tone. 

 Cindy laughed. 

“Nila! You better get married now or you may become too old to have babies!” Cindy mimicked her tone.

“Nila! You must preserve your virginity only for your husband and no one else! It is your most valuable commodity!” Nila continued. 

Cindy gasped.

“No, surely she didn’t say that! I mean, what century are we in now,” 

“Trust me, my parents and family and relatives are still stuck in the stone ages, they might even approve of a man hitting me on the head with a stone club and dragging me to his cave as his wife,” she replied cynically.

Cindy narrowed her eyes at Nila.

“Surely, you are no longer a virgin right? I mean you did have that boyfriend, whatshisname, and you were with him for a couple years at least,” she asked.

“Let’s not talk about him…ughhh…it was four wasted years!” Nila said. She didn’t want to talk about her first boyfriend, the only serious relationship she had ever had. It ended so horribly that the thought of it cause cold shivers to run down her neck. 

“You did sleep with him, didn’t you?” Cindy pressed on.

Trust her best friend to be so nosy. Cindy had asked her a few times over the years but she had never replied her. 

“No, Cindy, I am still a virgin as per my parents’ wishes,” she finally relented. 

“NOOOOO!!! Honestly, Neha!” Cindy exclaimed.

“SHHHHH!!! I am Nila now!!! Don’t use my real name! ” she shushed Cindy. 

Cindy looked slightly sheepish at her outburst. 

“I think what we need to do now is for you to get rid of your precious commodity,” Cindy said.

“Well…it’s not like you have the equipment to do it…” Nila retorted.

“Hey, sorry to burst your bubble, not your cherry though, I prefer men and yes, as you pointed out, I don’t have the package to do so for you,” her friend replied. 

“I am honestly curious though. Was that ex of yours gay? How can you be together for four years and not even sleep together once??”

Nila explained that it was not because he didn’t want to, she just never felt like she was ready. Her ex-boyfriend had pressured her in the four years they were together but not once had she relented. She never felt comfortable enough with him to even go as far as heavy petting. She didn’t even like it when he tried to touch her breasts or grabbed her butt. Once he tried to put his hands inside her panties and she had recoiled in shock, pushing him away so hard that he fell on to the floor. He had retaliated by calling her a ‘frigid b***h’. He didn’t call or talk to her for weeks after that but then suddenly came back, apologised and she gave him another chance. This happened so many times that for the final time, she told him it will be a final break and never to call her again. That was that then. 

“Hmmm…oh well…that just means he is not the one, you know, you probably only had a crush on him and don’t really love him or anything,” Cindy said. 

Nila had to agree. She had come to realise that it might not be love if she sometimes felt repulsed by her ex-boyfriend’s touch. Which girlfriend gets turned off by their boyfriend? Either there’s something innately wrong with her or she just doesn’t love him. She tends to think that it was because she doesn’t love him. That and the traditional way she was brought up probably made her more careful about getting too physically close to the opposite s*x. Although there didn’t seem to be such reservations when it was Jaden Forest earlier today. 

His handsome face and his captivating baby blue eyes floated in her mind’s eye. The way he smiles at her and how it made her pulse quicken and her breath catch. She mulled telling Cindy about the gorgeous artist. 

“So, now that you found a job, what about a place to stay? I am sure you can’t afford to stay in this hotel indefinitely,” Cindy has moved on to another topic. 

“Oh, the gallery owner actually has a place to recommend, I’m going to check it out later, he’s going to show it to me, wanna join me?” 

Cindy was game to check out a potential place for her to rent. They quickly get ready to go out together to meet with Mr Shih when there was a knock on the door. 

“Who’s that? Are you expecting someone?” Cindy asked, puzzled.

Nila had paled at the knock. She was not expecting anyone. No one except Cindy knows where she is staying now. Not even her family. She has only called them, after getting a brand new cell phone number, to inform them that she is safe but she refused to tell them her location. 

Noticing her fearful expression, Cindy went to answer the door instead. It was the front office staff.

“Is Ms Neha here?” the man asked. Nila had to use her real identification card to book the hotel room so they have her real name. She had checked to make sure they won’t reveal that she is staying here before making her booking. They had assured her that their guest lists are confidential.

“What is it?” her voice trembled slightly as she went to stand next to Cindy by the door.

“Someone dropped this for you,” he handed her a single rose and a plain black envelope. 

She took it shakily and thanked him. Then they closed the door. Tears are welling up in her eyes. She stared at the rose. It is a white rose with a splash of red, as if blood had soaked the tip of the flower. She is certain there is a note is inside the black envelope.

“Oooo…looks romantic…you sure did find an admirer fast!” Cindy remarked. “Quick, lets’ read what’s written inside!” 

She snatched the envelope from Nila and opened it before Nila can stop her. 

“Dear Neha,” Cindy started reading out loud. “I miss you. You look especially gorgeous today with your hair down. I love it when you don’t tie your hair up into the messy buns you love. One day, my darling, one day, you shall be mine,”

Cindy stopped and looked at Nila. 

“What is this? It sounded kinda creepy…”

Then she read on.

“If you think running away will get rid of me, think again, you can never escape me. NEVER! We will be together if not in life, we will be together in death. Love you to death, 444.”

Cindy shuddered and threw the note on the floor. 

“What is that???? Tell me that’s a joke! And he signed it with the most unlucky numbers ever for the Chinese!” 

Nila is now curled up on the bed, rocking back and forth in fear. 

He had found her and she doesn't know what to do and where to run anymore.