Episode 8.
The words, I love you; repeated through my mind over and over. Then it was replaced with Nathans face as he said it. I began to blush, Nathan stood there waiting for my response. It was silent and to be honest this was the longest response I had ever done. I couldn’t find the right words to describe this feeling.
” Do you love me back?” Nathan finally asked to end the silence. I twitched at his question. Love was such a strong meaningful word. I couldn’t understand what I was feeling. The word, Love was hard for me to comprehend. In my imagination I could feel the scar on my chest burning over this word; Love. My heart was pumping fast, Nathan was waiting for my answer. Half of me was unsure and the other half was telling me yes, and a bit of me was telling me no don’t trust him. I bit my lip, what will happen if my dad agreed to the deal? Or worse, if he didn’t I would be disposed of, would Nathan really try to disobey his father for me?
” I… I… Don’t know…” I paused. Looking at Nathans reaction, he was calm; surprisingly.
” Then, I will wait for you, until you find your answer,” He smiled, getting up and kissed me on the forehead. I blushed, as he brushed passed me and exited out of the room. I blinked at what just happened. Remembering the time, when I was dating Blair, he would ask a Yes or No answer, when he would ask that question. As for Nathan he said he would wait… What do I do now?
I stayed in the room for a fifteen minutes trying to think and clear my head. I opened the door and waiting on the side was Cole, he leaned on the side of the wall with his arms crossed, and closed eyes. How long has he been waiting? I closed the door shut making a loud creak. Cole jumped up, his face brightened when he looked at me then it turned into a worried face. I felt a small guilt, I shouldn’t have left him like that.
” Cole…” I began.
” I’m Sorry,” We both shouted at the same time. I blinked at him, and he blinked at me in a curious face.
” Wait,why are you sorry?” Cole asked,
” I felt guilty for leaving you like that,” I began, ” That’s why, I’m sorry,”. I looked at him, he had a disappointment look on his face.
” I’m sorry, for coming onto you like that,” Cole said in a quiet tone. He had a compassionate feeling in his eyes, the guilt was eating him alive. I walked up to him, and flicked his forehead.
” Idiot,” I said, he gave me a confused look,
” Lets just stay friends, ‘Kay?” I smiled, Cole gave a slight nod.
” Just so we are clear,” He gave a serious look, ” I like you, but if you wanna be friends that’s fine with me, just remember I am here for you if anything goes wrong,”. I blinked a few times, Cole looked at really serious.
” Thanks,” I said, that was the only word that can come out. I looked at Cole, it looked like that sentence took a lot out of him.
I walked into my room to check if the old hag Aunt Marie, had moved out of my room. Luckily, she did, I felt like I should give Nathan the space in his room… Or was it that I was scared what will happen if I sleep with Nathan? I sighed and laid on my bed, then dozed off to sleep.
A knock came at my door the next morning. I stretched over to look at the time, it was 11:30 am. I blinked, I must have overslept. I staggered to the doorway, trying to get my vision back to normal. Guessing, it was probably Cole as always. I opened the door.
” Yo~” a soft voice walked in, It was Daniel. I blinked, for some reason I felt awkward because of the different opinion I got on him from Nathan. He wore a regular suit top with baggy jeans, and his hair was all messed up.
” Daniel…?” I blinked still half awake, “Usually it was Cole who would greet me in the morning”.
” Well,” He began to run his head thinking of the right words, ” they kinda went on a camping trip for a few days, and since I’m not a forest environmental friendly person, I was asked to stay here and watch over you,” He sighed. “So what do want to do today?”.
” I… Don’t know…” I yawned, Daniel looked at me curiously.
” ‘Kay, whatever, I’m going to go get some groceries so stay here, I put traps at the entrances and windows if you attempt escape,” he sighed and closed my door, I completely forgot I was still a hostage, it was hard for me to think of escaping now. I felt in a depressed mood today, Was I missing Nathan? Or what Cole said bugged me? Or was it because everyone left and I was stuck with Daniel for a few days?
I stared at the ceiling for a while. Maybe I could get some answers on Lucy by myself, if I searched Nathans room. I walked out of my room, and searched if Daniel put any traps in front of my door, luckily he didn’t, at least he had the common curtsey to let me roam free around the house. I turned in front of Nathans room and turned the knob, locked. I sighed, looks like I’m not going to get any answers. I was dead bored now, my stomach growled of hunger. I slid down the railing and entered the kitchen, the kitchen was cleaner than usual. I opened the fridge and it was full of ingredients you can use to cook, except I didn’t know how to. I took out a loaf of bread, and searched for the toaster around the room, did they take the toaster with them? How would you use a toaster in the middle of a forest. I chuckled, hoping maybe they found out that there was no outlet there. I ate the toast raw and headed out the door when suddenly, a huge boom struck my senses. I immediately jumped to the side of the wall and glanced at the entrance, there was a figure at the door, but it didn’t look like Daniel, who knows how far this house is to town, he couldn’t be back so soon. Was it an intruder? I flinched, usually when an intruder comes to your house they have a horny desire, I got into my fighting stance. The door unlocked and I charged heading for a kick, In that instant it was blocked.
” What? Are you trying to kill me?” A cold familiar voice barked. I lowed my foot, it was Nathan.
” Nathan? What are you doing back here?” I scanned behind him, there were arrows stabbed onto the ground and some shattered ones beside them. Did Daniel had to go that far just to make sure I don’t escape?
” I’m wasn’t in the mood to go camping,” He sighed, ” more like, I never wanted to,”. Judging from his mood he was forced too. He smiled at me,
” Also, I wanted to be with you,” he chuckled.
” Then how did you get back here?” I asked, changing the subject.
” Easy, as soon as I got out the car, I stole the motorcycle and drove back here. My eyes widened, he actually ran away. He walked in and headed upstairs.
” Think you can make me some lunch, I’m starving,” He ordered, not turning back. What am I a servant? Last time I checked I was a hostage. I sighed and went back in the kitchen, cooking can’t be that hard… can it? I scanned the cupboards, I found a bag of rice and some ground beef. I remembered watching my cousin Tori cook rice before, it was easy all you need was water and the rice cooker does all the work. I scanned the room for a rice cooker they had this fancy technology one. I opened it up, there was a tin can that I can used and I dumped at least half of the bag of rice into it, filling it up to the top. Then I poured water into it filling it up, some of the rice fell onto the ground, making small tapping noises. I struggled to place the heavy tin of rice into the machine, and closed it. I blinked all the settings were weird and difficult to understand, I started to press random buttons and after five or six buttons it said cooking rice. I smiled, that wasn’t too difficult. I pulled out a pan and placed some oil onto it, and turned the oven at High, the oil sizzled and splashed everywhere, I’m guessing that means its ready for the meat? I threw the meat in and more oil splashed stinging my arm, I took a large cover and covered it to let is sizzle on its own. I washed my hands and Nathan came downstairs with a basket of clothes.
” Yo, think you can wash these for me, these are the only clothes left around the house,” He ordered. I flinched, besides for me who can’t cook, I didn’t know how to do the laundry either. I looked at Nathan, he had his arrogant look on his face.
” Sure,” I sighed. I was getting to nice to Nathan.
” Thanks,” He smiled, and looked at the oven, ” The meat is burning,”. I rushed over, and opened the cover a gigantic pile of smoke popped out from the pan, and a foul smell of burnt meat filled the room, I coughed and opened the window. Nathan chuckled and left the room. He could at least help. I turned off the oven and pulled the meat to the side, it wasn’t so bad, it was just completely… charred. I sighed. Maybe I shouldn’t cook for now, or ever. I picked up the basket of Nathans clothes that were lying near the entrance of the kitchen and I searched for the laundry room. It took me fifteen minutes to find it, the only thing that pissed me off was that I searched the entire household only to find it right next to the kitchen. I separated the dark colours and whites and I dropped the dark colours into the washer first, I dumped in a whole bottle of bleach, softener and detergent . Bubbles foamed up, that was a good thing right? The water still ran, I put it for sixty minutes and headed upstairs, to my room.
I opened the door and the first thing I saw was Nathan lying on my bed, napping. I shut the door hard making him jump off the bed and he tumbled onto the ground. He gave me a curious look, like I shouldn’t be in my room .
” What are you doing in MY room,” I emphasized.
” Our room,” he corrected, I blinked at him.
” I’m sure you already know that my room is lock,” he chuckled, ” and I left the key in my suitcase, which is with everyone at the camping site,”.I paused i already knew where this was going.
” I’m not sleeping with you,” I began,
” I know,” He smiled, ” So, I’ll sleep on the bed and you sleep in the bathtub,”. I flinched, there’s no way hes going to get what he wants.
” Nope, YOU bathtub, ME bed ,” I spoke slowly he can understand. He growled. I looked at the time it was about 2:56 pm, the rice should be done by now, right? I looked at Nathan.
” You hungry?” I asked, ” rice is ready, I think,”.
” Finally,” he growled still angry about where he was sleeping tonight, I chuckled and headed out the door. At the stairs I took a few steps and suddenly slipped, Nathan caught me on time and I hanged over the side, I looked on the steps, there was water everywhere, flowing like a new lake inside the house. My eyes widened and I looked at Nathan.
” What the Fuck,” He gave a curious look. There was suddenly a beep, and a loud boom. This doesn’t sound good. We rushed to the kitchen, well more like skidded with the water on the ground, the rice cooked opened and we say a canon sized rice ball fly out of the cooker and landed onto the ground making a huge thunk.
” Shit, its loaded,” Nathan swore as he backed up, grabbing my arm along. The rice cooker was shooting rice everywhere. And the water wasn’t stopping.
” WE gotta get out of here!” I said,
” Yeah, I think I noticed,” He said dragging me to the nearest exit, the back.
” Wait! There’s a trap!” I said, but it was too late and a trap had sprung. In a flash Nathan dragged me out of the way but, this time it wasn’t arrows, I looked around, where was the trap? There was a small closing sound and soon I felt a small metal clamp onto my wrist, I looked; Handcuffs?! I pulled try to get out of them, then I observed to see I was linked on to Nathan, this wasn’t my day, judging from Nathans expression he didn’t like it either. We ran to the front, I was dragged from behind trying to keep my balance. Nathan struggled with the handcuffs, he wanted them off.
At the front, was a red motorcycle.
” I’m, not going on that death trap,” I immediately said.
” Would you rather stay in there and drown? Or get knocked out by those canon ball rice?” He asked, making it sound like it was all my fault… even though it was. He tossed me a helmet making me stumble to catch it, it was difficult to work with one hand while the other was chained to someone else.
He got on and I sat behind him.
” Do I have to hold onto you,” I asked.
” No duh,” he smiled, ” Unless you rather get dragged by these idiotic cuffs,” he scoffed. I twitched. I gently held onto Nathan on the side. He turned on the engine, making him grab onto him harder. He chuckled, and drove out.
” Where exactly are we going,” I screamed over the engine, the rush from the wind was exciting but terrifying.
” Well we can’t go back to the mansion, so lets just go out to eat, then try to find a way to get these handcuffs off us,” he said, the words Go and Out ringed in my head, was this a date?
I looked over the side, there was a forest that covered the mansion, and it zoomed by pretty fast, I closed my eyes trying to stay calm of the rush.
” Could you loosen up a bit,” He coughed, ” Unless you want both of us to crash,” he chuckled.
” Don’t joke around like that!” I screamed, he just laughed at my reaction. I felt a small guilt, for causing all this mess.
” I’m Sorr-” I began, but was interrupted by Nathans driving, he sped up the motorcycle faster to make me stop talking. I held on tighter.
” Don’t worry about it,” He said, I looked up, was he happy? I leaned my head onto his back and closed my eyes and felt the wind pass by my whole body, it felt like I was flying.
” We’re here,” Nathan replied, I let go of his chest. I yawned loudly, I must have fallen asleep during the ride, I looked around. It was a market place. As people walked by me and Nathan they stared for a while looking at us oddly. I gave a curious look, and Nathan randomly grabbed my hand and linked our fingers together. I gave him a questioning look.
” Its so that they don’t think we are idiots who got stuck in handcuffs,” He blushed, but wouldn’t this make it looked like two idiots who handcuffed themselves too each other so they can never be apart? I sighed. We walked down the street, it was crowded. It smelled like garbage but the perfume store we passed by cleared that, down the corner was a restaurant called Eden Paradise. It had playful colours of yellow, orange and red on the sides, the chairs and tables were decorative and sorted out evenly so the waiters can walk in and out, it looked like a five star restaurant that will cost a lot of money, sadly I don’t have that kind of money to spend.
” Lets go inside,” Nathan smiled, I looked at him curiously, doesn’t he know how much this meal will cost? He tried tugged us both in.
” This kind of place is expensive,” I complained.
” I know, but a pretty girl like you should be eating somewhere elegant, no?” He smiled, I blushed, why was he being so nice for?
We took our seats. The waiter came to our table looking at us oddly, stupid handcuffs. He then turned to me and stared at me oddly, it made me feel uncomfortable.
” Yeah I would like a Coke and some steak with cake on the side” Nathan looked up, the waiter was still looking at me.
” What would you like ma’am” the waiter smiled ignoring Nathan. Nathan growled.
” Whatever my boyfriend is having,” I glared at the waiter making him smirk and walk off.
” Boyfriend?” Nathan asked with a brightened face,
” No, that was just so,” I said, thinking of an excuse, ” the waiter can stop staring at me oddly,”. I felt a little embarrassed and my heart was pumping fast, calling Nathan my boyfriend was to much for me.
He chuckled, he saw right through the excuse, I sighed and turned my head so he doesn’t see my eyes.
Nathan linked my handcuffed hand to his, I turned and gave him a confused look.
” Do you want to go shopping and try to find a shop to get rid of these handcuffs?” he smiled changing the subject. I nodded.
A waitress came with our food and then it hit me, how are we going to eat steak with just one hand? Nathan picked him a fork and struggled, he sighed, it looks like he just figured that out too. He stabbed the fork into the stake and I took out my knife with my free hand and tried cutting his stake. He gave me a confused look but then smiled, we actually managed to cut the stake. We laughed and he picked up the stake with the fork.
” Open wide,” He smiled, I blinked at him curiously. I opened and he put the stake in my mouth, a burst of flavours went into my mouth, it was amazing. He smiled, I felt happy and relieved just seeing Nathan smile. I fed him and he fed me, I felt people in the other tables staring at us, we looked like a couple. The only question was, do I love Nathan?
After that fantastic lunch, Nathan managed to pay the meal and we walked towards the bank to get more money. Then we would head to the grocery store hopefully to find something that can break handcuffs. We held hands and people gave a small glance and a curious look why we were handcuffed, I kept my head down. We wandered around and waited at the line up for the ATM machine, then a familiar voice appeared behind us.
” Kim?!” a surprised but soft voice appeared behind me, I turned around and my eyes widened.
” Daniel?!” I yelled, people in the other lane probably heard, Nathan turned his head and he pursed his lips. Daniel scanned at me then at Nathan then at the handcuffs, he couldn’t help but laugh.
” Shut up,” Nathan whispered, ” this wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t have to put such dangerous traps outside,”
” Well I didn’t want you to escape, wait why did you guys get out of the house anyways,” Daniel spoke curiously.
” Eh…” I began, Nathan sighed.
” Long story short, don’t leave Kim alone in the kitchen,” Nathan sighed.
” Did she burn the house down?!” Daniel’s eyes widened.
” More like drowned,” Nathan chuckled. I felt like a huge rock of embarrassment was on my head and bringing me down to the ground. Daniel sighed, thinking what he should do now. At that instant a loud scream had echoed through the entire bacnk along with large gunshot, and more people started to scream, a chill went down my spine, another gunshot was fired.
” EVERYBODY GET DOWN NOW!” a cold voice yelled across the store entrance. I looked around Nathan and Daniel had a furious look on them, what was going on? Nathan pulled me in closer and held me tight, I looked at Daniel who was rolling up his sleeves. Is this a bank robbery?!
Tbc