Ruth's POV
"Now you've done it."
With those intriguing words, Caleb disappeared through the doorway, leaving me alone in the dimly lit room. I huffed and swallowed the guilt rising within me, and instead glanced around, spotting my bag next to the couch and my phone on the coffee table all lined up neatly.
As I walked over to pick it up, it struck me that this was the second time in the last 24 hours that he had to carry my stuff - and probably me - to the room, probably tended and taken care of me. The thought made my guilt swell up tenfolds.
Granted, he hadn't had to do it the first time if not for his supposed help, no matter how well-intentioned he thought it was.
Shrugging off my line of thoughts again, I picked up my phone and noticed the notification light at the top blinking furiously.
Curiously, I unlocked it and then got cross-eyed for a moment, as I tried to keep up with all the pop-ups and notifications.
It seemed every application on my phone had something to show me as a series of missed calls, messages, emails, voice mails and what-not rained in.
Jeez! 28 missed calls were from different members of my family, 13 from Shayari alone and innumerous amount of text, WhatsApp and every other kind of messages in the last 24 hours were there. They all ranged from curious to annoyed, then worried to thermonuclear angry.
I even had 4 missed calls from Ellen Cole. Huh, shit must have really hit the roof if my cousin thought to check up on me.
I quickly typed a generic message to all of my family members that had checked up on me.
"Hey, I'm absolutely fine. Forgot my phone back in my room and has been busy ever since. Will give you a call when I get a moment. Love, Ruth."
There, that would do for now.
Soon after sending the text, a string of messages poured in again, demanding answers but I didn't think I was up for it right now.
Besides, Shayari's name on the list had distracted me enough to actually be able to ignore the rest of them. My insides twisted with the urge to pour my heart out to my best friend and my finger hovered over the call button undecidedly when a loud crash outside made me jump.
I frowned when I heard a distinct splashing coming from somewhere and my curiosity won over my need to talk.
Keeping my phone back on the table, I ventured out of the bedroom, feeling a fleeting sense of confusion as I stepped into what looked like a den.
For a second, I stopped and stared at the beautifully appointed room, looking all around in awe. This room looked even bigger than the bedroom. And straight from my ideal home catalogue. It had the exact balance of rustic and modern, with antique looking vases and modern furnishing all blended beautifully.
My gaze paused at a set of French doors that stood ajar, that weird sloshing noise coming through it again.
I stepped outside in the cool night air, closing my eyes and breathing in deeply. The crisp late autumn air was fresh and held the winter chill. It briefly reminded me of the weather back home at this time of day, making me feel oddly homesick.
I sighed, and scolded myself to stop being melancholy. I had never wanted to stay stuck at one place. But the thought of leaving home didn't hold much appeal either. It seemed I really did not know what to do with my life.
Shaking myself, I remembered Shayari's words when she had heard of my work trip.
"Enjoy the moment, Ru."
So deciding to do exactly that, I took another whiff of calming air, feeling settled. It was when I opened my eyes and took in the rest of my surroundings did I lose some of my newly found composure. My mouth dropped open as I found myself standing at the entrance of what looked like a pool area and gazebo all wrapped into one.
As compared to the rectangular, dark and ominous looking water, the opposite side of the area was brightly lit, with wrought iron pillars draped with climbing, lush vines all gathered and artistically spread out all around the roof. Clusters of honeysuckle and trumpet vines hung off the railings adding vibrant colours to the whole setting.
The gazebo itself seemed tiny, holding a small, oval shaped table and 4 chairs.
Awed by the enchanting view, I unconsciously stepped closer to the water, only to pause as I thought I saw it ripple. As compared to the gazebo, the lights in and around the pool were near negligible, plunging depths of the water into complete darkness.
Like a dumb victim in every horror movie, I crept at the edge of the water, peering into it like I could see its bottom even though it was pitch black.
Suddenly, the surface of the water broke and something huge emerged out of it, making me scream in horror.
My shrill voice echoed off the high fences of the surrounding area and seemed strangely intermingled with a hoarse one, escalating the noise levels by few thousand decibels.
I stumbled back, trying to get away from whatever thing was clawing its way into the water, splashing about in the dark, only to stumble and fall back into it with a huge splash, getting me drenched right along.
Sputtering, I blinked through the chlorine water, unconsciously still screaming at the top of my lungs, my back hitting the open door behind me.
Suddenly, the sound of a glass shattering rang nearby, at the same time the lights around the water came on, cutting my voice with a startled yelp.
Looking wildly around, I spotted Caleb standing to the left of the pool near a recliner, his empty hand raised high up in the air above his head while shards of a broken wine glass lay at his feet.
Before I could get my mouth to coordinate with my brain, a rough, coughing sound made me snap my eyes back to the pool taking in a huge, tattooed man standing in the water, hackling like a choked donkey, glaring up at me first, and then at Caleb.
"So you promise me food, only to leave a banshee on me?" he shot between his coughing fit, then shook his head regretfully, taking deep gulping breathes.
"You're going to have to pay for that, literally," he gestured at the broken wine glass, slowly treading his way to the edge of pool.
"I'd much rather pay for that than a hearing aid I'd had to invest in if you two had kept that up for few more minutes," Caleb replied, before turning his eyes towards me.
His eyes slowly travelled the length of my body in a way that made my heart beat a little faster and made me aware that I was standing there in nothing a thin hospital gown. A drenched, thin hospital gown.
Clearing my throat, I held the gown away from my body to reduce its transparency, before something registered with me.
"Banshee? Did you just called me banshee?" I demanded towards the back of the man, who had pulled himself up on the side of the pool.
"If you don't wanna be called banshee, then stop screaming like one," He shot again, turning around and glaring at me menacingly.
As his face registered, I felt a flash of recognition go through me, remembering it like a muddled dream when I had freaked out and given him that black eye in the hospital ward a few hours ago.
"If you don't wanna be screamed at, then stop startling me," I shot back.
Leo opened his mouth as if to say something cutting, but Caleb's voice cut through to us like a cold blade.
"While all this verbal sparing looks cute as fuck," jaw clenched, his eyes roamed over at me for a split second before drifted over to glare at the giant and continued, "can you reschedule it to when some of us are not nearly naked?"
In unison, both the giant and I glanced down, noticing our respective state of undress. What I saw made me straighten and inch closer to the door, but the giant merely shrugged and raised his brow at Caleb.
"Worried your roommate might see something she'd like more?"
"More, being an operative word, of course," Caleb muttered, rolling his eyes at the same time. But then his gaze landed on me, noticing me paused at that doorway, his eyes got colder.
In a jerky movement, he picked up a robe and threw it at the man with a snarl, "I'm fucking serious, Leo. Cover up or you're getting kicked out without any food afterall."
I gulped and made my way back to the room, frowning at the weird interaction between Caleb and this Leo.