It has been two weeks since she first met Mr. Justin Whitfred and it was finally the day she was leaving the orphanage. It would be a lie if she said she was not excited and not just that alone, she was also nervous. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror in the bathroom.
Since no one was with her to pat her and encourage her, she did it herself. It felt funny to pat herself on the head and give herself an encouraging smile but it was effective.
And like a dream, she was finally standing beside her foster father before a black jeep with black tinted windows and all those she happened to get close to in the orphanage standing behind them in front of the gate of the orphanage.
Mr. Whitfred opened the door for her like a gentleman and she went in sitting down and taking a deep breath before giving her 'friends' outside a final wave.
The door closed and her journey to the other part of the world began when Mr Whitfred sat beside her the driver started the engine of the jeep and the car drove away from the orphanage.
Her heart was beating hard against its protection and she felt a lump build up in her throat and her nose stung. Her eyes began getting blurry as tears made a poodle in her eyes ready to pour out. She immediately lifted her head and squeezed her eyes shut.
'Mother, I am coming. I will visit you as soon as I get the chance. I will bring your favourite flower,' she promised her mother as she looked forward to the beginning of a new life.
Her action did not escape Justin's observation, he was proud of himself for saving someone else's life from the pain and stress of poverty. He felt like he had just rescued a poor abandoned puppy from the street. He straightened his broad square shoulder in pride. He had done well for humanity despite all the other things he had done badly. This one good thing was good enough.
As someone who had not left the little town where the orphanage was in almost a decade, Rose did not get bored or dull herself. She enjoyed the sight of every single thing that caught her attention and lots of things did get her attention.
She had a lot to do which included cleaning the dirt stuck to her mother's name and getting the kingdom off the queen's hand and perhaps her father too for not trusting her mother.
She could not imagine herself being vicious but she could sure learn to be ruthless with the memories of her horrible death.
She closed her eyes when her eyes finally got tired of watching the scenery of fields and fields and fields when they left a town that seemed to be the main town before crossing over to the next state. She had not been able to sleep well for days after her rebirth. She inhaled the cool scent that came from the expensive air freshener on the dashboard.
In less than ten minutes she fell asleep and as usual, she was welcomed into the dreamland by the pain of her bones getting broken like a small stick without pity. She tightly closed her eyes with her teeth clenched tightly to avoid crying out.
Her tightened fist gave her fingers access to her palm dug into her palm and distracted her from the illusionary pain. She took a deep breath opened her eyes after half a minute and turned to her foster father to check if he noticed her strange behaviour.
Luckily, he did not, his eyes were looking at the tablet in his hands as he kept scrolling. She could finally exhale and lifted her palm before opening her palm and both of them had red patches of broken injured skin. She pulled out her handkerchief frowning at the innocent glass air freshener which gave her a deceptive feeling of relaxation.
She had acknowledged that she would be able to sleep finally for at least an hour but the nightmares came to her faster than ever. It was like a thorn or injury that vengeance alone could pull out or heal and she would suffer this forever if she tried to run away from avenging.
She held back a sigh with great effort as she stared out of the window at the repetition of fields. It was green and beautiful but she could easily get tired and besides, the car was moving at a high speed.
"Do you want music?" Mr. Whitfred asked without looking at her.
"Uh?" she asked saucer-eyed. She thought he did not notice but it seemed she was wrong.
"Do you want to listen to music? You seem to be having motion sickness," he said still not looking at her, his gaze fixed on his tablet.
"Yes . . ." she answered nodding her head vigorously trying to persuade her wandering mind that he only thought it was motion sickness and not some psychological problem. "Thank you."
He ignored her appreciation and the driver immediately turned on the radio. A soft tone filled the car, she knew a little about music and immediately recognized the piece as classical music from B city. It was soothing and soon she fell asleep again. Her nap was not dreamless but all she saw was her mother's beautiful smile.
The music coupled with the soft leather of the chair that was over a hundred percent more comfortable than the bed she slept on in the orphanage she could drift away to dreamland.
***
Thousands of miles away in B city, a man stood in front of a bay window with his smartphone held close to his ears as he made a phone call.
"He adopted her and they are on their way back. They should be back by tomorrow," the person on the other end informed the man.
The man's thin lips curved up and his eyes filled with mystery and too many secrets brightened and slowly formed a crescent shape.
A handsome young man stood beside the now smiling man perplexed but it did not show it on his expressionless face. He had never seen the man smile this way before. It was a soft smile filled with love, a smile this man had never given him, his brother, or anyone else.
He was envious of whoever this person was. The smiles he had always received from this man never got to his eyes, he was amazed that this man's eyes could show laugh lines and form a beautiful crescent shape. The more he watched the man smile, the more he felt jealous.
The man turned and looked at the teenager and got startled for a while because he finally saw a change in this boy's face. The young man had always refused to show any emotion on his face. He had decided that the boy had face paralysis but the boy now wore an expression of amazement blended with sadness. That was the most complicated blend of emotions to be shown on this boy's face.
The boy immediately dropped his gaze when their eyes met and turned away from the window his handsome face now wearing no expression.
The man looked back toward the window and his smile brightened more. 'So this ice-cold boy could let his emotions show,' the man thought and began humming. 'Welcome back my Princess.'
***
Justin had one more thing to add to his list of all the good he had done for humanity when he saw Rose asleep comfortably. He helped an orphan girl sleep well in his car despite her motion sickness. He never knew music was an adequate cure for motion sickness. It was time for her to wake up since they were already in the underground parking lot of a five-star hotel in Y city. He felt it might reduce the number of his good deeds.
Rose stirred as she began waking up with her mind foggy and waiting for sunlight. She opened her eyes and turned to the left side where Mr. Whitfred sat. She thought she had just slept for a few minutes.
She was taken aback to see Mr. Whitfred staring at her with his black eyes almost digging holes in her. 'Doesn't this man know it is rude to stare?' she wondered and looked around.
"Where am I?" she had to ask because the place was so bright with very good lighting systems but it was obvious that the place would be dark without the lights on.
Since she woke up herself, Justin knew that the merits he now had wouldn't reduce. He ignored her question and left the car. "Get down," he told her from outside before the driver helped him close the door.
As she opened the door of the jeep to get down, she wondered where the gentleman who opened the door for her in the orphanage was. She only hoped it wouldn't get any worse.