"I know," Anna answered as her mind was already outside in whatever places they were going to visit. This was the first time she was going out for fun since she got kidnapped and she could not help but shiver in bot excitement and fear. Anything could happen to them out there but she still wanted to have fun outdoor.
"For the boys let's play gulf tomorrow," Wayne announced.
"Boring," Debby shook her in disbelief.
"Okay," Jace replied while his body guard only nodded while praying hard that Debby would let go of his arm. He regretted more at this point that he spoken earlier.
"Here, your birthday gift," Wayne said when he brought out a wrapped box from his black jeep.
"What's in it?" Anna asked curiously.
"A helmet. It is a black helmet. It was the most expensive I saw. It cost me the whole of my monthly allowance," Wayne explained to tell her how valuable it was.
"Thank you," Anna appreciated hugging him in a suffocating manner.
"Hey that is enough or I will take it back," Wayne complained his face slowly turning red with how hard she hugged him.
Rose shook her head with a smile. She heard Wayne was Anna's first friend. When she was adopted, most kids in the kindergarten she attended avoided her perhaps because of the words of their gossiping mums but Wayne made sure to hang around her and they became really close afterwards. Debby and their other friend became their friends in middle school.
"I just hope it remains expensive in three years," Anna murmured after pulling away.
"Why?"
"I won't ride a bike till I turn nineteen. It is dangerous," Anna replied Wayne.
"What?" Debby asked confused and unsure of what she heard. It was Anna's dream to ride a bike when she turns sixteen.
Jace was happy with butterflies flying in his stomach at that statement. From the interactions he had with Anna, he knew she was someone who hardly does what someone wants her to do unless she wants to do it. It showed a little improvement for her to agree to what he wanted.
"Rose told me to keep off till I turn nineteen," Anna made her reason clear when she saw Jace smiling shyly.
At this point, Jace could only walk to his white convertible and opened the door to hide the tears of disappointment slowly making his eyes go misty. He really wished she was not too cruel to kill his excitement but it made him like her more in a weird way.
"Let us go get some sushi. I know a very good sushi restaurant. After sushi, I will take you guys to a gaming center," Debby suggested as she joined Jace in his car.
"I have a personal gaming center at home," Wayne complained. "Can't we go somewhere else?"
"I don't want to go to your gaming center. We are going out," Debby refused his suggestion.
"The best gaming center in town belongs to me," he replied her with a bored look at the thought of going to the gaming center out.
"Huh?" Rose could not hide her astonishment.
"Yeah. My father gave it to me for a birthday gift last year," he nodded at Rose with a simple smile void of arrogance or pride.
"Oh," Rose replied with a nod, she had really forgotten she was having very rich friends.
"I am famished," Debby complained aloud.
With her complaint, everyone went into the car of their choice among the two cars available which belonged to Wayne and Jace.
They had fun with Anna testing every single appetizing thing she saw and Debby and Wayne keeping the conversation going. Anna had not had such fun since she got kidnapped and Rose had not had such fun since her mother died.
They were all tired by dinner time after they lost track of time in the gaming center. There were too many new things for Anna, Rose, Jace and Debby to try out and they were more than willing to try those things out.
They had dinner in the private room of a five star Asian restaurant. They were all craving their beds when they walked towards the entrance of the restaurant and a woman who seemed to be weak was support by a man's hand took notice of Rose.
"Rosaline," she called out immediately without caring to digest the shock she had from seeing a dead girl alive.
Rose stopped on her track and looked back at the woman subconsciously.
"It's you, I knew it," the woman marveled walking towards Rose with the help of the man.
The woman before her looked very much like her step mother and she recognized her as her step mother's sister. Step mother's twin sister precisely. Her heart stopped for a while as she literally felt it drop down to the pit of her stomach.
The scene of getting brutally killed played on her mind and cold sweat dripped down the back of her neck. She was stood petrified and it took Jace's hand on her shoulder to pull her back.
"Rose, do you know her?" Anna asked as she stared at her sister's now pale face.
"I don't know her," Rose replied shaking her head furiously. She hated herself for being so easily exposed. She should have kept walking when she was called by her real name. She should have ignored the woman. She turned away towards the entrance hoping the woman will feel it was only an illusion.
The woman walked as fast as she could with the help of the man supporting her and stood in front of Rose blocking her part. "You are Rosaline. You are Doris daughter, you changed a lot in more than a decade but you are Rosaline. I did not make a mistake," the woman told her reaching to hold Rose's hand. "How have you been, our little princess?"
Rose pulled away her hand from the woman's warm hand. This woman used to be her mother's best friend. Her mother liked her a lot but she simply carved a part for her sister through her mother, the queen. "I don't know you."
"Our friend does not know you. Stop being a bug," Jace had to stop the woman in a rude manner to make the woman leave.
"She knows me well. I am her step mother's sister," the woman replied wearing a smile.
"My mother does not have a sister," it was Anna's turn to talk. She felt a strange strong desire to break the hand the woman used to hold Rose's hand. "My sister doesn't know you."
"Oh. I am sorry. My wife has being a little bit out of it lately. She is taking some medications with bad side effects. Please forgive us," the man supporting the woman apologized bowing his head slightly like a gentleman.
"You should look after her better," Jace could not help but advise the man.
"Rose, are you okay?" Anna asked as she helped her mop the cold sweat on the back of her neck.
"Yes, I am fine. I just need to rest," Rose replied with her voice a little hoarse. "She scared me."
"I will drop you two off," Jace told them.
Anna wanted to object but Rose nodded. Debby and Wayne came from rich families but none of them was as protected as young master Jace. She was yet to overcome the fear she got from her encounter with her mother's best friend and an assured sense of protection was what she needed most at this point.
Throughout the ride back home, Rose leaned against the window of the car staring outside. It was already past seven and pretty much dark outside. She remembered the voice of the woman her mother trusted most after her aunt Valerie calling her. Her mother used to be really busy then but she always tried to make time for have tea with her friends at least once in three weeks.
There were too many things she did not know because she was still young then but she remembered her mother's friend. She had difficulty remembering Valerie but she knew her mother's friend. She also liked the woman because the woman appeared nice then.
As soon as they got home, she hurried out of the car into the house. Her nightmares were a little bit better but with a slight trigger, she would spend the rest of the night tortured to death in her dream. Her encounter with woman was enough of a trigger and she was already crying over the pain she was yet to experience.
Anna watched Rose hurry into the house while she stayed behind to talk to Jace about the missing girl. It was really not appropriate but she could not guess anyone else to be the culprit but Jace after all he came from a family everyone called the mafia family. And he might have done it to help her revenge.
She hesitated but this was something she wanted to get off her chest. A part of her strongly believed that Jace would never do such a thing while the other part saw him as the son of the man most feared even by the royal family.