By the time Moses left the chambers of David Flinn his father, it was already very late and the night was really cold so he decided to go to bed immediately. As he passed through the hall, down to the stairs, there was no single person moving around the house at that time. He climbed the stairs almost in tiptoes so as not to draw any attention and quietly made his way to the door leading to his chambers. By the time he got in, he slid off his clothes, got into his pair of cotton pyjamas and then jumped into bed.
Like almost every other night, sleep was very far from him because his mind kept wandering from one issue to the other starting from the issue his father had raised about his becoming a member of "the table" in order to take over from him like it has been from the past. He wasn't one to walk out on older people and certainly not his dad, but it was becoming clear to him that his father was not seeing reasons with him so he had to take a walk or lose his temper. It would be much better to walk away from the argument than make disrespectful remarks to his father and he hoped to apologise to his father the next day.
All his life, he had quietly observed his father from childhood and he knew to an extent what membership to "the table" was all about. He couldn't imagine spending the rest of his life in bondage all in the name of keeping to baseless rules regarding lifestyle and food. He just couldn't comprehend what led to those rules being made in the first place but one thing was certain, there was no way he could give up his favorite blue outfits or avoid some tasty meals or live in an all white house simply because a group he belonged to said so. If he were to ever become his father's successor, he would make sure those rules were abolished and allow members to live their lives as they please but another reason he would never get involved with them was because he knew they were into some illegitimate business deals such as hard drugs and cocaine, purchase and sales of guns and human trafficking. He wasn't a saint himself but he had vowed secretly to see to the end of the mafia group founded by his great grandfather no matter the cost.
The words from his father kept echoing in his mind and he laughed lightly; what right did his father even have to force a lady on him for marriage? And one whose father was also a member of the same mafia as his father at that. He was yet to meet the girl but he surely didn't expect her to be any different from the others he had encountered who threw themselves at him at the slightest opportunity. Except of course the beautiful girl he had met almost two months ago. His throat went dry when memories from that night came flashing one more time.
Where is she? How is she? How do I find her? These questions had tormented him from the very moment he regained his senses after taking the drugs his friends had suggested. He knew from the beginning that taking those drugs was a bad idea because the effects could lead to irresponsible behavior by the consumer but his friends had insisted, and by the time he did, he turned on an innocent girl like a wild animal. But despite being under the influence, he could still remember that she not only rejected him, she tried to defend herself against him unlike any other girl and that was what drove him crazy about her. How is it possible that she rejected such huge amount of money and even threatened to fight me when other girls would jump at the opportunity? He thought to himself as he lightly scratched his head in confusion. He was already halfway gone when he realized she was a virgin but it was too late for him to turn back. The sound of her crying was loud in his ears and he wondered how it was even possible that a lady in her twenties was still a virgin?
That girl had been a source of torment to him, he couldn't sleep well at nights and when he managed to catch some sleep, she was there in his dreams. He just had to find her no matter the cost and number of years it will take; he couldn't tell why he always felt an unusual ache in his heart each time he thought about that night but he knew all that would end when he finds her. He kept tossing and turning in bed as the thoughts kept haunting him. If only his mother were alive, he knew he would have found some peace because she was always his source of comfort when in distress.
"I miss you mom" he said out loud as he got off the bed and made his way to the mini fridge close to the nightstand. He pulled out a bottle of red wine and poured some for himself in a wine glass. He poured the entire content in the glass into his mouth and swallowed in one gulp; he squeezed his face when the sour taste of the alcoholic wine kicked in. He walked to the bathroom and rinsed off the little drops of the wine from the wine glass and kept it where he picked it from before returning back to his bed. It was already past two in the morning when he looked at the clock hanging on the wall and he made up his mind to get some sleep.