ANISHA'S POV
As my eyes became accustomed to the dark, I blinked many times and looked at the men sitting on the floor.
"Have we all been kidnapped? What is happening??" I asked in fear as tears started gushing out of my eyes again. The elderly man stood up with much difficulty and walked towards me. He sat on the couch beside me and instinctively, I moved to the far end of the couch.
"I don't mean to harm you, child. You and I are in the same boat. We are all at the mercy of that man." His voice was gentle and warm. He seemed to be a very kind man, from just looking at him. Was Eden really in the business of kidnapping people and bringing them to the warehouse? I looked at the younger man who was sitting on the floor. His eyes were looking straight at me, and they were the most piercing eyes ever. Wait…he looked familiar. Those eyes and that mouth; the nose, that face….I knew the face very well. Who could have forgotten that face; the most handsome face that almost every woman in Lakeworld wished to behold. How could I not have known that face, for it was associated with great wealth and wisdom, and a very great name. That face appeared many times on the TV; it was all over social media, it was the face that was the crush of many, including those who knew they could never get close to the man, even in a dream. He was too perfect to be real. Who would not have been able to recognize the only son of the deMilos?
"Dylan de Milo??" I screamed in astonishment, temporarily forgetting all my worries at that moment.
"Anisha Meyerton?", he smiled.
"You know my name?" I asked in utter surprise. "Who told you what my name is?"
"I have known you since you were just a little girl." He smiled.
"You have? Do you know me from Olga children's home? You used to visit us every first Thursday of the month. I never knew that you knew my name. At Olga, they hardly ever used our names. We had numbers…."
"They called you 0028," he interjected.
What! What on earth! He knew my number as well?
"You even knew that number, 0028? You really do know me!", I smiled. I was so happy that I immediately forgot that I needed to control myself in front of the man. I forgot about the situation that I was in at that moment. I was overjoyed. I wished Valentina was there with me. I so wanted to tell Valentina. I could imagine Valentina and I talking in the darkness just before we fell asleep, "he knows my name, Val! He actually called me by name!"
And I could imagine Valentina responding "really!! Girl, aren't you lucky…."
"He said it in full. He called me Anisha Meyerton". I imagined us giggling in great excitement.
But then I guessed that even if Valentina and I had had such a talk, it would have ended with us reminding ourselves that he was way out of our league. Dreaming of him was enough. Having him call me by name was a bonus. Being locked with him in the same room was the furthest the dream could go. It would be foolish to think that there could be more. He was a de Milo, after all. The son of the richest man in Lakeworld. The son of a billionaire, a billionaire himself too. He was way, way out of my league. Crushing on him marked the ceiling of my possibilities…
"Untie him!" Eden's voice interrupted my thoughts. He wildly pushed open the door, followed by three men who were all dressed in black.
"Er, doctor, it's good that you're here with us!" Eden spoke in a mocking tone. "Attend to that baby. He is sick. Make sure he lives. If he dies, you also die. I want that child alive and well!" he spoke slowly, pronouncing each word with its own gravity, as if to ensure that what he was saying really sunk in.
"Do you have anything for me to use here? This child is seriously sick and she needs to be in a hospital, receiving proper care and…"
"Attend to him, deMilo!" Eden commanded. He nodded to one of his men and the man took large strides towards Dylan, took out a knife and cut lose the rope which was tying Dylan's hands.
Dylan knelt down and held Liam. The little boy was sleepy, and his temperature was starting to go up again.
"You know, we'll need to do some blood tests and …" Dylan had begun to speak when Eden pulled out a gun and placed the nozzle right on the former's ear.
"Let me not hear any more excuses from you! Attend to that child! I want him alive." Eden voiced in an icy tone.
Dylan picked up little Liam's hand. The needles were still stuck in Liam's little swollen hands. He checked his eyes, holding the eye open, and the moment he let go, Liam lazily shut his eyes.
"It's too dark in here," Dylan complained.
"Lights!" Eden howled. The sound of a switch was followed by bright lights, about 8 of them flashed brightly from the ceiling. Who would have ever thought that there were such bright lights in such a place? It looked abandoned, dirty and smelly.
Dylan continued to examine the child, and he told Eden that he needed some medicines. Promising to bring back some, Eden and his men left the room. At the same time that the door was locked from the outside, the lights in the room also switched off.
"The child is a boy," I smiled wearily.
"Oh, he's wearing a dress?" both Dylan and the old man seemed to be surprised.
"It's a long story," I sighed heavily. I meant to continue talking but the sound of the door being unlocked from outside made me stop. A man entered and silently placed a tray of some thick slices of bread on the floor. Next to the tray, he threw 3 bottles of water. He moved out and emerged again with another tray full of really good baby food.
"Eat," he said in a hoarse voice and exited the room. The sound of the heavy locks coming from the other side of the door reminded us all that indeed we were hostages. We were locked in, and the most painful part of it all was not knowing what Eden wanted from us.
Liam did not eat anything, but he took some sips of water. After we had filled our stomachs with the bread, the older man asked me, "don't forget to tell us, why did you make him appear as a little girl?"
Having nothing else to do in that small room, narrating to each other our ordeals seemed the only possible thing to do. Clearing my throat, I narrated to them, starting from the moment I walked into the la Martinas' house to find ma'am Larissa lying unconscious on the floor.
It was not an easy story to tell. The elderly man, although his hands were tied, did his best to comfort me. He moved very close to me and offered his shoulder to me. I cried to my heart's content. And Dylan…Dylan held me in his arms. It was a sad moment, yes. I was narrating a traumatizing event, yet being held by him meant the world to me. I felt warm. A part of my mind still repudiated what was happening. Yes; I had accepted the death of ma'am Larissa, but then…this reality of me being in the same room with Dylan deMilo? Was it real? Was it a dream?
My narration was long, for I dared not leave out any detail. I found comfort in the two men sitting besides me. The older man, whose name I did not even know….
"Excuse me, may I ask what your name is?" I smiled shyly at the man.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I am pastor Noel Everdeen." He smiled brightly at me.
I nodded my head as he told us a few things about his church. After a while, both men urged me to continue talking. I told them everything of my emotional story. I laughed through it, I cried through it. There was nothing funny, yet in some instances I found myself laughing. It was the laughter of pain, the laughter of asking oneself; how on earth did I get here?
When I finished telling it all, the pastor also narrated his own experience with Eden. He did not give too much detail, he kept reminding us all that God was going to set us free from the hands of the devil. The devil, according to how the pastor used the term, was none other than Eden. I agreed with him.
Soon it was Dylan's turn to talk. Before saying anything, he checked on Liam. By that time, Liam was awake, but he was not yet back to his usual self. His eyes were worn-out, he kept his head lying on my chest, and his breathing was a bit heavy. I felt very sorry for the little boy. We were all hoping that Eden was going to bring the medicine very soon, so that Liam could find relief from the pain that he was going through.
All of us did our best to cheer Liam up, but he hardly ever smiled. He held on to me and refused to play along with anyone. Although the pastor made funny faces at him, his little face remained serious.
All of us were getting tired of being in that small dark room. Pastor Everdeen, probably because of his old age, soon fell asleep with his hands tied to his back. With Liam also fast asleep, it was only Dylan and myself who remained awake.
Since I was keeping a question in my heart for a very long time, I decided to brave up and just ask it. I was not really one of the bravest girls around, not around the too handsome and too rich Dylan de Milo, but still, I wanted to know. I needed to know. If I did not brave up to ask, then it meant I was going to carry the question in my heart for the rest of my life. Ask, Anisha, just ask. He seems to be friendly, he's easy to talk to. This might be the only chance you get to talk to him, do you think you and him will ever meet again after this? Just ask.….
"If…if you… you don't mind me asking, erm….."I became stuck.
"You can ask," the man encouraged me.
What I really wanted to know was how he came to know my name. He knew my full name, and he also knew the number which they used to call me at Olga. How?
"You can ask me anything," he encouraged me again.