Nova woke up from the warmth of the sun on her face, reflexively reaching for her phone that she had placed on the bedside table before leaving for dinner the evening before. After she returned to her room from dinner, she sat in the lounge until it got late, then she went to bed.
She didn't remember changing the position of her phone, so why couldn't she find it? With a frown, Nova sat up to better check for the device - maybe her eyes would be more accurate.
However, she soon realized that the reason why she couldn't feel it when she reached for it was because it wasn't on the bedside table. This caught her attention now, making her get off the bed so she could check the drawers and around the table in case the phone fell but there was nothing.
That was odd - she had been hoping to get a text from Roan that morning but now she couldn't find her cell. Searching the room for her phone was easy because there wasn't a lot in the empty room but it also made her realize quickly that her phone was truly missing.
Still wearing nothing but a bathrobe, she snuck out of her room to inspect the lounge. She didn't remember taking her phone out of her room but it didn't hurt to check and unsurprisingly, her phone wasn't there either.
Nova was starting to get frustrated by this point so she decided to take a shower to calm down and then check again, this time she would be meticulous, leaving no spot unchecked.
Hours and several trips to the dining room later, she still hadn't found her phone and she had decided to just give up, it would eventually turn up. It was already noon at this point but she wasn't hungry, the thought of having to pay a visit to her old apartment was enough to make her lose her appetite.
She wanted nothing more than to postpone the trip but now with her phone gone, the room felt completely empty. Besides, her day had already started terribly, it couldn't possibly get worse.
So she got dressed in her old outfit that she had worn on the worst day of her life, wishing she had something else. If it wouldn't make her stand out for all the wrong reasons, she would have preferred to wear a bathrobe to the dark green dress.
When she was all set, she went out the front doors, and one of the uniformed bodyguards standing around immediately walked over to her.
"Is there somewhere you would like to go, Ms. Sutton?" He asked politely.
Nova was a little nervous, not knowing if she was allowed to do something like that. "Can I?"
"Yes, ma'am," The bodyguard reassured her without hesitation. "Mr. Reyes said you could pick from any of the cars in the garage."
Nova was a little startled by this, and very flattered. "I'm just going on a short trip, nothing too flashy, please." She informed the man who nodded and walked off.
She had yet to see the interior of Roan's garage but she could immediately guess that it was an underground garage because every time they had gone out, they had used a different car each time. She didn't want to guess how many he had.
The bodyguard was very polite, he opened the door for her and began the journey without even a single question, it eased a little of her anxiety.
The easiest thing to do would be to ask the driver to wait for her and help her move her things back to the mansion but she felt weird about doing that. Not to mention, she didn't want either ghosts of her past to see that she had come in Roan's car.
Maybe it was a ridiculous thing to do but Nova had her pride, she didn't want to give Levi the ammunition to call her a cheater. Besides, she had a little money stored away, she could call a cab and return to Roan's mansion all by herself.
So when they got on the street that led to her old apartment, she asked the bodyguard to stop so she could get down.
"Should I wait right here for you, ma'am?" He leaned out of the window to ask her.
"No, no, you don't need to do that, I'll find my way back to the house."
"But-" The bodyguard was already protesting.
"I promise I won't take very long," She insisted earnestly.
He had no choice but to acquiesce, winding up the windows as he backed away.
Nova waited until he was completely out of sight before she continued the rest of her journey on foot. The neighborhood was painfully familiar, people waving at her as she walked down the street, it made her chest ache.
She couldn't remember the last time she didn't sleep in the apartment after they moved in and now she would never sleep in it again. She slowed down when she got to the stairs, the cozy cream-colored house blurring as her eyes teared up.
She had worked so hard for the down payment of the house, pinching pennies, saving every last dime. Losing the apartment hurt as much as losing her trust. When she was back on her feet again, she would work towards getting her own house.
As an orphan who never really had a home to call hers, finally getting her home had been so momentous for her…
Nova reached out her hand to knock, she had already gotten to the front door. The doorbell was right there but it had been broken for months now, and as she didn't have her own money anymore, she had been asking Levi to fix it but he never did.
So she was surprised to hear Levi's voice call almost immediately, "Use the doorbell! It's right there!"
Nova pulled her hand away from the door like she had been burned, looking down at her knuckles and then at the doorbell with a disappointed but unsurprised expression. Everything was hellbent on reminding her of how little she meant to Levi, she almost wished she hadn't come.