Chapter 18: Chapter 18

[Tyler’s POV]

It was a whole new world, and very different from the world I had known all my life. With trees higher than those in the Crescent Pack, cars bigger and buildings larger, I just stared in awe at the whole place. It was different… way too different.

Somehow, my heart had led me to this place, and I had kept on driving in every direction my heart pointed at. Perhaps, my head was right in telling me that this was a stupid thing to do, but for once in my twenty-one years on earth, I decided to follow my heart.

I had lied to the elders that I was going undercover to spy on one of our neighbouring villages and had asked them to keep it a secret from the warriors and the other members of the Pack. Malia had been there to bid me farewell and she promised to spend all night and day at the temple, praying for my safe return.

She didn’t want me to go; even I didn’t want to go, but we both knew. We knew that this was the only way out. Now, I only felt worried about the slave girl. Soon, it might be worse and I refused to be compelled to like someone against my will.

I stopped my car right in front of the building I could feel the mate pull lure me to. It was a magnificent three-storeyed mansion that was fancier and more exquisite than any place I had ever seen. It was huge and beautiful in every sense of the word, and I wondered if I wasn’t making any mistake.

How possible was it for Nivera to be at a place like this? How had she managed to locate such a place and who would even accommodate her? Perhaps, Malia had been right and there was a secret escape route in the prison cell, which could have led to this extraordinary dimension, and maybe she did have someone who was helping her out, but why?

I shook my head, deciding not to think about it anymore. Soon, I would find out all the answers I needed to the numerous questions that were dancing in my head, and to that effect, I stepped down from my car and closed the door gently behind me, now standing directly in front of the tall gates which housed the mansion.

I tried to see if there was another road that possibly led to somewhere else, and yes, there was, but the mansion was the only place my heart pointed at.

I heaved a sigh, then swallowing hard, I rang the doorbell.

There was no response the first two times I tried, and I was about to turn back around and figure out a way around the whole thing, when I heard a sweet melodious tune come from inside. I stopped right in my tracks as the sound rhythmically increased and resounded in my ears. It was a familiar tune, but where I had heard it from, I had no idea.

It went on and on, and I just stood right there as a drop of tear fell from my eyes. I was shocked. I never cried, and maybe it was because things were different in this environment, but deep down, I knew it was because of the tune. There was something… something that was so heart-wrenching about that beautiful melody; it made my heart sink and it felt like although I couldn’t remember what it was, my mind was aware of a memory I had long forgotten… a memory I had locked away because I didn’t want to remember it.

The melody continued till my ears were almost bleeding and I was just transfixed at that spot. Then, suddenly, there was silence.

I wiped the tears that had trickled down my cheeks, then rang the doorbell again after drawing out a deep breath.

I didn’t expect anything, but the gate opened a few seconds later, and when I looked up, I saw him and as my brown eyes met his blue eyes, I knew it wasn’t the first time we were ever seeing each other.

[Lucien’s POV]

“Why aren’t you eating? You love Mac and cheese, I know you do,” I said to Nivera.

She slightly spared me a glance then returned her gaze to the plate of food before her as she picked at it, looking really worried.

“Isn’t it good?” I asked.

She shrugged. “It’s okay, I just don’t have an appetite right now,” she said in a low tone.

“You’ve not had an appetite in forty-eight hours, you’ve been moody, you haven’t been speaking much, and you haven’t been smiling. Is it me? Did I do something wrong?” I inquired.

She reached out for her glass of water and gulped it all down, then placed it back on the table and stood up. “I’m done, thanks for the meal,” she said, and turned around to leave.

I held her hand to stop her from leaving, then stood up. “Talk to me. Whatever the problem is, I’ll fix it,” I said.

“Mrs Phil was supposed to come today. It’s evening already and she isn’t here. Also, two days ago, she just left without coming to say goodbye to me cheerfully like she usually does,” Nivera said.

I already knew that that was the issue. She hadn’t been comfortable around me since she heard what the late Mrs Phil had to say, and had been hoping to continue their conversation, but was disappointed since she wasn’t here.

I cleared my throat. “I… um… I forgot to tell you. She resigned,” I lied.

“Resigned? Why?” Nivera demanded, looking surprised.

“Um… her illness got worse and her family had to take her to a psychiatric home. They don’t know if she’ll ever be fine again,” I lied even more.

Her shoulders drooped in disappointment. “I see. That means she probably was spewing gibberish the other day, but how come she sounded so sure?” she muttered to herself.

“What? Did she tell you something?” I inquired, acting like I wasn’t aware of what went down already.

She shook her head in the negative. “Not at all, just things that made no sense,” she said.

“Okay, then. I’ll hire another housekeeper, but Celeste can come and keep you company in the meantime if you’d like,” I offered.

“No, that’s fine. I’ll be in my room,” she said, then politely took her hand out of mine and proceeded to leave the dining hall, which was next to the living room.

She suddenly stopped at the foot of the staircase and eyed the piano in the far corner of the living room. “Why do you keep that?” she asked.

“Sometimes, I need to ease my stress,” I explained.

Nivera walked over to the piano seat, and like she had done tue first time she had ever seen it, she ran her fingers across all the keys at once. A small smile appeared on her face once she did that, and I smiled as well then walked over to where she stood.

“You know that’s not how it works, right?” I inquired.

“Really? Then how does it work?” she asked.

“Sit down,” I whispered into her ears, and after looking at me doubtfully, she sat down and began to fiddle with her fingers nervously.

I tilted a little, and guiding her fingers with my hands, I began to play a soft melody. It was an old classical tune which I was greatly fond of, and although it was awkward at first as she kept on breathing heavily being aware of her closeness to me, she soon relaxed and the tempo increased, thus giving birth to a lovely melody.

Her back rested against my chest and her hair glided unto my arms, till I could no longer ignore the intensity of our being together. I was well aware of her body, and my fingers stopped guiding hers, which dulled the melody, so she stopped to see what was wrong and turned to look me in the eye.

She opened her mouth to say something, but her voice ceased and she just stared at me, not even blinking her eyes. I gazed affectionately at her and her heart began to race faster than usual. She knew I could hear it and bit her lower lip to suppress it.

I couldn’t hold it any longer.

“I like you, Nivera,” I said to her.

Without waiting to hear her response, I held her face in one hand then stroked her hair lovingly with the other. Our noses touched and her eyes closed instantly. She didn’t resist it; she wanted it as much as I did, but just then, someone who was destined to always come in between us rang the doorbell.

I had heard it the first two times, but had ignored it. I wanted to ignore it again, but this time around, Nivera heard it as well and her eyes flew open.

“Who is there? Let me go and check,” she said.

“No, stay behind. I’ll check and come back as soon as possible,” I told her, cursing whoever it was in my mind for ruining that perfect moment.

I was convinced that there would be other moments like this and decided not to get too mad, but the moment I saw who it was at the gate, I knew in my mind that the intruder wouldn’t stop at just ruining this one moment for us. He was a thorn in my path; my darkest nemesis.