Gun 10

Elaine

Louis remained silent while driving. We were heading to the resort that Aunt Hacel mentioned.

I couldn't help but wonder what the conversation between him and my father was about. When he returned inside, he didn’t speak much. I was also shivering from the cold air conditioning since it was blowing directly at me. Louis was the one driving while my father and Kaizer were in the other car.

At first, Kaizer didn’t want to agree, but my father insisted that they not join us.

“Wear this,” Louis said, slowly opening his compartment to grab a denim jacket.

He handed it to me, which I quickly accepted because I was about to freeze from the cold. Even my legs were too stiff to move.

“Thank you,” I said. Louis just nodded and continued driving. I wasn’t sure if Kaizer had already arrived at the resort before us because we were stuck in traffic. They might have gotten there thirty minutes earlier.

“By the way, what did you and my father talk about?” I asked because I couldn’t hold back my curiosity anymore. Honestly, I had been thinking about it for a while, but I was too shy to ask him. His face showed he didn’t want to answer, but I couldn’t help but feel uneasy if I didn’t get an answer.

“It’s not that important,” Louis said, pulling out his phone from his pocket and immediately reading the screen.

“My mom said that they’ll be having dinner at a French restaurant. They will also stay with their friends for a while. Kaizer and your father are there, too. Do you want to go, or should we go ahead to our resort?” he asked. I swallowed hard. That meant we would be left alone at the resort if we went ahead. It seemed like Aunt Hacel would stay until tomorrow.

Did they set us up so we could spend time together? Hmm, but I don’t think my father would ever agree to that.

“Whatever you want, I’ll go with that,” I replied, scratching my head lightly. I still felt shy being alone with him, especially after what almost happened between us earlier. I didn’t know, but he was so kind to me, and I just hoped it wouldn’t change.

“Then we’ll go ahead to our resort. I’m a bit tired, and you should rest, too,” he said. I just nodded. It seemed like tonight was going to be awkward for the both of us.

***

When we arrived at the resort, Louis immediately opened my door and a staff member approached us.

“Welcome, Sir Louis and Ma’am Elaine. Your mother told us that the two of you would be coming here, so we prepared a special room for both of you,” the woman said. She was about my height, wearing a black skirt above her knees and a white long-sleeve shirt with the top two buttons undone.

We followed the woman as she talked about the history of the resort, which I listened to. Louis, however, seemed bored with what she was saying, as if he wasn’t interested at all. Perhaps he had heard it many times already because they owned the resort.

“Fuck, can you stop the—”

I pulled Louis towards me and kissed him to stop him from speaking more. The woman glanced at us, but quickly turned away when she saw what we were doing.

“Sorry, ma’am and sir, for the disturbance. I’ll take you to your room right away,” she said. I immediately pulled away from the kiss to explain to the staff, but Louis just pulled me back by the waist and kissed me more aggressively, which made me close my eyes.

Our kiss was interrupted when we suddenly heard someone clearing their throat in front of us. When we looked, I saw Tyron grinning at us.

“Did I interrupt your kissing session?” he asked with a smirk. I turned away in embarrassment when I realized he had seen what we were doing.

It was so embarrassing. I should have just quieted Louis, but why did it feel like I was the one being quieted?

“What are you doing here, Tyron?” Louis asked. I was also surprised by his sudden appearance. I hadn’t noticed him arrive.

“Well, Aunt Hacel wants me to cook for the two of you. She instructed me to make your dinner memorable,” Tyron said, shocking me. Did that mean he was the one to cook our meal tonight?

“Uhm, can I bother you both now, ma’am and sir? I’ll escort you to your room,” the staff member added, which I answered with a simple “yes” to end the conversation.

“Hmm, seems like someone’s excited about their moment together. By the way, I’ll just call both of you. Enjoy each other.” Tyron winked. I was startled when Louis suddenly grabbed my arm to pull me closer to him.

“Why are you staring at him like that?” he asked, making my cheeks turn red.

I moved away from him while waving my hands to defend myself. “I wasn’t staring at him. What are you talking about?” He lifted me again and followed the staff member to our room.

When we entered, a lot of people greeted us. I couldn’t stop myself from covering my face because a lot of people were staring at us. He was carrying me in a bridal-style again, and I was afraid others might think I was already staking my claim on Louis even though we weren’t married yet.

“Is she going to be Sir Louis’ fiancée?” I heard three women whispering. I pulled my hands away from my face.

I could clearly see their irritation as they looked at me. “That face doesn’t match him. She’ll just make him look like trash,” the one with brown hair said. Her companion laughed.

I was used to hearing mockery, but this time, it felt different, and it hurt.

Was I that ugly for Louis?

“Put me down, Louis,” I said, holding back tears. I wanted to be let down from his arms. They were right; I looked like trash beside Louis, just like what Karen said.

“And why would I do that?” he replied to me. I couldn’t answer his question; I felt like I had lost my ability to speak.

“Tss, you should never listen to people saying bad things about you. The three of you, I’ll scrape your mouths if you don’t stop saying stupid things.” He immediately set me down in front of them, and they were now trembling from Louis’ stance.

“Do anything you want, wife. Here’s my pistol,” he said, handing me the gun he was holding. I squeezed my eyes shut, not knowing what to do, but slowly, I took it from his hands.

The people around us were even more shocked when I pointed the gun at the woman in the middle who called me trash. But I quickly turned my head when I heard a gunshot from behind us.

Men dressed in black suits pointed their guns at Louis.

“Looks like today is the perfect day, Montemayor. Why don’t we settle our organization’s feud today? That is, if you’re still alive,” one of them said, his loud laughs echoed throughout the hotel. Panic spread among the people and the ones who ran away were shot before they could even escape.

“Hide behind me, wife. I’ll protect you,” Louis whispered. He held my chin and lifted it to kiss my forehead. “Close your eyes when I say I love you, okay?” he said gently. I placed my hand on my chest in fear.