The unexpected

I could perceive the sweet aroma of the food he was preparing all the way from my room. And it made my stomach rumble in hunger. Honestly, I couldn't wait to have a bite of the food neither could I even care much about the way it was made.

As expected, he came back to the room where he had left me, and announced that dinner was ready. I jumped to my feet in delight, but maintained my composure once I noticed he was watching me closely.

The pasta he had prepared tasted just as nice as it looked on the dish. I couldn't help myself from eating like the hungry prisoner I was. Eating with this male stranger who had gone out of his way to prepare dinner for me brought back a lot of awful memories from the past I was forcing to forget. It slowly crept into me that all through the two years of marriage with Jordan, we never had a meal together. And I suddenly felt stabs of hurt and anger in my belly.

''Do you like the food?'' he asked me, staring and watching my every move as I ate hurriedly. I raised my head up to face him slowly, trying my best to remain calm and eat in a less embarrassing manner.

I nodded my head in reply, since I had a mouthful of pasta. He grinned broadly at me and returned to the food in front of him. But it was obvious he wasn't as hungry as I felt, because he kept picking at his food.

''So, What's your name?''

I stopped eating for a second the moment I heard his question. There was something suspicious about him to me, Andi reckoned it wouldn't be nice to expose my identity to a stranger I had just met.

''Valerie,'' I lied, rushing to take a mouthful of pasta. He stared at me like he didn't believe, and I wondered if he did.

''Hmm,'' was what I heard from him in response. Shoving it aside, I gulped down my glass of water in a rush and proceeded to ask him,

''What's your name?''

''Tristan,'' he replied, swirling his fork round in his plate of pasta, ''Tristan King,''

"Interesting," I thought to myself, taking the last spoon of food remaining on my plate, ''How did you bring me here?''

''You fainted,'' he started to explain, leaning closer to me with both elbows placed on the dinning table, ''I found you lying unconsciously on the ground with several people hovering over you,''

Yea, I remembered. My knees had felt too numb and weak to carry me, as well as the hunger I felt. After devouring the food he made, I felt like I had no space in my stomach left for any more thing to eat.

''Thank you,'' I appreciated him, resting my back comfortably on the chair I sat, ''I owe you big time,''

He nodded slowly and returned back to eating, but I could tell he has a lot to say to me.

''Did you escape from prison? Why are you putting on their uniform?''

I clicked my tongue at the question. And also remembered I still wasn't wearing formal clothing. Refusing to tell my full and real story, I responded with,

''It's a long story, and I really don't feel like discussing it right now,''

He put up his hands in surrender, while my thoughts drifted off to the problem I had. I still had no idea where Emily was residing with my babies. On the other hand, Jordan and Aurelia were living freely even after how they acted towards me. I couldn't afford to waste any more time before I attacked.

''Are you listening?'' Tristan's voice and fingers snapping at me jolted me back to reality. It turned out he had been talking to me while I was deep in my thoughts and plans for revenge.

''Huh?'' I managed to ask out cluelessly. It had been a long and tiring day for me, and all I wanted at the moment was a sweet, night rest free of stress and worries.

''You seemed…lost,'' Tristan said to me, trying to find out what was wrong. But before he could utter another word I was already on my feet and on my way to the room I had woken up earlier.

''I'm really worn out,'' I explained to him, yawning and stretching my hands tiredly, ''I'd appreciate it if we continue whatever we have to talk about tomorrow. I really need to rest,''

I wasn't expecting him to agree without further arguments and delay, unlike how Jordan normally treated me. Tristan got up from his chair and offered to bring some clothes for me to change into. I felt so impressed at at ease with his nice words and gestures.

''I'll bring the clothes to your room, you can go in now,''

I nodded in response to his offer, finding my way briskly out of the dinning room.

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Although I had a blast while sleeping peacefully, I somehow managed to wake up just in time. Tristan was already doing me a favor by letting me stay at his place. So I wanted to do something nice in return for him. I thought all through the night and decided it would be best if I helped out with the house chores.

The whole house was big and spacious, and it felt strange that there was no housekeeper to keep everything in check. It also felt suspicious that Tristan was the only occupant in such a mansion. I mean, how on earth was he coping?

I felt so small in the denim pants and grey collar shirt he gave me to change into. They were his, and since he had a wider built, they were obviously too big and unfitting for me.

I walked to the living room and saw no sign of Tristan anywhere. Calling out his name loud enough, there was no response. My heart raced in fear as several thoughts crept into me, buy shoving them off, I ventured into the kitchen to start cleaning.

I was amazed and also satisfied with how neat and arranged everything in the kitchen was. For a man like Tristan King, he was well organized and prudent. They were so many features of him that was more better and a great example to my ex husband.

Truth be told, I couldn't find a hard spot to clean in the entire house. Everything seemed to be in place and well taken care off. Retiring to my room for a bath and another round of rest, I found a silver door knob in a secluded area down the hallway.

Curiousity took the best part of me, and I twisted the knob open to see more for myself. I realized it was a huge room filled with several books the moment I entered inside. It was like a hidden library, but the environment was different from every other place in the house. Everywhere seemed to be dusty, messy and was in a huge mess.

I wondered how long they had arranged the library. Because there seemed to be no trace of cleaning done in there. My tiny fingers brushed over the scattered books on the shelves as I searched for nothing in particular. I felt Tristan would be happy if I cleaned the whole place before he arrived, and the thoughts of him grinning broadly at me while he uttered words of appreciation thrilled and motivated me even more.

My whole body felt excited and eager to get to work and I didn't notice a dusty box that was lying close to the entrance of the door. In a bid to hurry out of the room to get my cleaning materials, I bumped into the box and crashed heavily to the ground.

''Ouch,'' I winced out in pain, holding my left toe where I was feeling the hurt. I tried massaging it gently to soothe it, until my attention caught something on the floor next to me.

The box I had tripped over was slightly open as a result of my leg that had stumbled over it. I could see lot of dangerous items and it made me get to my knees slowly as I moved closer to unravel the mystery box.

A tiny shriek exited my lips and I placed my right hand over my mouth in fear. Somehow, the pain I felt in my toe was gone, and my whole body was replaced with the sudden fear and shock that had managed to spread through.

What I came in contact with left me dazed and scared. It felt like my life was in danger and I needed to get out of this house as soon as I could. Was this what Tristan was into? Was he an undercover spy and a hired assassin?

My other hand managed to get into the box, but was shaking beyond control. I could feel my heart beating faster, my whole body was shuddering, and I was sweating profusely.

I had managed to grab the object in the box and was slowly raising it out to see more clearly. In the blink of an eye, and before I could hold it fully in both hands. I heard a deep, husky, and hoarse voice filled with irritation and anger behind me.

''What on earth do you think you're doing in here?''

I froze in my spot, refusing to turn my head in his direction. Tristan had caught me holding and staring at his weapon of destruction. Fear gripped me tightly as I found my lips quivering at the thought of what he was going to do to me.

I had stepped over my boundaries, and I knew for a fact that he was going to make me pay for it with a huge cost.