SECRETS

He had invited her for dinner again! What was this man called Alexander after?! If only she could remember where something had happened, which city she was, which city she had been. She remembered vividly that she was going to use that metal scrap on the floor to escape, however successful or unsuccessful it was, she did not remember.

She brought her mind back to the present, sure that one at a time, her memory would return, and the gaps would be filled up. She knocked on her door and Gato replied 

"Why does he want me to have dinner with him again?" Roselyn inquired.

"Well, I don't know, but you will find out when you get there" Gato replied without interest as he looked at her from head to toe. She looked tired with dark circles under her eyes, her paleness wasn't as noticeable when she was on makeup but she looked pale now. Scars all over her tiny body that he hadn't seen when he took her from the room she woke in. 

"Well, you can tell him I'm not interested in dining with him" Roselyn finished and slammed the door. 

Gato shook his head and remained by the door. He felt she needed time alone and he would do his boss's wishes later when he had given her some minutes. 

Back in the room, Roselyn remembered her best friend, Annalise. She had been friends with Annalise since the first grade. Annalise had been that one person who had offered her pencils and ever since then, they had been friends. When Annalise changed schools in the third grade because her parents were relocating to a new city, Roselyn cried and cried for days before her parents had been able to make her stop by bribing her with some gifts. She later became friends with Shirley in class but that friendship did not last because she never got Annalise off her mind. Annalise was like the sister she never had. They would have sleepovers, night outs, and camping together and even their parents knew their friendship was very tight. Annalise had helped her every second of the way. In school, in life, in choosing boyfriends, in relationships, and in making decisions, they had been each other's support. They did everything together and now, Annalise wasn't here to help her in this situation. She felt so alone in the world.

Gato's knock jerked her back to life and she answered furiously, 'Can you leave me the hell alone, Gato?'

Gato replied, 'No worries, you shall see exactly what I'm knocking for.'

With that, the door flung open

And there he was, Alexander in a perfectly fitted shirt and trousers, it looked both casual and exquisite at once. His hair was tied with a silver band and the sleeves of the shirt were rolled up to his elbow. He had bold veins visible on his arm and Roselyn couldn't keep her mouth closed when she saw him. She realized her eyes were fixated on his strong arms and immediately diverted her eyes to his face. But his face, his face was also perfect, she noticed his perfectly shaped eyebrows that accentuated his eyes. His lips were beautiful, the man was indeed beautiful. But he was a stranger and she did not know if he could be trusted. In all reality, he had treated her nothing but good but that did not mean he could be trusted.

"Hello, Roselyn, I heard you insisted on not dining with me. Need I say this is my yacht and you're to follow my rules?" Alexander asked.

"Well Alexander, if you were going to barge into a woman's room, you should knock on the door. Were you planning to open the door on me when I'm undressed?"

Alexander kept his face fixed on the floor before he looked at her with a face full of plea

 "Oh right, Roselyn, this is my yacht, I barely remember to knock as I'm not used to knocking on doors on this yacht. It is the first time a lady has joined us on one of our travels. I'd do better if I plan on entering one of the rooms on my yacht next time I have company"

'Next time? He was going to come into her room next time? But was it really her room? He owned the yacht and everything in it. It was technically his. But courtesy demands he knocked on the door, he being the owner or not.,' she thought to herself.

"Well, why are you here? I told Gato I'd not be sitting and dining with you like all is well when I'm far away from everyone and everything I know," she asked.

"I've no idea what has happened to you and I should believe you should be appreciative of what I've done to help you. Anyways, do you remember how you got to where I picked you up from?" 

"You seem to take more interest in what I have or haven't remembered, Alexander. Are you perhaps afraid or even scared I might remember something you did to me?" Roselyn asked.

"You are in this yacht because I rescued you because I, Alexander did! If I knew you would accuse me of something like this, I might have considered leaving you to die at that shore." Alexander answered furiously. 

His gaze felt hot on hers, she could almost see it blazing in his eyes. Roselyn realized she had overstepped to him, him who might have indeed saved and nursed her back to health from dying. But that did not mean she could trust him with the details of the memories she just recovered and he had put her in a filthy room. Then she remembered her best friend, Annalise. How Annalise would have known when exactly to do in this situation and how to handle this? 

"Sorry, I do not trust you, I do not in fact, know you. Especially with these memory gaps, I can't trust anyone", Roselyn said firmly.

"If I wanted to do something to you Roselyn, I would have." He answered and moved towards the door.

She remained silent and with that, Alexander turned back and knocked on the door. The door opened and Roselyn saw several ladies dressed in a uniform roll in mobile dining tables and chairs with other ladies carrying big plates containing food. Some ladies held bottles of wine with glasses and they all set them on a table. 

Roselyn was confused about what was happening. Why is this much food on the table? But before she could say anything, Alexander looked at her and said "There is your dinner, enjoy". With that, he left her room with the ladies that brought in the food.

She took the first bite and her pupils immediately dilated. This was one of the best spaghetti she had ever tasted before in her life. She giggled happily and scooped in more.

"Where did he get this spaghetti? Was it one of those ladies that made this spaghetti? How did they make it so good?" Roselyn thought enthusiastically. She figured if the man wasn't so angry when next she sees him, she would ask who took care of the meals.

When she was done eating what she could, she opened the door to meet Gato, told him she was done, and didn't like how she was in the room all day. Gato told her everything else is just water unless she would like to see some parts of the yacht. She agreed and went out with him. 

"Who makes the food around here?" Roselyn asked Gato.

"Well, the chefs are in charge of that. The boss has got some of the best chefs in the country and they do get paid handsomely to make us good meals." Gato replied.

Roselyn narrowed her eyes and said, "Some of the best chefs in the country? Who is he and what does he do exactly?" 

"He's a successful businessman and as to what he does, you can ask him when next you see him," Gato replied and continued walking.

The man did look filthy rich, and he did own a yacht but she was very curious as to what kind of business he was into, however, she did not want to look too interested and make it look as if she was prying, so she buried all other questions she had and said with a straight face "okay." 

That Gato was even taking her around to different rooms on the yacht was enough for her. She had gotten tired of staying in the same room.

Gato knew she wanted to say more than 'okay', he was sure of that, but if she did not want to say more than 'okay', he was fine with that. He doubted he could explain his boss's line of work more explicitly to this girl anyways. 

As she and Gato reached an area, she pointed towards a place and asked Gato who owned the place and what was the place for. Gato told her it was the boss room and told her sightseeing is over and they should return to her room. She wanted to tell Gato they had barely just started sightseeing but something caught her attention. She saw a room locked and guarded with men carrying guns. 

"Gato, I know you'll say it is not my business, but I'm curious, what's in that room for your boss to have men carrying guns guard it?" Roselyn inquired.

"It is none of your business, young lady. Just stay put in your room and stop asking me questions. If you have more questions, when the boss is back, you can ask him yourself." Gato said and left.

"Well I don't have much to do here, might as well inquire about things I'm curious about," Roselyn said to herself and made way to settle in her room. Just before she took the first step toward her room, she caught a whiff of someone passing behind her. As she turned, she was stunned to see him. 

"Hello, Roselyn," he said.

"What are you doing here?" Roselyn asked.

It had almost been three weeks since R oselyn's parents received the video of their daughter, asking them to save her by bringing her captors money. Her father, Christian notified the police and asked them to be discreet but arranged for 35 million naira just in case. The police requested the video and traced where the video was made. Roselyn's mother, Patricia had begged her husband to tell the policemen to stand down and just give the kidnappers the money and let them bring back her daughter. But her father believed that the police would locate and bring home their daughter. 

When the police got to the location, they saw signs that some people had been there but they did not see Roselyn or her captors. They investigated further and realized they had moved everything and left. When the police returned to them without Roselyn, Roselyn's parents were disturbed to hear that they hadn't been able to find their daughter because of their selfish reasons. But they did not receive any information from the kidnappers again.