My Husband Is A Stranger

Chapter Seven - Escape

After they got back to the manor, Clara was then accompanied in her room with some guards that her aunt probably prepared for her.

She wasn’t surprised because the butler warned her about this, her aunt might think that she’ll escape because of her frustrations, but the butler told Clara that she has to remain calm no matter what happens and just abide until dawn.

Clara bit her lower lip after she entered her room and locked the door. She roamed her eyes around the place and noticed that the windows were barricaded.

She immediately ran to check the bathroom and smiled when she noticed that the small window over there wasn't closed or even barricaded.

They planned her escape through the windows, but the butler knew that her room was also going to be barricaded because they heard my aunt talking on the phone for metal and glass wielders. But he was pretty sure they’ll miss the bathroom, in which he was right.

Now she just has to destroy the borders quietly after fixing the things that she’ll bring with her. She’s slightly slim enough to fit there then, the butler and driver will wait for her down there.

“Thank you Mr. Holland and Jersey,” she happily whispered before pacing towards her bedroom. Those were the names of the butler and driver, she almost cursed herself for not asking them so early.

Clara then quietly prepared the things she needed to bring, she took the pouch that her aunt gave her, there’s no point in taking a few, she’ll risk having it all for her safety. 

She folded and packed a few clothes she might need if she wasn’t able to find a husband in a day and had to rest at some hotels.

Though she has to get married tomorrow right away, it’s the only way that old geezer would leave her be. After grabbing some personal hygiene kit, she threw some undies over there and tied her long wavy hair.

“Crap, this will not fit in the windows,” she mumbled before grabbing that bag near the bathroom.

She matched the bag she’ll bring with her to the window she’ll be escaping in, she bit her lip when she knew it wouldn’t budge even if she pushed it. It’ll take her several hours for her to do that.

Clara thought about something for a moment before smiling, “I guess I’ll just have to put it all inside of my bag after I get down there,” Clara talked to herself as she started destroying the borders quietly.

It was slightly hard at first because she didn’t have any appropriate tools aside from the knife the butler gave to her to destroy the grout surrounding the edges of the plastic window.

“Y-Yes,” she contained her excitement after she took it off successfully, “Now I’m ready for the escape later,” she almost cheered and quieted down as she started making her rope to help her down.

She didn’t have many sheets aside from her bed and pillows, so she decided to use those expensive dresses and skirts to make it longer.

A knock from her door startled her as she immediately placed everything underneath her bed and silently closed the bathroom door. She can't be found out now that she already destroyed it. Who could that be? She nervously thought.

She composed herself and pretended to be upset before opening the door, “I-I don’t want to go down,” she immediately said, so someone just quietly chuckled.

Clara raised her head and noticed the butler waving at her, “M-Mr. Holland,” she almost exclaimed, but the butler immediately shushed her as they both went inside.

“I brought your food ma’am and I’m also here to inform you that there might have been a change of plans,” Holland sighed while scratching the back of his head.

“Oh no, is it that bad? Do we need to have a plan B?” Clara nervously asked, but the butler just shook his head.

“We planned to wait for you and drive you away from here right?” he whispered while glancing at the door, he wanted to make sure that no one’s listening.

Clara nodded her head, “Y-Yes, is that going to change?” she worriedly asked while she’s playing with her fingers.

Holland just nodded, “Yes, I think madame noticed our closeness to you and insisted that we drive her a lot tomorrow, so we couldn’t take you out of here,” he informed, so Clara bit her lower lip because fear is crawling up to her sleeves.

“But, you don’t have to worry ma’am, you can still escape without us,” Holland gave her a map of the whole manor including the garden that’s filled with abundant trees.

“There’s a way out of here towards a gas station where you could commute towards the nearest motel in the city,” Holland pointed to the window where she’ll get out and told her that she should take the route west.

“If you continue walking through the west, you’ll be able to climb the barricades around the manor and run as fast as you can towards the station,” Holland thoroughly explained while marking some points with the marker he brought.

Clara just smiled because she couldn't be more thankful to have these kind people by her side, “Thank you so much, Mr. Holland, I don’t know how could I repay you and Mr. Jersey,” she emotionally said, so Holland just patted the poor lady’s head.

“Making us realize that staying here would just make us worse than Madame Serene is enough, we’re going to quit our jobs tomorrow to put ourselves at peace,” Holland informed with a smile, he has never been happy with a decision he made together with his dear friend Jersey.

Clara chuckled before handing him over the extra cash she has on the pouch her ruthless aunt gave to her, “I won’t be needing much of this, this isn’t enough to thank you both, so better use it wisely after you both quit, it’s a very good decision,” she winked, he didn’t want to accept it at first when they heard a harsh knock on the door.

“Aren’t you finished there Holland? Get out,” they heard one of the guards yell from the outside, so Holland then told her to hide the map as he composed himself.

“Thank you, ma’am, it’s an honor meeting you, be careful and good luck,” Holland whispered sternly before pacing out of the door.

Clara then locked it and glanced at the meal, “The last meal I’ll have inside of this house,” she murmured underneath her breath as she started munching it.

She needs all the strength that she could find while escaping out of this manor. After she ate the heavenly meal, she jumped inside of her bathroom to take a cold bath to release her tensions.

Clara then dried her hair after she got out and wore the most comfortable clothes that she could find inside of her suitcase. She felt a little bit upset because she has to leave most of her clothes here.

After slipping into some tight black leggings and long sleeves, she decided to sleep for several hours before she’ll escape this manor.

Clara woke up after hearing her alarm; it wasn't so loud that it could also be heard from the outside. She read 3 AM on her phone, she slightly smiled because it’s just the right time for her to prepare before she took off, she decided to tiptoe towards her locked door and listened from the outside.

She didn’t hear anything aside from the vibrating of the air conditioning around the place, she nodded to herself that it’s time as she started throwing her things quietly outside the window of the bathroom.

Clara wanted to feel giddy because she feels like she’s a secret agent escaping the clutches of the people who kidnapped and captured her, but she shook that thought off so that she could be more vigilant around her surroundings.

After throwing away all the things she needed, she grabbed the rope and map that she hid underneath her bed and dragged it inside the bathroom. She tied the tip of it to the toilet, so she would be sure that it wouldn't break in the middle of her getting down.

“Okay, I’m all set,” she mumbled before tying her hair, she glanced at the huge mirror inside of the bathroom before smiling to herself.

“We’re going to escape this nightmare,” she reassured herself before she started climbing out of the window.

She tried so hard not to create a sound, but her grunts were just impossible for her to tone down while she’s trying to fit herself out of that small window.

Clara almost cheered after she successfully pulled herself out while tightly holding on to the DIY rope that she made.

Things became easier as she decided to slip down, the moment her feet landed on the grassy ground, she took the things she threw there and placed all of them inside of her bag. She cut off a generous length of the rope she made and tied it all over her arms.

She threaded the bag lightly on both of her shoulders before she decided to use her phone light as her guide on the eerie, dark way ahead of her.

“O-Okay so here’s the tricky part,” Clara said to herself before she memorized the whole map, she doesn’t want to use light later to risk herself being found out.

After she did her thing, she folded the map and placed it on her back, she started sprinting west and complained mentally of how huge this land was.

She stopped and gasped when she heard her phone was snoozing. She almost cursed because she forgot to turn off the alarm completely.

A loud shifting and swaying of the bushes were to be heard as she decided to crouch down, “Crap!” she exclaimed softly as she listened to what that noise was.

“Are you sure you heard something here dude? It might've been an animal because this garden feels like a forest to me,” 

Clara heard a stern voice talking from afar, so she cupped her mouth using her shaking hands to contain her panicked breathing.

Those are probably the guards her aunt asked to keep her at bay. Clara was nervous as hell as she tried to crawl away from those voices.

“I can’t be wrong, it was a loud shifting of bushes and it almost sounded like an alarm, let’s just check to be sure,” Clara stopped before biting her lower lip.

She could almost hear her heart thumping inside of her chest when a phone rang, “Dude, let’s go, madame’s calling us right now, you don’t want to get on her bad side,”

Clara almost celebrated after she heard that, “Tsk! She doesn’t know when to tell us to stay put, she’s lucky she pays us plenty,”

After she heard that rough voice cursing, she heard footsteps that were dissipating through the bushes.

Clara exhaled out a lungful of air before she started raising his body to check if there’s still someone there, she sighed in relief before fishing out her hankies on her pockets.

That was a close one, Clara thought before she started making her way west. It took her a while until she noticed high fences that are pointy on the tip.

“I owe this escape to Mr. Holland and Jersey,” Clara breathed emotionally as she took her bag off before she threw it on the other side.

She untied the rope all over her arms and created a knot on the tip with the help of a pebble she picked up from the ground.

Clara stepped away from the fences and threw the rope on the sharp tip. When she was sure that the knot was tightly wrapped, she started climbing up at the fence.

It didn’t take her a while until she managed to jump off the other side, she made sure she didn’t leave any evidence that she escaped through here before she ran like she never felt so free again.

She halted her sprints after she saw the gasoline station that Holland was telling her about, she looked for a bus stop and smiled after seeing that there’s one arriving. She felt like this day was meant for her.

Clara started running again until she arrived at the bus stop gasping for air, “Are you going to ride?” the conductor went out of the bus while counting the tickets in his hands.

“Y-Yes, one ride to pala-pala please,” Clara took out some money on her bag, but the conductor let her in first as they waited for more passengers.

After the bus gathered enough passengers, Clara didn’t waste any more time as she paid for her transportation fee and sat on the far corner of the bus. It was a little quiet since it was still nearing dawn, a lot of people were sleeping.

The coldness embraced her as the smell of the familiar air freshener of the bus filled her nose. Clara doesn’t know how to feel now that she escaped from the manor.

She checked the time and her destination, there’s still an hour left before she’ll arrive at the center of the city.

The center of the city is filled with many commoners where her aunt wouldn’t want to look for her there, it’s where all of the cheap malls, motels, hotels, tiangge stores, and boutiques are built for people that are not billionaires like her aunt.

It was built for people that have only a bare minimum income of 100,000 and below. People might think that it’s unfair, but this is how the world works here in the city of Dasmarinas City.

Business is a very critical subject for everyone around this city because this is where all risk-takers take risks, so we all have to be mindful of our target markets.

Clara wanted to sleep but her fear of being found out kept her awake, she hugged her bag and folded her knees closer beside her.

Now that the first problem is solved, she has to start looking for a husband before this day ends. 

To be continued…