Haste Marriage With The Enemy

Chapter 6

Inside the simple car packed by the roadside, the young driver quietly passes over a paper bag containing the food to me.

The boy seems to be very shy and someone who keeps to himself, as he only grunted when I cheerfully greeted him earlier. He seems curious about something, though, but he can't bring himself to voice it. I think this driver might not be shy at all. It might be that he, like so many other people I have come across since I left home, knows I am the orphan princess of this land and wonder what I am doing in all the wrong places alone, but they don't find the courage to ask me.

Checking the contents of the paper bag, I see that there are two bowls of food. In one of the bowls are some mushrooms, broccoli and pieces of fruits. I wonder who told him Lucky's favourite food. Lucky devours the food happily. It makes me so happy to see him enjoying his meal after days of starvation.

The car comes to a stop at one of the most expensive hotels in the city; The Early Sun.

I remember when me and Gilbert were kids, we used to come to The Early Sun Hotel with our parents. Since the palace was built in the countryside away from the noisy city,(the earliest kings' preference) we sometimes craved for the city life and came to live in the hotel for several days, enjoying the wonderful food and spending a lot of time playing games with other kids in the park while the queen, and sometimes the king, watched us.

I suddenly feel depressed.

Why did it have to be this place, of all places? I seem to encounter things which remind me of my family a lot this morning. But I won't show that I am affected by this place. Albert seems to worry too much about me, he'd want to comfort me again. I still remember the hug he gave me back in that forest. Although it was comforting, I still felt a little awkward as I have never been in such close proximity to a guy before. I certainly don't want to give him a reason to hug me again. It feels strange.

Albert gets out of the car and gestures for me to do the same.

"We will be out in a moment, Clever. Don't go anywhere, understand?," Albert says to the driver, who nods his head.

I notice people are staring at us as we start moving to the hotel entrance. Thinking it's the squirrel that is drawing their attention, I try to hide him under my arm as I ask,

"What have we come to do here?."

"We can't leave for Cleverland looking like vampires on our faces. we have to get the blood cleaned out before we go."

Oh. I had forgotten that we were bitten and scratched by Lucky. I look at Albert's cheek and notice the dried blood from the long scratch he got from Lucky. Yeah, we definitely need to clean ourselves. And I thought people were staring at Lucky when it is me and Albert drawing their attention.

"Right," I say. "Did that driver come with you from Cleverland just to drive you around?." I hope my questions don't disturb him, but I really want to know the kind of person I am now going to spend a lot of my time with.

Thankfully, he doesn't look uncomfortable as he smiles.

"No, he didn't come from Cleverland, I hired him here the moment I arrived."

"Can't you drive?."

"I can, but there are some health issues that prevent me from driving for a long time. I have to hire someone to drive me around every time I travel alone."

The tone of his voice as he says these words indicate that he doesn't want to talk about the subject any further, so I just drop it. He nods at the receptionist as we pass the front desk, going upstairs. I make sure to hide Lucky from the man's view. I am sure he would have a thing or two to say about bringing a squirrel to the hotel.

Albert stops outside the first door we come across upstairs. Taking out a key from his pocket, he unlocks the door and gestures for me to get inside. As I enter the beautiful room with the king size bed, a thought occurs to me. But before I ask anything, Albert asks

"Do you like the room?,"

"Yes, its beautiful, but we are not staying here, are we?," I fail to mask the look of worry on my face.

"No, we are not. But why do you look worried?."

I allow a smile on my face now.

"Its just that.... I am worried someone from home might bump into me, see? They must already be looking for me right now. I don't want to be found." Or at least Lucea and the other maids must be looking for me. Letitia and Jairos couldn't care less about what happens to me.

Albert frowns a little at my response, but doesn't say anything, just nods his head.

"You can go to the bathroom and take a shower. I will do it after you." He says. He opens a first aid kit and takes out a bottle full of some kind of liquid. "When you've cleaned your wound with soap and water, make sure to rub this on he bitten area." He hands me the bottle. I examine it closely to see 'Alcohol' labeled on it.

"My Lucky is not infected," I mumble, but take the bottle all the same. He also hands me an adhesive bandage for the wound.

He is fussing over nothing. I've been bitten by squirrels a thousand times and most of the time I do nothing more than cleaning the wounds with plain water and waiting for them to heal.

I get the things and walk over to the bathroom.

A few minutes later, I come out to find Albert already cleaned and dressed.

"How did you do that?," I ask in wonder.

"Do what?," His eyes show that he is laughing laughing at my surprised face.

"How did you bath when I was in the only bathroom available in this room?."

"I used the one in the next room. The guy who lives there was nice enough to allow me to use the bathroom. If we don't get out of here fast enough, Clever will find other customers and give them a ride. The day he made me late for a meeting with the people I came to do business with here was when I realized he loves money too much to care about the fact that he is hired by someone. Here, put this on we should get going." He hands me a dress very similar to the one I am wearing.

"Where did you get this?." I am surprised at this man's thoughtfulness.

"I sent someone to get it for you. The one you have on is.....umm..... not suitable for travelling, if you will forgive me for pointing that out."

"Don't apologize, its true. I have been wearing this dress for weeks, it certainly isn't suitable for travelling abroad.

The problem I thought about earlier comes back to me and I ask worriedly

"How are we going to Cleverland?."

He looks at my face before replying,

"By plane. Why do you look worried?."

"Isn't there another way we can go? By bus or train?."

"Why not the plane?," Albert now looks amused.

"Because I have never been on the plane before, I. am nervous. And my pet won't be allowed on a plane."

Albert smiles.

"Don't worry. It is not as scary as you think. And we will travel on my boss' private plane. You just need to hide him well, we will get away with this."

I let out a long breath.

"Is there anything else you'd like to ask?."

"No, that's all."

"Good, let's get moving. My boss like punctuality to be observed. If I go there too late than he expected, he will be pissed."

I don't think I am going to like his boss.

"Do you live in the same house as your boss?," I ask him as we get out of the hotel room.

"Yes, for as long as I can remember."

We silently walk out of the hotel after Albert settles everything with the receptionist. Like Albert predicted, Clever is nowhere to be seen in the hotel parking lot.

"It seems your driver has been hired by someone else already," I point out.

"But we are not going to wait for him. We are going to hire someone else, too." He makes to follow a taxi, then stops suddenly.

"No, we have to wait for him. He didn't get his pay for this morning and I can't leave without giving him his money."

"Why don't you call him?," I suggest.

"Great idea." He takes out his phone and dials a number.

"Its just ringing, he's not picking up." He puts the phone back in his pocket. "We will just have to wait for him to come back."

"Can't we go back and wait for him in the hotel room?," I give him a pleading look.

"I already checked out. Still scared your family might find you?."

"Yes."

"There are some benches on the side of the hotel where its secluded. we can go there to wait because we need to see Clever when he gets back. If we go back to the room, he might disappear again."

.