Chapter 61 The Contention
\[Lilia\]
I stare at myself in the reflection in the mirror, satisfied with what I am seeing. A black satin top hangs in a thin strap around my neck, revealing most of my back. Aya paired it up with a high-waisted white pencil skirt and black ankle boots, adding to my height for a few inches.
Aya also set my hair to a French pigtail braid on both sides of my head. She also had my makeup done. To complete my outfit for today, I wore sunglasses with huge lenses that could take up almost half my face.
“Are you ready?” Aya came up behind me, her head poking over my shoulder, and stared at me in the mirror.
Giving myself one last look, I nodded to her and said, “Let’s go.” I pick up the mini sling bag from the vanity table and hang it over my shoulder. It didn’t have anything important inside it, aside from a pressed powder and a liquid lipstick in case we needed a retouch.
I turn around and look at her. She was wearing one of the clothes she packed up for me back in Russia. A two-piece light brown dress with a flowing skirt with ruffled fringes and a high slit on the side that displays her legs off. Aya also matched her hairstyle with mine and donned nude-colored flat sandals with crisscrossing straps up to her knees.
“Are you sure you can manage to get through the guards?”
Her face turned awry with hesitation. I understand her sentiments, knowing that it would be hard to get through the barrage of guards standing outside our room.
Yet, I don't feel like scurrying under the sheets today. I felt confident, and even if Kael would come through here, I think I could manage to contend with him.
I gave Aya a broad smile and took her hand. “Leave it to me,” I say to her, brimming with enthusiasm, and drag her towards the door. Her palm was clammy against mine. Her queasiness radiated, but I ignored it and turned the knob open.
A couple of burly men stood stiffly outside. A huge caliber of guns strapped on their chest, one finger poised inside the trigger, ready to shoot if there is a siege. Their eyes instantly turned to us soon as we burst through the entryway, brushing their gazes on our outfits.
“Questi due possono uscire? Il maestro Kael lo sapeva?”
(Are these two allowed to go out? Did master Kael know this?)
Aya and I gaped at the brawny man standing next to our door, addressing his companion. He cocked his head on us.
I don't have any idea what words came through his mouth, but I make out from his accent was Kael’s name, and I am pretty sure he was asking what we were doing outside.
“Mi è stato detto che la cameriera può uscire, ma non la donna.”
(I was told the maid can go out, but not the woman.)
The other one responded while aiming his rifle in my direction. I instinctively retreated a step, and Aya grabbed hold of my arm at the same time.
“Lilia, I think they know you're not allowed.” She whispered, her voice exhibiting a trace of tremor. She was getting scared, but we already planned this, and there's no way we let these ruffians domineer us.
I didn't crouch with their oversize and lifted my head high.
“Call Kael,” I demanded, raising my volume and enunciating each word more clearly so that they could comprehend what I was saying. I don't know if they speak English, but surely they know who to call in this matter.
“Lilia,” Aya tugged my arm, her grip tightening, yet I only patted her hand to reassure her that I had got this under control.
“It’s okay, Aya. I got this.”
I turned my attention back toward the guard and raised my brows, prompting him to make the call.
He throws a quick look in the direction of his companion for confirmation, but all he gets in return is a nod before he takes out his phone and dials the screen.
I heard the faint ringing, and eventually, the receiver picked up the phone before he thrust the phone in front of me. I quickly took it and placed the speaker in my ear.
“What?” Kael’s voice barked from the other line, and I felt my heart drum wildly inside my chest at the mere sound of his voice. Anxiety suddenly washed over me, yet I tried my best not to let my voice overcome with fear.
“I’m going out with Aya today. Tell your guards to let us through.” I said, steeling my voice, bleaching it out with any emotions.
I already had enough of him. I could not let him treat me as though I did not have a life of my own. He may have purchased me with a damn large amount of money, but to hell with him. I will not let him treat me as his caged bird.
“Kukla—”
“Just tell them, Kael. You know I could get my way around past them if I wanted to. I have done it before, and I will do it again even if it kills me.” I interceded him before he could finish what he wanted to say and warned him straight to the point about what I could do if he declined my request.
Even through the phone, I could hear him sucking up the air sharply. I could only imagine his fresh minty breath fanning over my face while his lips hovered dangerously close to mine.
Why am I feeling this way? This man could probably be anywhere away from here, yet why does it feel like he’s near that I could practically smell his scent?
“Are you threatening me, kukla? It’s dangerous out there for you, kukla.”
His deep, grumbling voice cracked up my trance and yanked me back to the current situation that I am with and this little rebellion crawling up on my system.
Danger. Of course, it's always been dangerous out there for anyone like me who knows nothing about a thing or two in this foreign land, but I have already been in a precarious predicament before, and to say the least, death seemed to have bore chasing me down. Also, nothing is worth me being enclosed in this dull room. Moreover, I would be in the most perilous situation if I were with him.
“I’ve seen the faces of danger Kael and none of them are worse than you.” I gritted, giving him my point.
It is true.
However, the danger he brought me is something that I am scared of. In fact, it is the exact opposite. But I am trying to keep this strange sensation whirling inside me, knowing that if I am careless with my feelings for him, he would only crush me more than I am already broken.
There was a long pause between the call, and I thought Kael had already dropped it, but I didn't hear a beep, so I knew he was still on the line.
Even if he would not let me go out, I would still find a way to get around the villa and make an escape. He knows it, and it will only give him more headaches.
After what felt like forever of nerve-wracking anticipation, he finally spoke, “Fine, but I'll have my men following you around.”
My brows immediately furrowed, downright contending his decision with a firm, “No.”
“It’s your choice, kukla. You can go but with the watchful eyes of my men, or you stay there in your room and let Aya go wherever she pleases around the place. We have a deal, remember?”
I turn my head to look at Aya on my side. Her chinky eyes were wide with eagerness to know what we talked about. Her lips pressed tightly, eyes blinking, and her throat bobbing up and down.
She doesn't know about the deal, and I have no intention of telling her. She will only feel terrible for herself if ever she learns that I gave myself away in exchange for her day of freedom, and I will do it over and again, given the opportunity presents itself. The only thing I detest was that Kael has the advantage of it.
“It is done. You’ve already got whatever you want from me.” I say, taking my eyes off Aya and keeping my facial features blank as I try to hide the whirlwind of emotions wrecking inside me.
“Still, that’s the only option you have.”
I contemplate for a moment, and if I were to turn this down, I'd have to choose the hard way. If I agree, then I could think of another way to lose the guards he had set on us later on.
We could sneak somewhere and be on our own for a day as much as I wanted to escape forever and leave. I could not do it. Kael has more power than I will ever anticipate, and it will only be a matter of time before he'll find me again.
“Fine,” I conceded, though I already had something in my mind than really giving in to his assertions.
“Give the phone back to my man,” he instructed, and I didn't say anything else than give the device to the brawny man waiting impatiently for the conversation to end.
They talked for about a minute, and I guess Kael was giving them the instructions never to let us off out of their sight once we’re out of the villa.
He was nodding his head the entire time as though Kael could see him, occasionally uttering a word of agreement I could only decipher in his mother tongue.
Soon after, the call dropped, and he looked at us, loosening his stance and moving to the side, cocking his head and saying, “This way.”
Aya exhaled loudly with relief and looked at me. Both in perplexity that these hooligans can actually speak English and in disbelief that I made Kael agree to this.
“He said yes?”
I smiled at her and giggled.
“I told you, I can handle it.”