MARCEL
They say a day can change the entire course of history, and yesterday was one of those rare days when I had to make the most unplanned decisions of my life.
After breakfast, I left the slave girl in the dining room and retired to mine. I had loads of work to attend to, and most importantly, I needed to hire a caretaker for my mother as well.
As I walked into my room and shut the door I went straight to my desk and pulled out the documents inside the drawer.
The day was fully awake and the sun burned the earth with its raging rays…. A firm knock came from outside and I lifted my eyes towards the direction of the door. I already knew who it was.
"Come in, Aaron.." I ordered, and the door pushed open.
"Good morning, sire" he greeted. I nodded but I didn't take my eyes off of what I was reading.
"When did you return from your trip?" I asked dryly.
"Barely five minutes ago" he replied and moved closer to my desk. "But, sire, I overheard some of the servants gossiping in the corridors…"
I rolled my eyes and kept scribbling down some things on another blank sheet.
"And why is that a problem, Aaron?" I asked sharply. "They gossip all the time.."
"How many more slaves are you willing to keep under your roof, sire?"
I immediately dropped the pen in my hand and glared at Aaron sternly.
"Those slaves should be grateful to me for housing, feeding, and clothing them instead of having them do hard labor like the other slave masters do!" I snarled, but Aaron didn't flinch.
"Well, they say this last one wasn't just any slave, you even had Dahlia treat her specially, you invited her to feast at your table, and instead of the slave clothes, you gave her fine lace.. who is this slave, sire? I don't want to believe the things I heard about her," Aaron asked teasingly, but from the look on his face, he not planning to stop till he got an answer.
Aaron is one person who never stops until he has his way, and I'm not ready for his drama, this early hour of the day.
I leaned back on the chair and rubbed my forehead.
"Hmm..well if what you heard is in the line of that slave being my wife, then you heard correctly, Aaron," I replied and got up from the chair. "Now that you've mentioned her, I just remembered that I have something for her to do.."
With that, I left the room but of course, Aaron trudged behind like a child afraid to lose his mother in a tough crowd.
I got downstairs and Dahlia was the first person I bumped into. "Have you seen… uhhm"
"Odessa?" Dahlia blurted, and I nodded. "I last saw her in the garden. She seems to enjoy looking at those cherry blossoms and chrysanthemums…"
Dahlia was saying something else, but I'm not really interested enough to pay attention. I got the information I needed and just headed towards the garden. There she was, her raven black her swaying in the wind, and her slender arms wrapped around each other.
"Is she the slave you married?" Aaron asked as we got closer, and I muttered a "yes" in response.
"Odessa.." I called and she turned to look at me. This was the first time I paid any close attention to her face. Her blue eyes danced around my face and her lips curled up in a smile.
"Yes?
Did you want something?" Odessa's breathy voice echoed in my head and I stole a glance at Aaron. He was practically lost in a daze as he stared gawked at Odessa.
"Actually, I wanted you to meet someone important." I replied and held out my hand for her. She gladly placed her little palm in mine and we walked hand in hand until we returned into the house, this time without Aaron.
"I wanted to ask about your mother… I heard one of the servants talking about her, so I figured she lived here as well… why didn't she join us for breakfast?"
I scoffed and rolled my eyes "you ask way to many questions, Odessa. Just calm your nerves and wait till you meet who I want you to meet.." I replied.
She pouted her lips and didn't utter another word until we got to my mother's room.
I exhaled heavily, pushed the door open, and turned on the main lights.
Odessa gasped softly as she saw my mother in a chair facing the window.
"Mother…" I called as I got closer and crouched down in front of her.
"I want you to meet Odessa.
Odessa, meet my mother...she's unaware of her environment at the moment, but she'll appreciate it if you're nice to her." I explained, and Odessa stepped forward and leaned close to my mother.
"Good morning…" she muttered and for some odd reason, my mother beamed with a smile. A wide one for that matter.
"Anyways, I was already going to ask you if you could do the honors of being my mother's personal caregiver, as a little way of returning my favor…" I responded, and Odessa smiled brightly.
"I promise you I'll do a really good job, you'd forget your mother was even sick in the first place.." she giggled.
"Sure.. as long as you make my mother feel safe and healthy…" I replied wryly and led her out of the room.
"You don't know how grateful I am for this opportunity to serve you, Marcel… I honestly don't know what my life would have turned out to be if you didn't come to my rescue.. I –"
"Please Odessa.." I cut in and she batted her eyelids. "Cut down on all the unnecessary appreciation. You begged for a favor, I granted it in the best way I could and for all I know, you're indebted to me." I shot back and her smile slowly faded.
Aaron walked in on us and the look on his face showed I had work to do.
"Now, if you would excuse, I have some really important things attend to. Take care of yourself Odessa..
Let's go, Aaron.."
I brushed past both of them and I could hear Aaron's annoying footsteps coming behind me.
"What's on my schedule today?" I asked Aaron as we left the manor.
"Your meeting with the local heads. If you need to establish another one of your businesses in the neighboring town, they'll want to benefit greatly from it and you know how greedy those dirty men can be.." he replied, and I sighed.
We rode in silence and while Aaron was taking the lead up front, I lagged on my horse and just kept going over the chaos happening in my head.
I spotted a familiar silhouette in the distance, and at first, I tried to convince myself that it wasn't the person I had in mind, but a bigger part of me knew my instincts were never wrong.
"Catch up with me, Aaron," I ordered as I pulled the reins of the horse, and he sped up.
"Thana?"
The blonde-haired goddess turned to look at me and her hazel eyes captured me like in the good old days.
"Well, well, well…" that soothing voice of hers brought back memories, and I reveled in them. "If it isn't the famous billionaire… Marcel Edgar"
"What are you doing here, Thana? You disappear one night only to resurface five years later, and you couldn't even come find me?" I pressed as I got down from my horse and approached her slowly to make sure she wasn't a ghost.
"It's a long story, Marcel…."I could see the sadness in her eyes as they watered up..
"It's alright, I have all the time in the world to listen to you Thana.."
"Sire, remember we have a meeting with the local –"
"You go ahead with the meeting, Aaron, I'll take Thana home. Give me a detailed report when you get back.." I ordered and helped Thana up on my horse.
"Sire, you're making a mistake…" he whispered, and I patted his shoulder.
"Let me be the judge of that."