Be my date

Marie turned for the sixth time on her bed in one night and sighed heavily. After the whole drama that happened at dinner last night, she had found it impossible to sleep. The adrenaline from solving a major case was unmatched, so she felt giddy. For the first time in a while, she was satisfied.

It was 3am in the morning, and she had barely been able to catch two hours of sleep altogether. The bed was messy from the amount of times she had rolled on the bed. She doesn’t know why, but her mind was all over the place.

Of course, there was so much to think about but she couldn’t exactly say what was going through her head.

Tired of the struggle to sleep, she finally got off the bed and sat.

“Hot milk would slap right now” Marie thought to herself in the dimly lit room.

She remembered how her mother would always prepare hot milk and bake cookies for her elder sister whenever she was having difficulty sleeping. Marie, a bit envious of that, would also pretend to have sleeping problems just to enjoy that privilege as well.

Now that she thinks of it, she has never been treated better than her sister. A tear dropped down her left eye, and she quickly cleaned it off.

She stood up and walked over to the fridge in the room, but realized it was empty.

Sighing, she decided to find her way to the kitchen to make some warm milk, and get something to eat too.

She made it out of the room, and she heaved in relief when she didn’t see any guard standing by the door. She began to tiptoe down the stairs because the elevators were out of power. While she was on the edge of the staircase two floors below, she heard loud noises coming from the end of the hallway.

It sounded like a heated argument between two men, and curiosity began to get the best part of her. She stood and deliberated for a second on whether to check the noise out, but decided against it. As she was about to take the next step, she heard a loud smash against the wall, and that drew back her attention.

But what if she goes to check it out, and meets something she isn’t meant to see in the first place? She is in a Mafia’s empire afterall.

“What’s the worst that could happen anyway? She’s already a fugitive here”

She began to tiptoe towards the direction of the noise as quietly as she could. As she moved closer, the voices were becoming clearer and she could hear Drey’s voice as one of the men.

“I think I have made the wrong decision, but I’m here already.” Marie thought to herself.

The door was slightly ajar, so she peeped from a distance and saw just Drey’s side view with another male figure beside him. She couldn’t see the face of the man standing with him, but just the back of his suit.

“Why would anyone be wearing a suit by 3am?” Marie shook her head and tried to listen in on the conversation.

“That’s the same thing that happened with my mother, so don’t try that shit with me!” Drey screamed to the man in front of him, and she saw his eyes lit with fury.

“Drey…” the man with him talked calmly, but Drey was obviously having none of that.

“I would do this one time, and that would be the end of it. Note that I’m not doing this for you, but I’m doing it for myself” Drey told him matter-of-factly.

“I’ve explained to you for years, Drey. When would you ever try to believe me?” The other man asked, also raising his voice a bit.

“When you die…just like my mother.” His voice turned cold and stared at the other figure with nothing but pure rage in his eyes, and made to step out of the room.

Seeing him approach the door, Marie quickly hid behind a huge box that was in the middle of the hallway.

Drey felt the presence of another person, and turned to look around. She held her breath, hoping her cover would not be blown only for him to finally turn and leave. She heaved a sigh of relief, and headed back to her room cutting off any craving for milk. She didn’t want to get caught in the middle of whatever heat was going on, and he used as a scapegoat.

“So, his mother is dead? No wonder he is so distant and cold.” Marie said to herself, feeling a bit of pity towards Drey.

“I shouldn’t be feeling sorry for my kidnapper, I mean.”

Marie got to her room and plopped on her bed. She thought of who Drey could have been talking to, and what he could have meant by not letting what happened to his mother happen again. Is he in danger? Most importantly, is she also in danger?

While a million thoughts were flying around her head, Marie finally succumbed to sleep, and her eyes were tightly shut.

***

Marie woke up to repeated knocks on the door to her room, and she was more than frustrated. After trying to block out the knocks for more than ten seconds, she finally stands up and goes to open the door.

“How may I help…” Before she could finish off her sentence, she is bundled over by two bodyguards into the nearest elevator going to the topmost floor.

“Oh, so now, they’re treating her like a kidnapped person. Took them long enough”

She was brought to a familiar path, which looked like the office of Drey.

“What does he want with her this time?” She mentally rolled her eyes.

On getting to his door, they knocked twice and pushed her into his office, slamming the door shut.

She stood by the door watching Drey’s head buried in paperwork on the other side of the office. Marie was feeling angry, sad, frustrated, upset and pissed that she had to be treated like this.

“Look..” she was about to give Drey a piece of her mind before he interrupted her.

“Come over here…now” Drey told her without even lifting up his head from the papers.

As if hypnotized, she walked over to his table and stood awaiting his next set of instructions.

“Who do you work for?” He finally raised up his head and looked at her eyes directly.

“Sorry, what? What do you mean who do I work for?” Marie responded, more confused than ever.

“I’ll ask you for the last time. Who do you work for?” He asked her with a more determined look

“ I don’t understand you. You kidnap me from my home over three hours from here without any reason whatsoever, and I’ve been locked up without any form of contact to the outside world, living like a piece of property that was scrapped off a garbage bin, and now you ask who I work for?” Marie’s voice started to get shaky as she responded to the cold, no-nonsense man sitting in front of her.

“Again, you weren’t kidnapped. Secondly, why wouldn’t I ask that question when you were snooping around the house at midnight?” He threw her a knowing look.

Marie was stunned to find out that he actually knew she had overheard his conversation last night, and she was a bit embarrassed at that. She cleared her throat, and pretended to act unfazed

“I wasn’t snooping around. I wanted to get a cup of milk, and I managed to walk into that conversation, but I got there right when it ended, I promise.”

“Right” Marie could swear that there was a smirk forming on his face, but it got wiped off right before she could dwell on it.

“How did you even know that I was there last night?” Marie genuinely asked him this time.

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m the boss of a Mafia Empire. I’m more aware than you think, girl.” Drey scoffed.

“Back to this ‘girl title’ again.” Marie subtly rolled her eyes at him.

“Anyways, to the main reason why I called you here”

“More like dragged” she thought to herself

He reached into his drawer, and threw an envelope on the table, directing her to check it out.

Upon opening it, she saw an invitation card in it to some sort of ball. Further checking the details, she saw that the ball was going to be held within the premises.

“You’re hosting a ball?” Marie asked him with a stunned expression.

“Yes, and you’re going to be my date.” He responded

“Ohh, no”

“Ohh, yes” And there it was; the smirk from the last time.