Chapter 32
“I didn’t know what you wanted to eat so I asked the chef to surprise us, you look great by the way, but then again you always look beautiful” he said squeezing my hand and leaning over the table and kissing my cheek
“Of course, you will say that because your bias is clouding your judgment” I said looking shyly away, he moved around the table and sat next to me and pulled me close
“You’re cute” he said pinching my nose.
“Here you go, please enjoy, if you need anything please just press this button and I will come right away” the stewardess said pointing at the button on my seat, I nodded, and she disappeared behind the curtain to the front of the plane.
“So, what is this?” I asked looking at the beautify plated seafood and rice dish in front of me,
“Don’t you know this dish?” he asked with excitement plastered all over his face
“No” I replied shaking my head
“Well, you are in for a treat”
“Why? What is it?” I asked his excitement rubbing off on me
“This dish originates from Spain it’s called a Paella… a seafood Paella to be exact, here try it” he said taking a big scoop and feeding me
“Mmm, it's delicious”
“I knew you would love it”
“So, are you going to tell me where were going?”
“Mm” he said shaking his head
“It’s a surprise I told you Scar I will never stop surprising you”
“Fine” I said nudging him on the shoulder.
The plane landed and a man at the foot of the stairs handed Aiden our passports as we descended, Aiden took my hand and led me to a black SUV with heavily tinted windows, he opened the door for me and walked around to the other side, the driver said something to Aiden in a language I didn’t understand.
“Is that Portuguese” I whispered to Aiden, the driver looked back at us through the review mirror. Aiden smiled back at me and then looked at the driver and responded in the driver’s language and the driver nodded and drove off.
“Care to fill me in?” I asked feeling left out and frustrated because I couldn’t understand a word they were saying.
“We were just ironing out the logistics” he responded making me realise that I was not going to get any answers, so I decided to let it go, Aiden said something else to the driver and the partition went up.
“Come on enough already, where are we?”
He just chuckled and said,
“Look out the window, what do you see?” I looked out the window and saw a lot of beautifully coloured houses, and it seemed everywhere I looked everyone was wearing sandals, music playing in the street, people dancing
“Well, if I were to guess I would say, Brazil or Mexico”. He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed it,
“Welcome to Spain, my love”
“What?! Spain, oh my goodness, Aiden I can’t believe you brought me to Spain!” I screeched
For the rest of the ride, Aiden showed me the different landmarks and told me about their history.
We reached the hotel only it didn’t look like the hotels I was used to; the gate was huge and there was a security booth next to it, one of the security guards talked to the driver and after a few seconds the gate slowly opened,
“Is this a hotel?” I asked seeing that it looked more like a house than a hotel,
“This is the Braveheart holiday home we used to spend all our Christmases here when I was young but that seems like a lifetime ago now, I haven’t been back here in a long time” he said in a sombre tone. I wanted to ask him more about it but got the feeling that now was not the time, as we walked in I realised that the house, the garden, just the whole feel of the place reminded me of Aiden’s house back home. Walking into the house I recognised the furniture, it was the same feel as the furniture at Aiden’s house, the oaky feel of the room was the same, the whole aura of the house felt very regal, an older woman dressed like a maid walked towards us with two men walking behind her dressed in tuxes and white gloves.
She spoke to Aiden in Spanish planting kisses on both of his cheeks she continued speaking to him cupping his cheeks in her palms her eyes tearing up, I stood next to Aiden with my fingers entangled in front of me and an awkward smile on my face. She turned her attention towards me and continued speaking in Spanish shaking my hand enthusiastically and kissing both my cheeks as well with the biggest smile on her face. I wished I could understand what she was saying.
“I’m sorry, I don’t speak Spanish, but it’s nice to meet you too”
“Oh, my apologies, Maria this is Scarlett…Scarlett…Maria” Aiden said feeling embarrassed
“Nice to meet you” I said to her not knowing if I was insulting her by not knowing her language,
“The pleasure is all mine” she said with a thick accent, but I didn’t care I was just relieved that there is someone who I can understand and speak to other than Aiden. She planted kisses on both my cheeks and turned to the two men behind her and said something which from what happened next I assume she told them to bring our bags inside.
“I feel like an idiot I need to install a language app immediately, oh no, where is my phone? Mom must be so worried” I said frantically searching through my bag
“I can’t find it…where is it?” I asked myself with my hand on my forehead, searching my mind for a clue of where it could be.
“did I lose it in the woods? Did I leave it at the ball?” Everything was a blur I left in such a hurry that I didn’t even think to check if I had everything
“damn it” I hissed under my breath
“Calm down my love I’ll get you a new phone, here use mine to call your mother” he said handing me his phone, I went outside and dialled.
“Hello” she answered apprehensively this is how she acts when she gets a call from a number she doesn’t know
“Mom it’s me”
“Oh, my goodness, Scarlett thank god, are you alright?, where are you?, why did you and Aiden rush off like that?, did he do something to you?”
“Mom...mom…mom stop, I’m fine, I’m okay, I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier but I lost my phone”
“What happened?, where are you?”
“I’m in Spain, I will explain later okay”
“No, Scarlet Marie Roberts explain yourself right now, do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? I haven’t seen you for 2 days now, no call from you or Aiden, I’ve been losing my mind here”
“I’m so sorry mom, I promise I will explain everything when I see you again okay”
“And when will that be?”
“Sorry mom but I don’t know when that will be, I promise I’m okay, I have to go I’ll call you later”
“Alright, and call me please”
I could hear the frustration in her voice, but I couldn’t explain everything on the phone, she will have to be okay with me telling her when I get back.
“I will, love you…bye” “
“Bye baby”
I hung up letting out a big sigh, how will I explain everything to her?
“I don’t want her to end up hating Aiden” I said biting my lip
“How is she, is your mom okay?” Aiden’s voice startled me, and I swung around and looked at him holding my hand to my heart trying to stop it from jumping out of my chest.
“Don’t creep up on me like that…geese you almost gave me a heart attack” I said punching him lightly on the chest he smiled and took my hand and kissing it
“Dinner is served my lady” he said leading me back to the house
“Dinner? But the sun Is still out what time is it?”
“I’m not sure but I think it’s around eight pm” he said pulling a chair out for me at the table
“8pm but it feels more like three maybe four pm in the afternoon”
“The sun goes down around ten sometimes eleven pm here”
“What? That is amazing, I guess people here never sleep, huh, they can just stay up and have endless parties”
He looked at me and chuckled
“It’s an adjustment but I’m sure you will get used to it”
I nodded in response
“So, what are we eating this time? Is it another Spanish dish?” I said looking at yet another beautifully decorated plate of food in front of me
“Yes, this one is called Arroz Marinero”
“Mmm, it smells good” I said inhaling the beautiful aroma, and we started eating
“That was delicious the muscles were cooked perfectly” I said feeling satisfied
“Maria is a great cook, I didn’t realise how much I missed her cooking, oh, excuse me Scar, I will be right back” Aiden said standing to take a call
“What’s taking him so long? I might as well explore on my own” I gravitated towards the living room, I saw the same desk I saw in my dream, I walked closer and picked up a picture, it was of two boys playing on the beach and the Alpha and Luna were in the background.
“Hey, sorry I had to take that, Pack business”
“Is this you and your parents in this picture?” He took the picture and nodded,
“Is the other boy your friend, does he still live around here?”
“No this was my twin brother Xavier, he died when we were eight”
