Lilly’s POV:
I sat there alone in the car taking the information in and heard dads voice snap me out of my thoughts,
"Lilly?" he asked me through the phone.
"Yeah, dad," I responded, "I’ll talk to you later and tell Mrs. Bank to water the plants."
"Alright, honey. Take care," he said before cutting the call.
I didn’t know what to say about what dad answered for my question. Truthfully I didn’t know what to make out of it and I was blank. Blank. And soon thoughts began flooding in regarding everything whatever happened up till now. Luke being my keeper, the reason why he had been watching over me all these years and the reason why he was there in the shadows making sure I was alright.
Luke and I were lovers in my past life. Did that mean he was still in love with me? Of course, he did you stupid, my mind answered my question. But...this was Luke and on cue, there was a tap on my window. He bent down, one of his arms at the door as he looked at me.
"Here," he said handing me over a small package and it felt hot, "I thought you might be hungry," and I smelled something nice and didn’t realize how hungry I was until I opened it to see a sandwich.
Opening the door, he got inside the car. I could feel the warmth of the sandwich wrap on both my palms.
"Thank you," I thanked him.
"No problem, Lillian," he replied as he started the car, "They sell the best sandwich here according to one of my men. Let me know how it tastes because if it isn’t I’ll have them chopped and grilled," he said making me smile. I didn’t know if he was joking or not about the last part though.
After few seconds passed I frowned and asked him, "Aren’t you going to have anything?" I asked him.
"I don’t feel hungry right now," he replied, "Go on, eat it when it’s hot," he said and I peeled the paper like a wrap around the sandwich.
Taking a bite, I moaned without my knowledge as it tasted that good and I was hungry. It was soft and nice with right ingredients added to it. It was definitely one of the best sandwiches I had tasted in a while. In the background, I heard Luke groan and mutter something I didn’t understand as my mind was focused on the food in my hand.
"This is really good," I murmured and saw the traffic light hit red.
Suddenly Luke grabbed my hand, making a little amount of mayonnaise drip down on my finger as he took a bite from the sandwich. Without a second thought, he licked my finger where the mayonnaise had been, making my face go all red.
"Hmm, not bad," he said and I pulled my hand quickly away from him. He behaved like it was no big deal and continued driving as he whistled to the song that was playing on the radio.
"What did you buy in the shop?" I asked him curiously, "You took a lot of time."
"Missed me, Lillian?" he asked as his lips quirked up in a sly smile and I shook my head, stuffing the sandwich in my mouth completely.
"I had to give a package that had papers and a bottle of seeds in them," he said and I looked at him with a question mark on my face, "The owner of the shop is the man who works to maintain the atmospheric tunnel to the other dimension which is created by the seeds. We don’t want any humans finding out or snooping around when we are using the tunnel."
"So any human can get into the other dimension?" I asked him and saw him nod.
"Yes, but it doesn’t mean they know about it. Humans don’t see the difference when they enter the dimension except for the air around them that gets heavier. If they do enter we have guards to send them back to the human world," he explained.
"I see," I said eating the last piece of the sandwich, "Where are we going now?" I asked him.
"To Philentyle hotel, there’s a meeting I need to attend there tomorrow morning. We should be there in a few minutes," he said and I felt myself relax hearing it. I don’t know why but I didn’t feel like going back home.
The Philentyle hotel looked classy and elegant, and I wished I had worn something better but then I had a company standing right next to me. Luke stood at the reception talking to the women about the room which he had apparently forgotten to book. When I looked around the place I saw few of them looking at us and one woman, in particular, had an expression that said ’What are you doing here?’ I raised my brows at her not breaking my contact. She narrowed her eyes and so did I. I then yawned bringing up my hand to my mouth even though I wasn’t sleepy and saw her fume.
"Alright, Mr. Knight. These are the keys for the suite. Hope you have a good stay," the receptionist said to Luke and I could tell Luke had either charmed her like a snake or threatened her.
Luke and I were the only ones when we went up in the elevator. Luke was talking to someone on his cell while I looked at the number being displayed above as we went up. When we reached our suit, the first thing I did was go to the bathroom. Once I got out, I noticed Luke was still on the call, his voice was cold and sharp.
"I don’t know how you are going to fix it but you better do it quick...I don’t care about it...no...yes...that’s right," Luke went on to speak in a low voice. When I went to sit on the bed, Luke handed me a fluffy towel, "Hold on," he said to the person on the phone.
"Lillian, what would you like to eat for dinner?" he asked me and the change of tone didn’t go unnoticed by me. Sometimes I was amazed at his quick mood switch.
"Something spicy?" I asked him unsure and he nodded.
"Why don’t you go freshen up while dinner gets ready?" he said with a smile and I nodded my head to it. I did need a good shower.
Taking the towel from him, I took the mini bag I had carried with me that had clothes and my toothbrush in it. I turned on the tap for both hot and cold water, letting the water fill the tub completely. Stepping in, I felt the warm water caress my skin. It felt relaxing and soothing like all my worries were washing away. I closed my eyes for some time, enjoying the moment. When I opened them, I let out a gasp of shock from my mouth.
I wasn’t in the bathroom, I was in someone’s house. Looking at myself, I saw that I was wearing clothes but they weren’t the ones I was familiar with. It was old-fashioned. Was I dreaming? I walked further in the corridor to come across a door. Pushing it open, I stepped inside the room but didn’t move anymore after seeing the floor that had blood splattered all over the place. The room smelled like iron due to the stench of blood. Suddenly a man came in my view holding my neck in both his hands, trying to kill me. It was the man Luke called as my father.
I gasped for air as I tried to pry his hands from my neck but it was hard. I was suffocating and I felt less oxygen enter my lungs as seconds passed.
"Lillian!" I heard someone yell my name.
I began coughing, while my eyes felt heady and dizzy. I tried focussing my eyes and saw white tiles.
"Jesus, Lillian!" I heard Luke’s exasperated voice, "Don’t scare me like that," he said and I then noticed I wasn’t in the water anymore but in his lap, a big fluffy towel wrapped around me.
"It’s been more than an hour since you came in here to take a bath. I got worried when you didn’t respond when I called your name. I opened the door to find you submerged in the water," he had his hand around my body, holding me gently, "Are you alright?" he asked me concerned.
I shook my head, feeling the fresh dream that occurred a few minutes back. That man was no father, he scary and it was freaking me out, "I saw him again. My father, Alos," I replied with a shaky voice.
"Its just a dream, Lilly," he rubbed my back soothingly, "Just imagination and thoughts instigating it. He cannot hurt or contact you when I’m around," he assured me and I felt myself clutch his shirt like a scared child. He picked me up with ease and walked out of the bathroom. Placing me gently on the bed he got the clothes I was going to wear for bed.
"I’ll be right here, Lillian," he said placing his palm on my cheek, his green eyes staring into mine, "Dress up. I’ll be back in a minute," he said and I saw him go into the bathroom. I wore my clothes quickly with my shaky hands. The doorbell rang and I was going to get up but Luke beat me to it. Our dinner had arrived.
"I’m alright now," I said to Luke while we were having our dinner. He was watching over me, every single move of mine and I felt awkward to eat, making me spill my food twice.
It took me time to realize that he had seen me naked and I was mortified now. I wanted to bury myself in the ground right now. Since I got to know about Luke and my history, I was seeing Luke in a different light right now. I felt my cheeks go red thinking about him seeing me in the bathroom. Looking at him there was no reaction, it was a normal day for him.
"Are you cold? You’re shivering," he said and placed his hand on my forehead, "Doesn’t seem like you have a fever, do you want some?" he asked me as he poured the alcohol in a thin glass.
"Water is fine," I replied.
Later that night, Luke hadn’t asked me what I dreamt about and I was thankful he didn’t because I didn’t want to think about it. When I woke up it was noon and Luke was already gone. He had left a note on the nightstand telling he had gone to meet few people and would be back by night. At the end he wrote, if I wanted I could go visit any place I wanted to but to drop him a message where I was going so he knew where to find me.
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr𝒆e(w)𝒆bnovel