Ice Blue

Chapter 9

Three days later, I still don't feel like eating or talking. The night I fell asleep in his office robbed my whole energy. I woke up in my bed the next morning. He must've carried me back downstairs and put me to bed. That's why I didn't wake up with back pain. But that didn't make anything better.

I'm not speaking to him. Not unless I have to. Our breakfasts, brunches and dinners go by silently, we don't cross our ways when we don't have to, I just join him when he tells me to and takes me somewhere. That's all we do.

I wait. Just the way he told me to.

Since that night, I feel like a ghost. I sit at my window and watch the ocean, sit in the grass and listen to the moving leaves, talk to June whenever she is here and read the book that she has brought me. Unfortunately I have to read one page over and over again because I can't concentrate on it. My mind is blurry and I feel empty. Empty and lost.

It's been more than a weekend since my parents are gone. Did they call to tell me that they'll take longer or are they back and didn't even notice I'm gone? Or didn't they even call to tell me? I doubt that they did and it puts me in pain. They don't bother caring enough to let me know that they won't be back soon and if they did but couldn't reach me then they should be looking for me by now.

I'm also asking myself what's taking Valentin so long. It's been three days and since he told me to wait, I did. I didn't ask him about how far he is or what his next step will be. Not even once because I didn't want him to lose it again. Instead I acted like he wasn't there. Whenever I needed something, I told June or the maids. Of course he noticed that I distanced myself from him as much as possible. So did he. He only keeps an eye out on me but that's all.

He lets me rot here. I'm fading and he doesn't move a finger to change that. He doesn't end this. Why does it bring so much joy to him to keep me here? Even if it doesn't bring him any joy, I don't understand why he's doing this to himself. Why would he keep a young girl here and get annoyed by her? His reason to hate my dad must be really strong.

I feel lonely and abandoned and for some reason I doubt that I will ever get out of here.

"How about a spa day?" June asks. She's trying to cheer me up because she noticed that I've been walking around this mansion like a ghost. That's why she comes up with ideas like these every few hours but I don't feel like doing anything. I didn't come here for any of that. I'm not on vacation like some other people...

Valentin walks into the living room.

His gaze is laying on me the way it hasn't in these few days. He looks serious, with his eyebrows pinched together. I can feel that there's something. Something he wants to say or something he wants from me.

I put the cup of tea in my hand on the table and look at June. She gives me a comforting look, knowing that we're not getting along too well in there past times. I like how she's building me up and being there for me. She makes me feel safe and that's why I'm still here. And because I don't have another choice.

I stand up and walk towards him. There's no need for him to use words to tell me that he wants me to come and follow him. He looks at me from head to toes and then starts walking, up the stairs and towards my room.

My room.

I don't feel home in this place but that's what this damn room is. It's mine. It smells like me, it has my belongings in it, I sleep in it and spend most of my time in it. That gives me the right to call it mine.

We enter my room and I close the door behind me.

"Bella and Sergio are here. They'll come up when you're ready." he tells me and I look just as surprised as I am. I almost forgot about them. "They brought the custom dressed." he explains and I still don't know why I need custom made dresses but I don't mind asking him. I just nod. "I'm ready." I add, giving him permission to let them up.