False Pretenses

Chapter 19

I wasn't expecting anything when I opened the front door of Calum's apartment. What hit me first was the stuffy warmth of it. The apartment was lit only by the soft glow of the evening sun that managed to pass through the curtains which hid the glass doors of the balcony that overlooked the busy street on the opposite side of the apartment.

I prodded the wall with my hand in search of the light switches.

"Thank God." I mumbled when I found them. I gasped when the apartment actually came into view, the light fully illuminating it.

Exquisite. That's what the apartment was.

I was standing in his living room. On my left was a big screen TV which served as the main attraction of the room besides the ornate artefacts that were lined in the many shelves to the right of the TV. To the left of it, modern art portraits were hung. They had steel grey frames.

As much as I hated the colour white, I couldn't deny my appreciation about how it served as a homogeneous platform to bring together diverse colours.

The artefacts were mostly stone and metal figurines with the exception of a porcelain bowl which had a crimson hue. The portraits were colourful too though I couldn't decide what they actually depicted.

I liked Calum's choice in furniture. Fifty shades of grey or not, his furniture was actually quite good.

But my favourite thing was the beautiful crystal chandelier.

A dark grey couch adorned with navy blue cushions that bore a celtic sign in white, rested in front of the TV along with a mauve coloured recliner positioned to its left which also had grey cushions.

To my right was the balcony. It's polished, steel-framed glass doors were draped by curtains I found extraordinarily peculiar. They were white but had multicoloured polka dots shaped like hashtags, printed across their surface. They were fantastically chic.

I went to the balcony, pushed aside the curtains and smiled. Calum had his own perfect little garden in his balcony. The edges were lined by little green plants and a hanging shelf had baby cactuses resting on it. All of the plants looked healthy.

I wondered whether he had the time to tend to them or was home enough to even water them.

After coming back inside I closed the balcony doors and went in search of his bedroom.

I just really wanted to see his bedroom. It's the most personal part of someone's life. One can know a lot about a person from their bedroom.

I found and opened three doors out of which the last one turned out to be his bedroom.

The first one was nearest to the kitchen, located far into the apartment. It was an extra bedroom with an ensuite bathroom. It seemed as if no one had ever touched it.

The kitchen was a different story. The fridge had many leftovers but fresh groceries were carefully stacked in it. Yes, I checked the fridge. The whole kitchen was modern steel and had german fittings. Everything grey.

The second room was comparatively smaller but equally grand. A mahogany desk sat in the center of it with stacks of papers and files piling on it. Other than the love seat resting against one of the walls, the study was essentially bare.

"Third time's a charm." I muttered as I opened his bedroom door. Holding my breath I switched on the light and almost shrieked when my phone started blaring its ringtone.

It was an unknown number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Violet! It's Elijah. I've got something important to tell you."