RED HOPES

Alanis

The question I saw coming, but was not quite prepared to answer.  A case which not only impacted me but had moulded me into what I was now. Yet the mention of it left me exposed to the darkness of the world I didn’t plan to jump into again. “Every case impacts you and keeps changing you.” A bland lie. A small flicker of curiosity rose in her  transparent eyes but she didn’t dig any further.

She kept playing with the globe paperweight her skin pale against the green green and purple veins, her grey eyes piercing into my soul before giving a smirk. I found those things very attractive, like the way she smiled genuinely enjoying those pancakes, flushing hard when I trapped her in the library, empathizing with me in the car, or crushing upon those crispy leaves as we walked in the park. Every little thing made her seem human and not some venomous reptile who kills people’s egos. She’s a human after all.

“How do you deal with crook clients? I’m sure you have many at your hand.” Reverie winked.  Since there were too many serious questions a lighter one came as a needed distraction.

“Hush!! It’s a secret, I love my job young lady!!” I answered ever so dramatically, a soft laugh escaped her lips. A sound which somehow injected their way into my veins straight to my heart. Something in my stomach fluttered and an active sense told me to rub a hand over my face.
Mental note to self – take a stomach test


“All questions answered, And that’s a wrap on our today’s episode of Inside, I hope our audience enjoyed this mini day out. We’ll be back with another epic episode, this is Reverie Ames signing off for today. For any queries email us at the link given below.” And this interview which I earlier thought would turn out into another war, I imagined us running for each other’s necks but the situation only improved, without expectations. And a tiny bit of my heart wanted to write more questions and this interview to go a bit longer.

A soft grunt left Reverie’s mouth, her face weary and my eyes shifted towards her feet. “You have blisters”  my face formed a beeline, while my eyes narrowed. The source of her agony was nothing but stilettos, without giving a second thought I took long strides making her sit on the chair. “Gosh why do you torture yourselves with something soo impractically designed??” worry and panic mixed together as my fingers made their way under the surface of her heel. Removing them one by one.

“Ouch!!” she winced as I massaged her foot, trying to ease the pain.

“You didn’t have to cycle that hard wearing heels.” I whispered as her bruised foot relaxed in my palm. “Sit here I’ll just be back.” I ran back to my bedroom linked to the cabin, fishing out the box of ointments I always stocked. Coming back with a speed of light, I hurriedly applied the ointment  letting air do it’s magic by leaving her feet open. “You’re not wearing them back.” I saw crease of her brows easing, and a faint scar peeked out of her forehead, reminding me of the incident.

“How’s your head now?” I sealed her wound with the band aid.

“Hurt in the start but it’s good now.” She answered and suddenly our past conversation appeared fresh in my mind.

“Good.” I smiled. “You are a good interviewer have to admit it.” I smiled, this Reverie right infront of me was different, professional and less salty. Though I enjoyed her banters her right now was something calming, the air around her had been changed unlike the past times. Or was she like this from the start?

“And you’re a good guest too, you sounded soo genuine in all those answers.” Just when I thought she was different, her rude assumption slapped me back to the reality where she vexed me.

“I sounded?” Taken aback by her remark I repeated to hear her say those words, she wasn’tbeing serious?

“Yeah you answered like you were showing your true self.” A thin wall of what was considered a changed perception shattered just like that, her words broke it into smithereens.

I was dammit!! It was real, I never lied there was no reason to…. If there were any good thoughts I was harbouring right now this woman knew how to turn them off and throw them away in the farthest corner. All this time she thought! No she believed I was acting? Is this how Reverie felt about me? A fake? “Actually you know what? I’m done with this façade of a nice man today. It’s tiring.” I snapped saying nothing again. “I have a meeting to attend to.” And stormed out of the cabin never feeling the need to turn back, the only part I lied today was having a meeting.

Past

“Miss Ashley how will you manage in this world with two kids.”

“Alanis is just eight, how are you going to survive.”

“Will a divorcee ever get married again?”

“These celebs have water flowing in their veins. They can dump anyone or pick anyone.”

“Sanders is a poor man, she’s a bitch”
My eyes split open as those haunting flashes and noxious statements of media in the past. The same media which now licked our boots, was what caused me trauma. Hypocrite bastards. I rubbed my eyes and a soothing image appeared out of nowhere. Since the past one month my mind kept wandering again and again near Reverie, circling around her hauntingly beautiful smile, that damn smile! It was etched in my brain like  a painting, her voice played like a love song in broken record, those lips filled were like melted gold pouring down the veins in my heart, reforming it into a more glistening kintsugi.  I twisted and turned into my sleep only to find myself uncomfortable under the sheets, even with the heater on it felt like thousands of icicles poked me, which was quite opposite to the heat building up within me, It has been months since I last hooked up with someone but today was different, I needed something to vent my frustrations on, to slam myself against, which my brain hinted already yet my stubbornness didn’t let it pass.

“Argghhhh” I groaned in frustration as tension started building up in a certain part of me. Ever since the day I crossed paths with Reverie she had been making her unwelcomed spot in my heart which I myself couldn’t deny, she kept me on toes giving me the high I genuinely wasn’t chasing.

I threw my pillow away, walking straight towards my library, the only place where she would stay at bay, yet as soon as I entered, an image of a whiter than white silhouette standing across the hall corrupted my mind, the moment I locked my eyes, let myself slip for just a couple of seconds flashed before my eyes. We hated each other but that moment, that intense eye contact countered any hate, whispering attraction. And the feelings seemed mutual. The exchange of intensity between grey and blue wrapped us in a stifling air.

“like haunting my mind wasn’t enough.” I clicked my tongue, ignoring the fourth shelve for valid reasons, a good book maybe some novel would do the work for me. Or maybe the risky erotica which was left untouched for over years… ‘Nope’ my inner voice warned and it was wise to obey sometimes. Now that the book appeared in my subconscious I also decided to check it. “Which case impacted you the most?”

The trigger to my honest answer to that question was right infront of me, in the shelve occupying it’s space. A gut wrenching truth interlinked with it, the book! Eyes scanning through the titles, halting right at the blank space, a missing piece in a heinous arrangement of the puzzle. I searched and re-searched, book scattered on the floor falling off the shelf due to my rough as diamond movements. Panic and urgency rolled into my insides, rushing straight to my brain. “Where is it?”

I was sure about my memory of the book yet for my solace I tried searching it in other shelves, maybe it was misplaced somewhere else, I consoled myself knowing full well that there was no way my sane mind would allow me to misplace anything. And even after soo many attempts there was no book in sight. Which only concluded one thing. It got stolen!

As hard as it was to swallow the bitter pill, I sat across my room with a grim expression, a dark cloud hovered above my head with no intention of budging. With my room in shambles there was stuff scattered around here and there with, I created a ruckus inside my neat room. The book held more importance than anything in the world for the moment and finding it was my top most priority. I deduced each and every entry in my house, from the staff to my friends or even family. There was a lot going on around past one month, hence it became difficult to guess the sneaky thief. Brave was their audacity to steal right under my nose!!

The days kept getting weirder as the recent incidents got me on the edge. The book thief, the interview, Reverie, my erection. Did I mention it earlier that. I had a pretty wet dream about none other than Reverie Ames!! Not just any wet dream but an actual toe curling, flesh banging, tongues evading dream. It started pretty well with only me and her on the day of our interview and suddenly the second swipe contained all our clothes torn apart as we passionately made love to each other. It seemed soo weird yet hot at the same time, I got such a huge boner that it took  an extra half an hour to cool myself down.

Yet the thought of the book thief lived in my head, bugging me painfully.  It brought me back to the world bitter and bad. My high hormones earlier where now replaced with panic buttons, the book was not an ordinary book but it had all the confidential information which could end careers and lives if it got revealed. I furiously typed on my keyboard trying to get the list of members who entered my library.

I jotted down the names one by one, each and every person including the staff had a record. Not only did the culprit take it but they even mocked me with a 5000 dollars note. “Fuckers!!” I groaned. The information in itself was soo important that if I had to blackmail people and put an infinite amount as the price they would sell their organs to get that book.

“Henry my chef, Amanda the maid who previously cleaned my library and Serene who is currently the in charge of the library.” Even though any staff member coming to my house had a deep background check upon them, they couldn’t escape my doubtful radar. There were also people who entered during the magazine shoot and interviews. For the past few days there were soo many visitors that I lost count of them. “Damn Mom!! I told you the venue shouldn’t be my home in the first place.” If not for her the book would be safe and sound in my shelf right nboo

I didn’t care much about the contents of the book because it wasn’t my kind but the information was too much to handle for anyone God forbid if it went into the wrong hands which I’m very much sure of it, I would have to use ways I’ve never used to get it back.