He Stares Back

Chap. 40: Thank You As Always

* Emily's bedroom (pretend there's a shit ton of presents in floor!!!) *

Sunlight shines on through the glass of the mansions. The jungle is wild with the sound of the birds whistling  and ocean waves crashing. Emily yawns as she stretches, flipping over to her back. Her head roll to the side as she slowly begins to fall back asleep.

       A knock at the door making her loudly groan. She grabs the pillow and holds it over her head. A hired maid named Esmeralda, whom has been helpful to Emily, walks in. She smiles at Emily's stubbornness.

        "Mr. Johnson and Mr. Pratt told me to come up and ask you to get up." The maid says sweetly, "They said you need to get out of bed and enjoy your island."

        Emily pulls the pillow off her head, annoyed. "Tell them that I really don't give a frick."

       Esmeralda's smile slowly fades, nodding. "Would you like breakfast in bed again today?"

          It had been four days since Emily last saw her boyfriend. Their separation has  left her in a deep depression that takes all of her energy. She had barely got up to anything Christian had instructed of her in all of his notes. The brunette hasn't investigated her mansion to see if she wants anything changed or even explored her new island. Emily hasn't even opened any more of her presents up yet.

          "No, I'll get up." Emily slowly nods, "I'm sorry for being so rude to you, Esmeralda. I just desperately miss Christian."

              "I understand, Miss East." Esmeralda nods to her.

            "Please, call me Emily." The brunette smirks, brow arching. "Christian refers me to Miss East only when he is ordering other people and myself around."

        Esmeralda chuckles at her comment and nods to her once again. "I will tell Mr. Johnson and Mr. Pratt that you are up and getting dressed."

        Emily nods unhappily. "Yep."

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

            After deciding to enjoy the beach as much as she can, Emily put a orange bikini top and striped bikini bottoms on with designer flip-flips. She makes her way down the grand stairwell that shimmers a gold like shine. She goes into the open kitchen, seeing Happy and Zephyr sitting at the bar table eating breakfast. She told her eyes at them annoyed.

           The brunette goes and sits down beside Happy, her eyes have bags underneath them from the lack of sleep. Happy looks to Emily, looking her up and down.

           "Well, well, well..." Happy smirks, "this is a good change of decision."

           Emily rolls her eyes. "Blame Esmeralda. Her sweetness guilted me out of bed."

         Sonya appears, a plate full of sunny side up styled eggs and crispy bacon on the side. For the past few days, Emily has had a hunger for nothing but eggs. Her first meal was Sonya's special egg drop soup with sticky rice and teriyaki cashew chicken. Ever since then, in at least one meal each day, Sonya serves a dish with egg in it.

       Emily smiles at the woman who reminds her of a loving aunt. "Thank you, Sonya. You're always so wonderful."

        Sonya bows to the brunette. "What will be on the lunch and dinner menu's for today, Emily?"

          "Um..." Emily takes a bite of her eggs, moaning at the savory, delicious flavor. "Can you pack a lunch for my guards and I? I think I'm going to go to the beach to swim today."

            The sheer joy in Sonya's eyes is quickly with worry and fear. "Oh that would be a bad idea."

              Emily's brows furrow in confusion, chewing another bite of eggs. "And why is that?"

              "Well, I don't know if Mr. Taylor has informed you or is even aware of this himself, but a variety of sharks have made the Island of East's shallows their new feeding and breeding territory." Sonya explains further, "I would hate to think of the chance you getting out there and getting killed by one of those predators."

           "So the beaches aren't safe?" Emily asks unhappily.

           There goes one thing I was looking forward to while on this trip. Emily frowns in disappointment.

             She takes another bite of her eggs and a bite of one out of three pieces of bacon. Happy wrinkles his nose in disgust.

              "Meat eaters."The dark skinned man mutters under his breath while he shakes his head. "The sharks would take one look at these chicken legs Emily has here and would go find another feeding ground."

              Emily smirks at him. "Bet they'd love the taste of beefy Mr. Johnson though."

Happy rolls hair eyes as he tries to hide his smile by drinking his coffee.

           "There's two rivers river that flows through the island." Zephyr takes a drink of his herbal tea, nodding his head as he speaks. "They connect to a large waterfall by the west side of the island. That's where Mr. Taylor usually goes when he needs to be alone with himself and his thoughts." 

      Emily pouts her lips at him, her eyes squinting with curiosity. "Exactly how long have you worked for Mr. Taylor?"

         Zephyr lets out a throaty laugh. "Longer than you've been alive, Miss East."

            Emily looks off confused in thought. Christian is only twelve years older than me though...

             "Let us get properly dressed and I'll take you to the waterfall." Zephyr nods to the brunette, "Mr. Taylor would want to share his favorite spot with you anyhow."

The two men disappear up the stairwell. Emily turns back to Sonya.

"I'm stuffed." Emily smirks, handing Sonya her plate.

"Have you decided on your meals today?" Sonya says patiently.

Emily quickly nods her head at her chef. "Oh, right! Yeah, sorry. Please pack us tuna sandwiches please and chips. For dinner....possibly more egg drop soup with teriyaki cashew chicken and sticky rice? Asian dishes are my favorite! Well, besides shrimp tacos from Juan's Mexican Grill back home."

Sonya brows to her. "Perhaps you could explain to me later what goes into the shrimp tacos."

Emily thinks for a moment. "Is there WiFi on the island?"

The Asian woman shrugs. "Mr. Taylor usually doesn't allow us to use or be connected to the internet...I assume for safety reasons. But I will try to find the recipe online at my home and see if it's the same dish for you. I will have your lunch packed in twenty minutes."

Emily nods to her smiling. "Alright, Sonya. Thank you as always."