Thorny kind of love 2 - Loose-ends

Chapter 2

Bell's POV

"Miss Jordan." My lecturer calls out to me. "I need you to attend a workshop tomorrow at 12h00, it will be in the left wing's auditorium." Professor Henness is my Environmental lecturer, he is a small man, bald, and big blue eyes. "Yes of course Sir," I say as I watch him hurriedly walk off down the hall, funny little man and he was forever rushing off somewhere. During the break, it was only Jena and I, Noah and Sarah had no classes today. "So how did your conversation with Zander go?" I tease Jena. Her face instantly lights up she smiles and says, "I think I'm in love with him Bell." I look at her and remember the same smile I had months back, "Of course you are." I say. Jena knew everything about Ben, I told her a few days after I arrived when we first went to have coffee to catch up.

"Remember you promised to go with to Hamburg this weekend," Sarah had invited us to go along with her to celebrate her cousin's 21st birthday party. I had tried to make excuses before and when it came to Jena, it was a losing battle. "Alright, are we taking a bus or train ride?" I asked, Jena, know I love the train ride as it reminds me of Cape Town, she looks at me, smiles and says, "I will drive us there in my car." We continue discussing our plans for Saturday until we part ways to return to class.

The rest of the week drags by slowly, I have received 2 new assignments due after the Christmas holidays, and the university closes in a few days for 2 weeks. I was considering going home to Franshoek but with the cost of flights, I decided against it, Jena had invited me to spent the Christmas holidays with her at her parents' home which was a 30-minute drive away, again I had no choice but agree and I adored Jena's mom, so I looked forward to spending some time with them.

Today is the last day of the semester and Christmas break, Jena, Sarah and I head out of the university gates, we quickly make arrangements to meet up tomorrow and travel together to Hamburg for Sarah's cousin 21st birthday party. After we part ways, I take a slow walk and stop in at Mona's hair Salon and book an early morning appointment, I then stop by Jacky's clothing and pick myself a nice little outfit for tomorrow, I settled for thick black tights and a long-sleeved white top, it is winter and the outfit should keep me warm. Jacky's clothing is the cheapest clothing shop in the area and there are always beautiful items to buy.

I had more time before my shift at the restaurant starts as the university was dismissed earlier, so do some laundry, tidy up the apartment, and chat a bit with my brother. Brian and his family will have Christmas lunch at his in-laws, I chat with Claudia and she is a bit sad that I won't come home for the holidays, she met someone and wanted me to meet him. I tell her that I might come during the summer break next year, she is excited and can't wait.

After my relaxing bath, I dress in uniform, lock up and head downstairs for my shift, the restaurant is busy tonight as there is a live band performing as well. We worked until well after 01h00 and were exhausted by the time we went home. I fall asleep almost immediately as my head hits the pillow.

When I awake, I see the time is 10h00, I can't believe I slept so late, but then again, last night's shift was tiring. I get up and make myself some coffee, grab a muffin, turn on the TV and watch the morning show. My hair appointment is at 11h30, so I get dressed and go to Mona's. The hairdresser gets very busy therefore you need to book an appointment, Mona greets me with a friendly smile, "What can I do for you today Bell?" she asks. I tell her that I want to trim my hair a bit and have it washed and blown. She quickly gets one of her assistants to do my hair, while she attends to another client.

Once I'm done at the hairdresser, I go to the gift store and buy a gift for Sarah's cousin then head home. The party starts at 20h00 tonight, Jena will pick me up at 18h00, then we will pick up Sarah, and then we will take a two and half hour drive to the cousin's house in Hamburg. I make myself something to eat and then take a quick bath, I put on my outfit and wear my black ankle boots and white hooded furred jacket, it was snowing and it was cold outside. (See outfit above) I take out my new and bigger black sling bag, which I bought by Jacky's, I fit almost everything into my bag, including the gift.

I quickly glance at the time, its 17h55, I lock up my apartment as I hear the honking of Jena's car. The drive to Hamburg was amazing, the different sceneries were breathtaking, I felt a bit sleepy and dozed off, the lively and busy sounds of the city of Hamburg awoke me. I sit up when Jena says, "Welcome to the city of Hamburg Bell." I look out and see that it looks like something out of a fairy tale, there's snow, Christmas lights, and trees almost everywhere, I have never seen such a beautiful sight in my life. We drive a few more minutes Jena points in a direction and says, "That is the Elbe River and now we are in Hafen City." This place was breathtaking, I could see boats on the dockyards.

After about 5 more minutes of driving, we turn off a road that leads to large rows of different styled apartments, there's hotels, restaurants, cafés, clubs, bars, lounges, shops, and driving further we drive past a railway station and come across half-timbered houses, I see what looks like a Christmas market. Sarah guides Jena and we pull up to one of the timbered houses. Jena stops the car and we get out and I fall in love with the scene of the house, it is beautifully decorated with Christmas decorations, there are lots of cars and people in the front yard, Sarah gets greeted by an elderly couple and a young girl, I have never met these people in my life, but there is something familiar about the way they look, the man looks mostly familiar.

After Sarah introduced us to the family, myself and Jena find ourselves at the little mini-bar that was set up in the biggest living room I have ever seen, there are drapery fabric and party decorations everywhere on the walls, there's a stairway which I think leads to bedrooms, the music isn't familiar to me but I enjoy it. The elderly couple makes a speech followed by the birthday girl, her name is Hannah. For most of the evening, Jena and I stay close together, Sarah joins us once in a while, the girl named Hannah approaches us and talks to Sarah a bit. A few more girls join us, some are friends of Hannah and some are family, "Where's your brother?" one girl asks and I see Hannah shrug and suddenly screams out "So let's party." Most of us clap and cheer agreeing. I wasn't a heavy drinker, but for once I would like to enjoy myself, so we approach the bar as the music gets turned up.

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Author's notes

This chapter is so intense....I'm very excited to see what's going to happen next, Bell has no idea where she is....so close.....anyone want to predict?

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