LOS TIEMPOS PERDIDOS (THE LOST TIMES)

PROLOGUE

Four surrounding walls and a light coming from the half-blooded red moon, a peaceful goddess rested in peace as she fell asleep to her dreamland. A small vivid snores escaped from her lips as she found a comfortable freedom in the middle of the night. Silence.

--

Everyone were stunned when a woman passed by in the vineyard, going straight to the horse's stable with her delicate hands holding a new pair of hand-made black leather gloves. With her posture that features her alluring aura, the intimidated pickers and workers of the place remained silent as the woman did not even bother to take a look at them.

"Lejandro." Her voice as sweet as those tempranillo wines and her eyes that could spit fire anytime, she looked at the man who was standing next to the door. "Yes señorita?" He answered, trying to contain that uncertainty in his voice as his cold sweats rolled down from his forehead followed by the nervous rhythm of his heart as he felt the strict vibe that the woman radiating in front of her horse. He knew he was doomed.

"Papa told me that you forgot to feed Elena on time yesterday, is that true?" She looked at him, her eyes seemed like trying to pierce inside his quivering soul. With his hands shaking, the man fell to his knees, words of begging had went out from his mouth.

"One more mistake, if something happened next," Alessa chuckled. "I will be forced to send you out of this hacienda." She said before leaving him there crying.

--

The woman started to fidget around her bed, the thin black night dress she was wearing had seemed to be perfectly complemented her pale white skin, her forehead scrunched up as her dream of riding a mustang went darker and deeper.

--

"Alessa! Please!" The heavy rain had started to pour down, her white dress was soaked in the muddy water as she listened to the person's words who seemed to agree with her raging feelings as the thunder roared in anger. Their tears continuously trailed down to their cheeks at the same time that the noblewoman's heart was shattered into pieces as someone blocked her pathway, the woods, the mud and the blurriness that was blocking her eyesight to see that someone.

She hopped down from her horse with heavy footsteps, she ran towards the person before grabbing its neck and smashing her lips next to hers, their tongue fought for dominance, her hands tangled to its hair as if she was grabbing the final drop of hope for her to stay with. They cried their hearts out as the woman's sweet painful voice pushed her with its tight grip.

"Tell me you can't!" A feminine voice coming across her shouted tearfully. "Say that you're not going..."

--

The pain seemed to appear unbelievable, the mysterious blurred face woman and the pleading of making her stay had made her to jolt up from her dream, an eye opening hurt welcomed her, a tear escaped from her eyes as she gathered all of her worn out strength to her chest thinking of whoever that woman was and why did she kept on haunting her.

The morning rose up with the traces of dried tears lying down to her intricate face, Irene walked inside her bathroom before carefully slipping her body off from her night dress, the memories from last night began to linger inside her head as if it was a hammer who's repeating its work again and again.

"Say that you want me, say that you need me, and say that you're staying with me. Just please don't leave me behind." The woman hugged her petite figure as a lone tear ran down to her shoulder, an indication that the person hugging her from behind was tearing up. Her heart clenched, her grip on its dress grew tighter as her sight also began to get unfocused.

"You shouldn't have pushed yourself to someone who can't fight with you, Lorraine..."

"Lorraine..." It was as if she'd been saying that name for years on how it familiarly rolled out of her mouth. Irene tightly closed her eyes as she tried to push away those strange dreams and happenings last night. She almost wished it wouldn't visit her anymore but also something inside her was saying that she would likely want to see or know who was that blurred face woman named Lorraine and why did she keep on calling her Alessa.

"Good morning Ms. Bae." With her sophisticated yet elegant look, everyone greeted her as she walked inside the glamorous building of Velvet Fragrance, even though she held the serious and mysterious aura that she really had from the very beginning of her career, she politely nodded to everyone before entering the elevator.

As she glided up to her office, the view from above was just another scenery of how she succeeded her family's fragrance company. The busy workers and people who were passing by and how they admired her building seemed like she was owning one of Picasso's paintings but this time it was her personal work of art. A work she had dedicated her entire life.

"Wendy?" She raised her brow as the woman who casually sat on her presidential chair had started to giggle. "You always know the only person who can sit to your throne like this." She puts her leg up to the fiber glass table.

"Your skirt girl." She rolled her eyes and put her bag down to the table before settling herself to the visitor's chair. Irene Bae is the president of Velvet Fragrance, her father is currently the chairman of the company and soon to be stepping out of the business when her eldest daughter would finally agree with their family deals, at the very young age, her family had pushed her to work as a normal office employee for their own company and as the years passed by she also seemed to be missing out of track. The woman never focuses on her own life as if she is destine to lock up herself in her own company's dynasty.

"How's Toronto?" She asked as she started to review some files that had been piled up on her table since yesterday, her eyes fell to her friend who seemed to be also looking at her making Irene to raise her brow followed by a knowing smirk imprinted on her lips.

Wendy shook her head and proceeded to talk. "I ended up going to Spain instead." She confessed, her hands landing to the president's chin. "So the Spain's air made you that weird?" She asked teasingly as the bleached hair woman poked her left cheek's mole.

"No, Spain's air went directly inside my head as Alcala de Henares aristocrat family named Romero had their daughter be looking exactly like you. A 1920s version"

"Me? You got to be kidding  Wendy, this face is a limited edition work of God." Irene replied jokingly but deep down inside her, a lingering strange feeling was running a knot around her stomach. The dreams and visions from last night crossed her head, the feminine voice that seemed to be vividly familiar to her had kept on repeating again and again.

"You know what? I might not be that good to remember such names but that woman seriously looked exactly as how God molded you, but the most inconsiderable part is, she was definitely not a Korean but a pure blooded Spanish woman. You might be just a copyright edition girl." Wendy said as she still kept her eyes towards her friend, the president shook her head and smiled. "You need to get a new set of specs, Wendy, you're seeing things that you shouldn't have to."

But the woman ignored her, she started to blubber about the history and backgrounds of the Romero's heir not until, "Well, the tour guide said that there were some rumours spreading back to that time saying that she murdered their new female picker and the two of their family maids. They said that her and that female picker had a secret affair, then one night changed it all when Mr. Romero announced to their hacienda that her daughter will be getting married later that month. After that news, a huge spark of fight had happened into the woods, it was said to be between his daughter and that picker. They did not say who killed that woman but they found her lying dead with a stabbed wound on her stomach, pretty tragic for the picker but you would never expect what happened to Alessa after that."

As if an asteroid had collided to her world, Irene dropped her pen and began to get stiff, the cold sweats trailed down to her forehead as if something inside her had pulled a trigger.

"Say that you're not going..."