Chapter 8

It had been almost a week to my stay here, and it was only one lovely day after the other. Guasperra was really cooperative in his interviews with me. I had a very solid personality profile to go on and a good understanding of his preference. I also now knew the kind of partner he needed.
“Are you ready?” Bellona asked at the door way, leaning against the frame. Her light blue floral dress rested delicately on her frame, cinched at the waist to accentuate her beautiful curvy figure.
I nodded, “Almost. Just need my earrings.”
My hands flailed around the dresser top, in search of the familiar smooth surface of–got it! I pushed the earrings on quickly and stepped back to take a nice look. It wasn’t anything too fancy. A white turtleneck paired with a long satin dress the color of sapphire, and Doc Martens boots. I draped my tan overcoat onto my arm, incase it got too cold.
“Is this okay?” I turned to her nervously. She smiled at me softly and pushed herself off the door frame, walking behind me. She turned me to the mirror and touched my hair lightly.
“You always tie it up.” She mentioned, “Such beautiful hair deserves to be free.”
I looked at myself silently, wondering if it was too much to allow myself that for a casual occasion.
“It would be too much.”
“It’s your hair.” She explained gently, “You were born with it. What is the point of hiding yourself? Might as well not have left the house at all.”
Breathing heavily, I pondered on her words. She was right, though. I shouldn’t have to tone myself down for others’ comfort. How was it my fault what others felt? Who had the time to care about what I looked like? If anyone bothered, then that wasn’t my problem.
Reaching up slowly, I unclipped my hair from the banana claw and let it fall loosely past my shoulders. I ran my hand through my hair, letting it part off-center.
“Lovely.” She smiled at me from over my shoulder, patting my shoulders, “Now we’re ready to leave.”
I smiled back at her, grateful for the encouragement she gave me.

Rich people were ridiculous. We had to get onto a boat to reach the Bianchi manor, situated onto a man-made island just a few miles off the coast of Manila beach. What if someone needed and ambulance and the boat didn’t–never mind, they had a helicopter. It was the first thing I saw, sticking out of an abrupt flat roof amongst the plethora of domes in various sizes. Reminded me of Turkish architecture.
We stepped off the boat onto the pier, and I was so glad I was wearing boots and had my coat. The wind was quite strong and a lot colder than at the Ricci’s place. We headed inside quickly past the yellowing grass and smooth pebbles washed up by the sea.
The pier was long and led us straight to the manor. I noticed that while the manor was solid with greying walls, more than half od it was made of glass, and all I could see inside were plants.
Was this a green house in the middle of the damned ocean?
Mrs. Ricci, Bellona, and I scurried in quickly to avoid catching a cold. I could already feel my nose getting runny, and Bellona sniffled lightly into her handkerchief. We found ourselves in a large hall that reminded me of Mrs. Beaumont’s ballroom back in NYC. This was a lot more detailed, with checkered tiles, more vibrant frescoes overhead, and a large singular chandelier that spiraled down heavily. Grand statues of men and women stood in the corners, and large vases of plants guarded the large windows overlooking the sea.
The double doors across the hall were wide open. Once again, all I could see were plants. We started walking towards it, and my anxiety grew with each step. It was nothing new to feel when meeting new people, but I wished that I’d get used to it already.
Stepping into the greenery, I was taken aback by the sight at the center of it all. Within a large circle of pond rested another solid platform like a mini island, pink couches and chairs set around a low table arranged with appetizers and drinks. It was enough to hold up to twenty people.
“These guys really love islands.” I whispered.
“I noticed it too.” Bellona whispered back, “Perhaps it’s a feeling of solitude it brings? Water is essentially a barrier of movement to most humans.”
“Not smart enough to think too deeply into it.” I sighed back. I started getting dreamy thinking about the shower and garden at the Ricci’s place, “I just want that waterfall shower and I’ll be set for life.”
Bellona laughed lightly. Mrs. Ricci stepped forward to hug a woman who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The bright platinum hair reflecting off the afternoon sun hurt my eyes, but I composed myself the best I could and introduced myself as an old friend from the States. The woman was Mrs. Bianchi herself, and I was concerned that she had too many flowers in her hair. But it seemed she had a nice secluded life mothering her plants and being surrounded by the ocean. The more I thought about it, the more appealing it sounded.
It wasn’t long before other men and women started to arrive, and I caught notice of two people present who were in the suitor profiles. Bellona helped introduce me to them and we started to chat. In no time, my mind was ticking of checkboxes and filling out forms about their general character. I already knew the day would be well spent.
I’d only just sipped halfway through my mint lemonade when I saw a familiar woman out of the corner of my eye.
Selene Alexakis?
“Oh no…” I breathed softly. That could only mean one thing and one thing only.
Bellona looked over at me in concern and whispered, “Is everything okay?”
I could feel myself getting agitated as a familiar silhouette appeared from behind her. Cristo’s eyes were scanning the place in appreciation, until they fell on me.
To his credit, he looked quite apologetic.
Shaking my head lightly, I looked away and focused on my work. I’d moved onto conversing with the second woman. She was gorgeous entrepreneur called Jamila who worked in the nano-technology industry. Her profile was pretty impressive until–
“Yeah, I don’t know about getting married.” She sighed, “I never felt attracted to anyone.”
That wasn’t new or strange to me at this point. I’d come across plenty of people who remained single and unbothered. But she was one of the strongest candidates I was considering for Guasparre. But oh well, it was only the first day on the field.
Ravina, the first woman I’d talked to, came rushing over to us and sat down hurriedly.
“Have you seen him?”
“Who?” Bellona asked.
“Cristo Alexakis-Caron.” Ravina whispered, “I saw him by the palm trees in the back. Should I go talk to him?”
“Isn’t he dating Blair Halls?”
“No, they broke up.”
I tried to keep a straight face but the flames of jealousy licked at my heartstrings, tugging at them without mercy. Should I be surprised? Cristo was definitely someone who attracted a lot of attention out of all the other men in the place.
“I guess he must be done with the orphanage project.” Jamila pondered absently, “He’s talking to Mr. Lowes there who’s been waiting on getting a lab constru–oh! He’d asked to talk to me about that! I’ll be back with you ladies in a bit.”
“I’m coming with you!” Ravina giggled and I had to bite down on my tongue to avoid saying anything stupid. I had half a mind to add her to the list of suitors for Guasparre to interview, but that was just my bias influencing my decision since she was not suited for him in any way.
Easy on the envy, Lilith, I reminded myself, Cristo and you aren’t gonna happen.
That was true. With the amount of trust issues I had and the drama (Blair) that Cristo had to deal, it was possible there wasn’t going to be an opening for us any time soon. I wasn’t counting on it. Plus, I had a job to do.
Bellona looked at me pointedly as the two women got up to leave, and I only shook my head.
“Long story.” I explained.
“I figured.” She said understandingly. “You can go home if you want to. I wouldn’t want to keep you here too long if you’re not comfortable.”
“Yeah, I might,” I nodded, “I need the bathroom first.”
“Go left down the hallway, third door on the right.”

My face stared back at me from the bathroom mirror, pensive and…somewhat angry. Was I really that upset at Ravina talking to Cristo? Memories from the night at Mrs. Beaumont’s with him played in my head over and over, and I could feel my body warm up at the mere thought of gentle hands brushing my thighs.
It was sad that Cristo was the only man I’d had good sex with. I wasn’t sure if I could get anything better with someone else. Maybe it was my fate to yearn for the impossible.
I was sure he didn’t even like me that way.
You’ve had sex twice already you absolute dumba–
Nope. Not at all. Sex doesn’t mean anything.
I left the bathroom and headed towards the main hall, wondering how much longer we would be here. I slowed down as a figure appeared at the end, coming to a stop right before them.
“Surprised?”
“You knew I’d be here, didn’t you?” I said sternly with a cross of my arms. The brown eyed man from yesterday only smiled and put his hand out.
“Again, I’m simply a believer.”
I put my hand in his to shake, but he raised it to his lips and planted a soft kiss on my knuckles, “Rio Antonine. A pleasure.”
“Lilith Mendez.” I replied, “Tell me, how did you find me?”
He only shrugged, “It’s not hard to when you know where to look.”
“Fine,” I said and pulled my hand out of his, “keep your secrets. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” I walked past him and was a good few steps away until he spoke.
“Say, aren’t you a tired of being at this boring party all day?”
I stopped, wondering if it was a good idea to let him indulge me. Slowly turning around, I looked at him for an assessment. He had a mysterious aura about him that was…quite exciting. But the air around him also felt somewhat dangerous. Like he was keeping secrets.
I bet he had many.
“What are you thinking?”
“Now that I’ve proven you wrong,” he said with a casual walk towards me, hand disappearing into his pocket to fish out a silver glinting coin, “it’s your turn to make a wish.”
He held the coin out towards me and I looked at it. Into it was engraved the image of a man holding up a hammer in one hand, poised to strike a sheet of metal.
“This is a rare fifty Lire.” I said in awe. He pressed it into my hand.
“There’s more where that came from.” He coaxed. I looked at him, then over my shoulders at the doors to the greenhouse. Bellona did say I could leave. I plucked my phone out of my pocket and gave her a call.
“Hello?”
“You said I could leave, right?”
“Of course,” she said, “Just let Ariana know when and where to pick you up.”
I hung up and nudged my head towards the front gates, “Let’s go, then.”
He smiled and led the way. I only hoped I wasn’t getting myself into too much trouble.