Chapter 47

Alissia's Pov

“It’s your first day at work, meet me down the stairs in five minutes,” he ordered, walking out of the door.

I looked at the clock and saw the time, a minute after six o clock. Bryan didn’t even spare us for a little while. Why wake us up this early when the driver won't be around in the next three hours.

Grudgingly, Jenna stood up and I followed. She bent down to stretch her body when I entered into it. The creaking of bones made and the pain that shot through me made me remember that I was no longer a wandering spirit but I was Alissia in the body of Jenna.

I moved towards the door and the memory of the previous night came rushing back. I remembered how I tried to go out but I couldn’t despite not being able to hold anything in the physical world, that is— the door knob.

My hands trembled as I stretched my hand slowly towards it. Only when I held it and felt the coldness of the silver metal did the trembling stop.

I opened the door and stepped out of the room. The sight before me felt surreal as I saw maids both young and old running about on the orders of Bryan who stood in the center of the house like a general, giving order to his soldiers.

I proceeded down the stairs and have gone half away when I saw my reflection on the silver railing which lined the edges of the staircase.

“Oh no!” I gasped, realizing that I had left the room again without my mask and would have exposed myself again to the world. After Jenna removed it, she had kept it beside the table we read on.

I ran back to the room as fast as my feet could carry me, silently. Getting unwanted attraction now would do me no good, not when a new chapter was about to begin in my life.

Whatever life I lived on earth in my body was in the past. This is who I was now, or rather— for the next thirty days.

“Twenty nine, actually,” I heard a voice and turned just when I reached the door to the room. It was the timekeeper and today, he didn’t dress as I high lord in some fancy suit, rather he wore a black shirt which sighed his body, revealing his chiseled muscles and fine architectural work the creator did on him.

“What a fine man,” I thought to myself. “Too bad we are in the same shoes, there’s no way we can…”I stopped and slapped myself gently on the cheek, why these lustful thoughts, towards a spirit guide?

“Timekeeper!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here so early? I don’t remember calling for you.”

“Yes you didn’t. Was passing through and heard your thought, disturbing as always,” stated.

I avoided his eyes shyly, opening the door. With the timekeeper able to read my mind, there’s no way I can hide any secret.

“You can restrict me from reading your mind Alissia, Just say the word— STOP!” He shrugged, entering into the room before me.

“Really! I uttered suddenly. “I can do that?”

“Of Course you can Alissia, I am at your service remember,” he stated, bending his head slightly with his hands extended before him.

“Yes!” I screamed. “If that’s how it’s going to be then from now on, you can no longer read my mind, STOP!” I declared facing him.

“As you please ma’am,” he replied, bowing his head again, before he vanished like a smoke.

I smiled all through the time we were in the room, knowing I had won yet again. I wore my mask and picked up the document before finally heading down the stairs.

“What took you so long?” Bryan asked immediately he set his eyes on me. I opened my mouth to speak but he pointed to a wooden chair some distance away from him. “Sit down,” he ordered and I obeyed without thinking too much about it.

Immediately I sat down, I noticed three hefty men and two women, standing at the far end of the room with a projector screen. They whispered among themselves, their eyes not leaving my face for once, like they knew me.

I stood up and walked up to Bryan who was preoccupied with setting a projector before him. “Who are those people? I asked. “They look suspicious,” I stated.

He sent me a look that could kill, making my heat leap in fear “I’ll introduce them soon enough, just sit down.

I went back to the chair and sat down, still watching the strange people from a distance. Bryan set the projector—bringing it to life after struggling for a while with it. He beckoned to the strange looking men and women to come closer, introducing them to me from the left to the right.

“This is Anna…” he began, pointing to the First Lady, dressed in a black blazer and white skirt, stopping right above the knee. She had blonde hair that would have stretched all the way to the back of her shoulders if she had not braided it. “… she will be your personal assistant, always at your beck and call whenever you need a helping hand. I knew you would have issues memorizing every detail in the file so I employed her yesterday and surprisingly, she can recite every detail in that document without skipping a word,”

I was surprised by Bryan’s sudden behavior and felt a certain admiration for him all of a sudden. Was he always this sweet? I asked myself, trying to remember anything about him before I died.

He moved on to the next lady, another beautiful damsel with a flat nose and a dark complexion which shone brightly under the golden hue of the chandelier above. “This is Lara, she will be our eyes and ears in the company, feeding us with every information that is around the company.

He moved to the men who stood like rocks, their faces no different from their body, hard— devoid of emotions. “Here we have Grey, John and Jones Michael, popularly known as the Michael brothers. They were professional wrestlers— before I hired them, Alissia’s favorites. They will be your bodyguards, ensuring your safety, taking out anyone who wants to be a hindrance to you.

I didn’t know why but I felt a kind of thrilling energy pass through my body as he made the final introduction.

It left me wondering, “did he care for me so much that he went out of his way to do all this or was it part of ways to get what he wanted?