Chapter 4 – The weird room

Alessandro did not even think it was human to show her to my room; rather he instructed his minions to drag me.

Two men escorted Mira to the hallway on the second floor and left her there with the promise that the housekeeper was coming.

She folded her arms tightly around herself, and kept looking around. She was surprised at how the second floor looked richer than anywhere she had ever lived.

Fresh flowers sat in slim glass vases along the hallway tables. Real flowers. Their soft scent floated through the air.

Mira hated that she noticed any of it. Stop looking at the prison like it’s beautiful. But her eyes kept moving anyway.

Her father’s voice rang into her mind, calm and steady.

“Never let your enemy see fear first. Breathe. Then face them.”

Mira took a slow breath.

“You look lost.”

She turned quickly.

A woman stood behind her.

She was the same height as Mira but had pale skin, she had short dirty blonde hair and dark brown eyes, and a warm smile. The first kind face Mira had seen all day.

“I’m Kath,” the woman said. “I take care of the house.”

Mira stared at her for a second.

“Mira, the gambled bride” she awkwardly said the last part silently. The words sounded dramatic, the moment they left her mouth.

Kath’s lips pressed together. Not quite smiling. Not quite pitying her either.

“You look exhausted,” Kath said softly, “still pretty, though.”

Mira blinked.

That tiny bit of kindness hit her harder than she expected.

She only nodded.

“Idiots,” Kath muttered under her breath as she turned and started walking. “Dragging a girl across a university like luggage.” She shook her head. “I have failed to raise that man right, I apologize my dear.”

Mira almost stared.

“You don’t have to apologize,” she said carefully, “not for him though.”

“I know,” Kath replied. “But someone should own up to his behaviour.”

Mira followed her in silence.

The third floor felt different.

Like the walls themselves were hiding secrets.

The floor contains only four doors.

One master bedroom; Alessandro's office; one extra room and a theatre.

Kath stopped in front of a large door near the end of the hallway and pushed it open.

“Your room.”

Mira stepped inside. Then she froze.

The walls were white. Not cold white but warm white.

The exact kind she had once described to her friends during their snack conversation at the school cafeteria.

“If I ever get my own house, I want the wall of my room to be white.” Something peaceful. Something clean.

Her chest tightened.

She slowly looked around.

A queen-size bed sat near the far wall, covered in an ash-grey knitted blanket. The fabric looked soft enough to sink into.

Mira remembered touching a blanket exactly like it through a shop window years ago because she could never afford it.

Beside the bed, her picture frame, the one she took on her last birthday in school.

She looked out of the room, towards the balcony, which was filled with lilies in a vase.

Her favorite flower.

She felt a cold feeling crawling down her spine.

Mira walked deeper into the room.

Kath pushed part of the wall, and a hidden door opened quietly.

Inside was a walk-in wardrobe.

Mira stopped at the entrance.

Clothes filled the room neatly. Dresses; Blouses; Trousers; Shoes. Everything is arranged perfectly by color.

Her fingers touched the sleeve of a blouse.

Soft fabric. Her size.

She moved farther inside. Every piece looked like something she would choose herself.

She opened a drawer.

Folded underwear. New and her size too.

Mira slowly closed the drawer.

“Miss Kath.”

“Yes?”

“How long has this room been ready?”

Silence filled the space for one long second.

“A while,” Kath answered carefully. “Take a shower. If you need anything, use the phone beside the bed. Dinner is in thirty minutes.”

Then she left before Mira could ask anything else.

The bathroom made her blood run cold. Her toothbrush sat beside the sink. The exact brand she used. Her face wash; moisturizer, and sunscreen. The same one she switched to four months ago without telling anyone.

Her perfume.

Even the small roll-on perfume she bought from a roadside market years ago.

Mira gripped the toilet sink so tight that her knuckles turned white.

She looked at herself in the mirror.

Her hair packed in a bun was now messy. Her eyes looked too wide. Her face looked pale and shaken.

“What is this?”

Her whisper barely reached her own ears. This was no longer about a forced marriage.

Something else was happening here.

Something deeper.

She almost missed it.

Near the window stood a small shelf between two books.

Something brown sat there quietly.

Worn. Old.

One ear slightly crooked.

Mira stopped breathing. She crossed the room quickly. Her fingers touched soft worn fur.

“Mr Bear”

Her voice cracked.

She picked it up carefully.

The right ear was still stitched badly with thick uneven thread.

Her father’s stitching.

She remembered sitting beside him at seven years old, crying because she had torn the ear off by mistake.

It doesn’t have to be perfect, he had told her while sewing it back. It only has to stay together.

The same crooked stitches were still there.

Her throat closed painfully.

This was not a copy. This was hers.

The teddy bear she lost after her father died.

The one she searched for until she finally gave up.

Mira held it against her chest, her hands shaking in the process.

“What kind of man are you?” she whispered.

Because no stranger could take notice of all these.

No stranger could rebuild her life piece by piece inside a room.

The flowers on the balcony. The colors; clothes; skincare; bear.

This was not an obsession born in a single day. This had taken years.

The realization settled over her skin slowly, like cold rain.

Someone had been watching her.

Watching carefully.

Watching quietly.

“Do you like it?”

Mira turned sharply.

Alessandro stood at the doorway.

His jacket button opened. His sleeves were rolled to his forearms. He rested his body against the doorframe.

But his eyes, His eyes stayed completely on her.

On the bear in her arms, her face.

Like he had imagined this moment many times before.

Mira stared back at him.

She held Mr Bear tightly against her chest.

Then she asked quietly,

"How long have you been watching me?”

The room went silent.

For the first time since she met him,

Alessandro did not answer immediately, just watching her.