"How do you feel?" Elise asked after a while. She still didn't dare to look at Loriel whose head was now on her lap. Somehow, she felt her heart beating fast. This was a foreign feeling to her.
"I feel slightly better," Loriel said, even though his voice sounded reluctant.
Gosh.. he missed her lap and wished he could stay there all day, but he knew better not to tire her.
He was quite heavy, even though Elise never complained about it.
"Can you walk?" she asked him attentively.
At that moment, Loriel felt like he wanted to fake being unconscious so he could stay on her lap forever. But.. he didn't have the heart to make her worried.
She was new in this city, obviously didn't have money, and couldn't even navigate her way around.
It would give her a lot of hassle and problems if she suddenly had to care for a stranger like him. Loriel knew she would.
Elise wouldn't abandon anyone who suffered even if it would cost her. That's how good his sweet wife was.
Gosh, he loved her so much.
Loriel wished he could say it right there and then.
I love you, Elise!
So f*****g much.
"Are you okay?" Elise looked at Loriel deeply. Finally, she couldn't hold back anymore and stared at the man, trying to see signs if he was still in pain or if he was better.
Her heart was beating faster and faster.
This man was good-looking, but that was not what attracted Elise and made her heart pound. It was his grey eyes that looked so much like silver. They looked so deep and beautiful, and those eyes were looking at her with longing.
Wait.. how was that possible? Elise thought she must be imagining things.
"I'm better, thank you." Finally, Loriel forced himself to get up from her lap and massaged his temple.
"Ah.. good to hear that." Elise looked relieved. She cast her gaze around them and watched the flower rain with great interest.
As she was watching the flowers, Loriel was watching her. Both could never have enough. They sat like that for half an hour, until the sky slowly turned dark.
Elise sighed and she rose from her seat. It was time to go.
"Are you leaving?" Loriel asked in a panic. He had not had the chance to talk more with Elise and found out information about her. If she wanted to go now, how would he find an excuse to see her again?
Elise nodded. "Yes. It will be dark soon. I need to find my way to my hostel. I can't tell direction on daytime.. so nighttime will be even more difficult for me."
"Ah, okay. Where is your hostel located?" Loriel's chest ached when he heard she was staying in a hostel.
His Elise, the doted princess of Myreen and the queen of Summeria, had found herself in such a position that she couldn't even afford a proper hotel?
My goodness...
"W-why... do you want to know?" Elise looked at the man with widened eyes. Her expression looked uneasy.
"Well, I am a gentleman and I wouldn't let a lady go home on her own, especially after the lady helped me so much." He quickly found an excuse. "You can trust me. If you think I will take advantage of you or you are suspicious that I will do something bad, you can just report me to the police."
Elise looked at the man intently. Somehow, she couldn't find anything suspicious about him. He looked like he just wanted to help.
Then she cast her glance around them. Ahh.. New York was such a big and crowded city. If they took public transport and crowded streets, it should be fine, right?
She could take that risk. She was feeling really lonely and needed someone to talk to. It was hard being alone in this big city.
She remembered their journey from midtown to Central Park went well and the man was respectful and polite to her.
Finally, Elise nodded. "Okay."
"Ah.. where are you staying?" Loriel asked again. He was feeling relieved because Elise seemed to slowly trust him.
The woman took out a card from her purse and showed it to Loriel. "I am staying close to the cafe where we met the first time. This is the address."
Loriel recognized the street. It was only two blocks away from where he lived, a big penthouse in midtown. He looked at Elise dotingly, thanking whatever gods that had sent Elise his way, so they could meet earlier today.
"Yeah.. I know this area," he said with a hoarse voice. "I can take you there."
Elise furrowed her brows. "You can? Didn't you say you are new in town and didn't know your way around?"
Loriel shook his head. "Nah. I only said that so the guy will give us direction. I have lived here for a long time. I just never used public transport before, so I needed his help to tell me how to get here on public transport."
Elise widened her eyes in surprise when she heard him.
"Never used public transport?" she asked him. "Are you rich? But you said you couldn't afford a taxi."
Loriel knew one by one his lies would be found out. It's always like that. That's what usually happened between him and Elise.
Loriel would lie to Elise and she would naively believe everything he said, but somehow, eventually, she would know the truth. For example, when he kept feigning headache so he could take Brick's place on her bed because he couldn't sleep.
This time, he decided to slowly tone down on his lies. He didn't want to repeat the same mistakes he did in the past.
The man cleared his throat before he replied to her. "Ahem... I told you I wasn't always poor. I had money before I lost it on the stock market. I still have my house and my car."
"Oh..." Elise pursed her lips. Now it made more sense, she thought. This man looked like someone from the upper class.
"So.. do you want to go back to your hostel now?" Loriel offered. He tried to make his tone as calm as possible. He didn't want Elise to think he was too excited and pushy.
Elise nodded. "Yes, please. Thank you."
"Okay, I need to make a quick phone call before we go. Give me two minutes."
"Sure."
Loriel smiled and took out his phone. Then he walked a bit far away from Elise to get privacy. Once he was sure Elise couldn't hear him, he called his assistant.
"Hey, Marc... I need you to do something for me," he said without further ado. The man on the other end of the line sounded surprised but he replied Loriel calmly.
"What can I do for you, Great Uncle?"
"I need you to buy a hostel. As soon as possible. I am sending you the address. You have 15 minutes. I am heading there now. When I get there, I want the ownership of that place."
"What kind of—"
BEEP
Before Marc could continue his question, Loriel had hung up the phone. He took a picture of the business card that Elise gave him and sent it to Marc.
Somewhere in the tallest building in Park Avenue, a young man in his late 20's, wearing the most expensive suit from a designer's limited edition set, could only massage his temple in annoyance.
The board of directors, whom he forced to attend the meeting during the weekend with him, all exchanged glances to see their boss looked annoyed by the call he just received.
They were wondering what just happened.
Marc pursed his lips and waved at them impatiently. "Let's end the meeting now. We should reschedule another meeting for tomorrow. I have to do something urgently."
"Oh..."
Those directors were all happy by the sudden turn of events, but they all kept their cool. Marc Sanderman was a strict boss who was a workaholic and expected everyone to be like him.
So, they pretended to look disappointed that for the first time this year, the meeting ended before they finished.
Aksara