Hellbound With You

Abi grabbed her luggage and unpacked her things. She opened one of the doors to the far left and was right when she thought that it was a wardrobe. However, what she hadn’t expected when she turned the lights on, to see a humongous room! It was the size of her lounge back at home! One wall was covered with lots of square shelves - for shoes, she presumed - and another wall with rectangular shelves for bags and other accessories? There was a big island table in the middle with plenty of drawers on either side and the mirror and there was a rectangular mirror situated in the middle. This made her think that this was probably where women kept their hair and makeup accessories. The other two walls had large rectangular shelves built for hanging dresses and jackets and scarves and all sorts of different clothing and there were drawers galore! It almost felt like it could be a small clothing and accessories store if the shelves were filled with clothes and shoes and belts and hats and such. This was beyond crazy! Imagine if all those empty spaces were actually filled up with clothes! Who could afford that luxury? This then made her wonder if Alexander’s closet looked the same, without the makeup area and if his one was filled to the brim with clothes.

She opened her luggage and started to put away her things and was dismayed by the fact that it didn’t even take up a meter of the shelves. Never mind! She wasn’t going to be staying here long, anyway.

After unpacking her things, she grabbed her phone and gave Kelly a call to give her an update.

Kelly picked up on the third ring. ”Abi! Are you okay? How are things?”

”Hi Kelly. Yeah, I am totally fine and things are, uh, a bit overwhelming to be honest…” Abi said honestly.

”Oh? How come?”

”Well, first off, his house is not even a house, it’s like a mansion but better?”

”Can I have a look Abi?”

Abigail hesitated since she and Alexander still didn’t talk about this – if she was allowed to do this. But in the end, she agreed because she didn’t want her friend to worry if she refuse.

”Whoah! Oh my god, that’s HUGE!” Kelly yelled and as Abi continued showing her the room. Kelly started to worry. She knew that Alexander Qin was ultra, mega rich but this was a whole other level of rich and she knew what rich looked like, after all, her family was pretty well off as well. She somehow felt like when someone was as rich as this guy, he could very well get away with everything. After all, with money comes power and if you had a lot of money, you also had a lot of power.

”This place is just… out of this world.” Abi mumbled after she finished showing Kelly the room.

”Exactly! Are you sure you’re not in Europe?!”

”Kelly, you know I’m not.”

”Ugh, that Alexander Qin, Who the hell is he? Abi… just remember that you don’t have to do everything he asks of you. If it doesn’t feel right or comfortable, don’t do it, okay? You have the right to say no and he can’t force you to do anything against your will. If he tries, just come back, you understand?” Kelly ran on like a worried mother hen but she couldn’t help it. This was her innocent best friend that was taking some pretty big leaps and she just wanted her to be safe. Who knew what Alexander Qin was capable of? She just wanted to remind her friend that she had the right to refuse anything at all that she didn’t want to do!

”Kelly, I’m really okay. I promise I won’t do anything that I am not willing with. You don’t have to worry so much. It’s only for one month and I promise I will leave if things don’t work out.”

Somehow, Kelly was relieved. She knew that once Abi promised something, she would keep it so her words brought some relief to her mind. In the end, she rooted for her friend. She even ended up advising Abi to make the most of it and follow her heart and most of all, to enjoy the new experiences. This made Abi smile and made her feel relieved as well. Kelly’s words helped her feel more comfortable with this whole thing knowing that she had her friend’s support and blessing.

Once the call had ended, Abi laid down on the fluffy, comfortable bed. She stared at the ceiling and repeated Kelly’s words of encouragement to herself before she stood up and walked towards the bookshelves.

As she looked at the books, Abi’s brows started to knot. The first time she entered, she had a feeling that no one seemed to have settled in here for not just a while but a very long period of time. She had shrugged the feeling away but now that she flipped through some books, she started to believe her gut instincts. These books were obviously hundred-year-old classics but the strangest thing was that no one seemed to have opened them for a very long time. It wasn’t like they were dusty or covered in cobwebs - they were very well maintained - but the book cover and pages stuck to each other the way they would do if they hadn’t been opened for some time. Could it be that Alexander Qin’s past girlfriends never once bothered to open the books? That was the only thing she could think of and she thought that it was such a waste that they ignored these treasures. In saying that, judging from his last girlfriend, she didn’t really seem like the bookworm type so maybe his other past girlfriends were the same.

She ran her fingers softly along the spine of the books and sighed with great longing. If only she had the time, she would have loved to read all of these. But sadly, she didn’t have it; the luxury of time.

As she was lost in her thoughts, Abi’s stomach suddenly growled. She looked at the clock and saw that it was already lunchtime. She was about to leave her room to go find something to eat when a maid knocked on her door.

”Good day, Miss. I’m here to let you know that lunch is ready.” A polite woman around her early thirties bowed at her. She was wearing a maid’s outfit and she was quite good looking.

Abi couldn’t help but remember the romance stories she had read where the maids were often bullying or scheming or hating on the female leads that their masters brought home. That thought made Abi a little wary but the maid acted politely and respectfully and gave her no reason to be, so without anymore thought to that, she merrily went downstairs to tame her hungry tummy.