27
It was almost time and I was still gawking at the huge dark maroon gown that was set up on a mannequin in my new massive walk-in closet alongside all my other new clothes that Zaya had brought in. She had a good fashion sense, I must say, but this dress was way out of my league.
We had become good friends in a matter of couple hours. I'm not the one to make friends quickly, but Zaya was different. Her parents passed away when she was just eight which is how she ended up here. Leo's family took her in when they found her on the streets of Rome, alone and terrified along with her sister. They have brought her up since then just like hundreds of the other orphans according to Zaya. They educate the kids and train them to work for the family later on in their lives.
"Let's get you in that dress," Zaya said as she stood at the door, staring at the beautiful material. "Boss will kill me if I don't get you all decked up in time." She walked towards the dress and tried taking it off the mannequin carefully.
"Let me help you with that." I paved towards the dress and removed it cautiously from the mannequin.
"This is heavy. Jesus! How are you going to stay in this the entire night?"
"Well," I sighed, "You're the one who picked it out." We gently placed the heavy gown on the table in the middle of the room.
"Oh, no," she laughed. "Sir got this. He personally went and bought it for you. It's his choice. Your other clothes are my choice."
"Oh, I thought it was you."
"No. I don't have that great of a fashion sense," she chuckled. "It was all him and it's the first time I've seen him do that. You're the lucky one, I guess."
"Oh." My lips zipped up, unable to say anything else to that statement. He went out of his way to buy me a dress. A gorgeous out-of-my-league dress that I could never afford.
"Okay now. Let's get you in this." She held the dress low for me to step in it. Pulling it up, she zipped up the back and turned me to face the mirror, forcing my eyes to widen at my reflection. I barely recognized the woman looking back at me.
"Wow!"
"I know!" She laughed. "You look... I can't even find the right word."
"Breathtaking is the word you're looking for," a deep voice bellowed behind me. Zaya and I shot our eyes to the door to find Leo leaning against the door with a huge smirk embellishing his sculpted face.
Zaya bowed and left us alone in the huge closet that began to constrict on me as Leo got closer and closer, compelling my heart to thump violently against my ribs.
"I come baring gifts." He pulled out two antique wooden boxes from behind him that had glass covering the top. Before I could get a good look at the gifts inside, Leo placed the boxes on the table and ordered me to face the mirror.
"Close your eyes." My eyes widened as he whispered into my ear. His warm breath hit my face, making the hair on my body to stand upright. "I asked you to close your eyes, not widen them," he laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not going to do anything crazy."
My eyes softened as I shut them slowly with a little fear lingering in my chest before I felt a cold metal around my neck. Jerking my eyes open out of fear, I found Leo placing a shiny diamond necklace. Thank god! it wasn't a gun. I let out a breath of relief and returned my attention back to the necklace. I was in complete awe of the beautiful piece of jewelry that adorned my neck. He was showering me with all these luxurious things that I could only imagine of having, but why? Why was he doing this? Why was he being so kind to me?
Leo finished up buckling the necklace behind my neck and turned his dazzling blue eyes to mine through the mirror. "What do you think?"
"I think this is gorgeous, but not for someone like me." My hands began to tremble. "Someone like me doesn't have luxurious things such as this. Someone like me doesn't have a small apartment-like walk-in closet. I don't deser..."
"Stop right there," Leo warned me. "I don't want to hear it. There is no someone like you. There's only one copy of you and that's you." He slowly turned me around and caressed my cheek with the back of his hand. "You have been through so much, love. You deserve it. Consider it an apology for the drugging part."
"How considerate!" I laughed out. "You should make more mistakes if this is an apology."
"Let's hope I don't. I don't want to be good only for mistakes." He smiled and turned his attention to the other fancy box. Picking it up, he held it out to me. "Here."
"What is this?" I examine the box looking through the glass. "A mask?"
"Yes. It goes with your dress. Wear it and come down when you're ready and don't be late."
"Yeah, I know. You don't like tardiness."
"That's right." He smiled as he turned on his heel and left. I opened the box and pulled out the mask, examining it further. The color matched my dress with maroon underneath all the black lacy flowers embroidered into it. A black feather with black ribbons decorated the left side of the mask while obsidian on the top lining of the mask prettified it even more. It was quite exquisite.
"How cute!" Zaya shrieked, making me jump out of my shoes. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you, but I couldn't help myself," she laughed.
"It isn't cute. It's just an apology," I tried to convince her, but it felt like I was trying to convince myself more. There was nothing between us. Leo and I are more like friends.
"Oh please," she strode towards me. "I was standing near your dresser and I heard it all."
"It doesn't mean anything. He was just being nice."
"He's never nice," she scoffed. "Everybody is scared of him. He is... scary."
"I can agree with you on that," I muttered between my snickers.
"Yeah," she chuckled then paused, pondering for a brief moment. "Really scary and ruthless. You're lucky that he's nice to you considering you aren't family. You should be glad that you're one of the rare few on his nice list."
"I know about his so called job." I frowned at the clean, white marbled floor.
"Let's not get pouty now." She placed her warm hands on my naked shoulder and squeezed them gently. "It's hair and makeup time," she yelled urging two fancy blondes to come strutting into the room with a large pink suitcase.
"Chop chop. Let's get it over with," said the tiny one with her clearly visible lip injection. Ew. This should be fun.
"Here. Let me help you put on the mask." Zaya came up behind me, carefully tying up the ends around my big updo. "There. You're good to go." I stood up from the cushioned stool and looked at myself in the massive mirror. Aunt Wendy would literally faint if she looked at me right now. Just imagining her excited squeals made me chuckle.
"We need to get you down now. It's been an hour since sir was last up here and the guests are already swarming in through the doors." She ushered me towards the bed and brought a pair of maroon kitten heels for me to put on. "Since you're going to be up on your feet all night, little heels will help you."
"Thank you for being so considerate and helping me with this."
"Just doing my job," she smiled up at me and slid on the left heel on my foot followed by the right one.
"So, what is this party for anyways?"
"You don't know?" She looked at me, surprised.
"Am I supposed to know?"
"Everyone knows this." She gave me the duh expression. "It's his birthday. The biggest party of the year."
"I didn't know that." My eyes widened as realization punched me in my face. Oh my God! I slapped him on his birthday. Not once, but twice. Damn it, Arie!
"Now you know. Let's go downstairs." She fixed my dress at the bottom as I stood up.
"Are you not dressing up?" I motioned towards her black pants and white shirt.
"No. Why?" She narrowed her brows at me in confusion.
"You're not attending the ball?"
"I am. I'll be behind the catering stuff, not in the actual event."
"You're my personal maid right?" I began devising a plan for my new friend. I couldn't have fun between people I didn't know.
"Yes."
"So, you'll do as I say," I smiled cheekily at her.
"Your wish is my command, Ms. Noelle," she bowed.
"Arie." I corrected her. "And don't ever bow in front of me. It makes me feel weird."
"I'm playing, Arie," she laughed.
"Okay. This is what you're going to do. Go to the closet and bring me the red silky gown," I ordered her.
She quickly skipped to the closet and came out with the dress a couple second later. "Wear it."
"What?" Her brown eyes widened.
"You heard me. Wear it. We are basically the same size and it'll fit you."
"I can't. I'm just a maid," she argued.