Chapter 16 - The Morning After (1/2)
Claire squints as the morning light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows hits her eyes. Her head throbs with dull pain. And even as she tries to remember what happened last night, she dimly realizes: Wait, our apartment doesn't have floor-to-ceiling windows!
She looks around. The room is huge, yet lavishly appointed. Outside, she could make out the tops of trees and the hills nearby. Where is she? What is this place? What the heck happened to her?
She tries to get up, and to her horror, she's wearing a different set of clothing. She's used to wearing an oversized t-shirt and undėrwėȧr when she goes to bed, but here she's wearing proper sleep garments.
Claire walks around, inspecting the room. She goes to the window and gazes outside. Down there, she could see a man tending the bushes. She could make out a long driveway that seems to go over the horizon. Everything is so peaceful, so calm. But what rages in her head is nothing but one question: What is this place?
She sits down on the nearest chair and rakes her head for memories of last night. She was at this party…Hmmm, wait, there was Gabriel Tan. She was supposed to do a job. But what job was it again? She touches her lips in reverie, and that triggers another piece of memory: the kiss. The kiss with all its confusing feelings and nuances. Gabriel Tan kissed her. They kissed. How did that end? It's all a blur. She doesn't even remember what happened after the kiss. She remembers a very angry lady in black—ah, Michelle! The ex-girlfriend—storming out of the scene, leaving her in…in…in what?
Champagne. Lots of it, coursing down her throat. How is it that something that tastes so good and seemingly benign could have a huge impact on her head and memory and self-control?
But back to the kiss: what did Gabriel Tan do after the lady in black left? Did they continue kissing? Claire has no idea. She feels as if somebody flipped a switch in her brain and all her memory of last night ended with the lady storming out, cursing under her breath, vowing to take revenge of them all. Wasn't that so rich?
Someone knocks on the heavy wooden door, and before Claire could answer, a woman clad in a maid's uniform enters, pushing in a trolley. ”Good morning, Miss Claire,” she says cheerfully. ”I see you're up already.”
”Where am I?”
”You're in the Palace,” the maid says, matter of factly, so sure in her sense of reality that when you say ”the Palace,” the entire world should understand it.
”Ah. But why am I here? Who brought me here?”
”How do you mean, Miss Claire?” There's genuine confusion in the maid's face. ”You arrived here last night, at the grand ball. Weren't you with Master Gabriel?”
”Yeah, I remember that but…But…”
”Master Gabriel brought you to this room when you passed out.”
”I passed out?”
”Yes. I think you drank too much.” The maid smiles. ”Master Gabriel brought you here himself, cradled you in his arms, and brought you down on that very bed.”
Claire could not help but blush; is Gabriel Tan really that strong? She's not the most lightweight of women, if truth be told, especially if one had to bring her up some sort of stairs. ”Are we on the second floor?”
”No, Miss Claire—”
Claire breathes a sigh of relief—
--”We're on the fourth floor, Miss Claire.”
”Oh, my God!” Claire imagines Gabriel Tan bringing her all the way up to this floor, in his arms, her full weight bearing down on him. She could not imagine the man, although well-built as he is, could have done that without breaking his back or something. ”How did Gabriel do that? He carried me all the way up here?”
The maid nods quite excitedly. ”Yes, yes, Miss Claire. It was only him. He didn't let any of his bodyguards carry you. Isn't he such a sweet fiancé?”
Claire stops. Clearly, not everyone knows it's all an act, this romantic engagement thing. She looks at the maid and decides she doesn't owe her an explanation. ”What's your name, by the way?”
”They call me Lucille, Miss Claire.”
”Lucille, may I ask, what happened after he brought me here?”
”Well,” Lucille the maid begins. ”He asked me to get some clothes for you.”
”What?” Claire doesn't like where this is leading. ”Then what after that?”
”Well, I thought that was odd, because you were already wearing maybe the nicest dress I've seen in my life. But Master Gabriel said to fetch you something much more comfortable, for sleeping or something. So I went to our wardrobe manager—”
--”You have a wardrobe manager in this place?”
--”Yes, Miss Claire, the one we call Miss Cassandra. And it took Miss Cassandra just a few minutes to locate the clothes you're wearing right now.”
”Then what after that?”
”Then I brought the clothes here.”
”Then what after that?”
”Then Master Gabriel changed your clothes.”
”He what?”
”He changed your clothes, Miss Claire.”
Claire is beet red. ”Did he actually took off my clothes while I was unconscious?”
”Well, uhh…Well, not really like that.”
”Then how?”