The snow outside looked mysterious. Beautiful.
Taylor and Ervin spent most of their time with Adrian. I didn't really like that they were away for so long. But what could I do he still had privilege to them since he was the father. I was thinking about relocating closer to his house.
Vera and Jack had invited me to the annual Royal Masquerade Ball that I had attended with Adrian only once since the other times I had been pregnant. Of course, I accepted. But I was a little hesitant since I might see him again.
Today was Taylor's first birthday. Since Adrian and I didn't talk to each other Vera decided we do a party here for her and then they would take her to Adrian's house so that they could celebrate over there too.
Melissa and Vanessa were one of the first guests.
"Ooooh! Look at that precious child!" Vanessa gushed to Melissa, while they stared at Taylor.
Taylor's party was awesome she got a lot of gifts. She clapped and squealed when it was time to open gifts. Lissa, Paul, Vere, Dimitri, Christian, Yaritza, Melissa, Vanessa, and a couple of co-workers of mine gathered in my house to celebrate her birthday. The only person that was missing was Adrian. . .
DRESS SHOPPING:
"So where do you want to get our dresses made?" Vera asked, on a sunless day.
"I was thinking maybe by Louis Vuitton."
"You know what? That sounds nice." Vera said, flipping through her Cosmopolitan magazine.
"You want to go now?"
"Sure." She sounded. . .off. I wondered why.
She followed me out the door. "What color do you want it?"
"Maybe blue or red. You?"
"Black." I grinned.
This made her sad expression fade and then she smiled that typical Vera smile. "Of course, black. Is there one piece of clothing that you own that isn't black?"
"I don't know." She laughed. In truth I did wear a lot of black, but whatever; it was my color.
We arrived to the rich people "headquarters" as Vera would call it in two hours. We got off the car and I put on my Victoria's Secret tan coat. We walked to the door and hot-looking security guy opened the door for us.
"Morning, ladies." He said.
"Morning, sexy." I said winking at him.
He smiled in return. Although I still wore the ring Adrian gave me the day we got married, I wore it on a different finger the, the middle finger.
"Damn, Rose." Vera said.
I smiled deviously at her. "What?" I walked to the escalators were the VIP shop was at. Only very rich people were allowed to go in there. I.E. Vera and I. We sure looked hot in our black lacy dresses.
A bitchy looking bitch was assigned to attend us. "What can I do for you today?" She kept staring at me in a hateful way. She probably thought I was a fake. One of those people that liked to act like they had money.
"We want to get a custom made dresses ." Vera said.
"Alright, why don't you follow me." She walked ahead of us.
I walked absentmindedly to where that lady was leading us. She led us to a big office, where a skinny looking woman was sitting behind a desk. She smiled one of those huge smiles that makes you want to slap them off their faces. "Ladies, what can I do for you on this bright and sunny day?"
"I was wondering if you could have a custom made dress for me in four days?"
"Yes, I could, but the price of it would be very expensive." The lady looked at us like, well like we didn't come from money. That bitch would see how much money we were made of. . .
"How expensive is expensive?" I asked ,looking at her.
"Um. . . about thirty thousand, depending on the dress designer and the dress design."
"You consider that expensive? Bitch, I have a mill
Vera stopped me. "So, would it be possible? For you, to do two dresses?" Vera asked in her normal nice voice.
"Yes, of course." She smiled again. "So what are looking for in the dress."
Vera went first describing the how she wanted her dress style, the color, the fabric, the designer. Her dress came out to be fifty five thousand dollars. Then next, my turn. The lady measured me. She asked what color, and whatever she had asked Vera. My dress had turned out to be one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars.
"Do you want us to pay the money now or later?" I asked looking at my nails. They seriously needed a manicure; it had been a while.
"Whenever you want." Deborah said.
"How much do I owe you?"
"With your dress, plus all additional charges. Um. . . $110,500."
"Okay, add that to Vera's and how much do I owe you now?"
"195, 755. 76."
"No, Rose. I'll pay mine." Vera was unaware of the fact that I was also rich like her.
I put my hand to stop her babble. "This time its on me."
I swiped my car and Vera and I exited the store.
"Vera, you want to get a pedicure and manicure with me?" I said, trying to change the subject.
"Sure, Rose." The day went by. Four days now. . .
Adrian POV
"Perfect fit." The man that worked for Louis Vuitton said as he finished helping me into the fancy black coat. In three days, it would be the Royal Masquerade Ball. I hope Vera and Jack had passed down the message to Rose. It was required that Rose be there. She was the queen after all.
I really hope that she went; I was a little nervous thinking about seeing her again.
Some girls stared at me as I made my way down the hallway. I swear they almost fainted as I smiled back at them. Back then, I would have been all over these girls. It was not back then anymore; it was now and there was only one female I wanted. The most beautiful female out there. My Rose.
I tossed the garment back over my shoulder, put on my glasses, and walked to my car.
Soon, my love. . .
THE MASQUERADE BALL:
I sighed, running a hand through my hand. I really was not used to get up so early. I walked over to the door, not really awake. How was I supposed to get ready and be aboard on the Ivashkovs' plane in an hour? Who knew, but I had to do it.
I walked into the shower and took a ten minute shower. The fastest of my life. I put on the first clothes my hands touched. After packing a small bag that held all my essentials, I, then, walked into Ervin's room. I kissed him on the cheeks. I went to Taylor's room who was already awake. I kissed her as well and handed her to her nanny Nina.
"Nina, Alvita, I don't know how long I will be gone but I trust that you will take care of my two children. If anything happens to them you will regret it. I am leaving credit cards and some cash for you if you need it. Don't go out without guardians." I told my two employees.
"Yes, Ms. Rose."
"Call me if there as an emergency!" I called, as I was going out the door. I got into my car and drove the local airport where the plane waited that was supposed to take Yaritza, Dimitri, Jack, Vera, and me to where the party was being hosted.
"There you are!" Vera said. They stood near a gate that was empty.
"So are we ready to go?" I asked, wanting get this over as quickly as possible. I really was nervous for tomorrow. I was happy at the same time since I was going to see him again.
"No, we are waiting for Lissa and Christian." Yaritza said. She looked better than she had the last time I had seen her. Which was in my clinic. Her eyes didn't look so shallow anymore. Her cheeks were the same color as they used to be. She didn't so alive, but she didn't dead either.
Dimitri looked very happy ,I wondered why. He kept glancing down at her stomach frequently and asked if she needed anything a lot of times.
I went up to Yaritza. She smiled at me. It wasn't that malice filled smile she used to give me; it was just a smile. I looked at Dimitri and he absolutely glowed. "You two look happy. What could be the reason of that?"
"Rose," Yaritza ignored my question. "I want to say that I am sorry for misjudging you. I knew I was being a butt when I went to talk to you in that clinic." She looked away. "I'm sorry. Will you forgive me, sister?"
I hugged her so hard the she started crying with emotion. "Of course, I forgive you."
"Adrian, is so blind. He doesn't realize what an awesome person who chose to get married with. But don't worry Rose, I'll get him back for you. And then you two can be happy again, just like Dimitri and I are now."
I wiped a couple of tears away and changed the subject. "So what the reason for you two being so happy?"
"Okay, Rose, I am pregnant!" Yaritza said.
"What? I thought. . ."
"You thought, so did I! I though I would never carry a real live baby inside me but I am. I am almost twenty weeks pregnant."
"And you're letting her travel on the plane in her condition." I asked to Dimitri.
He thought about that. He grimaced. "Well she makes the rules, Rose."
I laughed. Someone wrapped their arms around me. I turned to find. . .
"Lissa!" I hugged her. Man I really was giving a great deal of hugs today.
"Rose!"
"So now are we ready to board the plane?" I asked.
Vera nodded. "Come on, Jack." She grabbed his hand and mine and led us to the small plane that was waiting, alongside the borders of the snow. Why were they letting us fly when it was so snowy outside. I almost slipped on my way on to the plane; if not Vera holding my arm I would have fallen flat on my face. I heard Lissa chuckle behind me and I gave her a dark glare; Christian, blessedly, used to his element to melt the ice on the asphalt.
"Thanks, Fire-Hot-Flames." He laughed at my new nickname for him.
Someone opened the plane's door and we all crawled in. It was so cold outside that I wanted to go curl up with Hot-Fire; I'm sure Lissa wouldn't like that but I didn't care as long as I was warm. As it was, I did go sit next to him. He wrapped an arm around me. "Hey, baby, you cold?" He said in his normal Christian voice.
"Yes, my Hot-Fire, how did you know?" I said, laughing at Lissa, who was glaring at me. After a second, she laughed.
"I just know, my bitchy dhampir." He smiled.
I looked over at Lissa. He followed my gaze too. "Liss, my Spirit Freak, you know I only have eyes for you." He leaned towards her and kissed her passionately. I pretended to puke. "Okay, not so cool guys."
Lissa looked at me. "You don't have to be here. . ." She stopped cause Christian was giving her more of those kisses. "I'm out." I walked over to where I was supposed to sit and pulled out my favorite book of all times. Night World 3 by L. Jane Smith. I finished the first story in the book, Huntress, when five minutes after I fell asleep.
I rolled over. I hated when they woke me from wonderful dreams like the one I had been having. I pressed the green button on my Droid. "What do you want, Vera?"
"Wake up! I am outside your dress with the makeup lady and the hair lady." I hung up on her and went to the door. There she was standing with two ladies, holding a but load of stuff. I was supposed to be happy but I was just tired.
"Can you give me two more hours of sleep?" I asked.
"Now, why would I do that? Now get yourself in the shower."
"Since when did you turn into such a bitch?"
"I spent so much time with that it wore off on me." She called out cause I was already in the bathroom. I laughed as I got into the shower. I shampooed and conditioned my hair and moisturized my body and brushed my teeth like fifty times.
I was done in less than an hour. Which left me with four hours to change. I slipped on my robe and wrapped a towel around my hair. I walked out of the bathroom and sat down on the chair that the lady was pointing at. She applied some sort of material that made my hair super soft when it was dry. It was perfectly straight too; she didn't have to waist an hour with a flat hair iron.
She made me lean back, she pressed this peddle on the chair that I was sitting on so it could go back like I was laying down. She got out her Mac makeup and her brushes and whatnot. I closed my eyes and she applied eye shadow. She added a little blush. Some little eyeliner; it made my eyes look bigger and prettier. Some mascara for my lashes. At last, she smeared some dark pink lip gloss. When she finished with make up, she finished my hair. She left it down and did some sort of puffy thing; it was lifted from the back and it had a slight wave. She added a gold barrette for decoration.
I was excited now. My dress would soon be on me. I gasped in joy as she slipped it out of the garment bag.
It was such a sexy dress. This dress was made so I could die in. I loved it! It was a gold dress that went had teeny tiny train like thing at the bottom. The neckline area was split for my chest show; two straps that came down from neck covered my breasts. It was backless sort of; it had a little criss-cross thing going on my lower waist. Millions of bead like things were all over the dress. It was absolutely gorgeous. I would be freezing to death but I would look good. It made me look completely hot. I knew every male's eyes would be on me. But I was only interested in one guy.
I slipped on the silky material and sighed happily. The lady let me have some gold chain earrings. "Wow, darling, you look amazing." She said in her Scottish accent.
Vera was done ten minutes after me. It was because she kept yelling at the poor lady.
Vera looked good but not as sexy as me. She wore a purple strapless dress. It was tight all the way to her calves, where it had a slit all the way up her right thigh. It showed nothing, though. Her hair was up into a curl-filled bun.
"Ready?" I asked.
"No, wait." She looked at her makeup person. "Did you bring the masks?"
"Yes, I did." The lady went to her bag and pulled out two masks. Vera's was black and mine was gold. It was one of those easy ones that you could just slip on and off at whatever time. "Okay, now we could go."
We walked out of the room to find Jack, Christian, Lissa, and Yaritza and Dimitri standing there. All guys eyes were on me, except Jack's. "What is there something on m face?" I asked.
"Rose, you look. . ." Christian didn't have words to finish.
". . .damn sexy." Dimitri finished for Christian.
"So do you guys. All of you look great." They were dressed in tuxedoes, something I knew Christian hated wearing. Lissa's dress was casual black dress that made her look too pale. Yaritza was wearing a light green dress that made her look to dark. I wasn't going to say that to them of course.
"Thanks." They all said. "Now could we go?" Lissa put her hand on Christian's; Yaritza put her hand on Dimtri's. I was the only who didn't have a date. I was grateful when Jack offered his hand to me. "Shall we?" He asked looking at Vera and me. "We shall." Vera said.
We walked downstairs to the party.
All eyes were on me. I let go of Jack's hand went my own way. I put my clutch under my armpit and walked on to the party. My heels clicked, clicked as I made my way through the semi empty lobby.
I saw a lot people said hi and left them alone. I continued that for about two hours until I finally got bored. They really needed to fix the music on here; it was not prefect for me; it was all romantic, something that I currently lacked in my life. Then, at last! a good song started.
I really wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. I walked around looking for someone to talk to.
"So how is Taylor?" Keith Conta's wife asked.
"She is doing good." I said, and fled. I loved this song; I hated when people interrupted me when I was listening to it.
"Yeah, that's what he was telling me, Vera told me too but I didn't believe it until now." This conversation was good but now it was getting boring. I turned around briefly looking anywhere but to the lady in front of me. I was so caught up with this conversation that I didn't notice a pair of gorgeous eyes looking at me.
I stopped dead in my tracks because this was no someone. I knew this person all too well. My eyes locked with his and the world literally blurred away. Time stopped. All that was left was me and him, and that wonderful song playing. A song that explained our whole lives right now. . .
That line Guess, I rather hurt than feel nothing at all said it all. . .what I was feeling towards him. This song was perfect for him and me. I never really understood this song ,well except for now. . . I couldn't move I was paralyzed with shock at seeing him. My eyes continued on his as the song played on.
I would have went up to him and hugged and kissed him and told him that I loved him . . .
Time could not erase what I felt for and what he felt for me, that was true. All the hurt and pain went away as we looked each other in the eyes. People could separate us, but they never could stop making us feel what we felt for each other, which was a love that surpassed many other loves. It was an unconditional love, yet it was a hard kind of love.
I knew he would remain loving me until the sands of time, just like I would remain loving him until death took me away. We stayed like that. None of us made a move towards the other. But our eyes both showed passion, pain, regret, lust, sorrow, hurt, love. . .
I wanted to run to him, to his arms but I was rooted in spot. I was about to speak when he beat me to it. It was all he could say but at least he spoke.
He took a step towards me, slowly, as if he were scared I might disappear at any second, as if I were a form of me made up from his imagination. I copied him, stepping closer to him, but not too close because I was scared of what he would do to me or if the same things would come out of his mouth, the same that he used when he had caught me with Andre. He looked at me like he couldn't believe I was there, disbelieving. He took of his masquerade mask, like he wanted to take a better look; I took mine off as well. He lifted his hand and I mirrored his move until our hands were pressed up together, palm to palm. We were so in synch. He spoke but it was just my name, whispered by him like a caress.
"Rose. . ."