CHAPTER THREE

For two hours he had felt nothing but pain and nausea. He had chewed some pills to help him relax and sleep through the drive.

Owen did not want to worry anyone but most of all he did not want his mom all about his business. For the first time in seventeen years he could finally sleep some other place than home or anywhere his mother would be around. He was not ready to give all that up for pain that he assumed would soon go away.

The pills had stopped working for sometime now. Their effect was slowly going away and to his bad luck, he was not able to fully sleep but the pain and nausea was subsiding.

Luna's POV.

"To go and manage the Hotel, that I will do. But participating in that stupid couple matching programme," the thought of it made me shudder in disgust. " Believe you me dearest uncle, I will not, " I made my point and walked out on him before he would talk sense into me, only to meet with my father at the door.

"What is all the fuss about?" he asked looking first at me and then at my uncle and back at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him in shock. " We were not expecting you, "

"Can't I stop by and see how my darling daughter is fairing on?" He said as he cupped me into his arms for a warm fatherly hug. I had not had those for months.

Wrapping my hands around his muscular torso I closed my eyes as I fully inhaled the all familiar vanilla-lavender scent that I had desperately missed.

This scent reminded me of someone who once meant the world to me and she still does honestly though my memories of her were slowly fading away.

It was like, at times I would see her all clearly but at times I could not fully picture her whole face just bits of it. Her dark caramel face, her pink pouty lips, her weirdly straight and medium nose, her heart warming smile whenever she held me in her hands. That was as far as I would go.

What remained clear was her scent. How could I forget it when my dad wore it everyday for comfort and memory. Things had been really hard for us ever since my mom passed away. For me mostly. Dad rarely came home.

He only visited once a month and never really spent the night . He had another family. A very beautiful wife and two wonderful spoilt kids who seemed to have it all.

At times i was jealous of them but dad always reassured me that them not knowing about me was for the greater good. My future and their future lay in my hands.

Someday in some not so pleasing circumstances we would meet. For now I ha to be patient. Currently I lived with my uncle Harris and apart from dad, he was all the family I grew up knowing. My mom's family was somewhere in Africa, in some country called Kenya not even knowing I existed. And of course My dad's family too knew nothing of my existence.

"Darling, I am afraid that what we have been waiting for and training you for, its finally here," Dad spoke up as he let me out of his arms. Worry was evident in both his face and voice. I looked back at my uncle who got emotional all of a sudden and ran to dad and cupped him in what seemed to be a really tight hug as he cried out on how he would miss him. He kept asking him if all this was necessary and even suggested we could all just run away, change identities or something of the sort.

His never ending weeping now made me sad. But it was not time for me to be sad. I had to be strong. After a long hefty conversation, it was decided that I would participate in that stupid programme that I loathed and if I wanted to work in the process, then I would do so but being in the matching programme was not an option but an order.

Unwillingly I agreed to the torture. I gagged at the thought of having some random guy sleeping beside me. After bidding each other goodbye, as my dad left, my uncle did too and I also did. We were all set for our new journeys. Who knew what awaited for us. Hope was all we could rely on.

I did not have long, so I decided to forget all about the battle that awaited me and have some fun while I still had time.

With high spirits I got out of my car handed my keys to the hotel's valet as the hotel maids, quickly rushed to get my bags out of the car.

"Good morning ma'am," they spoke in unison as they smiled at me, took the bags and disappeared into the hotel. I took a minute to myself and went to my favourite part of the hotel.

Lost in thought, I closed my eyes and took in slow steady breaths to calm my tensed nerves. This was exactly what I needed before I faced a bunch of naive horny teenagers.

"I knew I would find you here," Mary, my child hood nanny and currently the manger of the hotel, brought me back to reality as she sat down next to me and took me into her arms for a hug.

"Hey, there," I greeted her with a smile as I hugged her back.

"I missed you dear one, I am glad you're here," she spoke as we broke off the hug.

"I missed you too Mary. So, how have things been around here?" I asked.

"Well, nothing is new, but the place could use your touch, now that you are here. The staff are so happy you are back.Honestly we all missed you, "

I was in awe, for i had misses them all too.

"Let's go and get me in uniform," I excitedly stood up and helped Mary get on her feet too and we both scurried away as she informed me on the places she really needed help with. There were a lot of things that needed to be done especially with all the guests swarming in for the summer programme.