16

When the chauffeur gave Andre the water, he opened it and tried to make her drink, just then he noticed how tightly closed her mouth was, tears rolled down her face that had no expression except for that of pains.

"This is bad" Said the chauffeur as he bent down to help.

He tried again but she refused to open up. He finally found a way to get the water into her mouth. Bit by bit she began to regain consciousness, oxygen flowed into her lungs like best friends who had not been in contact for so long. Her blurry eyes gradually became clear and she became aware of her surroundings.

She didn't see this coming, the last time she felt this way was when she held her dead mom in her hands.

"Are you okay?, can you see me?" Andre asked her with his face filled with anxiety.

"Yes" She said with a fainted voice

After some minutes  she stretched out her hands for support.

Andre helped her up and guided her to the car.

Rose had never been someone who would want unnecessary attentions like this, she didn't like the fact that this happened. The thoughts of him seeing her as a liability bothered her so much.

The tension in the air cleared immediately Andre and the chauffeur saw that she was out of danger. Andre walked to the other side of the car and then he instructed the chauffeur to take them home.

Andre was smart enough to bring the car windshield down so that she could have fresh air. Just as the car begun to move, the chilly wind slapped her in the face. She began to feel alive once again. She breathed in and out several times. The wind blew her curly, black hairs up and down, right and left. At that point, she forgot about all her problems, she was just as happy as the 6 years old Rose who was always at the beach with her Mom.

Andre on the other hand kept on looking at her with the side of his eyes, he was so concerned.

She was now under his care, he couldn't afford to lose anyone under his care, that would be a bad  reputation for him and that of  the Hiltons family.

As Rose tried her best to forget what had just happened, because the thought of it made her breathless. She kept her gaze outside, she looked at the trees on the lonely road that was perfect for road trips.

  After about 20 minutes, they got to a mighty gate. It looked like the ones that was used in locking the openings of a city for protection, it was so big. The chauffeur pressed a remote and the big gate opened, as the chauffeur drove in, it exposed her sight to a beautiful water fountain that  had a sculpture of a strong man breaking free from a chain.

Waters ran down the man's open mouth, they went round the water fountain, and drove for two more minutes before they approached another gate, this gate wasn't as big as the first one but it possessed some qualities that the big one did not possess. It was luxurious. Security guards stood there effortlessly like there born to stand there.

When the gate opened, Rose saw the most beautiful building she had ever seen, for the third time that day she was breathless as looked at the gigantic mansion in front of her.

It was painted white while the two mighty pillars were painted gold, some other parts of the building like the edge of the windows and doors were also painted in gold.

The closer they got, the more she realized how beautiful the mansion was, it was not just beautiful, it was also very mighty. The two golden pillars looked like they were made of pure gold.

After they drove for some minutes, they finally approached the mansion, the car halted right in front of the it.

     A man in his late 40's opened the door for Andre. He didn't bother opening the other side because he didn't know that Andre was with someone.

Ever since Andre got back to the states, he had never brought any one into his house, even his male friends hasn't been there.

Rose could not wait to explore the new place, she opened the car door as she looked up at the mansion, she still couldn't believe her eyes, she stepped her feet on the floor that was as neat as  a persons room should be. Every where was as white a snow, the walls of the mansion looked like it had  just been painted. It was flawless.

The look on the faces of the workers was that of surprise and curiosity. They wondered who she was, but they dare not ask him.

  The screeching sound of the car got Rose to look at its direction, they were a very good numbers of cars parked there. There were more expensive than the one they drove in today. Rose was lost trying to count the cars that she didn't know when Andre walked into the building.

Her method of counting was quite smart because someone that wasn't close to her would not know that she was trying to count. She counted without pointing her fingers towards the cars.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten,...., nineteen, twenty, twenty one, twenty..." She lost count.

After so many failed attempts to count the cars, she gave up. She looked back only for her to see  a different man in his early 50s who stood right behind her. He wore a neatly ironed white shirt that looked like the ones British men wore in the 80s and a plain black trousers.

She was embarrassed because she knew he watched her count the cars. She was going to say something when he spoke up.

"Come with me, I will take you to your room".

He said with an obvious Italian accent, without waiting for her response, he turned and walked away. For a man his age he was agile.