Alex

I was shivering. Where is this room he talked about? I silently followed Elena from behind as I stepped on each step. We finally stopped in front of a door which I believed was my room.

‘This your room, the only close room you allow to get in in.’

You kidding me?

‘This room special design for you.’ She said, finally opening me the only room that I was allowed to enter in this whole goddamn mansion. The minute I entered into this room, I felt like I could literally fall on the floor because of the shock I had. This room, this freaking room was not what I expected it to be.

It was big. There were shelves filled with – I guess a couple of hundred books. I walked to the shelves and noticed that there were only historical novels and biographies here, the only 2 genres that I hate to read, not that I like to read though. There was a window with a sitting area and my bed just like any other queen size bed, with maybe extra zero at its price tag. That was it. This room somehow felt empty, nothing decorated this room, not even paintings or pictures.

I could literally die here.

‘This is my room?’ I asked, looking at her.

‘Yes’ She nodded. ‘Wait here, I going to get new clothes.’ She excused herself to walk out of the room.

I tightened the towel to my body and sat on my bed. Will I even last a day in this room? My eyes were still lingering around this dull empty room hoping that it was all just my dumb imaginary, that only existed in my mind. Looking Elena got back with the blue dress that I had back in that room proved me wrong. It wasn't my imaginary, it did happen to me.

‘Here’ Elena handed me the blue dress I had back in that room.

I put on the dress in the bathroom. The bathroom was big, but not as big as his. The counter was full with makeup and hair products. I didn't spend much time to put on the dress and quickly walked out to see Elena was standing there, near the nightstand with a folder in her hands.

‘Master want you to follow rules’ She said, handing me the folder.

I looked at the folder confusingly and laughed dryly.

‘He’s not serious, isn’t he?’ She just smiled but didn’t answer me and excused herself.

I sat on the bed and opened the folder, but didn’t forget to take a long deep breath to read it.

...

RULES SHOULD BE STRICTLY FOLLOWED BY ALEX GREBENSHCHIKOVA

#1 Behave.

#2 Show your utmost respect to Eduard Modestovich Grebenshchikov.

#3 No talking back.

#4 Never question Eduard Modestovich Grebenshchikov’s judgment.

#5 No swearing or cursing.

#6 Never lie.

#7 Be in your room at all times unless you are given permission by Eduard Modestovich Grebenshchikov.

#8 Never let anyone inside the mansion.

#9 Not allowed to be in any other room without Eduard Modestovich Grebenshchikov telling you to be there.

#10 Dress appropriately at all times.

#11 Eat 3 meals a day at 09:00 AM, 12:30 PM, 06:30 PM

#12 Sleep before 09:00 PM

Failure to any rules automatically gives Eduard Modestovich Grebenshchikov the right to conduct the punishments.

...

I read the list a few more times to make sure that my eyes weren’t playing any tricks on me. What was this man’s deal? Had the sun burnt his brain or anything? Who the hell would follow these!?

I closed the folder and down a glass of water on the nightstand to help me clear my mind. This man was smart and not normal. What kind of normal man would give someone these rules and expect them to follow it all?

Will I ever possibly get out of this situation?

‘Dinner ready’ someone suddenly called out from the outside of my room. It took me a couple of seconds to calm mind and when it wasn’t blurry anymore, I slowly sat up.

‘Alex Grenbe –’

I cleared my throat and quickly answered before she got to finish that damn name ‘I’ll be ready in a second.’

‘I wait here’ she replied.

‘Okay’ I said, quickly went out of bed and looked into the mirror to make sure I looked presentable, then made my way to the door.

‘Sorry to keep you waiting’ I said to her.

‘They waiting’ she said and from the look on her face, I could tell that I would be in trouble.

The time, we arrived in the dining room, I realized that the table had so much going on, especially the looks on my husband’s face.

‘Sit’ He said and sit I did. I was sitting at the seat in front of him, quickly looking down on my plate.

‘Let’s eat’ he said, making me look up at him.

I nodded and grabbed anything that looked good to fill my stomach. He didn’t say anything, but I watched him eating in grace like he was some freaking king.

We were eating in silence. Moments passed, no one exchanged words. He acted as if nothing happened, as if everything was normal here. Suddenly, I remembered the rules he gave me. Slowly took a deep breath, I then turned to look at him.

‘Are you concerned about me to the point that you have to make me follow the rules you gave me?’

He didn’t look fazed as he answered with his lingering cold eyes ‘The rules are there to protect you, so you are expected to follow all of them.’

’So it’s like living in a prison?’ I jokingly asked.

‘It’s for your safety’ he surprisingly answered.

I remained silent, staring back at him. There was something about what he said, I could feel it, but I didn’t know what it was. I felt like, I didn’t want to question him further because the answer was within me and it angered me so much that I wasn’t able to know what it was.

What does he mean by that? To protect me?

‘Go back to your room and rest.’ He suddenly told me before standing up from his seat, still not removing his eyes from me.

I sat there, frozen in place, watching him taking off his coat and car keys then walking towards the front door.

‘What is it? There’s something that I should know, right?’ I asked, feeling my heart was heavier than before.

He didn’t say anything, ignoring me and kept walking to the front door.

‘Wait’ I quickly called out, making him stop with his hands on the doorknob. He was gripping on it because I saw how his hands were turning red from the pressure he was putting in.

‘Head upstairs, Alex. Don't test me.’ He said sternly, slamming the door and left me here.

I stared at the door for a while, trying to process everything that kept bugging me. It felt like I understood what he said but couldn’t know what it actually was. Like a zombie, I walked up the stairs and entered my room.

He was playing games on me. I know he was a dangerous man. He was the one whom I should be protected. I noticed that it was already 8:52 PM.

‘I’m just gonna check out the book on the shelves.’ I stood up from the bed, walking towards the shelves to grab random biography book.

‘It’s a really old book, it says 1898.’ I mumbled, flipping page after page and trying to read the first paragraph. But as I continued to read the book, I started to feel dizzy as if the air around me was suffocating me. It was hard to breathe, the more I tried the more it hurt. The letters on the page looked like they were swirling around.

I quickly held my throbbing head because my vision started to blur too.

‘Wh – what happened?’

But then the lights went out, leaving me with only warm yellow lights from the nightstand lamp. I tried to stand up but I couldn’t, my body was numb.

My eyelids suddenly felt heavy, I couldn’t hold my eyes open for one more second, and just like what he wanted, I fell asleep at exactly 09:00 PM.