Chapter Twenty-Four: The Secret of Domenic's Room

"Are you telling me that you have no favorite color, no favorite movie, song, actor, band, color, fruit, or even brand? Like in short, you have not a single thing in this world that is your favorite?" 

The way Jackson was looking at me with surprise-filled eyes, made me chuckle nervously as I lightly bit my lower lip.

"Well..."

I had no idea what to say and that led to an awkward silence.

"Well, this only means that you need to try everything and finally find out your favorites," Jackson said with a sparkle in his eyes.

"...I...I am not sure..." 

I began to say but was immediately cut off by my tutor who looked at me with his serious gaze.

"There's no negotiations here. From today onwards you will have four hours session with me rather than three. We will do the normal studies for three hours and in that one left hour, I'll introduce you to the luxuries of a human's life. I'll go and ask for permission from that Ice King later today." 

I kept silent for a few moments as Mr. Hart kept waiting for my reply in silence.

"Okay." I finally replied with a sigh.

There was no point in arguing with him and after thinking about it I actually liked the idea. Rather than confining myself inside the four walls of Domenic's room to avoid the Alessandro brothers, it would be a much better idea to spend the time in Jackson's company.

"Perfect!" Jackson beamed with happiness as soon as he heard my answer.

"Alright, since we complete our basic introduction and we more or less know each other to some level, let's go towards the second round," Jackson said in his not so serious tone.

"And what is that?" I asked him with raised eyebrows.

It was the first time in the past two weeks since I came to the Alessandro mansion that I had spoken so much and that too within an hour.

"If you want to give your best in your studies then it's necessary that you can put your entire focus on it. That means your mind should be calm and relaxed. How you look at your surroundings and what are the things that you can see in them also makes a huge impact on your personality. And your personality determines how focused your mind is on a particular topic. This means you not only need to rock in your studies but you should also develop a wonderful personality." Jackson explained in a calm tone.

I nodded my head as I tried to wrap my mind around the meaning behind his words.

"So, again tell me, what do you think about this room, Emily? And this time let your mind focus on each and every detail of this room. Tell me what this room portrays. What kind of aura or personality this room contains?"

Jackson asked me and this time he actually looked serious enough to make me straighten in my seat as I turned to look around the room in which I had been staying for over a week.

My eyes took in the dark theme of the room, the lack of personal belongings, the lack of familiarity, the absence of natural light, the absence of openness, and last but not the least, the lack of warmth.

However, the room was clean, every single thing was sitting in its proper place, not a single thing was out of order.

I kept looking around the room, observing the same things again and again.

Probably an eternity had passed when I finally found myself speaking, "This room carries a dark theme which makes it look cold, like a person with an indifferent personality. Every single thing inside this room is placed at its proper place, no exception, like a person who is trying to make everything look perfect in their lives."

I stopped for a second as my eyes landed on the grey drapes that were hiding the ceiling to floor-length glass windows.

"The absence of any natural light reminds me of someone who is trying to keep the rest of the world away from looking into the darkness and emptiness that is surrounding them," I said softly as I kept looking at the hidden windows.

"But...?" Jackson asked in a very soft tone as if he was afraid of something.

I stayed silent for a few seconds but then finally answered.

"But in order to keep their secrets from the rest of the world, that person forgot about those who were living inside the house. The people inside the house could see that person's indifferent and cold appearance and at the same time, they could also see the darkness that was surrounding that person, the lack of warmth around them. That person succeeded in hiding their darkness from the rest of the world but not from everyone."

The room was filled with silence as I finished my answer as I still kept looking at the drapes hanging over the windows, lost in my own thoughts.

"Do you think that person could overcome this darkness if they redecorated the room in bright colors and change the 'too perfect to be real' theme of their life?" Jackson asked.

And his question made a sad smile appear on my lips as I replied, "Of course, that person could redecorate the room and open the windows to let the natural light enter in their room. But whenever they would close their eyes, the only room they were able to see would be that same old room with the same dark old theme." 

"Then.....what about trying to redecorate that room behind their closed eyes first? Would that help?" Jackson asked, but it felt like he was trying to make me realize something.

I turned to look at my tutor and this time I was no longer lost in my thoughts.

I was no idiot. I was well aware of what he was trying to do and to be honest, I really appreciated it.

However, he was not aware of the density of the darkness that was covering the room behind my closed eyes.

I was about to open my mouth to speak but Jackson stopped me as he started speaking.

"I know what you are going to say, Emily. However, I still want you to give it a try. I want to see the capability of your mind. So here I'm giving you your very first homework. I want you to decorate this room in your mind and tomorrow I want a result. I hope you won't disappoint me."