XII

Beauty was all she saw as she drove her rented car through the city of Honolulu, everything seemed bright and airy, fresh with the pretty pine trees on the sides of the road. People seemed happier here, perhaps that was what she wanted to see, and she was most tempted to stop the car just so she could walk toward the beach, because from where she drove, the waters looked breathtakingly refreshing with their bright sky blue.

'Heaven on earth', she thought, that would be what she would name her piece if she were a painter and she painted the sight to the side of her. Having looked through the internet for any apartments she could live at, she hoped the one she had her eyes on would turn out as good as it looked in the pictures posted by the landlord.

Expensive as it was, it was just so for it overlooked the very scenery she admired, above the endless line of both retail stores and eateries. She had a feeling that she would love it there as she pulled to the side of the curb, right in front of the restaurant she would meet the landlord in. For she had made sure to call minute she touched the land of the city.

Slinging her back pack over her shoulder, still in the clothes she had worn on the yester, she wondered if she should have changed, judging not only by the sunny weather, but by the look of clothing people around wore. From shorts to swimwear and to downright topless for the guys in nothing but shorts and flip flops, airing their toes to the world, she snickered in her mind because she found it strangely weird that men were comfortable with wearing such footwear.

Alas, it was none of her business, therefore, she ought to be more concerned over herself and shy away from having a heatstroke. She planned to get down to shopping after the meeting, and she entered the modern restaurant. While by the door, she stood only to survey the inside of it, paying no mind to the design of it, she looked for one person in particular, and there he was. Grey haired and seemingly tall with a white round neck polo t-shirt and his own pair of shorts from what she could see beneath the desk with a pair of loafers.

He glanced at his watch as if thinking her to end up possibly late, she took strides toward his table and she was certain she was right on time. Right as she took a seat before him, he looked up from his phone then, and he looked rather younger than what his silver hair might imply and had pretty emeralds she found herself truly jealous of

"Uhh, Miss Ray is it?" he questioned, clasping his hands professionally on the table and she smiled shaking her head

"Just Delilah, Mr Smith" she offered, to which he smiled himself and a welcoming kind as he said

"Well then, just call me John" he said, his eyes full of playful mirth with his words and she chuckled then

"Am I to expect to see Angelina Jolie anytime soon then?" she asked, and he tutted then, shaking his head his face all of a sudden looking sullen.

"I'm afraid she left me for Pitt, said I was too old for her. Can you believe it?" his eyes shot to hers then and she thought he would make one hell of an actor with the way he was going and she couldn't help but burst out laughing then, thinking the joke quite ridiculous, the old man simply joined in with his own chuckle. And when such trinket music came to an end, he cleared his throat

"Off with the games now. And you can just call me Tom" he said and she nodded

"Okay"

"So ready to see your place?" he asked with his eyebrows raised in question

"Yes, the sooner I can see it, the sooner I can get out of these clothes" she said motioning to her heater of an outfit, although the aircon in the restaurant helped slightly. Tom chuckled then looking amused

"Had you no idea where you were headed?" and she could only sheepishly shrug and defend

"A proper outfit never really crossed my mind, besides, I've been on a flight for more than 15 hours, I think I'm allowed a break" smiling he huffed, palms on the table lifting himself up from his seat,  he grabbed his cell phone and a pair of keys along

"All right then let's get going, before you faint on me" he teased and Bella simply smiled and thought again 'I really might like it here.'

And like it she did,  more so loved it when they took the stairs that led to the second floor of the building and he opened up a door that led to paradise. Perhaps an over exaggeration for it was a simple airy apartment that was already furnished. It had a grey and white theme and right in front of her was a decent sized balcony that opened up to the view she loved.

To her right was a lounge with a grey L-shaped couch and a single couch. Between them was a rectangular glass table, and before it on the wall was a modern beyond glass fireplace she thought she'd never need to use and above it was a flat-screen TV. To her left was a kitchen that was also spacey with an island that was attached to the cabinet on the wall, it had a white marble top and grey bottom,  and the cabinets were a grey against the white walls. Then there was the refrigerator along with three bar stools to the front of the island.

Her gaze returned to the balcony and she saw an outdoor couch that was made of intricately woven wood with a silver cousion. She thought then of getting flowers, sunflowers if she could find any just to make it hers.

"It's perfect" she said glancing at Tom who but smiled proudly with a nod

"Good, but you're still to see the rest of it" he informed,  and she shook her head, 

"it doesn't matter,  my keys please" holding her palm open. Tom could only chuckle at her confident enthusiasm and he placed her keys in her hand.

"Thank you, Tom" she said with a smile and her words a clear dismissal he didn't miss.

"It's been a pleasure Delilah, you have my number should you need anything or find a fault with the apartment". He told and she nodded

"Got it" She closed the door and locked it before she walked towards the hallway that led to two bedrooms on either sides and a bathroom ahead at the end of the small hallway.

She found that only one room was furnished with a queen sized bed and a big closet was attached to the wall and to the side of the door was a vanity table with an ottoman for a seat and opposite on the other side was a big window with floor-length curtains and the theme remained white and grey.  The bathroom had both a tub and a shower and she knew just what she would put in the other empty room.

She took her yellow jacket off and folded the sleeves of her turtle neck to minimise the heat, keeping her back pack with her,  she walked out of the apartment with an aim to go shopping for essentials.

The first store she hit was a retail store that sold nothing but colourful printed clothes,  and she plucked a yellow sundress from the rack and headed for the obvious changing room. Discarding her warm outfit, she changed into the dress and tore off the price tag and she shoved the old clothes in her backpack. She noticed then that her roots had begun to really show,  the dark brown a contrast to the Champaign strands,  caring little for it, she walked out.

She picked out a few more clothes and paid, because she was still close to her apartment, she figured she'd return and leave everything behind, but of course, she simply took the clothes from her bag discarding them with the rest of the paper bags, and slung the bag over her shoulder and left again. The floor-length dress hiding her exposed toes on white new flip flops. Yes,  she had gotten herself her very own pair.

The day turned out to be a long one, from buying a grand piano  that would sit dab smack in the middle of the other room,  to ordering flowers and buying plant pots and vases that would be delivered tomorrow. Down to buying a small safe that had caught her eye and finally,  groceries for she was certain her new kitchen was empty. She kept her distance from everyone and was kind where need be.

By the time the horizon turned into a picturesque portrait from her balcony,  the light hit wonderfully against the white walls painting it an array of soft orange and yellow colors with tinges of reds. She felt peaceful then sitting on the blanket she laid on the ground before the open bcony doors, her own little indoor picnic. She had felt so serene with her mind a calm quiet in a long time, that she had no idea when she had fallen asleep. Until she woke up to a knock on the door.

Sluggishly getting up,  her body just about screamed at her for having slept on the floor as she stretched out like a cat and slightly jogged to the door, where the knocking came again. Unlocking the door, before her seemed to be a short line of people.

"Good morning Mam, we're here to deliver your instruments"

"And I'm here with your flower pots"

"Flowers"

"Furniture"

The voices came at her and she could only blink in surprise with wide eyes as she muttered out

"Sheesh, y'all sure wake up" only for a young lady to chuckle to her right

"We like to do our deliveries early,  to keep away from the hot midday sun when we can" she said, her smile the laughing kind

"Except it's late morning now and the sun's already up" the voice was amused so we're his eyes, aside from a few eyes that seemed slightly annoyed at having had to wait by the door along with the rest, the two figures before her seemed to be internally laughing at her and she could only bite her lip in embarrassment and held her door open.

"Right, bring them in then" to which they all got to work with a little squabbling about who deserved to get in first. When they gave her clipboards with papers to sign,  she realized her own mistake,  she had set everything up to be delivered at the same time and she had overslept. 

She felt herself over excited again,  new place,  new people. To the point she found it easier to forget the events of the past days. This would be a second attempt at a fresh new start and hopefully she wouldn't fuck it up again. When everything was delivered and placed where she wanted it placed. She got started on her little project.

With the flowers on the counter,  the flower pots on the ground along with the fertiliser soil. She cared little for eating breakfast and changing as she got her hands dirty with everything. And when she was done,  a vase sat in the middle of her lounge table with three sunflowers in it.

Then a green tall plant would be placed by the corner near the balcony doors and the rest of the sunflowers along with lavenders were outside on the balcony,  save for two she would place in her bedroom, both lavenders and sunflowers in small petite flower pots.

Only then did she care to clean up her mess,  and thankfully she found cleaning materials in one long cabinet in the kitchen. And when her cleaning was done she took a long bath to sooth her muscles and after that,  she made breakfast that was more a brunch affair than breakfast.

A simple French toast she had to watch a tutorial for,  for she had never learnt to cook as all her life she had either bought food someplace or someone had cooked it for her,  or she had none to eat nor cook at all. Therefore,  that gave her little skills in the cooking department, one of the few skills she came to discover that she lacked.

An epiphany hit her then, 'Eureka! I can do cooking', that was what she would explore, perhaps she could take cooking classes,  aside from perhaps giving music lessons. One was a thing too strange for her to tackle,  and one was a thing that seemed to come naturally to her, she thought it a perfect balance. In that moment, paying no mind to the mess of eggs on the counter,  wondering what human struggled that much with cracking eggs properly without getting the shell mixed up in there, she grabbed her messy plate of egg covered bread with some beacon and orange juice, placing them on her table,  she marched towards her bedroom.

And she realised then she forgot about her safe that sat on the vanity table that had just the lavenders and the safe on it. She looked around her room then, for a place she would hide it for it wasn't like she owned the place to drill a hole in it,  either on the wall or floor.

She settled for placing it in the back end of her closet to the right that was against the wall,  in it were her personals and the only thing most important to her than the rest, the picture, for she was even afraid of risking it by framing it instead,  she couldn't afford to have anything happened to it,  be it by intention or mistake.

A sudden pain struck her heart then,  she had left the second most crucial thing to her, the letter that carried her parents' last wish, the one they had held and written, the one her mother had kissed with her red lipstick on the bottom of it, the second and last piece she had of them.

She thought she would have a heart attack right then as her heart gave a painful squeeze and her breath came out in pants. Her hand on her erratically beating heart,  she reached for the bed to steady her fall as she fell to her knees.

A panick attack, something she hadn't had for over a year now,  it felt like she was experiencing it for the first time, felt like a road to her own demise as her mind wouldn't calm down and neither would her heart. Until she was nothing but a pile of bones on the floor with shallow breaths and her eyes kept loosing focus,  she was going under and soon darkness would claim her. Laughter boomed in her mind then,  terrifying heart wrenching laughter.

[Stupid,  so fuckin' stupid is what you are.]

It hissed out in both glee at her pain and anger at her utter stupid mistake, a rookie mistake,  for when you are what she was,  attachment should be nonexistent, and you were to always make sure you never leave a piece of you behind that could either reveal who you are or where you were. She was stupid indeed was her last thought before she lost consciousness.