18 Uneventful start of the extra shows, how boring

The restaurant was filled with a comfy noise level. Patrons mingling by the buffet table, getting the items they love the most. There is even an omelet station. People happily conversing at their tables, with family and friends. The smells premating the dining hall are delicious. The mood at our table is different from the rest. The prospect of bad news made the uneasiness tangible, Asswipe standing at the head of the table, with that superior look on his face. God, wouldn't you want to wipe that look of his face. I know I would, I wish I could, but alas, no such luck. He lets the tension rise, and I'm bored with it, so I continue eating my breakfast. No matter what the news is, I will go shopping, I have to. I feel unclean, wearing the same clothes for more than one day. When he starts to talk, I look up, "they made an error, overselling tonight's show. So to have everyone who bought a ticket, enjoy the show, we planned an extra show today." Everyone at the table groans, including me. "The first show will start at 4.30 pm, and second at 7.30 pm as planned already. So the rehearsals will start at 10 am." I get my phone and check the time. Shit, it's already 8.30 am, that doesn't leave a lot of time to go shopping. I swear he does this on purpose. Satisfied, Asswipe leaves us to our breakfast, but I'm not hungry anymore. I get up and look at Fiona and Mina, "you two coming?" They look up when I address them, shocked. "You still want to go?" Mina asks, her mouth opening and closing, like a fish out of water. "There's barely any time left", she scoffed. I roll my eyes, "I have to. I can't wear these clothes another day, and if you'd stopped eating, we could go." The others at the table don't pay any attention to us, except for Mandy, she's eyeing us. What is she up to? I've always found her a bit shady, or maybe it's because she is the best friend of Luke's. She is pretty, chin length natural blonde hair, brown eyes, straight nose, and a beautiful shaped mouth, the upper lip a little thicker than the lower lip. The girl knows her fashion, she always looks like she walked right out of the top selling fashion magazine. Even now, wait, did she know beforehand and had the change to pack. I eye the others, thinking back on what they wore yesterday. They all wear different clothes now. My suspicion rises. Fiona is already standing next to me, but Mina is still eyeing the rest of her breakfast, clearly reluctant to skip it. Mina sighs heavily, but finally she gets up and joins us. When I'm about to turn away, "Where are you going? Rehearsals will start soon, and somehow you're one of the firsts again Nadja", Mandy spat. I ignore her, but Fiona, who doesn't see the bad in people, only the good, turns towards her, "We'll be on time, don't worry. We…..uh, we need to do something", Fiona turns to me, looking at me helplessly. I smile reassuringly at her and precede them out of the restaurant. I walk straight to the reception and ask the clerk for the closest clothes store. In situations like these, I'm glad my father made me learn all the languages when I was young. When I was one years old, I asked my nanny out of the blue, why she always wore the same sweater. I used a whole sentence, like I'm doing now. She was so shocked she informed my father. That started it all, the endless testing. I must have done every IQ test there is. In the end they deemed my brain unique with the way my mind retains information. It was the first thing my father liked about me. He saw his successor in me, even back then. So from that point on I got tutored every day in every subject imaginable. My brain is filled with all kinds of useless information. I never planned on taking over, at first I would, but when he would be gone, I would sell it, which I did, only sooner than I ever thought I would. I didn't love my father, as he didn't teach me what love is. So you can basically say I had a rather unique childhood. Only Lindsy and Mike know about this, I don't like talking about it. Some rather bad things happened as well, but let not get into that now. Now I need new clothes. The clerk shows me on a map where the first store is. He said we could walk there in 10 minutes. I thank him, and we go on our way. Arriving at the store, we dive in and browse through the clothes. I pick two ripped jeans, and like 6 t-shirts. I look where the underwear is and I find Mina looking through them for her size, I expect. "Any luck with the clothes?" She asked me. I lift my arm and show her the clothes draped over it. I browse the bras and pick three I like, I also find the matching panties and look over at Mina, who isn't there anymore. I turned on my spot and I saw Fiona making her way over to me. "You already finished?", she asks me, looking at the clothes in my arms. I nod happily at her, "Yes. You? And have you seen Mina, she was just here a minute ago?" She points towards the shoes and I frown, I don't understand that girl, first underwear, then shoes, but she doesn't have any shirts or pants or skirts, "I just need some underwear and then I'm done. You know, I really appreciate this, Thank you so much. It's weird though, did you see the others this morning.They all wore different clothes than yesterday. You think they knew? And why didn't we?", she rants on, without letting me get a word in between. I just nod, and check the time, 9.40 am. Okay, Mina has ten minutes left, then we need to leave or we'll be late. I groan, I hate rushing, things always go wrong for me when I'm in a hurry. Suddenly Mina is next to me, arms full of clothes. I eye them, she really did go overboard, and no thank you so far. Fiona and Mina are two very different people, I'm now glad I didn't say anything about the kiss in the dark being my soulmate. Mina definitely couldn't keep that to herself. I think I trust Fiona more at this point. "Ready?", Mina asks us, like she was waiting for us, I raise my eyebrows at Fiona and purse my lips. Internally I count to ten, or I'm going to blow up, and I still need to share rooms with her for the rest of the week. Fiona shrugs her shoulders and sighs like she is used to it. Well, I'm not, so it's very difficult for me right now. I bite my tongue and head to the cashier to pay for everything. I drop my clothes on the counter, and Fiona and Mina follow my example. I never realized that buying that many clothes at once, takes a lot of time to process. Fuck, now we need to rush more. When we all have our bags and everything is paid for, we leave the store and practically run back to the hotel. There is no time to drop the bags in our room. I see the others getting on the bus, and we barely make it in time. I look for a spot to sit, preferably a seat where I can stow the bags, without peaking someone's interest. As I take my seat, I see Luke eyeing me and the bags, he then bends his head towards Mandy and they whisper at each other. I really don't like the look of that. I store it in the back of my mind and look up when Fiona takes the seat next to me, leaving Mina to find a seat for herself. Normally those two are inseparable, I wonder what happened. Asswipe enters the bus, and the driver maneuvers the bus out onto the street. I don't know where the venue is, or what it is. The drive takes 25 minutes and I fill them chatting with Fiona. I find that when Fiona is alone, she isn't so insecure, or quiet. I guess Mina overpowers her, and Fiona lets her. I really like this Fiona, I never knew she was this funny, my belly aching from all the laughing. She isn't funny as in telling jokes, it's more a sarcastic dry humor, one I can really appreciate. When the bus stops, I look out the window and see we have arrived at a concert hall. We file out of the bus, and I can see the building more clearly. It's a very modern building, with lots of straight lines, the color scheme is also very modern, white with dark grey, and one single color to accent certain parts of the building. The choice, orange, and even though I personally don't like orange, it suits the building very well. The front has very high windows, at least three stories high, and looking through I can see a very grand staircase leading to the upper levels. A giant chandelier is hung over the lobby, it looks like a wind chime, and is beautiful. When everyone is off the bus, we follow Asswipe to the side of the building to a door marked, personnel only. He knocks and it opens right away, letting us in. The man shows us to the dressing rooms, and we go in and I change to my first outfit, Mandy was right, I'm one of the first to rehearse. I don't understand why we have to rehearse every time, but it, at least, kills the time. Next to hating to rush, I hate waiting even more. With nothing with me to occupy my mind, the day stretches on. Finally, it's time for the first show, and I stretch, warming my muscles before the performance. The order is the same as yesterday, so it's Luke and me opening the show, and Fiona, Mina and I closing the show. And at 7.30 pm we do it all again. Both shows got a standing ovation at the end, and the people left happy and satisfied. We leave exhausted and aching. On the bus ride to the hotel, I doze off, and awake with a jolt as someone shakes my shoulder. Luke's face is very close to mine and I jerk my head back to create some distance. "I'm awake now, so you can leave", I say. He sighs and turns around and leaves the bus. I get the bags I hid and leave the bus as well. I find Fiona waiting by the elevators, "Where's Mina?", I inquire. She looks a little angry and jerks her head to the left, and when I look that way, I see Mina and Mandy having the time of their life, laughing and flirting with some of the guys. I frown, Mina hates Mandy as much as Luke. Why are they like two peas in a pod now? The elevator arrives and we both get on, Mina has a key so we don't wait for her. "You want the shower first?", I ask Fiona, and she smiles, "can I really, that would be great, thank you." We ride the rest in silence, getting off on our floor, and entering our room. Fiona dumps her bags on the bed and goes straight into the bathroom, closing the door after her. I upend my bags and let everything fall on the bed, I then proceed and take all of the tags off. In the next few days I'll buy a bag, but for now the plastic ones I have will do. I lay down on my back and wait for Fiona to finish. When she gets out, I grab my stuff and enter the bathroom. I close the door, I don't bother locking, it's just us girls anyway. I put my clean clothes on the counter, turn the shower on and strip myself of the dirty clothes I've been wearing for two days straight. Anger boils inside of me again when I think about the suspicions I have. I get under the spray and let the water wash everything away, the grime, the dirt and even the negative emotions and thoughts. I wash myself with soap. It doesn't smell bad, but it's not my favorite. I get out and dry myself and sigh in relief after wearing the new clothes. Normally I would sleep naked, but now I wear my underwear. I brush my teeth and hair and leave the bathroom after. Mina isn't here yet, and Fiona is already sleeping. So I climb into my bed and turn my phone on. I couldn't get a charger today, so I left the phone off till now, it still has 34% battery life. As soon as the Wi-Fi is connected I hear the notifications and anticipation flows through me. Who is it going to be tonight? I open the app and grin at the messages.

Romeo: Hi Nadja. How are you? Having fun? The performance was so good. You really are very talented. It's boring here without you here. Even Though we're busy with the preparations for the crew's arrival.

Me: Hi Romeo. I'm good. You? You guys are busy? So you're not missing me then?

Romeo: So, so busy. But we do miss you. It would've been so much better if you were here, keeping us company while we prepare.

Me: I wish I could. We had two shows today, they oversold it. I'm exhausted. One of my roommate's is already sleeping. I don't know where the other one is. She's not here yet. I'm not sure she has a key. So how are the preparations coming along?

Romeo: They are coming along fine. Mike agreed to get the crew from the airport with Adam tomorrow.

Me: Oh that's nice. Thank him for me, would you?

Romeo: Of course. I'm sorry but I need to go to sleep. We still need to practice one more time tomorrow before shooting the MV. Goodnight Nadja. Sleep well and have all shows be great.

Me: Goodnight Romeo. You sleep well as well and have a great day tomorrow. Say hi to the others for me.

Romeo: Will do. Bye.

I close the app, and turn my phone off again. I put it on my night stand and snuggle under the covers, hugging the second pillow and let my mind drift off to one of the boys. I miss them, but him specifically. Just thinking of him fills me with a warmth and the feeling of being home. There was only one small period of my life where, I think, I learned what home means to me. Raised by my father till I was thirteen, didn't teach me what a home feels like. He was barely home, and I only saw him during dinner. A very silent dinner. It got filled with a little more life when my father adopted a fourteen year old boy, Sho is his name, my new brother. I was six years old. My father would talk to him during dinner, but never with me. If I wanted to talk to him, I had to make an appointment. Or when he came to visit me in my room, which consisted with only a bed and lots and lots of books, not anything other children my age had. I didn't mind it though, I didn't know any better till I was thirteen. So no home there, not one filled with feelings, everything was calculated and business-like, cold. When he died, I got sent to my next of kin, which was my sister, who is eighteen years older than me. She definitely didn't make me feel welcome, at all. By then she had three kids, one girl and two boys. I finally saw what life had to offer, which I never saw living with my father. I couldn't stay with her, so I ran away once I learned that my mother has a sister and a mother, who lived in another country. There I was welcomed for the first time. My aunt isn't a very warm person, but very friendly. She did things with me, like playing cards, or watching a movie. My grandmother took care of me. She was a sweet old lady, but she had asthma and couldn't do much, or she would be out of breath for minutes. A severe case, and in the end she got cancer, and then it went very fast. After the funeral I bought a piece of land, and built my house. I moved here, I couldn't keep living there, it hurt too much. Everything there would remind me of her. My thoughts linger on my soulmate, and with him in my mind, a smile comes on my face and I let oblivion take me.

The next morning I woke up, and got out of bed. Fiona was still passed out and it looked like Mina didn't come back, her side is untouched. Didn't she have a key? Or did she sleep somewhere else? I walk to the bathroom and do my morning routine. Clean and dressed, I exit the bathroom, and Fiona is sitting up in bed, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Didn't Mina come back last night?", she asks me as she looks to her right. I shrug my shoulders, "It doesn't look like it", I retort. An annoyed look crosses her face, but it's replaced quickly, I'm not sure I even saw it. I play with the remote to the TV while Fiona is in the bathroom, Flicking through the channels, I finally find something to peak my interest. It's a dance movie, a little weird one, it is sorta filmed like a documentary, but at the same time it's not, but the dancing is great. I watch till Fiona comes out of the bathroom, bringing steam with her when she opens the door. I join her by the door and we exit, and walk towards the elevator. The ride down is in silence, I peek at her and she looks mad, but sad, and I feel for her. I don't know what happened, but I don't want her to feel sad. I hate seeing people sad, I almost always cry when I see someone crying. The elevator reaches our desired floor and we exit, heading for the restaurant for breakfast. When we reach the table, I can see Mina sitting between Luke and Mandy, heads together, whispering. When they see me, they smirk, but I ignore them and pretend I don't see them. I can see Fiona tearing up, seeing Mina on the other side of the table. I rub her back, unseen by the others, because Fiona is ahead of me, by just a little. I put my phone on the table, and turn and head for the omelet station, today I feel like eggs, and some bread, to put the omelet on. When my omelet is finished, I take my seat and start to eat. I expect Fiona to take the seat beside me, but she sits down next to Aubrey. Did I do something? I internally shrug, but my mood sours, Asswipe plants himself next to me. Why does he want to torture me, this is not a good start of my day. He doesn't say anything, but I can see him stealing glances at me from the corner of my eye. I ignore him and finish my breakfast. I take my plate to the cart for used dishes and cutlery. I make my way to the lobby and ask the receptionist for the closest stores I need, like a bag and a charger, and a toothbrush. I've been using the one the hotel provides, but that is an inferior one. I exit the hotel and hail a taxi. I give him the store names and he drives off. The ride takes 20 minutes, but today I have more time. The taxi drops me off at my destination and I go into the first store. I select a bag, and pay. I exit the store and turn right. The whole street has stores on both sides, and I window-shop till the next store I need. I get my toothbrush and some other personal hygiëne products. At the cashier I have to wait my turn, and the guy who stands behind me, stands a little too close. I take a small step forwards, and he grabs my shoulder and turns my body slightly. "Hey, you wanna have some fun with me and my friends?", and he wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. I raise my eyebrows at him and shrug my shoulders, looking like I don't understand him, but I do. I just don't want to use my energy on saying no. His joyful face falls and I turn around. The line slowly crawls forward and finally it's my turn. I pay and go out of the store, while checking the time on my phone. I put my phone away and look for a taxi. I feel eyes on my back and I slowly turn, and see that same guy standing with his friends, looking at me. His friends look too and a chill runs over my body. I don't like the look of those two. I turn back and continue my search for a taxi. I walk in the direction of the hotel, in the hope to see a taxi somewhere. Fate is not agreeing with me today, no taxi in sight and I pick up my pace. When I have to go right for me to keep the hotel as my destination, I look to the street I came from, and the three men are following me. I rush forward and lose their line of sight and I dart into a store that has two entrances, one on each side. I rush to the other side of the store and exit. Hopefully this will help me to lose them. I don't wait to check, but turn left and speed walk. It takes me 30 minutes to reach the hotel, and gratefully I enter the lobby. The three men found me again, but fortunately for me, they couldn't catch up. I'm still rushing, and smash the elevator button impatiently, muttering to myself. When the doors finally open, I'm already inside before they are completely open, the three men can still enter the hotel. I'll only feel safe when I'm in my hotel room. When the doors open on the seventh floor, my mouth drops open at what I see. I pushed the button for the doors to close, I decided to give Fiona and Mina some privacy and go to the eight floor and walk to the stairs on the other side. From there I'll make my way down to the seventh and then my room, well our room. I'm not sure if they noticed me. I'll hear about it from them, that is if they did notice me. Finally safe in the hotel room, I sink down on the bed and feel the adrenaline leave my body. I feel clammy and sweaty, so I groan and get up to take another shower.

Coming out of the bathroom, I lay down on my bed, plug my phone on the charger and set an alarm, I'm going to take a nap. I get woken by the alarm three hours later. I sit up, and rub my eyes with both hands, yawning widely. I look around and I'm still alone in the hotel room. I freshen up a little and go down to the lobby. I see Alfred sitting on one of the couches placed around the lobby, making it look cozy and inviting, and it works, as the couches are filled with all different kinds of people. Business men and women, tourists, families, and us. Alfred is totally immersed in his comic, when I plop down next to him he doesn't even react in any way. "Hello, what are you reading?", I lean in and look at the page exposed to me, a lot of drawn fists and feet kicking, and words like, pow and bam. Clearly some fighting manga. He still doesn't respond and I nudge him with my elbow. At the contact his head shoots in my direction and he looks scared, "it's just me", I laugh at his expression. He scratches his neck and smiles sheepishly at me, "sorry, once I start, I can't stop." I nod, understanding completely, "I know how that feels. And are you having fun on this tour so far?" He closes his comic and turns his body more my way, he folds his hand on his lap and shrugs, "It's nice, but nothing really special has happened yet. And how about you?", he asks back. I tilt my head and shrug, "Mwah, pretty uneventful so far, I wish I could go home. Staying at hotels so suddenly. Tell me something, how come you all have clean clothes with you? Did you all know beforehand?" He frowns, and looks confused, "Uh, yeah. Didn't you?", I shake my head slowly, that fucking Asswipe, why? Why? I just don't understand. "No, Fiona, Mina and I didn't have clean clothes with us. I never got a call telling me about this", and I wave my arm around, indicating the lobby. He still looks confused, "weird, we all got a call on Tuesday." I zone out, deep in thought, why leave us three out? Or maybe just me? Fiona and Mina are playing along to fool me? A body plops itself down beside me, the couch dipping, and it pulls me out of my mind, looking to my right, and my eyes almost pop out of my head. My heart hammering, breath increased. What is he doing here? How is he here? Is he alone?