Chapter 10 NEW LIFE
El woke up with the sun's reflection on her face, but her eyes were closed. This was the first time in years she had slept this long. Maybe it was because she was exhausted yesterday from all the crying and thinking, but she had never felt so refreshed in her life. She was surprised at the way she felt because she slept by 2:00 am. She turned to her side on the bed, facing the window which was usually covered with curtains.
'How could the sun reflect in her room with covered curtains?' she thought as she blinked her eyelids slowly. It was closed when she slept earlier in the morning. Confused, she opened her eyes and sat up straight on her bed, rubbing her face with her left palm, before turning back to the direction of the window.
'Was she hallucinating last night when she saw the closed curtain?' This was strange, she thought but she stopped herself from making any assumptions. Maybe she opened it before sleeping, but she couldn't recall because of how exhausted she was, she concluded in her head as she stared at the sun which was visible from the window.
'It doesn't look like it just rose,' she murmured sighing, before turning to the alarm on top of her drawer close to her bed. She was dumbstruck when she saw it was almost 10. Was she sleeping for that long? But how could she not have known when the alarm rang? She rubbed her face once more with her palm.
Why was everything so strange this morning? First the curtains, and now her alarm? She wanted to stand up from her bed to check the alarm when she suddenly saw the silhouette of a person standing at the door of her room, and she jerked up from the bed in fear.
"Who are you?" She was terrified and her voice shook slightly.
It was an unfamiliar face. The huge figure that stood in front of her wore a neat black suit, with a pair of neatly polished black shoes. His blonde hair was tucked backward. He should be 7.5 feet, she guessed and his hands were folded to his back as he stood. He doesn't look like someone who would come to kidnap her or a pervert. He looks like a person who is working.
"I'm sorry to startle you miss Eleanor. My name is Jordan. I'm your new personal guard ordered to follow you anywhere you want to." He bowed.
"And who gave you this silly order?"
"Mr. Antonio Welsh, miss."
'Really? A personal guard?' Well, she wasn't surprised, if he could marry her off to the graysons, he can do anything. She smiled bitterly. But this was upsetting. Is her father thinking she was going to run away? What she had learned in the six years she left her father's house was that running doesn't change anything. It just proves that you're a coward, and even if she wanted to run, there was no place she would run to on earth that the Graysons wouldn't find. This was her new life and she had accepted it, but why bring a personal guard to monitor her every movement? She was getting angry, but she managed to control it.
"And did Mr. Welsh ask you to go into a girl's room very early in the morning, and stare at her for God knows how long?"
"No Miss Eleanor, that was my mistake. I'm sor..."
"Get out," she cut him off "I don't want to hear whatever it is you want to say." He bowed and left her room.
She stared at the huge figure as he left her room, and she stood up when he closed the door. She couldn't believe this. Her life had turned from a normal peaceful one to a prisoner's life where she's been watched every hour of her life by a guard. How the hell did he get into her suite? Her suite's door had a card insertion and a password lock, and she knew the hotel never reveals their customer's private information. She had her card with her, and the only people that knew her password were she and "Adrian," she said out loud. For a moment she forgot that her best friend, an ex-best friend she corrected herself had betrayed her, and she hadn't changed the password of her suite.
She stood up on her feet, and her gaze shifted back to her alarm.
"No wonder I feel so refreshed. He turned off my alarm," she soliloquized and sighed again. This was one disadvantage of marrying into a wealthy family - the invasion of privacy. Besides, since she was getting married into the most influential people's family, she needed security especially when she was living alone. She had accepted her fate last night. She just has to bear with this for a year, and then everything will be over, and she'll have her life back again. She walked to the bathroom to take a shower.
She came out of her room wearing a white pair of joggers with a white sleeveless crop top and walked straight to the dining to her already served breakfast, which she ate. After eating, she walked to the living room, picked up her laptop from the table, and walked to the couch where she sat on.
"Are you going to keep watching me?" She asked the huge man who stood fifteen feet from her.
"Yes, Miss," he bowed.
"I can't work when I'm being watched."
"I'm sorry Miss," he turned around backing her, but still stood at the same spot.
"What are you doing? I thought I asked you to give me some privacy?" She asked irritated.
"I'm sorry Miss, but I was ordered to always be at a very close distance from you, except under special circumstances like when you're asleep, or in the bathroom, and when you're in your closet."
"And does a close distance mean a maximum of fifteen feet?"
"That was the maximum feet I was instructed to stay away from you."
"What the fuck!!!" She knew she agreed to endure for a year, but this was beyond taking safety measures. She was actually being treated like a fugitive. Even fugitives weren't watched like this. They are given space and privacy. He's depriving her of her freedom of privacy, just as he had deprived her of her freedom to marry whoever she wanted. He is controlling her whole life, and there was nothing she could do about it. She smiled bitterly.
She picked up her phone and dialed a number.
"Hey," she said when the person picked up "let's meet."