9| The Mysterious Man's Lover

It was Thursday afternoon, Professor Ivan and I were debating whether it would be a good idea to remove one of the trees and take them to a different location to see whether they would adapt or not to the new environment. I thought it was too early to make the decision, the tree had not fully matured, but Professor Ivan thought it was an excellent time since this was the time in their growth line where they adapted easily.

Normally I would have agreed, but due to the fact there were only three we knew of we had to be very careful. If something had to go wrong and the tree were to die, we would lose one candidate for our future studies. I was the head of the botanical science team for the Royals so at the end of the day I had final say, but I always wanted everyone to be on the same page.

"How about we wait until after my meeting with the King? From there we will make a decision with his advised opinion," I sighed and rubbed my temples. We had been discussing this for the past two hours with supporting research and we had not even made a dent in the argument.

Professor Ivan pursed his lips then pushed his glasses up with his finger, "I can agree to that."

"Thank you. I was going to start pulling out my hair," Andrea leaned against his chair. We were sitting in their office and my skin was itching to just get back to my hotel room and take a relaxing bath. Today had been too intense and grueling. I truly needed a break.

Before I could say anything my phone rang in my pocket, "excuse me for a second," I said quickly then left the two men. When I pulled out my phone when I was a good distance away, I did not recognize the number that was calling me. I answered it nonetheless, "Cloud Belmont speaking."

"Cloud, hello," a deep voice said from the other side.

It took me a minute to piece the voices together but when I did a smile immediately spread on my lips, "Ezekiel. I wasn't expecting a call," call me a fool but I kicked an imaginary pebble of the floor, and paced up and down with a blush on my cheeks.

"I know, but I just thought I would check in on you," he let out a breathy chuckle.

"Thank you Ezekiel," I chuckled at how reserved and shy he suddenly sounded.

"How has your day been?"

"Terrible. I've been having a debate with my colleagues, barely had sleep last night and I would be lying if I said I was not excited to come back home," I sighed. Normally I enjoyed these trips but the discovery of a new species left a lot of responsibility on my shoulders.

"I'm sorry for that. How about after you come back home, we meet up Saturday?"

"Of course. Oh and Ezekiel thank you for the presents," I blushed once again.

"It's my pleasure. I have to go but I'll call you tonight."

"Looking forward to it," I smiled as if he could see me.

"Me too. Bye Cloud."

"Bye Ezekiel." With that I ended the call and quickly saved his number before it magically disappeared.

"Who's the lucky lady?" someone said behind me. I screamed and nearly dropped my phone when I jumped away. I quickly turned around and found Andrea standing there with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. He raised his hand which held a lighter and lit it. We were standing outside so it was no problem that he was smoking.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack," I huffed and tried to calm down my rapid heart rate.

"My bad," he chuckled as he blew out smoke, "so who's the lucky lady?"

"There's no lady," I rolled my eyes and sat down by the bench.

"So you were just smiling and laughing with yourself," he raised his left eyebrow, almost like he did not believe me.

"No I was speaking to a friend. A male friend," I defended.

He kept quiet for a bit and just stared at me, "So you're gay?"

I nearly choked on air as I processed his words, "No! Why would you think that?"

"I just figured. You had this love sick expression on your face as you were speaking to your friend," he waved his hand and smirked.

I scoffed and looked away from him, "we have no romantic feelings towards each other."

"I heard you mentioned something about gifts. He got you a gift?"

"Yes," I shrugged. He looked at me as if waiting for more. "He got me sunglasses, a cap, box of chocolates, sunscreen and a new journal. Oh, plus this necklace I'm wearing." It was the first time I had ever told anyone about Ezekiel's gifts and I was wondering how it sounded to others.

"And you are sure he has no romantic feelings towards you?"

"He's is not the type. Plus with the way he is I am pretty sure I am not his type," it did not really bother me that I was not his type. I had no attraction to men so how would something like that bother me.

"A man who spoils you with so many gifts definitely feels something towards you Cloud, but that is just my opinion. Don't be out for too long the research team will be back in a few minutes," he pressed his cigarette in the ash tray on the table then left.

I sat there wondering what the hell he was talking about, but Andrea always had opinions on everything. He must have been overthinking the situation.

After the meetings I decided to explore the city a bit more and go to their small boutiques just off the coastal line. The beach here always had the most unique stores that I could not leave without getting something.

After almost an hour I had gotten my mother a new beautiful handmade handbag made out of a straw material, my father a new apron since the last one almost caught on fire. Long story. Adriano a box of socks that had vegetables on them since that was his new obsession and Gino a small collection of crystals since he believed they did wonders for him.

The only problem I had was Ezekiel. I had no idea what to get him. At first I saw a very unique tie, but wondered did he even wear suits. He was always dressed in hoodies and sweatpants so the chances of that was extremely low. Then I saw a really interesting book about the local environment. We always talked about plants and animals so I ended up buying it just in case.

Although, it did not feel like it was enough. His gifts were always so considerate that I felt a bit hopeless. What was I going to do? Just as I lost all hope I passed an antique jewelry store and went inside. After a five minute search, I saw a beautiful bracelet inside a small blue box with a velvet interior.

The bracelet itself had cobalt glass beads that had a sort of glowing effect on each consecutive bead. One of the beads which I figured to be the front of the bracelet was fully gold with what seemed to be an engraving of a tree. The colors reminded me of the Royal Family tree we always met under and I thought it was perfect. It was our spot if you had to say.

The thing itself was pricey but I happily paid for it. I could not wait for Ezekiel's response when I gave it to him. I happily made my way back to the hotel, took a shower, and had dinner, than waited for his call. It seemed sometime during my wait I had fallen asleep.

My body jolted awake when I heard my phone ring. It was eleven pm and I almost ignored it until I saw Ezekiel's name written on the screen.

"Hello," I spoke into the speaker and mentally recoiled when I heard my own voice. It was hoarse and extremely scratchy.

"Did I wake you?" Ezekiel's chuckle rumbled through the speaker.

"Yes, sorry I fell asleep," I cleared my throat and sat up.

"Should I call back tomorrow morning? I understand if you are tired."

"No, no I'm fine. Just had a long day," I sighed. "How was your day?"

"Busy as always. I'm surprised I'm still alive." I could hear the exhaustion in his voice as he spoke.

"You should have an early night in. I'm coming home tomorrow I was wondering if we could meet up then. My mum wants me to visit Saturday so she probably won't let me out of her sight," I laughed lowly. To be honest my mum never called, but I just really wanted to see Ezekiel. Since my conversation with Andrea I could not stop thinking about him.

"I'm sure I will be free. It will be nice to have you around again. I've never realized how bored I was until I met you," he chuckled.

For some reason his words had blood rushing to my face. What if Andrea was right? Just before I could ask what had been playing on my mind all day I heard a voice from the other side of the speaker.

"Are you busy?" a female voice said.

My heart fell.

"I'm just talking on the phone. Do you need anything?" he answered.

"You promised we were going to watch a movie. It's been almost an hour," she whined.

"I'll be there in a second let me finish this call. Get the popcorns ready," he teased causing the woman to laugh. "Cloud I have to go, but I can't wait to see you."

It took me a second to answer as I got over the foreign emotion I was feeling. "Me too. Goodnight Ezekiel." I did not even wait for his response and quickly ended the call.

What was I thinking! It was probably his girlfriend or worse! His wife and here I was thinking he might have had feelings for me. What did it matter if he did! I was not attracted to men. Ezekiel must have just been extremely friendly and a giver. Why did I have to twist it around and make it some lame soapy?

As I threw myself back onto the bed and tried to force myself to fall asleep I could not ignore the feeling in my chest. Why did it bother me so much that he did not like me?