POV: Lianne Dievin

It was the third day of our stay here at the Since Resort. Jen woke me up from her ever special alarm tone in my cellphone, saying that she will be with her newfound boyfriend, Roland, the whole day.

Alona and Rachel had already informed us last night that they would go horseback riding today. So now, that leaves me on my own. The advantage of it now was that I can choose whatever activities I wanted to do this day. And speaking of activities, I decided to play Sherlock Homes.

I went down to the customer information section and showed the male attendant the old rusted key I found at my doorstep. I was wondering if this was a duplicate of Madame Brenda’s key to the storage room.

He did took a careful inspection of it and then informed me that it wasn’t the key to the storage room. It was actually a key to another room. He told me that it was a long lost key for a very special quarter at the mansion. It was located at the north wing, third floor of the mansion, but nobody was allowed to enter there anymore. It was rumored to be some important royal chamber, maybe the chamber for the King or Queen.

Like the dungeon, that room was also shown to the public. A month after the dungeon was closed, it was also closed. Following that, the room’s key strangely disappeared making Madame Brenda and the cleaners unable to get inside.

The attendant asked me how I found the key. I wanted to tell him the truth, but I was confused myself, so I decided to tell him a lie. I just said that I found it in one of my room’s cabinet. He also instructed me to hand it over to Madame Brenda so she could keep it, but I was doubtful to give it though.

In exchange for the key, I wittingly made a bargain to the attendant and requested him if I could see the room he was talking about. In my mind, I believe that the mysterious man gave it to me. There might be some reason why. I just don’t know how it connects to the special chamber. This is exactly why I must go there.

Luckily, he agreed and allowed me to go with the key in hand and the mini map of the third floor to where the special chamber was. He did offer himself to escort me there, but I declined.

I held the old rusted key in my right hand and curiously, slowly walked up to the third floor. There were five carpeted marble stairs in the four corners of the mansion, the fifth of which was located at the center and the one I chose to ascend to the third floor. There were also elevators situated in the main hallway of the mansion, but I didn’t actually thought of using it.

Instantly, as I step on the maroon, Persian-printed carpet, I felt my heart pounding hard. It was totally an unusual feeling.

I scanned the entire floor and was in awe.

It was definitely huge! The foyer was very spacious. It had three violet crystal chandeliers hung at the ceiling and in the middle of the foyer were Victorian-designed sofa sets. If the second floor had a lot of scenic paintings bolted at the walls, here it is four times more. The windows had drapes of damask royal blue color, blocking the rays of the sunlight, making the room a bit gloomy as compared to the second floor. For me, this floor really had a different aura.

I studied the mini map the attendant had given me and twisted my lips. The thing sure was giving me a hard time.

‘Where are you? Where are you?, ’ my mind mumbled.

And then I found it.

‘Ah, there you are.’

My eyes rested on the name of the room. It was called the VIP room.

I headed on my way, walking the length of the foyer until I reached a hallway in the right. I walked straight in it until I found another grand staircase. Ahead of it, was a sole large door. As I looked up and stared at it, I immediately felt a strong presence pulling me.

There was a long golden rope tied in the thigh-high steel beams placed in front covering the span of the door. I assumed it was placed as a boundary separating it from much of the third floor’s hallway. From the way it was painted, I can definitely tell apart from the other rooms that this was the special chamber I had been looking for.

The seven feet tall door was painted with gold and brown, with specific carvings of the sun, dragons and chimeras, and what looked like a crest. I was standing in its front, wide eyed and my knees, shaking.

Her hands were trembling as she slowly slid the key on the socket, then gently turned the door knob and slightly pushed open the door.

There was a gush of wind that greeted Lianne’s face as soon as it was open. It was weird. For a moment there, she thought she smelled a sweet aroma of jasmine burning in the fire. She couldn’t help but notice her heart hammering with great strength. There was definitely an undeniably strong force drawing her inside the room.

She found herself standing at the center of the lounging area below a beautiful, unlit, Regency-style chandelier. The room also had antique furniture, but what caught her attention more was that it didn’t have any trace of dust in it. Knowing that this room was untouched for many years, how could it have been so neat as if someone occupied it? Much more, the fireplace!

When she looked at her left, she saw, to her astonishment, the fireplace already aflame with its low light covering half the lounge area. It seems to her that this room wasn’t empty of guests at all. She noticed an open glass door adjacent to the fireplace leading to a balcony outside just like in her room and noticed that it wasn’t sunny anymore. It looked like it was going to rain hard.

The fresh fire, the clean furniture, and the open balcony door, convinced her that there’s really someone inside the room. She had thought that maybe she was in a wrong room, but the key fitted so perfectly.

Panic and fear began to creep inside her nerves. It was clear to see that she was trespassing and thinking about this, she decided to head back to her room quickly. But, just as she turned around, she found herself being observed by a shadowy figure of a man leaning back at the closed door.

‘How?! I didn’t hear the door close!’ Lianne thought to herself.

“I ah... I’m sorry for trespassing Sir. I made a mistake. Forgive me for my intrusion.” Lianne’s lips quivered.

Although she knew that she hadn’t made a mistake, she had to lie this time.

She waited for the man to respond, but he didn’t.

She began to sweat slightly and felt her fingers tremble in fear. She couldn’t make out the man’s face because from where he stood the low light of the fire didn’t reach.

“I...I’m sorry again to invade your privacy Sir, but if...if it would be okay, I would like to go out of your room now. Could...could you kindly open the door Sir, so I can go out?” she said, her voice stuttering.

Silence. Hard silence.

The man was still giving her silence and it made Lianne frightened even more. If only she could visibly see his face. He was standing there in the dark like some vampire movie in which the vampire was ready to prey on his victim. She had not come across this kind of situation before.

But suddenly, a thought crossed her mind.

‘Could it be?!’ she asked to herself immediately. He might be the mysterious man I have been looking for!

Her eyes widened at the thought of it. She wanted to clarify it. Believing that the mysterious man was the one who gave her the key leading her to this special room, maybe this unknown man in her front was really him! There was instantly a mixture of thrill and anxiety inside her.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you go, now that I have found you, my love, Lianne, ” the man finally said in disagreement, breaking the silence surrounding them. His voice was smooth, with a dark tone roped with it. Lianne’s breath was caught in her throat.

The unknown man slowly stepped into the light of the burning fire effectively showing his features. He was wearing a black long-sleeved turtleneck shirt and black pants while crossing his hands to his chest. He was attractively standing about six feet tall. She was just at shoulder length to him. His eyes looked aflame, staring deeply at her.

To Lianne’s disappointment, the man wasn’t ‘him’ at all. He has a long black hair unlike the mysterious man which is dark brown. It was tied simply and neatly at the back. He had what looked like a cross-shaped earring in his left ear and a few strands of his hair were tousled slightly.

He was handsome, yes, Lianne could undeniably agree to that, but there was something about this man that screamed danger for her.

A lightning suddenly appeared just a few inches out of the balcony making Lianne jerk in reflex. She turned quickly to the glass door looking outside and concluded it was going to rain soon, quite a rather fitting weather for the dangerous situation she was in.

Her attention returned to the man when she felt a faint gush of wind on her arms. To her astonishment, he was now at close proximity to her. She looked at him, surprised, with her jaw dropping a little.

His eyes, at close inspection, sure was ethereal. It was enough to make her lose her focus.

“Lianne...”

He spoke her name softly, but directly grabbed her left arm with force and pulled her head with the other towards his face as if he was about to kiss her.

Lianne was stunned, but she quickly realized what was about to happen. Her reflexes started to act, adrenaline pumping in her veins, and without any hesitation, she pushed him back. She locked her arms to her chest as if guarding her from the intruder and took a few steps back wanting to get as much distance from him as possible.

“Who are you?!” Lianne cried. “How did you know my name? And- and you have absolutely no right to mistreat me like that!”

She was fuming with anger. Her eyes started to accumulate tears, but she tried to keep herself from crying. She thought it would certainly show that she is weak.

He, in the other hand, was not surprised with her sudden reaction. He just grinned and continued to advance towards her, gazing at her with fervor.

“Have you already forgotten about me? From everything we have been through?” he asked.

As he stepped closer to her, she in the other hand, walked back not wanting for them to come in contact again. She kept her composure intact and tried hard to keep her tears from falling.

“Please, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I want to go out now Sir. My friends are looking for me for sure, ” Lianne pleaded, but to no avail.

“I have longed for you so much Lianne, ” he said, eyeing her with so much devotion.

She reached at the edge of the lounge area, standing in front of a door frame to another area of the room. He had something in him she just couldn’t deny. How could he say such things when it was their first time meeting? How could he be inexplicably so affectionate yet so callous in his actions? Amidst those striking, warm gaze he sent her, still she felt troubled.

“Lianne, how I have longed for your return...” he concluded upon cornering her from where she stood and then gently touched her cheeks.

Although such words would have made her melt in his arms right then and there, she found her hands turning the knob of the door on her back opening it, making her fall back down into the entrance.

This area of the room was definitely cold as oppose to the lounge area. It was also dim, but the curtains were transparent white making the blue spotlights outside the mansion pass through lighting the room slightly. She looked up and scanned the area and that was when she realized the danger she was in.