Chapter 6
Tiara Qaleesya
Knock! Knock! Knock!
I froze as I heard someone knocking on the bedroom door. Someone opened the door.
"Rissa, Uncle Harris called just now, asking if you forgot you've gotta go to the pub tonight. He seemed irritated, okay," said Rina, Daniel's younger sister.
Narissa quickly glanced at her watch. "Oops, I'm awfully late! Dad's gonna be mad! Alright, Tiara, bye! See you tomorrow! Bye, Rina!" cried Narissa. I heard her footsteps as she left the room.
"Narissa! Wait a minute!" called out Isma to her.
"What's this?" asked Narissa.
"Dinner. Mom made some extra specially for you and Uncle Harris, so you won't have to eat from a restaurant tonight, at least," explained Isma.
"Aww, that's so sweet of Aunt Laura. Where is she? Tell her she's the best aunt in the whole wide world! Thank you very much for the dinner! Bye, Isma, bye, Rina, see you guys tomorrow!" squealed Narissa, before she left.
"Mom's in the kitchen. I'll tell her your message, bye, Narissa!" called out Isma to her.
***
The next day was a Sunday, so everyone in Daniel's family stayed home the whole morning. I noticed that no one had brought up the topic about me staying here to Daniel after the conversation that had ensued when I had first arrived here. Narissa and Uncle Harris came over around later that morning. Narissa, Mila, Rina, Daniel and I played simple blindfold games as I was blind, in their effort to keep Mila busy.
We had lots of fun, I couldn't deny. The last time I had played games like this, feeling so happy, had been the times when Rats had been with me before my engagement to Darien. I still missed those special moments I had shared with Rats.
That evening, I sat in the garden behind Daniel's house, smiling to myself, thinking about how much I had enjoyed myself that morning.
"Tiara? What're you doing here all alone?" I was startled when I heard Uncle Harris's voice somewhere in front of me.
"Oh... umm... they were here a few minutes ago, I mean, Daniel, Mila, Narissa and Rina. I didn't know they had gone. They must have gone back into the house, Uncle," I replied.
"Ah yeah, I saw them inside the house when I came out just now," Uncle Harris paused, "Tiara... uh... Tiara, don't be offended, I know you're blind and you've come in search of your husband... but you just don't belong here... you don't belong in this house. I'm sorry but your stay here is not welcome. I'm really sorry, Tiara, but people in our neighbourhood have been asking about you and Daniel since this morning. Some are even suspecting whether you're his wife, Tiara, that's the problem.
You should know that in less than six weeks, my daughter, Narissa, will be getting married to Daniel. She's my only daughter and her marriage is very important to me. I don't think it's a good idea for you to be staying here just a few weeks before their marriage. Here, you can have this blank cheque. Take how much money you want from my bank account and leave this place as soon as you can, Tiara."
I just stared straight ahead, unsure of what to say or do, as Uncle Harris placed a cheque on my hand.
After a minute or so, I heard Daniel's voice nearby, "Tiara, what are you doing here all alone?"
Daniel took the cheque from my hand.
"A blank cheque? Did Uncle Harris give you this? I saw him walking back into the house just now, and I was wondering what he was doing here. What did he tell you?" inquired Daniel.
I related to Daniel what Uncle Harris had said to me.
"I can't believe Uncle Harris said this to you. Come, Tiara," said Daniel through gritted teeth, as he held my hand and strode back into the house, holding the blank cheque in his other hand.
"Where's Uncle Harris?" demanded Daniel as Isma walked out of the kitchen.
"He just went back next door with Narissa. Why, Daniel?" asked Isma.
"I've got something to say to him," snapped Daniel before heading next door, holding my hand so I had to follow him.
"Daniel? You've come over?" Uncle Harris started to speak as we walked into his house. But Uncle Harris fell silent as Daniel, still holding my hand, though I was standing behind him, steered me forward so I would be standing by his side.
"I've got something to say to you and your daughter, Narissa. Where is she?" barked Daniel.
"Let me call her," said Uncle Harris, as he turned towards the staircase to go upstairs.
"No need for that! Even if she's upstairs, I'm sure she can hear me! Narissa!" Daniel called out.
"Daniel? You came over?" asked Narissa in surprise, from the head of the staircase.
"Yes, I've come to tell you and your father something important! Come downstairs!" ordered Daniel.
Narissa sprinted down the stairs; her face flustered.
"Uncle Harris, let me tell you something! I may have agreed to marry your daughter in six weeks, but now, I have decided that I will only have my wedding after I've found Tiara's husband, Darien Caruso! And until then, Tiara will stay in my house! You have no right to tell her to leave! She will stay in my house, that's it! And if it takes longer than six weeks for me to find her husband, then I don't care; I will postpone the wedding again until after I've found her husband, get it?
You may be my Dad's friend, but you have betrayed me! Instead of supporting me and helping me to find Darien, you're trying to get rid of Tiara from here by giving her a blank cheque! Thank you very much, Uncle Harris, but here, you can keep this cheque! She doesn't need it. I will look after her until I find Darien. And surely, Darien will be able to look after his own wife after that!" Daniel turned to Narissa, before continuing, "Did you hear me, Narissa? We won't get married until after I have found Darien, get it?"
"Yes." Narissa answered fretfully.
Still holding my hand, Daniel walked out of the house with me behind him.
After a moment of silence as we were standing outside his house, I said, "You shouldn't have spoken like that to Uncle Harris. All he wants is to see his daughter married happily as soon as possible, Daniel."
"He deserved that," muttered Daniel, still fuming with anger.
"But Daniel," I started off, but Daniel interrupted me, "No, Tiara! You don't have to tell me what to do! I know what I'm doing, okay?"
I just remained silent, giving in to his words, as usual.
***
While Mila was sleeping that evening, Daniel brought me to the terrace of his house as his parents were out.
"My parents never let me or my sisters come upstairs to the terrace since we were kids. I forgot about that after my accident, and I came upstairs one night. I was stunned by the view here. It's just so beautiful when the stars are all out, twinkling in the sky; if only you could see it. But I got scolded for coming up here since the walls surrounding this terrace are too low, so we could fall off by accident. But I still love coming up here when my parents are out; it's so calming with the breeze and all," Daniel trailed off.
I smiled a bit as I sat on the low wall, surrounding the terrace.
"Excuse me, what are you doing here, Danny?" asked Rina, standing at the head of the stairs, leading to the terrace.
"Excuse me, that's what I should be asking you, Miss Rina, what're you doing here? Don't you know that you're not allowed upstairs?" asked Daniel.
"Have you forgotten that you're also not supposed to come upstairs, Mr. Danny?" asked Rina accusingly.
"You listen to me and go downstairs now," ordered Daniel.
"If you can stay in the terrace, then I can also stay here for a while," objected Rina.
"I'm your elder brother telling you this, go downstairs," reprimanded Daniel.
Rina sighed and trudged towards the staircase and down a step or two, gloomily.
"Mom's here!" Rina cried in alarm, turning back to face Daniel.
"Mom's back? What? Oh my gosh! Come, Tiara!" exclaimed Daniel as he grabbed my hand and charged towards the stairs in a hurry.
"Why're you scared, Danny?" asked Rina in sarcasm.
"Huh? Mom's gonna be mad if she knows that I came upstairs to the terrace!" cried Daniel. Rina just laughed.
I frowned a bit. Was Daniel's mother really home or had Rina just lied to him?
Daniel paused and walked towards the other end of the terrace and look down at the car shed outside his house.
"You liar!" he exclaimed as he turned to face Rina.
"Oh my gosh! Tiara, save me!" Rina laughed as she ran towards me to slip from Daniel's catch.
Soon, Rina and Daniel were playing and running around the terrace; Daniel trying to catch Rina while she tried to run away.
"You can't catch me! You can't catch me!" chanted Rina.
"Oh yes I can! I'm coming to catch you!" shouted Daniel in response.
For a second, I smiled but in an instant, my smile vanished as tears escaped my eyes before I could stop them. Rats... it was with him I had enjoyed several moments like this playing and irritating each other for fun. I had never had a brother or a sister. I had never known how it would be to have one and into that empty slot in my life, Rats had entered. But he had never thought of me in that sense. And I never realized that till it was too late.
As a tear trickled down my cheek, I realized that Daniel's and Rina's voices had been dropped to a whisper.
"What happened, Tiara?" asked Rina in concern, while Daniel remained silent.
"No... nothing... it just reminded me of how I used to play with my brother before," I replied quickly.
As Daniel was about to speak, he was interrupted by Isma, who was standing at the head of the stairs in the terrace, asking, "Excuse me, may I know what's going on here?"
"What are you doing here?" exclaimed Rina and Daniel in unison.
"Why can't I be here? You two, I mean, you three are here upstairs, then why should I sit there downstairs with nothing to do?" asked Isma.
"Excuse me, you are pregnant!" objected Rina and Daniel in unison, folding their arms.
"So? I'm your elder sister. So if you can be here, then I surely can," said Isma coolly.
"But no one's allowed here, remember? And I thought you're a very goody-goody girl who never does anything Mom or Dad won't like; you can't be here," stated Rina.
"Oh come on, I wanna have some fun now, I'm really bored. So I'm gonna stay here with you till you both go back down," insisted Isma.
"Fine, you can stay here under one condition," said Daniel.
"What's that?" asked Isma.
"One very harsh condition... just kidding, you have to talk to Dad and Mom and get them to agree to something," informed Rina.
"And what is that?" inquired Isma, looking worried.
"Make them agree to let Tiara and her daughter stay here until I find her husband," said Daniel.
"Oh... is that all?" asked Isma, glancing from Daniel to Rina and back to Daniel again.
"Yes," confirmed Rina.
Isma smiled, before confessing, "Actually, I had already been thinking along the lines of telling Mom and Dad that. I like Tiara and Mila too."
"So... deal? You'll talk to Mom and Dad about them?" crosschecked Rina.
"Deal," confirmed Isma.
"Great," said Daniel, with a smile.
I closed my eyes in despair; it made no difference as usual. What were they saying? What did they know about me, my life... or my background? Were the Sorrens family saying that they want me to stay here because they like me or because they want to risk their lives by letting me stay here?
"Now, do you believe me, Tiara? I will do anything for you. I will look after you. I will protect you. I won't let them do this to us, Tiara," Rats voice echoed in my ears, saying the exact words he had said to me the last time I had come to this city, after being kidnapped and brought here, a few days before my engagement to Darien. As per his words, Rats had eliminated everyone, leaving me alone with my child now. But I had never asked him for this. Why are you doing this to me, Rats?
To be continued...
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