PAPER VOWS Novel Chapter 12

“What time is it?” I ask, my head still under the blankets. I know Kelly is somewhere in the room. Kelly is my helper. She does everything I tell her to and goes everywhere I tell her to.

Today is a Saturday, I don’t plan on getting out of bed anytime soon. Maybe the only thing that will get me out of bed is showering and eating. My stomach is starting to complain. I haven’t touched my phone since the sun came out, so maybe that too.

“It’s now ten minutes after eleven am, Miss Willow,” Kelly finally answers.

“Eleven? Why didn’t you wake me up?”

Kelly pauses for a second, as if she is thinking about her response, “I tried to wake you up, Miss Willow. You told me not to wake you up if I wanted to keep my job.”

“Run a bath for me. I am ready for my bath now.”

I get out of bed and stretch. I am wearing my white pajama set that has pink bears on it. It’s shorts and a string top. I got these as a birthday gift from my grandmother. That reminds me, I need to visit her – I am always promising to visit her, but life gets in the way.

I walk towards the window and look outside. I am on the second floor of my parents’ mansion. My family is one of the richest families in GoldenRock. We might not be billionaires or millionaires, but we are rich and respected in GoldenRock. My family is so rich that I have never worked in all my thirty-eight years on this earth. I still live with both my parents, and they take good care of me.

“Your bath is ready, Miss Willow,”

“Can you get something to wear for me. Something comfy, I will be indoors all day.” I get my phone from the bedside table and head to the bathroom. I plan on going through my messages while relaxing in the tub. My phone has been off since last night – I needed a quiet night.

Messages flood in as soon as I switch on my phone. I swear, everyone always wants a piece of me. This is why I always switch off my phone. As much as being rich is fun, it’s also overwhelming when it comes to having a social life. Everyone is always trying to get a piece of me; journalists, newspapers and radios always want to write about me.

The first topic I see when I log into Twitter is Dante and his new woman trending. I see he has moved on. Who is this woman? She is not even famous according to these reports. It seems they are all over the new paper’s social media pages. I scoff when I see a picture of her smiling and kissing Date. What is Dante Lyon up to? The Dante I know is very private.

Instead of moving on from it and focusing on other things, I start look for this girl, it’s not even that hard to find her. She seems like an ordinary person. Not even pretty if you ask me. Why would Dante choose someone like this? She is a downgrade from me.

I won’t lie, it stings a little that she is all over the media like this, yet he didn’t want anyone to know we were together. We hid our relationship until it ended. Not even my family knew I was dating Dante Lyon. He always said it was best that we keep things hidden, yet now he is showing his new girlfriend all over social media. When they say the other gender will embarrass you, this is exactly what they mean. He always wanted to keep things lowkey with us. He was never around until I gave up. A year later, he is happy with another woman.

I bathe and head out to get dressed. I am wearing denim shorts and a plain white t-shirt. As much as I am trying to ignore it, the Dante thing hurts. This same man, who is letting everyone talk about him like he is Jesus, got rid of anything about us that was leaked. He made sure no one breathed a word about us. Now, here he is with his new woman, looking all sorts of happy. I see more of the woman than Dante, but that’s besides the point.

“Miss…” Kelly tried to speak, but I interject.

“Can you shut up Kelly. I just woke up! Can’t a person have some peace in this house?”

In a low tone, she answers, “I am very sorry, Miss Willow, but your mother is asking if you could join her outside.”

“Whatever, bring me something to eat.” I furiously stride to the door. Kelly rushes ahead of me to get the door for me. I then head outside to where my mother is. Old people and tea. I don’t know who told them to always be drinking tea.

“Hey, Mom,” I sit next to her. And where the hell is Kelly with my food? Does she want me to die of hunger?

“Hey Ari, were you still sleeping? You usually wake up early.”

“I was a little tired,” I say and reach for the grapes on the little table in front of her. “Where is Kelly with my food? She knows I haven’t had anything to eat in the morning.”

“Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I ask, picking more grapes and tossing them into my mouth.

“Anyway, I wanted to show you something,” she reaches for her phone, then hands it to me. “Look at this. It’s trending all over GoldenRock.”

I take her phone to see what she wants to show me. I roll my eyes when I see that it’s the scandal with Dante and his new woman. “Why are you showing me this, Mom?”

“Dante Lyon is trending. He is never seen with a woman; I think he will marry this one. You know, for a second, I thought this man was gay. He is forty-two and has never been seen with a woman.”

Rolling my eyes, I say, “Why are you in people’s business? What do you know about Dante Lyon?”

“Everyone in GoldenRock knows about him. I always wanted him for you, but I thought he was gay. If I knew that he was straight, I was going to organise something for you. You deserve to be with a rich man like that.”

Only if she knew that I have been there, done that and got the t-shirt. “Can we talk about something else? It’s clear Dante Lyon has a person in his life. Let’s hope he is not playing with her – one never knows with men.”

“When a man that private displays a woman, he is serious about her. I smell wedding bells.”

“Where the hell is Kelly with my food?” I raise my voice. I no longer want to hear about Dante and wedding bells. That man wasn’t ready to settle when he was with me. He was always busy when he was with me.

“Here is your food,” Kelly finally arrives with a tray. It takes everything in me not to hit her with it.

“Are you trying to get fired?” I ask Kelly, who just stepped back a little. What took her so long? What is hard about getting already-made food in the kitchen?

“Apologies, Miss Willow.”

“Whose side of the bed did you wake up on?” Mom asks. I decided to ignore her and focus on my fruit platter – sliced pineapples, mangoes, grapes, watermelon, oranges and strawberries.

“Kelly is acting like she doesn’t want a job.”

Mom just shakes her head and sips on her tea. I pick up my phone and look at the trending posts of Dante and Jade. It seems Jade Marshal gained one million followers in one day. People are so nosy; dating Dante doesn’t make her anything. She is still the girl who was working as a receptionist not so long ago. Yes, I’m stalking her.

“Oh my God!” Mom gasps, her focus on her phone.

“What is it?”

“Dante Lyon just posted for the first time on his Instagram,” she says, mouth still open in shock.

I quickly log into my Instagram and look for Dante. That is the only social media account Dante has. The account is ten years old; he has millions of followers. He has never posted anything. I bite the inside of my mouth trying to contain my breathing. I am fuming.

Dante has never posted anything on his social media, and the first thing he posts is his woman. She is wearing a black dress, and she is smiling; Dante has his hand on her chin. They look like they are in the car. Dante took the photo with the view we are getting. We can only see his hand – I know that hand even in my sleep.

“The picture already has thousands and thousands of likes in just five minutes of being posted,” Mom says to me.

“Aren’t you too old for this, Mom. Please leave young people’s business,” I toss the plate I had dished myself on the ground and furiously stride back to the house.