Beloved

Chapter Twenty

Kristen's POV

Waking up after a much needed sleep was never fun. Although the sun was up, and I must've slept for a long time, exhaustion still flowed in each and every vein of my body. I stretched my body, making the soft duvet fall down to my stomach. Yawning, I reluctantly pushed myself up to sit against the headboard. All I wanted to do was lie back down and spend all day in bed, but I knew I didn't have a minute of sleep left in me.

"Shit!" I heard a muffled shout from downstairs, followed by loud clatter. I stayed silent, waiting for further noise. But only meaningless, quiet sounds could be heard after that.

Throwing on some jeans and a random sweatshirt, I walked downstairs. A strong smell of burnt food hit me as I reached the end of the stairs. Curiously I walked into the kitchen, only to be surprised by an unusual sight. A tall, broad-shouldered guy stood in the kitchen, grumbling words under his breath while he poured burnt eggs down the trash. His head went up in my direction when I stepped into the room. A beautiful smile spread across his face, but it turned guilty after a short amount of time. His eyes flickered down to the now empty pan.

"Sorry if I woke you up," Emanual apologized and put the pan on the counter, "I was trying to make you breakfast, but cooking isn't really a talent of mine." He looked at the pan as a sign of his failure and sighed.

"Can I interest you in some cereal and toasted bread instead?" He started pulling boxes of different brands of cereal out of a cabinet.

"Sure, cereal sounds good." I couldn't help but chuckle. For some reason I felt totally content at that moment. I was perfectly pleased with being in this man's kitchen at nine a.m., despite the fading voice in my head, which kept telling me this was wrong.

I pointed out what kind of cereal I wanted, and he poured a portion of the colourful breakfast in a bowl. He pushed the bowl over the kitchen island to me and gave me the milk carton.

"Cereal's the best." It blurted out of my mouth after my first spoonful. I blushed and mentally scolded myself, but Emanual only laughed.

"Why do you think that? It's just normal breakfast food." He shrugged with a small smile on his lips, while he raised the spoon to his face. He looked ridiculously good this morning. His hair was perfectly tousled, a look others might spend hours on, but he probably just had to comb his hand through it. He was clad in a clean white t-shirt and black jeans. Emanual simply looked like a model, and I was still sure that's what he actually was; an insanely handsome, yet totally twisted model.

The model raised his eyebrows at me, and it took me a moment to realize he had asked me a question.

"I-I don't know, they never got this kind of cereal back at the place where I used to live." I told him, looking down at the bowl. I hoped that he wouldn't notice that I avoided using the word 'family'.

"Odd," he chuckled and brought another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"As you may have figured, cooking isn't one of my talents, so cereal is usually my go-to." I nodded at him and continued munching the sweet breakfast. I had, of course, chosen the most sugary and colorful kind to match my sweet tooth.

"Tell me about your family?" He asked me softly, a light smile still on his face. I went silent, considering telling him the truth about my parents and how I had lived at my aunt and uncle's place. I decided not to.

"Just the average family, I guess. Mom, dad and two younger siblings." I shrugged, hoping he would change the subject.

"Oldest child, that explains your kindness." I gave him a fake smile and continued eating. My cheerful mood was starting to fade, bad memories and thoughts replacing it.

We ate the rest of our breakfast in silence. Emanual cleaned up and we ended up both standing in the kitchen, not knowing what to do.

"Why am I here, Emanual?" I decided to try again. He hadn't hurt me, or anything close to that. He didn't want money. So why was I kept here?

"It's hard to explain. You wouldn't understand."

"Make me understand," I was starting to get desperate, "please."

While I begged, Emanual looked torn. He avoided my gaze, simply looking at the kitchen counter while he was deep in thought.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"I'll show you." He looked uneasy as he told me, but I simply smiled. Maybe when he told me, I could figure out a way to persuade him into letting me go.

"Wait, show me?"

"Yes, in order for you to understand, I'll have to show you." He sighed before continuing, "come, I'll take you to my office." He took my hand in his, sending heat up my arm. His effect on me still freaked me out, mostly because the warmth felt so right. When he touched me, a strong desire to feel his touch everywhere filled my entire being. Why were my hormones going crazy like this?

Emanual dragged me out of his house and down a big path. I remembered it as the path we walked on when I first got here. As we walked, a giant house came into sight. It could probably house many people, and it looked like it did. People were going in and out of the three doors at the front.

"What is this?" I asked as we got closer and closer to the house. We were heading for the door in the middle.

"I'll explain everything when we get there." I nodded my head, my lips staying shut while we walked in. As soon as we were past the doors, an atmosphere of cheerfulness hit us within seconds. The house was somewhat crowded with people of all ages. It looked like several families lived here, occupying kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms. I was busy ogling at everything around us, while Emanual pulled me up the stairs.

We were on the fourth and last floor when he stopped in front of a big wooden door. People dressed in business suits were strolling up and down the hallway, documents and books in their grasps. I barely had time to examine this hallway, before Emanual had lead me past the door and inside a giant office. The room was centered around a big, solid desk, which stood in front of a leather chair. The walls were either decorated with bookshelves or windows. Everything in this room was either made of dark wood or just in dark colors, the only light coming from the windows.

"Have a seat."

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Weird way to end a chapter in my opinion but I wanted to publish this as soon as possible because beloved now has 30k reads!! I can't even wrap my mind around this, it's so weird and fantastic!! Thank you all so much!

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