Submitting novel Chapter 28

I don't get it. Even though I was used to the sudden rush of unknown and shocking pieces of puzzles that didn't really fit together, it still didn't master me enough to understand the inner workings of these two men. Their actions so insensible at first sight, but their true intentions masked so expertly that I doubt I would ever be able to decipher it all at the end. If at all there was one that is.

The clatter of the forks against the white ceramic plates kept the silence in between me and Dimitri less awkward. It was a perfect alibi or rather a common one to not have a conversation with him. If I could, I would have finished the food sitting on my plate as quickly as possible but the nagging feeling of him not letting me retire to my room so easily was plausible. He liked doing activities after dinner and I wasn't ready yet to get occupied by anything else except the newly acquired knowledge that Ivan was not in the house. Not behind the walls as I thought he was.

Something was not right.

I couldn't come up with any reason as to why Ivan wouldn't be home and all that I could come up with were situations that didn't make me feel any better because even if Dimitri didn't like his brother a lot, he never really made him leave the house for running errands such as grocery shopping or delivering food. Dimitri left every time and came back with the things that were required. He left me alone with Ivan on so many occasions that it was enough to believe that he had no problem in trusting or having him around me. So what happened this time? Was it something else that wasn't about me?

"What are you thinking about?" Dimitri looked at me with stark green eyes which didn't get deceived by my sluggish way of eating the special mixed noodles he ordered conveniently enough from my favourite restaurant. Under different circumstances I would have finished it long ago but the Rose that had such a fondness for these simple materialistic things was somehow lost.

"Nothing. This is delicious." I looked at him as I picked up a piece of chicken paired with noodles with a fork and shoved it in my mouth, making sure to smile a little after to seem less conspicuous. He didn't know that I saw Ivan and even interacted with him in the small amount of time I had. The note I prepared, somewhere down in the sewers, flushed through the toilet.

"I ordered it from your favourite restaurant." Yeah, no shit Sherlock. "I hope you like it." What he did next made me feel worse and more unsettled than I was before. He smiled.

"I do. Thank you." Something was definitely not right. This gut feeling was so strong that I just couldn't shake it off. All of this sudden kindness felt weird and new. Plus, the question of why was as present as it was with every other thing they did.

I stared at the knife placed beside my plate. A blunt serrated knife. The second one that has been made available to me in the same day. So unnatural and sudden. Especially, why now? Or just, why? Did he really trust me or did he trust himself enough to handle me if I did do something violent? It was so easy to do so, almost tempting enough to just reach for the knife and jump at him without a sign and out of the blue. I could catch him off guard, and he wouldn't even see it coming. The perfect opportunity always presents itself at times when we are the most unprepared.

"I know why you ordered the cheesecake." He loved attention and wanted it undivided. He got it as swiftly as the sentence ended.

"You do?" My heart started racing with hope that he might finally talk to me about Liza, something which he has never done before. I was more than willing to comply.

"You miss her a lot don't you?" He looked down at his plate, perhaps with a hint of jealousy in his tone; perfectly timed with my unwitnessed fidget as I sat up straight and looked at him with eager eyes. Like a deprived habitat in the wilderness.

"Y-yes." I didn't know what to do, or what he wanted me to do in order to have her back, but I tried by reaching for his hand that was resting on the table and held it in mine. It happened too quick, and he was as surprised as I was but if this meant he would keep this conversation in the same boat I wanted it to be then I was ready to do more. "Dimitri, please...it has been so long. I haven't seen her, I don't know how she is. She doesn't know where I am or what is happening. All of this might be too scary for her. I need to know that she is okay, and she needs to know the same. Please, I am begging you." His warm hand felt stiff when I clenched it in my frozen one. He wasn't returning any gesture or any movement at all for that matter. Not even a single breath.