Is he truly a different person?

I sat down still on my bed for the rest of the night, terrified and afraid that he might come back again to finish what he started.

The rays of the sun lighted my room, it was morning again and I felt relieved but fear still occupied my heart, this is still his territory and be it morning or night, that won’t stop him from doing whatever he wants. Besides he said it before, he has the right to do whatever pleases him.

Just as I sat down, I heard the squeaking of the door knob. Fear embraced me once again, I couldn’t feel my body. My heart jumped into my stomach as I broke out in cold sweat

“Cassandra are you awake?” I heard the voice loud and clear, it was Celia. “I just wanted to check up on you.” She said. I gave out a sigh of relief and made my way to open the door for her.

She walked in hurriedly like she was been pursued, I locked the door back and made it to my bed again and squeezed myself underneath the duvet, I was terribly shaking

“Cassandra, are you alright?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” I replied in a low tone.

“Are you sure? You don’t look okay.”

“I’m fine.”

“Well, if you say so. I just want to have a look at your bruises and apply a bit of ointment on the legs.” Right, I totally forgot she was sent to attend to my wounds.

I turned around and sat up on the bed, she took a sit beside me and began to examine the wounds that had been inflicted on me

I watched her closely while she did her duty. I noticed some marks imprinted on her neck, it looked like a man fingers. Could it be that he left me alone and took it out on Celia. I began to think again, but yet ended with no answer. What could possibly be the reason why he had to act in such a cruel manner?

“You should attend to yourself,” I spoke out.

“What do you….Ohh, I see. You must be talking about the marks on my neck.” She paused for a moment. Grief and sorrow where all I saw on her, but she was just trying to cover it up with a smile. “Its nothing to be worried about, soon enough it will be gone.”

“Are you certain about that?” I asked with great concern.

“Yes, I am certain.”

I could not ask anymore questions for I don’t wish to make her upset and I couldn’t bring myself to tell her what happened last night. It’s better I keep my nose out of it.

“You seem to be perfectly fine, and your wounds. They are responding positively.” She said.

“Its all thanks to you,” I tried to compliment her hard work.

“You flatter me. Do you feel pains anywhere? Is this the only part I need to attend to?” she asked and stared with keen interest. From her looks, I could tell she was trying to ask if Mariano did something terrible to me.

“No, I’m all good.” I replied. It’s best she has no idea of what happened last night.

“Well then, I should get going. You should come down stairs for breakfast, he is cooking.” She took her exit.

Surely I was hungry, but I totally forgot about it due to the fact that I was scared and frightened by him. But what does she mean by the phrase “he is cooking.” What is going on?

I made my way out of the room and walked down to the dinning hall. To my greatest surprise, there wasn’t a single dish on the dining table. Of a sudden, I heard the staff voices as they cheered in the kitchen. Curious, I thought of visiting to see what could be going on in there.

Opened the doors slowly, I walked in. The entire kitchen staff surrounded themselves, a delicious scent filled the air and suddenly the began to chant his name. I drew closer to them and I could not believe what I saw, Mariano the ruthless tyrant was dressed like a caterer and was cooking. My eyes flew wide open in disbelieve.

The manner in which he handled the dishes, how he sliced off the onions, and every other thing he did was amazing, it was like a master chef cooking. Indeed I was impressed, and not just that, the entire staff had smiles on their faces and the kitchen was filled with laughter. Even him had smiles all over his face, he looked different. I had never seen him this happy, maybe I did misjudged him.

He turned his face around and saw me standing amongst them. Our eyes made contact and then I looked away and excused myself from their mist.

I took a seat at the dining hall, and after a short while, the chef came rushing in as the set the respectful dishes on the table. Mariano followed alongside though still dressed as one of them and I could hardly notice until he took a seat.

“You must be hungry, I made roasted pork stew and dumplings.” He said with a smile. “Have a taste, I want to here your review.”

He is indeed something else, but today he looks entirely different, like a normal person.

“You’ve been staring for long. Aren’t you going to try it out?”

“Ohh right, sorry.” I said. I took a spoonful of the stew and tried it. Surprisingly it was delicious and tasty.

“Well.”

“Where did you learn how to cook.” I bit my lips as I realized who sat in front of me. “It’s delicious.” I said.

“Are you sure? You don’t look satisfied with the taste.”

“I mean it. I haven’t tasted something like this before,” I replied.

He giggled. “Thanks for the compliment. Bon appetit.” He dig into the set of breakfast set on the table and so did I.

After two spoonful, I stopped and looked at him. Yesterday he was a complete different person but now, I don’t know who I am seeing. Could this still be the same man who walked into my room the previous night and scared the heck out of me.

“You seem to be spacing out.” His voice caught my attention and took me out of my world of thoughts.

“Sorry, I just had something on my mind.”

“Is this about last night?” I felt cold chills on my spinal cord. I thought he was drunk last night, could he be that he remembered everything that happened. “I’m sorry on how I acted. It was never my intention to take advantage of you.”

“Did you just apologize?” my eyes widened in surprise.

“Of course. Doesn’t it scare you?” he took a spoonful of the stew.

“Not really, I’m just surprise that the great Mariano would apologize for an action he committed.”

“I see, you must think of me as some sort of monster. It’s not your fault, you aren’t the first one that has said it.” He dropped his spoon. “I am not a monster Cassandra, but that doesn’t mean I am a nice person.”

He took out a servient and wipe his hands with it and dumped it on the table.

“I will be heading on and will be back by sundown. I have made reservations for a special dinner tonight but that will be up to you if you wish to come with me.” He stood up from his seat about to leave. “I know it’s hard to live in such a huge mansion as this, it gets boring being by yourself all the time. You can do whatever you want in here, if there’s anything you need ask the maid to get it for you. I do not wish to hurt you Cassandra. So, please try as much as you can not to do anything stupid or to provoke me, for I don’t tolerate disobedient and stubborn girls.”