CHAPTER 18

I go to the door and look at the cheekbone for a few seconds __. I don't lose anything by trying __. I touch the cheekbone and to greater surprise it yields in my hand. I open slowly, stick my head out, and look both ways.

__ No one __. This must be a joke right? __ Too good to be true.

Everything is silent, as if there is no one else besides me, I keep walking down the hall until I reach a staircase. I touch the railing ready to descend.

__ Miss.

__ Shit! __ I almost got my heart out.

Out of nowhere comes a tall man with a slim figure in a black and white suit that makes him look like a penguin. His hands are hidden behind his back. The man raises an eyebrow.

__ Who are you? __ He ​​looks me up and down as if the only one astonished was me.

__ I'm Esteffan, the butler. They wait for you in the dining room, follow me. __ Just like that, the penguin takes long steps away.

This can't be serious? These things only happen to me __. I curse my insides and continue to follow him, what other option do I have?

Esteffan leads me through a corridor that is full of doors, on my other side the large windows illuminate everything with natural light. The walls are high and decorated with landscape paintings printed to a perfection that is majestic.

He stops in front of a large wooden door and, opening it, gestures for me to enter. My heart is hammering in a hurry, he said they were waiting for me, but who is waiting for me? And above all, where am I?

I enter slowly, what I can find scares me, I am in a completely unknown place where no one will come to my aid if I need it.

To my surprise, a large table is set in the center cluttered with plates of delicious smelling delicacies that I have never seen before in my life. At the end of it leading the table, an erect and corpulent body in a dark blue suit presides over it with its gaze fixed on some papers that it does not stop looking at.

Mikael even looks up from them __. Sit down __ demand like someone ordering a dog to lie down.

__ Where am I? __ It's my time to get answers.

But nothing, he just keeps reading as if he had not emitted any syllable.

__ I asked you a question.

__ And I have given you an order, here I ask the questions __. He barely looks up for a few seconds when he runs through my body and like someone looking at an empty vase, he goes back to his own thing, ignoring me.

__ What am I doing here Mikael? __ This pushy man is exasperating me in an alarming way.

__ Eat __. Raise your right hand above the table, pointing to the food in case it's not obvious.

I press my hands against the fabric of my pants to restrain myself from throwing him plate by plate, but my troubled imagination is frustrated by a fright that comes from outside. A young and feminine voice rumbles annoyingly until it is heard more accurately when passing through the threshold.

__ I do whatever I want, so leave me alone __. A girl with light brown hair comes in slamming the door like a beast. She stops right in front of Mikael and, crossing her arms, taps her heels on the ground, waiting for his attention. She must not be more than fifteen years old, she is beautiful, her hair cascades down her back, pinkish her whitish skin like porcelain.

__ I don't think I'll tolerate it anymore, I don't want to see another of those gorillas chasing me again __ he claims with an authoritative voice too developed for his age.

Mikael puts the papers aside and holding his chin with his hands, he rests his elbows on the table while he looks at him with __ tolerance. Where you go, they will go. If you don't want to be followed, don't leave the property.

__ That's not fair, you are not my father.

__ I am your brother and you will do what I tell you __. He takes a fruit between his fingers and brings it to his mouth, ending the discussion that she does not seem to be willing to close.

With what is his sister. Cool.

No one seems to remember my presence until he drops his gaze on me, followed by the brunette turning around. The girl looks me up and down until she stops in my face and rolls her eyes in exasperation.

__ I don't want any prostitutes in the house Mikael __ suddenly lets go, making a face with his lips.

My eyes widen like saucers and my lips peel off, how direct the girl. Are you talking about me? What does that brat think?

Mikael purses his lips trying to control the latent mockery on his face when he looks at me __. It is not __ clarifies putting another piece of fruit in his mouth.

__ Luckily or I'll start to think you've lost good taste __. He looks at me again in a contemptuous way.

Who do you think? So small and with such a big mouth, without a doubt they are brothers.

__ I wouldn't sleep with him or for all the gold in the world __. The girl looks at me with interest for the first time raising the corner of her lips in a clear smile.

__ Ouch little brother, I think you've lost the charm __. He looks at her rolling his eyes without saying anything else.

The girl advances towards me and stretches out her hand waiting for __ to take it. I'm Gabriella and that idiot is my brother.

__ I'm Suhaila and that idiot is my jailer __. I take hers without regard.

Gabriela turns to him when she feels him snort with annoyance __. Is it so bad for you that now you kidnap women to get a bed? That's pathetic little brother __. Move toward the table until you are next to him and take a seat next to him.

Mikael gives him a clear look from (closes his mouth), before looking at me reluctantly __. You can eat standing up if you like.

He takes his plate and begins to fill it, the truth is that the smell that emanates from the food is too tempting. I have hardly eaten a bite for days and my guts crack as if possessed. I want to refuse, but if I am going to escape it is best to be well fed and to be honest, I am not strong enough to resist such a delicacy. So I scoop up what's left of my pride and send it out for a ride as I sit at the table and deeply ponder where to start.

__ You have not eaten for many hours. You should start with something light __. What I was missing, this man will not leave me alone even when choking on food.

Out of nowhere Esteffan the penguin appears with a bowl of soup and places it in front of me. How does it appear out of nowhere? I don't know what the broth is, but it smells good, it smells good. So much so that my stomach reveals itself by taking over my main functions and possesses my hand by pouncing on the spoon and inserting it into the plate, the rational part in me screaming at the primitive to keep her composure. It's a battle of the titans, something like:

Me: Taste food

Brain: No. Not yet. It's hot, wait

Me: TRY FOOD

Brain: You're going to burn your tongue

Me: TRY FUCK!

Brain: You're going to….

Me: I taste food!

Me: I've burned my whole tongue

Brain: I wish I could go to another body, it really has problems.

Did I get burned? Yes, do I regret it? No. What can I say. When I'm hungry, my neurons don't work. Spoon after spoonful I introduce the thistle until I feel it slide down my throat, reaching my stomach aching from lack of food. Its flavor is more than welcome on my palate, charred by its heat.

__ Mikael, where did you get this from?

__ I think he's hungry.

__ You think? We better get away before it bites us.

I'd like to say a few things to you, but I'm too hungry to let my mouth go empty to answer you. A piece of bread appears in my primitive field of vision, being held by trembling fingers.

__ Wet it with the soup __ suggests with a broken voice.

I tear the piece of freshly made bread from Gabriella's fingers, causing her to let out a cry of fright and stick to the back of her seat, checking her hand in case she is missing a piece.

__ How long have you not eaten? __ inquires cutting another piece of bread, handing it to me.

I show him four fingers, it's all I can do to communicate, it will have to be enough.

__ Don't look at me, I have nothing to do with that __ Mikael defends himself by raising his hands because of the bad look the girl gives him.

__ Does that happen very often? __ I look at her between my eyelashes without understanding what she means as I continue to fill my mouth with food.

__ I mean to go hungry, to run out of food.

__ The normal thing when you are a slave __ I manage to pronounce without the food coming out of my lips. Quite a feat.

__ Slave? Are you a slave?

I just nod when I'm done with the soup, I push the empty plate aside and draw a strawberry cake that smells like heaven to me.

__ How is it possible that that still exists? Since when are you a slave?

__ My brother made me one at sixteen __. A few long seconds pass without hearing more noise than my hands cutting the pieces of cake.

__ How old are you Suhaila? __ The girl does not seem to want to stop the interrogation and this is already tiring me.

__ Twenty three.

__ Seven years, you've been a slave for seven years __. The way he says it makes me stop. Gabriella looked at me with an expression of horror while Mikael does not show anything, he only looks at me like a mountain looks at a town, he looks at you without seeing.

__ Because? __ There it is, the only question that carries an answer that I am not willing to give. The only question that can make you lose your appetite.