CHAPTER 5: THE STALKER AND THE MAFIA MISSION

Marcello woke me up the next day with two ginger shots in his hands. These shots feel so good after a really long and good nap. It has been so long having his ginger shots. This gives me an instant boost for the rest of my day. He is really good at stuff like this, providing such natural supplements for our body, he should actually be a dietician at this point. He opened the curtains and the blinds revealing a massive view of the beautiful city, god I am gonna miss this view and wake up to a horrific, dark jungle while some random birds wake me up with their little chirps. I quickly slurped down both the shots and admired my view for the last time here in Cardiff. Marcello has packed everything for me and I trust him with this, he knows better than me what I want. I don't have to worry about a single thing. Maybe, I should bug Janet, if I can’t come back within two weeks. Plan B 'cause why not? Marcello mentioned that father wanted to have a talk with me in his library. I quickly went down to the library after refreshing myself. I found him busy with some documents in his hands. I went inside and sat on the chaise longue.

“Good morning dad”

“Oh! Good morning son, come let’s have some breakfast”

“Breakfast? Wait, didn’t you already have it? It’s past 10 dad, and clearly, this isn’t your breakfast time”

“I was waiting for you son, come let’s go”

It’s not like me and my father do not have breakfast together but not always, I occasionally wake up early and he follows a strict routine. So, it is rare but not surprising. Today’s menu was prepared by Marcello because Chiara is still there. Even Marcello joined us for breakfast. Father seemed a bit troubled for some reason, he brought the documents to the breakfast table and placed them in the space between him and me. I wondered what they were.

“What’s with these documents dad?”

“Oh! These are some papers that should be delivered personally to one of my acquaintances. I’m wondering if you could do it”

“Yeah! Sure, why not? Where to?”

“You need to go Portugal son”

“Portugal? Aren’t we moving into that haunted manor today?”

“We are, but you will join us later. We are all set to shift today itself. Don’t worry son, I have everything arranged for you. You just need to deliver them and come back”

“Okay, but am I going alone?” I enquired.

“Of course not, Travis will accompany you, he will also be taking care of you”

“Come on dad, it’s not like I’m going on a mafia mission or something, he doesn’t have to take care of me,” I said while smiling into my plate. Father stopped chewing for a second, and then looked up and faced me. He looked like he was about to say something serious. But then he stopped and laughed it off.

“What mission son? stop it with these ideas now”

“I mean you were so serious earlier, so I was just trying to play along” I smile.

Marcello was grinning from ear to ear as well. Meanwhile, I thought of asking him about what’s in the papers but decided not to. But I need to ask who this Travis is?

“Who’s this Travis?”

“Oh! Yes, you haven’t met him yet, he will be your new driver, right-hand man, your personal assistant, whatever you call him”

“Dad, why would I even need someone like that? I can get things done on my own. You don't have to worry about that” I assured him.

“It’s not that you can’t do it, Mark, it’s just that I have arranged everything for your safe trip” he explains.

“Okay! Whatever dad, I’m fine by anything”

“Wait, let me introduce him, he should be arriving by now, I asked him to come over to explain to you both about what y'all should be doing there,” he says.

“Maybe I can take some time off your eerie trip to the haunted castle,” I say with a smirk.

“No, you will be back immediately after it’s done,” he says, with a quiet serious tone.

“Alright alright, I was just kidding dad” I give up, while someone enters the room. I look up to see a tall man whose face kind of looked familiar. While I try to recall him, my father asks him to come join us at the table.

“Oh! Travis, you’re here? Come join us please” father asks him politely, and he joins us. I can now see his face, clear and thorough. I stood up with a quick startle and started moving towards him at a slow pace in order to get myself a clear view. He then hides his face by looking down. Now, I get it, it was him that I chased back in Polperro who was coming after that girl in the cafe, that evening and disappeared after seeing me. He even did that in the morning when I went into the cafe for some breakfast.

“Hey, aren’t you the one who got chased by me back in Polperro?” I questioned him enraged, holding him by his shirt, my fists enclosed just inches away from his face. He doesn’t respond, he just stood there while looking down without even moving an inch. Father and Marcello try to stop me while nudging me.

“Let go of him, now!” father shouts. I let go of him slowly, releasing my hand on his shirt while Marcello held me back with a pretty strong grip pushing me back into my chair. I sit down, with a clenched jaw still waiting for his reaction. Father observes him closely and starts speaking,

“Are you okay? Travis?”

“Yes, sir,” he says dodging my eye contact, which made me even more furious.

“Mark, can I have a word with you?” my father asks while facing me.

“I’m all ears father” I responded, still looking at that guy.

“Not here, in my library, let’s go”, “NOW!”

I followed my father into his study and closed the door behind me after entering the room. He looked at me, baffled, with utter confusion, judging my entire existence. I opened my mouth to say something but was stopped with a small hand gesture.

“What kind of behaviour is this Mark? Are you a thug or something? Seriously? Getting into fights?” he asks me, confused.

“Dad, I’m not getting into fights or anything, you don’t know him, he’s been following a girl and when I was about to catch him, he escaped but then started following me as well. I don’t know what his ulterior motive is but he isn’t a nice guy” I stated confidently.

“What are you blabbering about? It was me who asked him to follow you around” he states finally. Now, I seem to get an idea about what’s happening. So he was actually following me but not the girl. Alright, but why me? This is even more suspicious.

“Why would you ask someone to tail me, dad? What is wrong with you?”

“Mark, will you sit down for god’s sake? And shut up?”

“You randomly ask someone to follow me around, we suddenly start moving into an old manor, I should deliver something to someone in Portugal personally and should return home as soon as possible, can’t stay there and I need to go with a bodyguard as if I am on a mafia mission? What’s even happening, dad?”

“Mark, I can explain everything but, I need you to do this task and come back safely, also do not misunderstand Travis, he was just following you around on my orders, he will take good care of you and will get you back safely” he explains.

“What is this dad? Is this a joke? Am I a joke to you? Why won’t you tell me what’s actually happening?”

“I will, I will explain everything to you, but we’ve got no time, you should go now, it is about time you both start. This is the package that you need to deliver them” he says pointing towards a medium-sized brown package that he pulled out from his drawer. I took the package from his hands and tried to decode what’s in it but couldn’t.

“Okay! I am not gonna question anything about what this is or why I’m delivering or to whom? But you need to explain to me everything as soon as I get back” I demanded.

“Sure son, I will”

“Promise me then”

“What are you? 5years” he laughs.

“I don't care, you stick to your words unlike me so…”

“Alright! I promise but be careful there, come back safe and sound”

“Oh! Please stop it, dad, I’m not a child”

“Says the one who asked his dad to make a promise” he laughs again. I’m glad to see him laughing, haven’t seen him laugh these days, he is going through something that I don’t know, I can’t pressure him too…Maybe I can get something out of this stalker tail Travis, I need to act nice with him these two days. We both hear a small knock on the door, father asks him to come in. It was Travis - Mr Professional stalking tail. Gosh! I should stop hating this guy for no reason. It wasn't even his fault for following father’s orders. But, I definitely saw him follow this cafe girl as well, maybe she looked beautiful to him...Well, she is by the way. He enters the room with his eyes on the floor. Father asks him,

“Yes, Travis, What’s the matter?”

“Sir, It’s time,” he says and zips it up immediately. I sincerely wish he isn’t a robot or something.

“Let’s go Mr Travis,” I say, with a smile, waiting for him to look at me, which of course he doesn’t. Nothing new.

“Please take care of him and be careful too,” says my father, for which he replied “Ok sir!” while looking at him. Does this make sense? He can’t look at me. He leaves the room leaving me and my father alone again.

“Dad, did you notice? He can look at anyone except for me. Oh! Maybe he is into men and thinks I’m too handsome. Ugh! It’s given that I’m handsome, but am I that intimidating for him to even look at me?”

“Shut up Mark, and get out” my father yells.

“Alright! I’m just kidding, wait for me in that haunted house, I’ll be back in no time”

“Bye son”

I came back to the dining area and found Travis and my luggage waiting for me. We quickly made our way towards our garage where a car is already on the stand for us. Travis takes the keys from the driver, settles our luggage which is nothing but two cases of mine and a small bag of Travis’s. I wonder what fits into that tiny bag. He starts driving towards the airport I’m guessing.

“When is the flight?” I ask him while turning through the pages of this vogue magazine that I found next to me.

“We’re not gonna take the plane sir,” he says it so simple as if it’s nothing.

“What? Then how? Are you going to drive to Portugal? For 24hrs?”

“No sir, we’re heading towards Plymouth and we’re gonna take a ferry from Plymouth to Santander”

“And then???”

“We’re gonna take the road again from Santander through Spain and reach the capital city of Portugal - Lisbon”

“A flight takes just five to seven hours to reach Portugal, now how long are we gonna travel for?” I cry.

“Don’t worry sir, a regular ferry takes 20 hours to travel from Plymouth to Santander but Sir has arranged a private jet ferry for us which will take us within 10 hours and to reach Lisbon from there, it will be another 7 hours. We will be back in no time” he explains with a straight face.

“No time? Freaking 17hours on each side and no time? Ugh! I can’t believe this”

“Do you want me to play some music sir?” he asks with a timid tone while stuttering. Cute!

“Go ahead,” I reply.

An old retro 90’s playlist started playing and I can see that it is his personal playlist or something. We kept driving with no more conversations. It took us two hours to reach Plymouth. We kept moving towards the ferry arranged by our father. The ferry guy seemed to notice us, he kept waving his hand towards us. Travis was carrying all the bags. I felt bad and asked him to let me carry at least one, but he wouldn’t let me. We quickly made our way towards the ferry, the ferry guy led us inside. It was a pretty one, bigger and better than the rest of course. As soon as we got in, two guys who were already on the ferry quickly left the ferry to us. The guy who brought us inside handed the keys over to Travis and left us too. I couldn’t actually understand what this meant,

“Who’s gonna drive the ferry now? Why did he leave us?” I asked Travis.

“I’m gonna drive the ferry sir,” he says with a straight, plain face. I was so shocked for a second at what he said, he knows how to drive a ferry? Seriously?

“Really? Do you know how to drive a ferry? Aren’t you supposed to have a license or something?” I blasted him with questions.

“I have all kinds of licenses sir,” he says it like he isn’t even proud of it. I was so amazed at what he said. He is so freaking amazing.

“Brother, what do you mean? That’s so cool man! You’re brilliant” I replied smiling from ear to ear. And at that particular moment, he looked up to face me for the very first time. He looked directly at my face without dodging my eyes or anything, and I could see his face crystal clear this time. He was a handsome little guy, of course not as handsome as me, or maybe he is...God knows, anyhow I’m not agreeing. He is way too timid than he looks, like a little brother. I can’t be mad at him anymore. Even before I can acknowledge him for facing me, he quickly gets himself busy with something else.

“Sir, you can go check out everything while I set the ferry on the sail,” he says.

“Yeah! Sounds good, but I’ll check later, I wanna see you drive the ferry, I’ve never seen anyone drive a ferry”

“Uhm! Okay, sir, you can sit here in the lobby and can watch through the glass panes” he says with his hands behind, eyes on the floor.

“It’s okay, I can come with you to the bow ( The front part of the ferry where the driving takes place )”

“No! Sir, you can watch it from the starboard” he stutters with panic. Why is he so shy? He is definitely a little brother. Haha! Cute.

“Alright alright, you carry on then”. He is now relieved, we can practically see it in his eyes. I went around the whole ferry, it was small but luxurious. It's sharp 12 now, he said it takes about 10hours for this ferry. So, it must be around 10 O'clock, by the time we reach Spain. Hmm! sounds good. But, how will he drive the car from there? Won’t he be tired or something? I can drive a few kilometres maybe? And let him rest for a while. Anyways this is already super boring. I’ve been by myself for 20 minutes already. There’s still a lot to go, I wonder what Travis is doing? Oh! Right he’s driving, oops. Let me go check on him, I can’t anymore. I walked into the bow and noticed him steering the wheel at a steady pace. He got startled when I entered the bow. He turns around with hands still on the steering, and eyes still facing down.

“Do you need something sir?” he asks me.

“Uhm! No, I’m just bored to death”

“Oh! Okay sir”

“You should be bored as well, driving all by yourself, I’m here to keep you company and keep myself as well”

“It’s okay sir, I’m okay, you should enjoy by yourself”

“By what? How?” I question him.

“You can watch the TV inside sir, or read a book, I can prepare lunch if you’re hungry?”

“No! Didn’t you see me having breakfast just a while? It’s okay we can have lunch later. Oh? Are you hungry maybe?”

“No sir, just tell me when and I’ll come prepare the lunch”

“Alright then, I’ll go enjoy the sun for a while”

“Okay sir”

I changed myself into some comfortable pair of trousers and walked towards the tip of the ferry, breathing in the breezy air under the beaming sun, I put on my sunglasses and enjoyed the ride. Even though it’s freaking hot under the sun, given the speed of the ferry, the breezy winds balanced everything. I can see Travis up from here. He looks exactly like a robot, standing stiff and straight, eyes focused. I waved my hand towards him calling him by his name. He bows back to me! LOL! What did I even expect from this stalker guy? Okay! I should stop calling him a stalker...sounds bad. After two sunny hours, soaking up in the sunlight, I went inside towards Travis and moved next to him, sitting on the deck beside the steering facing him. I was observing how he’s driving, it seems easy, maybe I can try.

“Travis, let me drive for a minute, I wanna try”

“No! Sir, I can’t put you in any kind of situation, this is my duty” he still doesn’t look.

“Oh, Come on Travis, I just wanna try for a minute, let me do it,” I said and pushed him behind and made my way to the steering wheel. He was panicking so bad, worried about father’s orders I guess. It’s just like driving a car, I meant the steering part obviously, rest all god knows, Travis can take up if anything happens. He looks extremely tense and worried.

“Sir, Let me do it please, it is my job” his voice fades away after watching me act like I’m not listening to him. Another ferry shows up next to us, since our ferry is a jet, it can overtake these other ferry’s which started way earlier than ours. The ferry that we’ve come across is right next to us for some reason. Poor Travis is worried about me driving, but what can he do, he can’t push me or anything like I did. We went too close to that ferry and suddenly our speed started to reduce gradually. I couldn’t understand what happened, it was as if the fuel got exhausted. I looked at Travis with confusion. I saw him controlling something and I realized that it was him who reduced the acceleration given my skills...I don’t know if I should laugh or not but suddenly his face turned nervous and he bolted towards me turning the steering towards left along with me. I turned back to see that we’ve almost hit the other ferry if not for Travix. He now handled the position and there is nothing to worry...Uff! I should stop being a nuisance to him.

“Thank you, Travis, that was fast man! Great reflexes, I’m sorry for being a bother” I expressed. He then faced me with a soft face instead of his regular straight face and looked at me for a long time. He was probably mad at me for doing this but suppressing himself.

“It’s okay sir, It wasn’t your fault” he replies and then smiles at my face. Oh!..? Am I seeing right? Is this Travis? Does he know how to smile? He looked cute though!

“I know it’s my fault for bugging you, don’t sugarcoat Travis” I responded.

“The ferry can run on its own for a while after enabling autopilot sir, that’s what I did just now. We can have lunch now, please enter the seating Longue sir”

“Oh! That was why the acceleration got reduced, it was stabilizing the pace. Okay! Let’s go then, I am hungry” I replied, he practically ran towards the kitchen to prepare everything. I went back and sat in the longue. He came back in a few minutes with a trolley of dishes and placed everything in front of me. The dishes varied from seafood to salads, looking extremely delicious. He wasn’t sitting? What’s wrong?

“Sit down Travis, what are you waiting for?” I asked him.

“Please have your lunch sir, I’m gonna have it later” he replies with a faint voice.

“Oh! Come on Travis” I said and pulled him down towards the couch which made him sit adjacent to me. He seemed so shocked and baffled at my move. He started stuttering,

“Sir, I can’t be eating with you, please continue” he responds by standing up slowly. I pull him back again by his wrist, this time with double the force.

“Travis, if you’re not gonna eat with me, I might go drive the ferry again after I complete my meal and while you’re still eating, come on, I am so bored already, and you expect me to eat alone?” I blabbered. He was dumbfounded at the part of me driving again I guess because he sat there silently this time. We both gradually started eating and I tried having a convo with him which obviously looked like an interview. Me asking and him answering. Somehow, I got to know that his name is Travis Wilson and he is from Bristol. The next 5 hours went quickly, it turned pretty chilly and cold, I changed back into warm clothes again. I offered my sweatshirt to Travis since he is continuously near the deck but he refused. As expected. After a couple of hours later we reached Santander - Spain. A car was already waiting for us, I asked Travis to let me drive since he has been tired since morning, but he didn’t even bother to take that into consideration. So, I’ve decided to sit in the passenger seat next to him instead of back to keep him company because by the time we reach Lisbon, it will be 5-6 in the morning. We listened to another playlist and I jammed to those songs, while he kept driving with a straight poker face.

The next day I opened my eyes drowsily and found the time to be 4 O'clock. My face was resting on Travis’s arm, I quickly woke up still yawning and drank some water and splashed some on to my face through the window.

“I’m sorry Travis, I tried to keep you company, instead took a nap on your shoulder”

“It’s okay sir, not a problem. Do you want me to stop somewhere sir?” he asked me with his eyes blinking multiple times.

“No! Keep driving, we’re almost there right? My pee can wait…!”

“Ok! Sir”

We arrived in Lisbon after an hour and a half. We straight went and checked in, in one of our hotels that our company has built. Travis took the room across from mine and he has asked me not to step out of the room/hotel without him. We both got refreshed immediately but I asked Travis to take some rest, we can deliver it in the evening and he listened to me for the first time. His face became very small and his eyes weary. He simply nodded and went back to his room. Later we both had some breakfast and went back to our respective rooms to take some rest again.