CHAPTER 24: UNCERTAIN FUTURE

Naomi was taken to a room with a large glass window. An endless stretch of towering trees greeted her vision when the staff removed the blindfold from her eyes.

The glass window was wide open, and the cold breeze hit her face and skin gloriously. Tears shone in her eyes. She wanted to go out there in the open and feel the sun on her skin.

"Can I go out, please?" Naomi asked the staff near her. The woman was wearing a white face mask covering her entire face. Only her eyes were visible.

"Sorry, ma’am, you can’t leave the room. The window is wide open for you to enjoy the view," the staff replied.

Naomi bites her lower lip, realizing that the escape was futile because the steel walls were sky-high, she wouldn’t be able to climb them and escape. She finally gave up her plan to escape.

The trees are lovely to look at, and the wind is cool to her skin. She looked heavenward and stared at the sun for a few seconds, wondering when she would see this beautiful refreshing view again.

The beautiful view from outside soothed her soul. This is a much better place to be imprisoned than the windowless room she and Alpha Maxwell were currently holed up in.

She asked one of the staff, "Can we stay here? I like it here, because this is a much better place than that windowless room you put us in."

The staff shakes her head. "I can’t answer your question, ma’am. The president needs to be consulted on your request first. I can’t decide on my own."

"OK. But can you please tell him about my request if you see him again?" Naomi begged.

"Yes, ma’am. You can ask Zero too," the staff said.

Naomi raised a brow. "You know Zero? Have you seen him? He’s a robot, right?"

The staff looked at each other, sharing a conspiratorial look.

"Guys, I will ask you again. Is Zero a robot or not?" Naomi repeated her question, then she remembered that the president had already confirmed her suspicion that Zero is not a robot, he is just a person disguised as a robot. "Don’t bother answering my question. I already know the truth," she finally said.

She shifted her attention to the wonderful view in front of her. Observing the area. Her views were limited because only a small portion of the area was in full view. She presumed that the room was located at the back of the facility where the trees were in abundance. She couldn’t see beyond the trees though. What lies beyond?

She has no idea where this place is.

She could only think of one thing, this place is far from the city because she saw mountains looming in the distance.

A few minutes later.

The staff stood beside her and said, "Ma’am, your time is up. Let’s go back to your room."

Naomi sighed heavily. She couldn’t get enough of the view outside. She wanted to stay longer in the room and admire the beautiful world outside. But she needed to go back to the room because Alpha Maxwell was waiting for her, eager to hear some news.

When the staff put the blindfold back on her eyes, she didn’t utter a protest. "Let’s go," she finally said and allowed the staff to lead her back to their transport car.

The short ride lasted for a few minutes and she was back in the windowless room.

The staff have already left the room.

The bathroom door opened and Alpha Maxwell rushed towards Naomi and removed the blindfold from her eyes. "Sweetie, what happened outside? Did they hurt you?" he asked, inspecting her body for any signs of injury.

Naomi shook her head and sat on the edge of the bed. "Calm down. They didn’t hurt me. The doctor performed physical exams and tests to determine the condition and health of our baby. We’re both healthy," she explained.

"That’s good to hear. What else has happened? Did the mastermind show himself to you? Did you see him? Do you know him?" he asked, bombarding her with questions.

"No. We conducted our conversation via an intercom, so there was no chance of meeting him in person. He told me that he wasn’t using his own voice when talking to me. The staff wore masks covering their entire face, and only their eyes were visible. So yeah, they don’t want to reveal their identities. In short, these people are meticulous when it comes to protecting their identities. As for information, I came up empty-handed," Naomi said dejectedly, sighing heavily.

"What else happened out there?" he asked.

"The best thing about that happened was they took me to this room with large glass windows. I saw the outside world again. The towering trees and mountains are looming in the distance. I saw the sun shining up in the blue sky. The wind touched my skin. It feels so nice, I don’t want that moment to end." Naomi said wistfully, tears filling her eyes. Now that she’s back in this depressing windowless room, she wants to go back to that room again. It’s much closer to the sun and freedom.

Alpha Maxwell rubbed her back, consoling her. "We will be able to leave this place one day," he whispered in her ears reassuringly, hugging her.

"I hope so," Naomi murmured, melting into his arms.

"So, tell me what you saw outside? How difficult is it to escape from this place? What are our chances?" he asked.

"Very difficult because the metal wall looks ten or fifteen meters high and there are guards patrolling the area and I’m sure surveillance cameras are lurking everywhere making our escape impossible," she explained.

Alpha Maxwell took a deep breath, very much disappointed. "They didn’t even let me out of the room. At least one of us was able to see the sun again," he said, kissing her head. "So what did you learn from the mastermind? Did you discover anything about his identity?" he asked.

Naomi shook her head, breathing deeply. "No, nothing. Not a single clue. He answered some of my questions and ignored a few. But he assured me that they would not harm us. There are two things I discovered during our conversation though. He and Zero are different people. The president was not alone in orchestrating our kidnapping. He has a partner in crime."

"Is that all?" he asked, no longer surprised by the revelation. "These people will never reveal anything that could implicate them. They don’t want to be caught and punished for the crime of abducting and imprisoning us in this room."

"The only good thing was that they were not planning to hurt us. If they did, they already had done that a long time ago," she said, looking into his eyes.

Alpha Maxwell shrugged. "Well, their intention was vague. I don’t believe this stupid love game claim. I think we are here for another purpose and reason. Why me? And why us? We didn’t have any history together prior to this."

"The only thing clear was that both our families hated each other for a long time. What will these people achieve by imprisoning us together in one room? Sounds absurd right? But on the other hand, we discovered that we were attracted to each other. We developed feelings for each other, resulting in us having a baby together. That is the only good result we can derive from this madness," she said, caressing her baby bump.

Alpha Maxwell smiled and planted a tender kiss on her lips. "So, you will agree that this is fate? What happened to us was orchestrated by no other than the Moon Goddess herself?"

"I don’t know," she said, shaking her head. "Fate or not, meeting you changed my life completely. I just hope that when we are finally out there, returning to our former lives, you won’t forget me," she said anxiously, worrying about what the future holds for their relationship.

Bothered by the worry etched on her face, he enveloped her in a loving embrace. "Worry not, my love. My feelings for you will never change," he assured her.

His assurance somehow failed to comfort her restless heart.

"There is something in this room that forces us to fall for each other. Maybe because of the close proximity, it forced us to become intimate. It would be impossible to ignore each other, so we would just get along with their demands. I’m wondering how we will react to each other when we are finally released back into the world. Will the world tear us apart from each other? Or are we going to betray and hurt each other?" she muses. She suddenly felt a dull ache growing in her heart.

"Sweetie, let’s stop talking about this topic. It makes you feel sad and anxious. We still have each other, so we shouldn’t worry about the future yet. And besides you can’t be stressed out because you are pregnant with our baby. Cheer up, okay?" he said, hugging her tightly, trying to erase her worries away with his kisses.

Naomi suddenly remembered the good news.

She finally smiled and said, "The president told me that we could send a letter to our families. We just need to inform our families that we are safe and well, and we are going home soon so they will stop worrying about us. But he also warned us that if we want the letters to reach home we should never mention the word kidnapped or else they will not send our letters to our families."

"Alright, a message to our family is better than nothing. Let’s write a letter then," Alpha Maxwell agreed.

Naomi looked at the ceiling and said, "Zero are you there? If yes, give us pen and paper so we could write letters for our families."

"Yes, I hear you. I will grant your request. Hold on for a moment," Zero replied.

A few minutes later, pen and paper finally arrived and the couple began writing letters to their respective families.