The Marked One (The Marked Series Book 1) (8 page)

“Not really. I’ve been here for a few years and I still haven’t been to Point State Park. I don’t care really about travelling.”

“That hurts!” Aaliyah just shrugged, so Madeline continued. “If I ever have the money, I’m so going to Japan. I might even drag your ass with me.”

Aaliyah weakly protested as she chomped down another bow tie, fighting the sticky treat.

Soon, they had watched their fill of
Empire
and Aaliyah was yawning with sleepy eyes. “Wanna sleep over?” Madeline asked through a yawn of her own.

Aaliyah finally finished her yawn. “I have a place. I—”

“A place I’d rather you not go to alone so late at night. You can leave early tomorrow morning, do the walk of shame to get ready, or you can find something of mine to wear.” Aaliyah attempted to say something, but Madeline interrupted. “Please? Come on, I won’t see you until after your date, so do me the honour of sharing my bed.”

She laughed at her. “Fine, but only because I am dead tired. You’d just have to borrow me a shirt.”

“You can sleep naked. It is—”

“It is not happening. You do weird things when you sleep. I don’t trust sleepy you.”

Madeline pretended to check her out, and they both began to chuckle. She checked her watch. “So one more episode before bed?”

Aaliyah grabbed the TV remote and eagerly got the next episode ready.

Madeline smiled. “I’m glad you decided to stay in the US.” Aaliyah hugged her friend’s side, wordlessly agreeing, but the dead giveaway that she thought of Tristan showed in her eyes. It only caused Madeline one concern…which one of them was going to get hurt the most?

Chapter Five

Tristan

Tristan couldn’t believe how long the last few days felt, as his thoughts were constantly set on the idea of seeing Aaliyah again. He would hopefully get to know her better and see if the mythical connection he felt toward her was in fact really there and not just his loneliness teasing him. He was blessed by some unexplainable force to have gotten the opportunity to actually meet
The Marked One
—not that the portrait was the only reason he wanted to get to know her. He knew that it meant something greater was in store for him. Since he had gotten the chance to speak to her, he was certain that he wanted to be with her, as the sweetness in her eyes drew him in like a drug.

He walked into Gerardo Labs with a prominent smile on his face.

“Mr. Gerardo, we weren’t expecting you.” Stephen’s tone was shrill, as he all but jumped up behind the reception desk.

“Good day, Stephen, no problem. I’m here to see Ms. Labuschagne,” he told the man in the reception area, who looked a little distraught at the unexpected visit.

He punched in the master code to enter the lab area, and Stephen just waved at him. Tristan walked down the long hallway and nodded a greeting in the direction of the few scientists and lab techs who looked up from what they were doing. The glass walls facing the hallway allowed him to peek into each lab as he passed by.

In the second lab at the end, he saw Aaliyah in a white lab coat, looking like a fantasy he never knew he had, while a big, fat white rat was on the table in front of her. As he entered the first door, a soft mist slightly sterilised him, and he took a lab coat off one of the hooks to put on, while leaving his suit jacket behind. The small area was truly just to prevent the animals from escaping and if gas leaks occurred, to isolate it.

He stepped in, and Aaliyah still hadn’t noticed him. She spoke to the very rat in front of her, “Don’t worry, buddy. I just wanted to know what condition you were in, and I’m going to take you back home with me.” She leaned closer. “I won’t let these mean people kill you or use you again.”

“So you think we are mean?” Tristan asked. She jumped around, startled.

“Tristan? I mean, Mr. Gerardo?” The awe on her face came with a flustered look and she sucked her full bottom lip into her mouth, as if she was fighting a fit of laughter.

He was a little sad to find she had her face covered, but she was still beautiful. “Call me Tristan, please. And explain to me why you think we are mean.” He kept his tone all business-like and it made her visibly calm, as she realised he was teasing her. Stepping closer to her, he folded his arms across his chest in an attempt to sell that he was being serious.

She smiled at him. “I just don’t think lab animals are always necessary…”

“Who is that guy?” He looked at the rat, which looked like it was slowly gaining back life, as he surmised he had been under anaesthesia a while earlier.

“First.” She placed the rat in a tiny cage, closed it up, and took off her gloves. “He is from my house.” She scrunched up her face. “Well, area. I am apparently able to do whatever I want to, because Mr. Gerar—”

“Tristan.”

“No,” she sternly insisted, “Because
Mr. Gerardo
had given me one hell of an opportunity without my knowledge.” She folded her arms over her chest, just as he had. “Isn’t that true?” Her challenging green eyes were sweet as she kept her smile playful.

“I might have helped.” Her brows rose in challenge. “But that is just so you would stay on and work for Gerardo Corporations before we decide to overuse your skills.” He rounded the table to where she stood and saw her tense up for a second. She let out a stifled breath. “So he comes from your
area
?” he asked to keep it light, and she merely nodded. “What did you do to him?”

“Well, rats are an issue everywhere, and this dude broke into my place, before and after it had been covered up…there was a hole in the wall.”

Does she live in a shack?
She looked worried over her words.

“It was covered back up for a day, but then he broke in again. So since I had this ‘free to do what I pleased’ this week, I thought that maybe a check-up on him would be informative.” She became more animated as she spoke. “Turns out, he
was
a lab rat, escaped somehow or got lost I initially assumed, as I found a tag on him. He had to be some serious company’s, because the chip was implanted like those they put in dogs and cats at the back of the neck.” She gestured the last without realising it and when he smiled at her, her arm dropped and she held her tongue.

“That is this here?” He looked at the thing in the petri dish, trying to help her feel more at ease.

“Oh, and his testicles were huge.” She smiled at his immediate shock. “That’s normal, but that’s when I searched for this.” She did a twirl to where a computer stood on a table and handed him the papers. “Turns out he was a Gerardo rat. Genetically modified to help decrease the wild population, but the project failed in 2011 because some unsterilized rats accidently got released with the others, and with the enhancements, it obviously countered the goal.”

He looked at her in wonder as he became an instantaneous sapiosexual.

“That chip belongs to you, but I’m taking this guy out of here…even if he previously belonged to the company.” Realisation crossed her eyes. “Oh my, I forgot it was Friday. That is why you are here. We have a date. What is the time?” She made a few aimless turns.

“Aaliyah, I came early to see how you were doing. Dr. Ramadan and Professor Li are both amazed by you. So I thought I could see if you have settled in, and then go to our dinner directly from here.”

She looked perplexed. “But I wanted to get a little more…dressed, I guess.”

“You still can. I’ll take you home and help you free this guy, then you can get ready, not that it is necessary, but then I can see where you found this fat rat.”

“He isn’t actually that fat. Part of his genetic modification was aimed to allow a better chance of survival, so he just has more muscle…” She paused. “You meant in general, to see where I live.” She looked a little embarrassed, and he loved how she turned completely shy.

“I’m glad to see you are happy here,” he said honestly.

“I can’t thank you enough, Tristan.” It was the first time she had called him by his name without correction. For a moment both of them just stared at each other. She checked her watch and said, “Uhm, should we go? I’m sure the boss won’t mind.” There was no pretence with her, and it was refreshingly different from what Tristan was used to.

Soon, they were heading out to his car and she looked at it with her mouth hanging open. She looked intimidated. “That’s a Maserati Ghibli.”

Something in her wide eyes shifted, as if it only now clicked how different they were. “Are you sure you want to see where this guy and I live?” she asked as he held the door open for her while he held the rat’s cage. “It is quite dodgy. Your car might be stolen. Maybe only your wheels? I don’t know how people here steal things, but in SA, your rims would
so
get stolen.”

He frowned at her. “It can’t be that bad.”

She made a throaty chuckling sound. “Oh, are you in for a treat.” When she was settled in the car, he placed the rat cage onto her lap. It was the oddest picture he’d ever seen. She cooed at the rat, and the thing looked like a pet enjoying the attention, as it made its ratty noises.

“So, uhm…which area would you say is your favourite in the city? I’ve been here a while, but haven’t explored much, if any,” she asked when he got in.

He smiled. “I pretty much like this area. Highland Park. My house is close to where we are now and it just has a nice location to start a family. There are great parks and gardens in the area, the zoo is close by, and the schools are pretty good.” He caught her reaction. “That was a little strange for conversation.”

Aaliyah made an awkward sound. “I just never really thought of stuff like that.”

There was a long silence, but he noted that she hadn’t seemed awkward about what he had previously said. While he realised how strange it must have sounded, she was instead smiling sweetly. She seemed desperate to hide, as if she was entertaining the notion of what he had said would have been wrong.

He, himself, had to stop his thoughts from running wild on dreams far too early to have in their relationship, so he continued the conversation. “You said that you haven’t explored the city much, but you must have been to some of the landmarks like The Duquesne Incline
and
Point State Park? Or seen a Pittsburgh Penguins or Pirates game?” She smiled shyly. “Honestly? You haven’t done any of that?”

“I really want to do all those things sometime, especially see Point State Park, but I guess I’ve always imagined that the first time I go, it’d be when my father visits or to make an important day memorable.” Her voice sparked up when she spoke of her father.

“Why haven’t you explored the city? There is so much…I’m sorry. I—”

“No, it is exactly what I imagine you are surmising.” He heard her let out tiny sigh. “It is a habit. I try staying where crowds and stares are fewer. Even covered up, I still feel ill at ease.”

“You shouldn’t feel like you need to hide.” The words slipped from his mouth.

Surprisingly, she agreed. “I know. I’m trying though.” They looked at each other for a second and smiled. “Going to Point State Park is probably a thing here, right?”

He smiled. “Pretty much. I think there is even a rule that if you are serious about someone, that you take them there on a date. Or to at least one sports event and then have
sammiches
.”

“I’ll be checking out for that date then.” She closed her eyes in embarrassment. “I didn’t mean it like that. I just…”

“It is a date. I’ll take you on a true Pittsburgh date sometime,” he said to stop her and as she turned her head away to hide her blush, he could tell how much the idea had pleased her. The rest of their ride was shared in comfortable silence.

The closer they got to her place, the more he began to believe that it could actually get worse. It wasn’t truly a bad area. The people only made it look bad, and the numerous old and abandoned warehouses they were passing left him a little confused over their location.

“There it is.” She pointed toward a small warehouse that seemed it might have been there since the settlers first arrived. It stood alone, as larger, newer warehouses seemed to also stay away from the unremarkable building
.

In the right light, after a proper cleaning outside and a lot of Photoshop, it might look pretty.
His words contradicted his thoughts. “You can’t be serious, Aaliyah?” he asked, parking in front of the door. The area was quite abandoned. It had to be the crappiest part of the city; the nearby stench of the marina held a soft tone in the air, and the trains sounded closer than he could think of them in his mental map.

“It really is beautiful…in its own way.” She smiled at him, and the fact that she looked content meant she believed every word she said.

Not that he had doubted before, but this convinced him that she was different from every other woman he had dated in his life. He could actually imagine her not being a fan of what he had in store for their fancy date. As they got out of his car, he saw her looking back at him as she went to take the fat rat somewhere.

“Do you want to help put him back in his semi-natural habitat?”

“That I can’t miss.” He followed her to the pile of old, rotting boxes near another building, which seemed to have a few people living in it, or the clothes scattered about were just garbage. He was a little lost over what it all meant.

She set the cage down, and he chuckled at how jumpy she was when she opened the small gate and allowed the rat to run away. “Bye, Gerardo.” He laughed. “He needed a name, especially if he and I are going to continue sharing bread…and oats. He likes that, apparently.”

“You are kind of weird,” he said, cocking his head to the side as she passed him with an odd look and headed back to the dodgy warehouse. This was apparently her home. Opening the door, he could see some of the appeal as the setting sun’s rays came through the only window on the opposite side. She smiled at him as he stared. “Fine, I see it now…only a little though.”

“I haven’t even shown you the best part.” She grabbed his hand, and it was clear she hadn’t realised how comfortable she was around him until she looked back. Sadly, she let go of his hand. “It is upstairs.” The confusion in her eyes was quite sudden, but he wordlessly followed her up, as the tension seemed to destroy the ease.

He sensed she truly enjoyed being around him, but she was scared, uncertain, and most likely afraid of being hurt. Why, he couldn’t tell yet, but he prayed and hoped that if he was lucky, he would be allowed to get to know her and even her saddest memories.

At the top, her bed was unmade and several photos decorated the wall. There was one of her as a young girl with her parents, a photo of someone he surmised was her mother, and her with another woman her age. Tristan thought she looked familiar but couldn’t place her.