So, can you believe it? Can you fucking believe it? Frank, my damn ex-boyfriend, the one who left me right after my parent’s funeral, after a 3-years long relationship, without any word, just vanished. That Frank is actually Farenk and he lives in Hexago, is employed by my aunt and uncle, leads the chocolate production, and Melia obviously like him. As if that wasn’t enough, he had much more to tell me, giving me a different emotion to revel in. *fist on desk*

[Music in background]

This is Nadec, my adventure. Written down in a better way than I can tell it.

[Music louder and solo]

Ch 50: The one who ruined everything

 ‘You were part of the Order of the End, all this time?’ 

Nadec sprang up from her seat, face hot. Frank—or Farenk, as it seemed his real name had been all along—leaned as far back in his chair as he could, away from his desk. He held his palms up, moving his hands in an effort to calm her down. It didn’t help. The gesture had always upset her more. He should’ve remembered that. But, maybe he’d never realised it while they were in a relationship.

‘Please, Nadec, calm down, let me explain.’

In the complete history of all humanity, Nadec didn’t believe anyone had ever calmed down because someone told them so. What a silly thing to say.

She growled, and hit her fist on the desk, leaning forward, speaking through her teeth: ‘I’ve had a lot of different and extreme emotions these past few weeks, but rage wasn’t part of it, until now. Until seeing you. I can’t believe I worried about you.’

She threw her arms up, kicked at nothing, walked around her chair and plonked down. Her crossed legs didn’t stay still for long. The upper leg kicked up and down enough for her whole body to move. ‘Talk.’

‘I’m afraid there is more you won’t like, so let me start by saying this: I truly did love you. It wasn’t planned. I wanted to leave the Order, but that is not as easy.’

‘Not easy? You should’ve just told me. From the moment you gained feelings for me, you should’ve told me, but you didn’t, so why should I believe you loved me? This is nonsense.’

‘No, I couldn’t, and I shouldn’t have.’ He appeared more calm now, as if he’d taken his own absurd advice to calm down. ‘I know it’s a lot to take in, but think about it. You can see the preposterousness in what you just said, if you can look beyond your anger. And yes, I know you’re smart enough to do that.’

Nadec’s anger abated, and that in turn almost made it flicker up again. She’d forgotten this had been something he was able to do. First he forgot what stirred her anger—telling her to calm down—and then she forgot he always knew to say the right thing after all. She thought back to what she’d said. And had to admit he was right. 

‘You see it, don’t you?’ At a curt nod from Nadec, accompanied with a sigh, the corners of his mouth lifted. ‘If I had tried to tell you everything, you wouldn’t have believed me, because I’d have uncovered your parents as liars. And I know that wouldn’t have gone well, at all.’ Nadec had to acknowledge that with a grunt. ‘I’ve missed those grunts.’ Farenk said softly enough for Nadec to think she wasn’t meant to have heard. She felt a blush on her cheeks and a resurgence of anger.

‘Aren’t you and Melia…’ She hesitated how to finish the question.

‘Ah, yes,’ Farenk looked embarrassed. ‘We are. I am not sure what it is, but she does seem to be infatuated with me.’

‘Infatuated? Oh come on, I’ve heard the way she talks about you, she’s completely besotted. And going on the way you’re reacting, I’d say the same about you. That’s… Huh.’ Nadec blinked. ‘That should feel awkward, shouldn’t it? But it’s not. Perhaps because she always spoke about you as Farenk, and I never associated that with you, I’m more distanced from this?’ 

Nadec felt dismayed at the disappearance of her anger. Where had it gone? She couldn’t believe how relaxed she felt around him still, even after all this time and what he’d done. But, what had he done? She didn’t know any details yet. She only knew he’d been a member of the Order. There had to be more. More things she could be angry about, perhaps? After all the sadness of the past weeks, another emotion felt great. She wanted more of it.

‘There was more you had to tell me, wasn’t there? Might as well start from the beginning. Go on.’

‘You just want to get angry with me again, don’t you?’ He sighed, and immediately barked a laugh. ‘Don’t look so surprised. Really, Nadec, did you think I suddenly stopped knowing you? I might not understand the reason why, but I know you do. No need to tell me. You weren’t going to anyway, were you? Alright, madam, your wish shall be granted. But please, don’t hit me. And please, please let me finish my story before you start accusing me of being a square-faced gutser.’

‘I’ll try.’ 

‘Alright. So. We didn’t meet by accident. I’ve been in the Order ever since I was deemed old enough. One day I had the great honour of being called in for a special task. They proposed it to me, but I knew they wouldn’t have trusted me to keep my mouth shut. So I accepted. At first they said I’d go into a world much different from ours. They’d give me about half a year to adjust to the world, and then expect me to befriend someone, preferably get more than friendly.’

Nadec’s teeth ground together as he spoke. Even though she tried to keep a neutral face, she knew her lips pressed together in sync with the tightening of her cheeks. She forced her fists to unball. Keeping her foot from shaking only worked for a couple of seconds; with every word her anger increased. She reveled in it.

‘I thought by world, they merely meant a different area of our world,’ Farenk continued, ‘different enough to our culture to seem like a different world. I was wrong. The man named Klappah transported me into Earth, as I was informed it was called. At first I had difficulty believing it to be a different world, but my disbelief didn’t last long. It was incredibly hard to adjust, coming from a society without any technology worthy of mentioning. I don’t have to tell you what Earth has, nor my hardship in adjusting.’ 

He had been looking at a spot at the desk this whole time, but with this, he wagered a look up at Nadec. She twitched her lips in a sort of grimace which somehow conveyed agreement. He lowered his eyes again.

‘Half a year certainly wasn’t enough to learn everything, and despite my best effort, it was obvious I was out of place. Hence why I said I came from a tiny country village. Thanks to all that technology, I’d been able to find an existing village beforehand, to establish my background. Of course, as you may have guessed now, the thing about my parents being dead and having no other family, was a lie to avoid you wanting to go and visit. Even then, you still made it difficult at times to convince you I didn’t want to return.’ He grinned slightly.

Nadec was not amused. ‘I wanted to visit that village for years; from what the internet told me it seemed like an interesting place. Like going back in time 20 years or more. When you disappeared, I almost went looking for you there. I even bought all the tickets and everything I needed for the trip. But in a fit of rage and grief, I cancelled it all, thinking since you left me, you’d probably wouldn’t want to be found.’ 

She blinked her eyes, dispersing the wetness. The day she cancelled it all, had been the day she’d broken down on the street and found Kitty. 

‘I am incredibly sorry for all the hurt I caused, Nadec. I didn’t want it. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I didn’t realise the woman they wanted me to entice would actually capture my heart. The isolated village was a perfect excuse for my lack of technological, political, social, and any other knowledge, and it also worked in favour of my different accent. And, if I remember correctly, the accent in turn worked in favour of my task of seducing you.’

‘You damned man, you know well enough you remember it correctly. It was one of the things that attracted me to you from the first time we met. I told you that often enough. Damnit.’ She mumbled the curse under her breath.

Farenk cleared his throat. ‘Yes, well, lucky me, I suppose. Either way, the reason why they—‘

‘Just a second, I have a question. How did you know where to find me that day?’

‘Oh, well, during the half year of preparation, I would get regular notes sent to me. I do not know how they did it. There was a specific tray in my apartment which the man Klappah said never to move and to leave empty at all times, except with return notes and such, and—‘

‘I remember that tray,’ Nadec burst out. ‘It was ugly as hell. I never understood why it just sat there, doing nothing. You know I had my doubts about it being some kind of homely ritual from your village. I was right. I’ll never forget that time I put my hand bag on it. Your reaction was a bit over the top, for sure.’

‘Yes, well, it was important. They could’ve accidentally transported your hand bag away. How was I to explain that? Either way, they’d given me your name before, and ordered me to find you. Lucky for me, your first name is unique. I’d been following you for several weeks when the note arrived, saying the day had come. I knew you’d be at that cafe around that time. So I set the plan in motion. I only followed instructions.’

‘You only followed instructions,’ Nadec said flatly. Despite her anger, she did understand his position. Like he said, he didn’t have much choice. Nadec admitted she probably would’ve done the same. Or perhaps not. It was more likely she’d have tried to run away. It wouldn’t have been too difficult for Farenk to disappear in some busy city.

‘Why didn’t you leave? You could’ve easily run away, I doubt they would’ve taken the effort to find you back.’ Especially seeing how much effort they had to take for finding me back after my parents died, she thought.

‘They had my sister. They mentioned it in a casual way, but it was an obvious threat. She also works for Mistress Kridec and Master Stetem now, but I’ll get to that later. This is the hardest part to tell you. You don’t know yet why they wanted me to seduce you. It’s not pretty.’ He kept his head pointed down, but looked at her through his eye lashes. ‘I am forever in your debt, and this is the most despicable thing I ever did and never will I lower myself to such a thing again.’

‘Just fucking say it already, for ball’s sake.’ Impatience lay heavy in Nadec’s tone of voice.

‘They wanted me to break you and your parents apart. I never understood why, and…’

Nadec didn’t hear the rest. His voice faded as her thoughts took over. He’d succeeded in his task. Her parents hadn’t approved of him, they’d had several huge arguments about their relationship, until finally one massive enough to make her move out of the house she grew up in. They were probably close to telling her all about Parallello and the royalness of the family. 

They’d tried so hard to get in touch with her after that. She was stubborn and never answered her mobile. They eventually regained contact, but, spurred on by Frank, it resulted in another heartbreaking fight between Nadec and her parents.

A few weeks later they were dead.

You have been listening to Nadec, chapter 50 the one who ruined everything

Narrated, adventured and lived through by myself, Nadec. Written in a better way than I can tell it, by Astrid Jef.

Don’t go just yet, we’ve got bloopers coming up. [music on background]

**bloopers**