Gray- Part 5

 

(Read the preivous parts :-) )

“Let´s have our dessert outside on the terrace and you can tell me all about your wonderful ideas to keep me in office”.

“I believe that if people knew exactly how to remove colors from the world it would bring them a lot of benefit”.

“Tell me more”.

The servant came in with dessert. It was her favorite-condensed milk pudding. It is slowly baked in the oven in bain marie. She would always order it if she wasn´t on a diet. It was apparent that he knew everything about her.

“Thank you. This is my favorite pudding”. She looked at the president. “You already knew that, didn´t you?”

“There are a lot of things that I already know. Now, please continue with your ideas”.

“They are quite simple, as a matter of fact, there have been many rumors about you and if you simply tell the people the truth, they will learn to trust you more”.

“It’s funny you should say that, because every time I say something it is the truth”.

“What if people knew why the colors have disappeared? Or whether they could think that you were being transparent. All those false rumors would vanish”.

“You do realize that in a few years people won't even remember that there were colors. It is much easier to rule people who are depressed who can't tell the difference between a glass of red wine and white wine. Depression makes people weak and fragile. It takes up too much energy to fight against the government. Removing colors helps me control the country. It is something really simple and it doesn´t take a genius to know that”.

As he was speaking, he walked over to where she was seated and handed her a glass of wine. He sat down on the couch so close to her that it made her cringe. She knew that if she wanted him to tell her the process of getting rid of color, she had to seduce him for he was a chauvinistic pig and the language he understood was sex. She had been reluctant to using these sexist methods but now she was sure that it would only be this way that she would succeed with this atrocious creature. There was a war going on in her mind between what she needed to do and what she didn't want to do. She could never understand how this man had been married twice and his second wife was much younger than she was. Nothing against the age difference. His ways were just so obvious, but she knew for a fact that if she discovered how to bring color back, people would rebel overthrowing this president. Disgust had to be put aside.

“I would love to know the process off removing color” she said as her trembling hand touched his left cheek.

It had been such a long time that someone he was attracted to had made a warm and loving gesture that it took him off balance and he opened up like the dead clam. He held her hand tight, opened his mouth and spilled the beans. This was much easier than she had imagined. Goes to show you how tricky one´s brain can be.

“The process is quite simple. Hypnosis. That voice you heard in the foyer is a hypnotist. and whenever he counts backwards you either see color or you don't. Now, this is between you and me”. He leaned over to kiss her and without thinking she pushed him away.

“I'm afraid that I can't betray your wife this way. If you were to leave her for me, we could think about a relationship. but for the time being, this is as far as I can go”. Once again, she gently touched his left cheek.

He had fallen. He was under a spell- her spell. There was something mystical about her, something in her eyes from which he could not repel. He did not get angry. He just started thinking about how he could have her as his own.

“If you excuse me Sir, I had a lovely evening, but I should get home and start working on your campaign”.

“I thought that you had feelings for me just like I do towards you”.

Now that she noticed that all he needed was some attention and affection, she had him in the palm of her hand. However, she also knew that if she rejected him, he could become a raging bull. He had let down his tough-guy guard. He was at a loss for words. He felt helpless. The same time that he wanted to seize her, he wanted to hurt her.

“I am true to my character. I cannot do this to you or your wife or your children. I am not a home wrecker.  You for one will not leave her specially now since a family structure is important for your reelection”.

He just sat there as she got up and started making her way out. He didn't budge. He didn't move one inch. Fear was shading her like a dark storm cloud. She couldn't read him. she didn't know if he was going to attack her or just let her go. Could she have been mistaken? Did he have a heart after all? Were all those allegations lies?

All of a sudden, he looked at her as if his eyes we're ripping her insides and said in a terrifying frightening tone “You will be mine!”.

Surprisingly she was able to run out of there without having to go through the hypnosis session. Once she was outside in the garden, she was able to see the green trees, the dark blue sky, the gigantic orange full moon and all the beautiful colors she had started to forget. How beautiful everything looked, even at night lit up by the glorious moon. She was baffled that the president did not send anyone after her. He's simply let her go. There had been so much red tape to get into the home and now he didn´t even set the doors out on her. Something was fishy. She wasn't going to take the presidential car back to the hotel, as a result she decided to walk. It wasn't very far, and the fresh air would help rearrange the thoughts and ideas that overloaded her brain. Her next steps would be to find a new location to stay at, change into the disguise she had previously packed up and finally find the hypnotist and convince him to undo what he had done. Where had she heard that voice?

When she arrived at the hotel, the usher opened the door for her and greeted her with a cheerful “Good evening, miss”. She froze. That voice. She couldn´t believe it. Fate was on her side. She just needed to confirm her hypothesis.

“Good evening, could you please help me? I seem to have forgotten my room number”.

“Certainly, miss. I remember all the guest´s room numbers. Yours is 246”.

Bingo. She recognized the voice. He was the hypnotist. Why hadn´t it dawned on her before? She went up to her room and started to recall the events of that evening. Out of the blue, she remembered the usher greeting her when she had left to go to the president´s house. He clearly said that her red outfit was lovely. Before going there, she had been hypnotized, therefore, the colors had been removed from her memory. She wouldn´t have made the connection that he could see that she was wearing a red outfit. She didn´t even know that she was wearing red. But now that she was back to normal, all the pieces to the puzzle were falling into place. She needed to figure out a way how he could help her.

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