Chapter Four
1212 Words
Breakfast the next morning was suffocating with silence so tense and thick, one could slice it with a sharp knife.
It started great as Alexander had managed to reconcile his relationship with Daphne and soon, they were back to being themselves. They flirted and shared kisses in between bites like a couple totally in love while they were at the breakfast table alone, much to the maids’ annoyance.
Until Vanessa showed up. As usual, she had gone for her morning run. She returned drenched in sweat and went to her bedroom to shower and change. Her arrival to the breakfast table elicited quiet jealousy in Daphne because now that Vanessa had lost so much weight and was incredibly small but also incredibly fit, she looked beautiful in everything she wore boasting of her casual, yet classy fashion taste. Daphne became even more jealous when she noticed that Alexander was staring as though seeing Vanessa for the first time.
Vanessa wore nothing extravagant. A plain black vest and matching skinny jeans with nude pumps, and a suede royal blue coat with golden buttons and buckles had been draped over her arm. Vanessa sat at the breakfast table looking like a woman with a busy schedule as she set her coat and purse down in the next chair. Like always, she sat as far as humanly possible from Alexander and Daphne.
Daphne had managed to recapture Alexander’s attention and they locked lips, giggling, and flirting, and kissing like drunk-in-love fools.
“Swapping calories, I see,” Vanessa piped up, still on a high after last night. Having finally stood up to Alexander, that adrenaline rush felt so great that she was sure nothing could knock her down. Her streak of petty still ran rampant, fuelling every word she said to them, and the same way Daphne and Eloisa had degraded her for years, Vanessa decided to return the favour.
And Alexander was her prey.
She snorted derisively as they broke apart. “It’s bad enough you two are eating enough food to feed ten people.” She gestured to the array of breakfast dishes Alexander had ordered the maids to prepare just for Daphne as his way of compensating for upsetting her. “Seriously, you should ease up! Daph, the last thing you want is to end up looking like the cow I used to be.”
Vanessa paused and turned her attention to Alexander, her husband blinking in uncertainty at the malevolence in her dark chocolate eyes. She continued before Daphne had the chance to retort. “You should ease up too, Alexander. It would be devastating to…someone…I’m sure, if you flatlined by age fifty from too many calories and high cholesterol.”
“I work out, and my doctors are the best,” came Alexander’s rebuttal, a smug smirk playing on his face. He had won this argument, he was sure. Beside him, Daphne was beaming with pride, happy that Alexander was putting her half-breed sister in her place.
Which was beneath them both.
Vanessa set her bagel down, pausing in the midst of spreading a thin layer of cream cheese over it. She tilted her head and looked at Alexander with interest, the intensity of her dark brown eyes raising the hair on his arms and neck.
Oh, that’s new, he thought. No woman had ever had that effect on him.
“Not if you consume more calories than you burn.” She smiled brightly at him. “And doctors may be miracle workers, but they’re not God.” Vanessa looked at the half-eaten bagel in his hand and gestured to it with a careless wave of her wrist. “Maybe scrape off half of the cream cheese on your bagel. That’s enough for two servings.”
Alexander stared in shock at the woman sitting a few seats down from him and Daphne. He was incredulous. This shameless woman had just implied he was fat. It was rather bold of her, considering she had been the one who, less than a decade ago, needed two seats on the school bus.
In the silence of the dining room, the maids – Mary and Rhoda – exchanged glances. Mary tried her best to stifle her chuckle, covering it up with a cough, afraid to incur Alexander’s wrath and lose her job. Rhoda smirked in amusement, having wondered when Vanessa would finally fight back.
Daphne frowned, softening the angered expression pinching at her brows. Losing her cool in front of Alexander would do no good. So, she hummed quietly, pretending to be upset by the malice Vanessa had displayed. She lowered her head and peeked up at her half-sister from across the table.
“Nessie, you’re mad at me, aren’t you? It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have stayed the night. You two are married, and I’m such a shameless woman for sleeping with a married man.”
“Daph-” Alexander began, placing a reassuring arm around her shoulder as Daphne’s eyes flooded with tears. He sought to comfort her and protect her against Vanessa’s malice.
“No, Alex. I’m so stupid! I should leave. It’s obvious Nessie’s mad at me. That’s why she’s going after you.”
“Then let her. She means nothing to me. Can’t you see, this is what this shameless golddigger wants?” Alexander returned, jabbing a thumb in Vanessa’s direction, doing a double take when he caught her lack of reaction. She simply watched them arguing while carefully chewing on a small bite of bagel. His lip curled in frustration and disgust. “Look at her, Daphne! She’s enjoying making you so upset. So, let her come after me so long as she leaves you alone.”
“My gosh, you two will do so well on a soap opera,” Vanessa commented, placing her bagel down. Now that she had their attention focused on her, she crossed her arms over the top of the dining table, looking them each, square in the face.
“I applaud your acting, Daph. Definitely worth an Oscars or two.” She turned to look at Alexander next, the malice in her dark brown eyes swirling as if she were caught in a high. “I’m not going after you to make her upset, Alexander. My reasons are much, much simpler.”
“And what are they?”
Vanessa smirked. “Isn’t it obvious by now? I loathe you.”
Breakfast was silent after that. Alexander could not seem to find a rebuttal and had silently waved the white flag, returning to his breakfast as his mind toiled away at the conversation and those three words Vanessa had spat with so much happiness. Never before, had a woman told him that. Even those whose hearts he had carelessly broken, they never said that, and smiled as if it was a single reality that helped them sleep better at night.
Gobsmacked by Alexander’s retreat on the conversation, Daphne silently returned to her seat and finished with breakfast. Vanessa was long gone before either of them, having decided that she would spend the day, probably in a public library or at Lyn’s office at Boone Publishing, typing the last two and a half chapters.
She had written a little bit earlier in the morning.
- Writer
