~8~
1181 Words
~TIANA [POV]~
"Miss Lydia," a voice called from outside. "Lunch is ready downstairs."
Lydia groaned loudly in annoyance. "Seriously?" she muttered.
I heard movement, probably her going to answer the door. After a moment, the bedroom door opened and shut again.
Silence followed afterward, and I wasn't certain if she had left or not.
I opened the door halfway and peeked out.
The room was empty to my relief.
I rushed toward the clothes Lydia had left behind and quickly dressed myself, my eyes darting to the door every two seconds.
The outfit fit surprisingly well, loose enough to hide my body while still looking clean and presentable. It was a pink coloured shirt and black trousers.
I had barely finished adjusting the sleeves when the bedroom door opened again.
Lydia walked back inside.
The moment her eyes landed on me fully clothed, one of her brows slowly rose.
For a second, I thought she might snap at me for not coming out of the bathroom before, but instead, she simply smirked faintly.
"Well, look at that," she murmured. "You cleaned up nicely after all."
Lydia grabbed her phone from the bed before motioning toward the door.
"Come with me."
I hesitated briefly before following her out of the room.
"We're having lunch," she said casually while walking down the hallway, confidence evident in each step she took. "And you're joining us."
Confusion instantly filled me.
Why would she want me eating with them?
My stomach twisted nervously as we descended the stairs. I didn't like this one bit.
The closer we got, the more uneasy I became.
Lydia, however, looked entirely unconcerned.
When we finally reached the dining room entrance, she pushed the doors open and stepped inside.
I followed behind her immediately, and as my gaze lifted, it instantly locked with the man's eyes, the same man who had been in my room that morning with Marcus.
He sat at the head of the table, his cold gaze fixed directly on me the second I stepped in.
While my gaze shifted away from his and moved to the clean floor, I could still feel his eyes following me as I walked behind Lydia.
It seemed like my luck was terrible that morning because Lydia took the seat next to his and pointed at the space on the floor between her seat and his.
"You sit there."
I quickly did as she said, lowering myself down to sit on the cold floor.
"What are we having for lunch?" I heard Lydia chime, excitement in her voice.
"Have you perhaps lost the ability to see properly?" I heard the man's mirthless remark. "The food is right in front of you. Maybe I should find you a pair of glasses. What do you think, Marcus?"
He diverted the question to his brother, who sat opposite Lydia.
"I don't need glasses, Demetri, but thanks for your concern," Lydia responded, the pout in her voice now gone completely.
"Are you sure?" Demetri only pressed the matter. One might mistake his words for concern, but it was clear he was trying to rile Lydia up.
Was the man always like this? I whispered in my mind while hoping he would completely ignore me, seeing as he now seemed invested in taunting my new mistress.
Contrary to my thought that he would continue pushing her buttons, he said nothing more, and soon the four people seated at the table, including Jacob, began eating.
The conversation shifted to work related matters pretty fast. Until now, none of them had commented on the fact that I was there, as if I was invisible in their eyes or maybe they just didn't care.
While they were occupied with their discussion, my gaze slowly lifted toward the contents of the table.
My mouth watered at the sight of all the different but delicious looking varieties of food laid out before them, and I swallowed down the spit forming in my mouth.
Even though it hadn't been too long since I ate that bread, I was still hungry, but all I could do was stare longingly at the table while the rich aroma of the food drifted through the air, tempting me to wish I could have a taste from the table..
While staring at the table, I suddenly felt someone's eyes on me again, and unfortunately for me, when my gaze shifted toward the source of the stare, it was Demetri of course, watching me with those cold unreadable eyes once more.
There was not a single trace of emotion on his face, his eyes were cold and blank. When I realized that I had been staring for too long, I quickly looked away.
The man terrified me. It wasn't just his demeanor, but the cold look in his eyes, like he might snap my neck if I wasn't careful.
I made a mental note not to stare at him again.
"Hungry?"
I heard him suddenly ask in a low voice, and I knew he was talking to me. My head lifted to look at him, forgetting the mental note I'd made in my head mere seconds ago.
I shook my head in response.
Lydia, who was bragging about the man she had killed last night, noticed the small interaction going on between Demetri and me and spoke up.
"Is something the matter?" she asked, drawing the attention of everyone at the table toward us, even though the others hadn't caught on to the little interaction between Demetri and me before. "What did you do?"
This time she was asking me.
I looked at her and immediately shook my head.
Her eyes narrowed on me before she faced Demetri.
"Has he done something?" she asked, pausing her eating.
"Did you bother to ensure he had something to eat today?" he threw his own question back at her instead of answering hers.
"I'm not his nanny. Why should I care?" she said, resuming her meal.
"Ah, I almost forgot that you lacked the ability to care for things," Demetri said, his eyes drifting to me as he continued. "Was it not only last year that you killed ten pets? First it was that poor goldfish, then the turtle. The list could go on."
Now I was looking between the two of them, after all, I was the center of this conversation.
"It wasn't my fault the animals were weak," Lydia retorted. "Tell him, Marcus." She turned to Marcus for help, who seemed uninterested in meddling in their conversation.
"Everyone knows you've always been bad at keeping anything alive," Marcus responded, his eyes on me as he continued. "You can eat later if you are hungry. Jacob will ensure that."
My eyes lit up at once as happiness filled my heart at the mention of having a second meal in one day. That was something that had never happened to me before.
"There is no need for that," Demetri said, and the happiness I was feeling instantly dropped completely, but then his next words shocked me.
"He can eat here with us."
- Writer
