EMILY'S POV.
"Actually," She paused, scanning me. "I think it might be nice. I need a change of environment, and since Lucas will be home," She turned to him, "you'll be home, right?"
"Yeah." He replied, with a sigh.
"Then, everything is settled. I'll be a good girl." She said, and winked at me. I didn't need anyone to tell me she meant exactly the opposite. Already, she hated me.
The cold was too much as I walked back to our mansion in my drenched suit. When I got to my room, I squeezed, and hung them up for drying, before preparing a warm bath for myself.
I was famished, but couldn't bring myself to go down to the living room. Wariness had seeped into me, and I didn't want to run into anyone. The evening had been nothing short of embarrassing, and worse, the next day was set to be a lot worse.
What could I wear that could help me feel better? Well, since I was going to be a babysitter, I could dress in a semi-formal way because I couldn't see myself caring for Sadie in a suit, or a tight, white shirt.
The next day, I found a white short-sleeved T-shirt with the words shine written on my chest in black, and paired it up with a pair of free office pants. My hair went into a bun atop my head, and I wore comfortable sandals.
It was a semi-formal look, and the best I could probably go for.
When I went down the stairs, I heard the clinking of plates coming from the dining hall. The dining hall was shielded from the living room with curtains made of shiny strands, so I couldn't see whoever was in there.
I peeped in, and saw Sadie sitting on a chair, munching on her Fried Egg Sandwich with delight, as her legs swung to and fro. Her eyes widened, as she stuffed her mouth full, making satisfied sounds. She spotted me immediately, and smiled.
"Come in, come in. We were just about to call you." She said, with a full mouth, beckoning to me with her little hand.
"We?" I asked, then spotted Lucas opposite her in a white sweatshirt, and black joggers. His brown hair fell on his forehead softly, and sat atop his eyelids. It gave him a casual, yet appealing feel. Thankfully, he wasn't looking at me. His eyes were fixed on his phone, as he bit into his sandwich. "Oh." I said, pushing aside the strands of the curtain, and stepped in.
Thinking of the provoking words he had said when we had chicken broth, made me feel uncomfortable.
I took my seat with a chair in between me and Sadie, and a maid served me with breakfast.
"Good morning, Alpha Lucas." I greeted.
"Please call me Lucas when it's just us. Alpha Lucas sounds weird." He said, raising a glass of water to his lips.
"You can't even read the mood." Sadie said, looking at a long slice of vegetable she had taken out of her sandwich, while making loud chewing noises.
What mood was she talking about?
"Is Katie not around?" I asked, taking up my sandwich.
"She went out with John." She replied, and I sighed. I wished Katie was around. It would make things less awkward.
After a quiet breakfast, Sadie took my hand forcefully, and led me to the farther part of the living room, and up the staircase next to John's study.
"Today, you have to do everything I say." She said, as her little legs climbed the staircase faster than I could ever hope to climb them.
"Alright." I replied, only for her to shove me roughly into a room, and lock the door.
"So, I prepared something for today." She said, striding to the wardrobe. "Ooh!" She squealed in delight, as she threw it open.
She threw a pair of black, fishnet pantyhoses my way, and a short, pink glittery skirt that seemed to throw little beams of light everywhere.
Then she fished out a purple cropped top that also seemed to have too much glitter. It had no arms, and was really fitted.
"Change into those." She said, and I looked at the clothes she had thrown on the floor.
"Your babysitter is not supposed to do all these." I said, and she stopped, with her back to me. She didn't say a word, didn't move a muscle, but that made her scarier.
"Put it on while I'm nice." She growled, and honestly, I felt more scared of her than I felt about the elders. "The next time you run your stupid, fat mouth at me like that, challenging me, then, I'll show you what I can do." She threatened, and continued to fish for things in the wardrobe.
I stared at her, and bit my lip, wishing I could just go to her, hold her little neck, and throw her down the window.
Instead, I picked up the clothes, and shamefully changed into them.
After dressing, I felt oddly uncomfortable. The pantyhose had really big holes, and the skirt was too short. The top seemed to scratch my skin, and it was hard to even try to feel comfortable.
I felt like I had stepped out of a cartoon world.
I really didn't want to wear that crap. It was too flashy, and made me look too dumb.
"What are you still doing?" Sadie asked, pushing open the door. "Get out." She ordered, and even though it tore me apart to take such a nasty order from a kid I could be a mother to, I had no choice, but to do it.
Sadie sat me in front of her dressing mirror, and began to work on my bun. She loosened my hair, and when they cascaded down my shoulders, she ran her hands through them.
"Hair as ugly as the face." She said with disgust, and I bit the inside of my lip. Sadie parted my hair, with a rather sharp object I felt uncomfortable with, and packed my hair in two high ponytails.
Unbelievable! Since when did babysitters get treated in that manner? Why were they bent on making things hard for me?
"Ooh, Sadie's a natural." She said, clipping childish pins to my hair. She applied a huge amount of blush to my cheeks, and inexpertly applied red lipstick to my lips, smearing my chin with it. It seemed rough, and the lipstick wasn't limited to the edges of my lips. It crossed them in some places.
If you asked me, I looked like a clown. After all that horrible transformation, Sadie took me back down the stairs, and when Lucas saw me, he began to cough, but I knew he was actually laughing.
Sadie sat me in a chair, and brought out her phone, clicking pictures, and acting lovey dovey with me.
"Hey, hey, smile! Smile like the sun." She ordered, and I bared all my teeth, making her hit my face with the phone.
"Ah!"
"You look horrible if you do that! Seriously, you're so ugly. Now, smile like I'm doing." She said, and I did. She clicked, and next she made me pout like a kid, which I also did.
"Now, pose like Wonder woman. Do it, do it." She said, excitedly, then her voice lowered dangerously. "Do it."
With my cheeks heating up, and coloring as much as the makeup, I raised a hand up, and tried my best to pose like wonder woman.
Lucas couldn't hold his laughter, and I felt like disappearing into the floor.
Sadie also made me do a lot of weird poses. She made me carry a club like Harley Quinn, and had me blow a kiss to the wall. She also fondled me, and pretended we were the best of sisters.
After all that, my mouth dropped when she simply clicked on all the photos, and uploaded them on her social page.
"Sadie…" I called, but stopped myself in time. She began to dance with her shoulders, and dialed someone's number.
I felt humiliated, and wondered if the makeup was enough to cover up what I really looked like.
Damn, even with that, anyone would still recognize me.
Sadie stayed on a phone call for a long while, and I watched Lucas reading a newspaper.
Then all of a sudden, Sadie laid two yoga mats on the floor, and I groaned in anger.
"Lucas, can you make videos of us? We're going to do a cat pose, and meow." She said, handing him the phone, and he smiled, flashing beauty.
"I… I'm not flexible. I…"
"Who says yoga is for flexible people?" She asked, and got on all fours. "Hurry. My friends are coming, and I need to show them the yoga pictures." She snapped, and I got on all fours. "Arch your back."
"Won't they hear you snapping at me?" I asked.
"That's why I'm smiling at you. I'm muting the sound, and adding music to it." She said, and I shuddered. She was horrible.
I arched my back, and looked at Lucas, who had a straight face on.
"Now, Meeeeeow!" Sadie said, and I died a thousand times.
"Meeeew…" I said, and Lucas burst into laughter, throwing the phone onto the sofa.
"Lucas! You're ruining this!" Sadie snapped, getting to her feet, and snatched the phone from the sofa.
"Just kill me." I muttered, sitting, and feeling like I already looked as red as a tomato.
Sadie made me do more embarrassing yoga, and the times I fell were twice my age. Who did yoga with a short skirt, and a male stranger watching her?
The videos came out weird. I looked like a lady who had made it out of a psychiatric officer by running. Sadie, and Lucas laughed at the videos, and I felt more than humiliated.
"They're almost here. Jean texted me just now." Sadie said, jumping to her feet. "Now, it's Japanese class. I told my friends you're really good at Japanese. Are you?"
"No." I said immediately.
"Then I'll teach you a few words. Come with me. You must say it with confidence. Hear me?" She said, strictly, and pushed me into a room.
"Okay, so I bragged a lot about you. I told them you only like talking to me, so you might not really talk much to them, so… listen up. You must practice this. The tone, the words… Not a single mistake must be made. Now, listen up. When they say hi, you say: Watashi no namae wa Emily desu."
My eyes doubled, and my neck pushed forwards.
"Wata…wata what?" I asked.
"Hey!" She screamed, and I jumped back. "Watashi no namae wa Emily desu." She repeated, and tried my best to say it exactly as she said hers.
"Watashi namae wa…"
"Watashi no namae wa!" She snapped.
You're a brilliant student, Emily. It's just a few strange lines.
"Alright, say, Konnichiwa, Emily desu."
"That's better. Konnichiwa, Emily desu." I repeated, and she nodded.
"Take out your phone, and record the next one." She ordered, and I did as she said. "Dōshitemo dansei ga hitsuyōna ndesu."
"What?" I asked.
"Listen to the recording over, and over, and say it perfectly." She said, and as she left, I kicked the air. They were all the same. They loved using others for laughs.
Shortly, her friends arrived, and they were all older. Most of them were teenagers, but they interacted with her like she was on the same level with them. Sadie was too bossy. It showed even when she was with her friends. Derel, and Derella also dropped by, and Derella began to talk rapidly to Lucas about something. When they had all settled down, Sadie came to call me.
"HI…" they all said without sync.
"Konnichiwa, Emily desu." I said, with a smile, and they nodded among themselves. "Dōshitemo dansei ga hitsuyōna ndesu?" I asked, and their mouths dropped.
Damn. I needed no one to tell me my words meant something else. One look at Sadie who was folding her expanding lips made it obvious.
"Otoko ga hituyou?" One of them asked, with wide eyes, and the others looked at me in disgust. Just then, Lucas grabbed my arm, and led me away.
"What the hell was that?" He asked in shock, when we had entered a room.
"What? I just repeated what Sadie told me to." I asked, and he held up his phone, tapping quickly on it.
"Repeat what you said." He said, holding it in front of me. He had opened a translating app.
"Konnichiwa, Emily desu." I said, and it translated immediately.
*Hi, I'm Emily.*
I hesitated before saying the other, and he raised a brow. "Dōshitemo dansei ga hitsuyōna ndesu." I repeated, and was horrified.
It read: I'm desperately in need of a man.
My eyes widened, and my hands flew to my mouth.
"Damn that…" I said, strongly, almost cursing, but held my tongue immediately. "She made me say that! Why's she like that!? What's her deal with me? Why would she make me say that? How is that supposed to occur to an eight-year-old?" When I was done, I was breathing hard. I had totally forgotten who he was, and had ranted out my frustrations.
He looked at me for a while, then chuckled.
"You should be smarter. Kids these days are like that. You can stay here till they leave." He said, and left. I sank to the floor, and bit my lip so hard that it bled. It was way too humiliating. How could I say that to a bunch of high schoolers? My crazy dressing only made it easier to believe that I was truly crazy.
~
The torture didn't end. Later in the evening, I cooked, and sang for Sadie, and even went to the large playground behind the mansions, and played with her.
The worst was when she forced me to swim around in a mermaid suit, calling me Ariel, and filmed me struggling to swim. It was just my legs that were bound together, but I almost died out of panic.
John and Katie returned, and when Katie saw me, she almost laughed, but held herself immediately.
They began to talk, while Sadie took more photos with me, but then… my dark day suddenly brighte ned up.
Why?
I heard John saying something really sweet. My smile went as wide as my ears, and it was the first natural smile that Sadie caught in her photos throughout the day.
It was a genuine smile.
Chapter 36
LUCAS' POV.
John came up to me while Emily was busy taking pictures with Sadie in her mermaid suit. Katie seemed like she was going to roll on the floor, and laugh, but she didn't.
She had such good control. A trait I envied in her. John looked so wary, and looking at Emily, a dark look crossed his face.
Then he sat next to me, and let out a really loud sigh.
"What's wrong?" I asked, turning to him.
"This is just so damn stupid. The whole divine process is getting on my nerves real bad. Everything is so traditional, and everyone's acting like they're going to die if I don't do exactly as is needed. I mean I'm fine fortifying the pack by remaking the sculpture by going through all those tedious processes, but don't you think a month is too long?" He asked, looking like he was going to go crazy if I didn't reason with him.
"A month— As how?" I asked, crossing my legs.
"I'll be away for a full month. Away from the house, from everyone, from…" he paused, and glanced at Emily, who had a smile on her face, as Sadie took yet another photo. "I don't know. It just seems weird. A whole month. What am I going to be doing? I hope they don't expect me to sit on a mountain, and start praying like Buddha." He spat words like poison, and I burst into laughter.
"Buddha?" I asked, laughing again.
"A whole month." He said, again, and bit his lip. "Just to avert a curse, and give the new sculpture divine powers." He added, tapping his feet continuously on the floor.
"I hope you roll off a mountain, John, and probably break your legs. That way, no one has to see your annoying face unless Katie wheels you out." Sadie said, while checking her hair in her phone camera, and everyone burst into laughter.
Katie turned away laughing, and Emily covered her face.
My laughter was the loudest.
"Just let me get you, you little devil! How dare you speak to me like that!?" John asked, enraged, as he flew to his feet.
"Woah, woah, woah, she's just a baby." I said, still laughing, as I held on to John's wrists.
"Baby? Baby at Eight?" He asked, and one look at Katie who looked like she was struggling so hard not to laugh, I began to laugh harder. "Lucas! How is this funny?"
John began to rant while Emily tried to swim like Sadie wanted. She looked like a mermaid bound by magic, and unable to swim.
All day, she had been really adorable. When Sadie dressed her up in glittery things, it had been hard not to laugh. She also seemed embarrassed to be doing yoga with me watching.
Anytime she fell disgracefully on the floor, she always looked at me with a troubled expression on her face like she was telling me to leave.
She seemed like a simple woman to me, although I wondered why she didn't want to be friends. Did she feel awkward because we slept together? Actually, I tried to forget about it, and see her as a different person, but living with her made me unable to do that. Anytime I saw her hands, I remembered the feel of them on my chest. Anytime I watched her talk, I felt her lips on mine.
Her voice alone brought back the night vividly. It was haunting. I had not slept with a woman in a long time, but I didn't think that was the reason I liked her so much. It was just her, the aura she exuded, the fierceness she could summon into her eyes, and the fact that she was so different from what I was used to.
"Lucas, Lucas, Lucas!" Sadie suddenly screamed, with her phone still trained on Emily who was sitting on the pool coping, looking like a red tomato.
"Yeah?" I answered, breaking out of my thoughts.
"Play the prince. I need to make it as a separate audio. I want my video to seem like the mermaid's thinking of the conversation they had. So, I need you and her to talk, so I can extract the audio and attach it to another video. Alright, Emily, say something." She said, and Emily's brows crinkled in frustration.
"Like what?" She asked, quietly.
"Think like the little mermaid." Sadie snapped, and Emily looked at me, although she looked away right after.
"H…hey?"
"Hi." I replied, with a smile, enjoying how flustered she was.
"How… uh, how's the land? Your… your castle. Is it nice?"
"Wanna see for yourself?" I asked, and Sadie gave a silent squeal, as she listened.
"Unfortunately, I have no legs." She said, and I laughed.
"I can make them for you."
"Hey, hey, hey!" John suddenly snapped. "I'm the one engaged to her. Shouldn't I be the prince?" He asked, and I was surprised at his level of— was it childishness, or possessiveness?
"Shut up. You should be his driver." Sadie said, in frustration, and everywhere was silent. John's jaw had dropped, and the rest of us were trying not to laugh.
Unfortunately, and surprisingly, Katie made a sound first, and excused herself immediately, while John stared daggers at her.
Then Emily began to shudder with laughter, until Katie dragged her tail hard.
"Stop laughing! We're filming here. You know how hard it will be to make edits?" She snapped.
~
The next day, I escorted a grumbling John to the airport along with Katie.
"Seriously, this is ridiculous." He grumbled, and I suppressed my laughter.
"It's just a month. Thirty days will fly by very soon. You just have to sleep really early, and wake really late." I said, and he smiled.
"Nice advice. Except sleep doesn't come to me. I'm always searching for it." He replied, and began to walk away, raising his hand, signaling goodbye.
"Have a safe flight." I called after him, and he gave me a thumb.
Deep within me, as I watched John leave, I realized I was a little happy to see him go.
It would give me the chance to make up for all the torture he'd given Emily, and maybe along the way, I'd get to truly know her.
EMILY'S POV.
When I woke up the next morning, I was sore all over. Bad dreams about Sadie had plagued me. The most memorable had been one of her somehow managing to make me go to her school in my underwear.
I had been laughed at by so many people, and classmates of mine that we went to high school and college together, all saw me, and mocked me.
They wanted to know if that was the future I had been planning with John for years. The dream left me with a bitter feeling, and I woke up with a pout.
I sat up, and snatched my phone. It was still quite early, but Katie had sent three messages already, asking if I was awake. Who was she to boss me around just because John wasn't around?
I was going to make sure I used the best of my John-free month, so she was to expect opposition if she tried to take that from me.
Then I saw a video message from an unknown number. I clicked on it, and saw a screen-recorded video of me on Instagram, as the little mermaid.
Sadie had done professional editing. I looked like I was in a movie, but the annoying thing was that it had gotten ten thousand likes. Anyone was bound to recognize me. I had no makeup on.
"Damn Sadie!" I muttered, slamming my phone onto the bed, then I picked it up hastily, and moved to lie on my belly.
I was going to call the one person who could make my day better in an instant.
"Good morning, Dahlia." I greeted, cheerfully.
"What made you so happy this early in the morning?" She asked, and I could hear noise in the background.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Trying to vacuum the space behind the shelf."
"Dahlia, the shelf is quite large. How can you do that all by yourself?" I asked, and heard her chuckle.
"I've been doing this since forever. Are you just reacting to it now?"
"Since when? When I was still with you?" I asked, and she laughed again.
"Look at you. You were so obsessed with John, and making new dress designs. You were always buried in those things." She said, and I sighed.
"I gave attention to the things that wouldn't stay with me in my hardest times, instead of the one person, who had been sticking by my side."
"Wait. So, we're agreeing John's an object now?" She asked, and we both laughed.
"Okay, okay, the good news is…! John's not going to be around for a month!" I squealed, and she gasped.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes! It's a month of freedom, and a month of him not working me till I break down."
"Wait, wait, wait. He works you till you break down?" She asked, and I bit my lip.
"It was just once."
"Once, Emily, once! Once is enough to kill. What are you going to do if he continues that when he returns?" She asked.
"I'd like to say when I get to that bridge, I'd cross it, but he has been a little careful since that incident. He does give me tedious, impossible, totally unreasonable, and unneeded tasks to complete, but I can take them on. It's totally better than going to work with him." I explained, and she sighed.
"Just be careful, okay?" She asked, and I smiled.
"Trust me, Dahlia, I will."
After Dahlia and I talked, I bathed while singing, feeling a thousand times better. John being gone for a month was worth celebrating. I ought to go out for some good barbecued chicken, and maybe a bottle of Pinot Noir, but I was tight on finances. I wondered if John was going to pay me, or if he wasn't since I was entitled to work for him.
After taking my bath, I put on a Lavender suit, and a white satin shirt.
My clothes depicted the light mood I was in. I was about to make my way to my tiny office, but from the mezzanine, I saw Katie in the living room. She had placed two chairs, and two tables side by side in front of a wall, behind the sofas in the farther part of the living room.
The half wall separating the large living room made them seem like two different rooms because while one was a little dark, the other was flooded with light. For some unknown reason, I preferred the darker part of the living room.
I bounded down the stairs, and walked towards Katie where she sat in the brighter part of the living room.
"You're quite late." She said, punching in numbers onto a telephone.
"John didn't give me a specific time to be awake, so I don't see why you would try to control the time I wake. It's not like I'm doing anything real anyway." I said, going to sit in the desk and chair she had prepared for me.
"Today we're doing something real." She said, softly, and stopped punching in numbers to explain to me.
"Something real?" I asked.
"John didn't know he'd be gone for a month, so he had to break off a lot of appointments without warning his business partners in advance. Some of those appointments are pretty close, and the people have prepared a lot for the appointment. Some of them are angry about breaking it off without at least a two-week notice, so you have to write letters to them, based on their different causes, locations, and personalities.
"Some of them will not settle for a random official apology letter, so we have to make it a little personalized." She explained, and brought out a folder of handwritten letters. "You only have to type these out, and if I'm not done calling them by the time you're done, I'll like you to join me in calling them, and rendering apologies too." She explained, and I sighed. Due to the fact that she had said 'I'll like you to join me…' in such a polite way, it made me inclined not to say more opposing words.
I turned on the laptop before me, and began to type.
Thankfully, her handwriting was really neat, and clean, I was able to see without problems. Katie picked a call, and began to speak eloquently. I could hear the voice of someone speaking angrily over the phone, and I wondered how Katie was able to keep her voice calm.
"We deeply apologize. This unforeseen circumstance was beyond our control." She said, but the man threatened to cancel the contract-signing.
I continued to type, but couldn't help getting distracted by Katie's soft, and smooth tone.
Deep inside of me, I wanted to ask why she did it. I wanted to know why she slept with him. Was it because she wanted to, or did he force her to, and for how long had they been doing it? Did John continue with her even until recent times? Not that it was my business, but I was still curious.
To me, Katie was a mysterious, and gentle person, who didn't like trouble, and all things chaotic. Her reasons for sleeping with a man about to be married kept me intrigued.
"Ma'am!" Katie exclaimed, sharply, and I was surprised that she could have such a harsh tone. "That is Slander. We can sue you for that."
Just then, Lucas came down looking jaw-dropping handsome. I couldn't tear my eyes off him. He was in a black suit, with golden buttons, and his hair had been styled in the usual taper fade for when he was going out. His brown hair was in smooth curls at the center of his head, and they looked well-oiled, and unlike his hairstyle when he was going nowhere, his hair stayed away from his forehead.
His green eyes studied the time on his watch, and when he looked up, I looked away. It was then I realized Katie's voice had become softer and smoother.
"Please rethink your decisions ma'am. Slandering is an act punishable by law." She said, tucking her hair gently behind her ear.
Lucas passed by, seeing we were both busy, and when Katie ended the call, she did it hastily, and opened her mouth to call for him, but he had already gone into the foyer. She watched him f or a while, and a blush crept to her cheeks. That was when it hit me.
Katie had feelings for Lucas!
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