Stepping out of the car felt like I had been transported to another world, a place straight out of a fairytale, one that really knew how to make someone breathless at its marvelous sight.
"This...is where you live, Mister!" I awed at the vast greenery that stretched for miles in all directions. Tall trees were lined up on the road that connected to the main house with pink flowers growing on them. The house resembled a castle—it was almost as big as one too!— with its vintage cream-colored walls decorated with swirls of forest-like vines, dark doors with intricate designs carved into them, and beautiful window frames, some taller than the door itself. The castle even had pillars! And outdoor hallways connected to other parts of the house, leading to all sorts of mysterious destinations. Behind it, in the distance, I took in the sight of two more buildings, smaller and less detailed versions of the main house, but impressive either way. At the front of everything, there was a massive fountain that reminded me of a magnificent bird bath, large enough for a million songbirds to dance in it.
"I have never seen anything like this!" I marveled at the scene, swirling around to take in all of it. I couldn't tell if it were my eyes that were sparkling or the things around me, but either way, it made my heart race in awe. Or was it the fact that I had the Head of Bristol standing behind me, watching me the entire time I pretended I was sightseeing in a whole new country... How foolish... I forgot to keep my cool and got carried away like a passing wave by a few specks of glitter. It was silly, but this place wasn't. Under the seriousness of the villainy and horror of the Head of Bristol, a crazy person could find this place like a wonderland. A crazy person like me.
"This place reminds me of those places you would see on a postcard or a vacation brochure!" I was still mesmerized and had almost forgotten the reason I was even here until he reminded me. "I've seen them in stores before!"
"Is it to your liking?"
"Hm!" I nodded enthusastically.
"Consider this your home for the next month." He began to lead us to the house, Fiona right next to him. "Let's head inside."
"My... what?" I froze in my tracks. Ha. The Head of Bristol was a funny guy... I blinked away the stinging in my eyes, watching him with contempt. Who said such a thing so casually to someone who was here to ruin the very thing he should be protecting.
"Let's go," one of his bodyguards said.
That's right. There was no time to think about the Head of Bristol. I had to be worrying about myself and the one month that I had been granted.
"I told you my name, what are yours? Surely you're not Thing One and Thing Two, right?" I asked as I tailed them.
"Does it matter?" the grumpy one grumbled in a low voice, so his master wouldn't hear. "By the end of this month, you would be too dead to even remember."
"Hey!" I said, wanting to pout. "You don't know that for sure! It could be your boss that can—"
"Ha. Yeah, right." Then, he began to walk faster, leaving me behind with the man with the black hair with the orange streaks and a silver ring that was pierced through his skin and hugged his bottom lip.
"Don't mind him, he's just mad," he leaned over and whispered.
"And... you're not?" I asked, clutching my bag in my arms tighter when I realized, in the end, we all knew that angry man was right. "Aren't you mad?"
"Nope, it was fun chasing you around today!"
I stopped in my tracks with wide eyes, staring at the back of his head as he kept walking with an energetic stroll and his hands locked behind his head. A walk in the park? Was that what we were doing... First, the Head of Bristol with his beast friend in the front, then the grumpy fellow with a casual rush in his steps, and then the other one with the wild look but a friendly voice.
I tilted my head back to look up at the light sky with a doubtful smile and wondered what the hell was I doing in this hell, when a soft breeze brushed my face with a gentle caress. All of the sudden, a distant bark broke me away from my thoughts, and I snapped my head back down to find my chest clenching with an unfamiliar tightness.
The Head of Bristol had stopped to turn around, and behind him his two men had too. The Head of Bristol was waiting ... For me? Ha... I clutched my bag like a pillow against my chest to comfort me before I swallowed my pride and began to walk once more, surely out of mind. Instead of running away, I picked up my pace, holding my breath when I walked past his men and stood behind him. Only then, did he turn around once more, making my head spin when I caught a glimpse of a hidden smile on his lips.
The Head of Bristol was... the most evil of evil... I began to recite in my mind. The Head of Bristol was... the bad guy. The Head of Bristol was... tall... and handsome... a bad guy... charming... dangerous.
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It's not like I didn't notice them right there and then, the second the man with the crazy hair parked in front of the house. I was merely pretending they were a figment of my imagination for my peace of mind, that they were adornments that came with the charm of the house like gnomes that embellished a garden. Yes, they might as well be, standing as tall and still like them until they appeared like statues of some sorts. But unlike gnomes that wore colorful hats and decorative, little outfits painted with all sorts of patterns on them, these living statues wore more serious clothes, simple, but sophisticated nonetheless as they stood lined-up on each side of the grand staircase to welcome their master. Still, to me, even their bland outfits with no sparkle of any sorts seemed to be captivating. So, this was really where the Head of Bristol lived, and these must be the people who lived with him. My heart raced at the thought the more we approached them until I was certain... These were no statues. Statues didn't have eyes that followed your every move. They didn't stare back at you with an awfully disdainful glare either.
It must be... that they must not like my attire! Ha... What else could it be? I was the only one who looked amiss in this crowd of people with my red dress torn and blotched with dirt, thanks to Mister's sidekick, Fiona. I felt like I was standing in front of judges in a pageant after being pummeled in an terribly long cat fight, my hair pulled out from my braid, left and right; a wrinkled dress with my bag still pressed against my chest; and most of all... I feared that my cheeks were still stained with my tears after the surprise the Head of Bristol pulled on me. They didn't say anything, but I was sure, I was no guest star in the action movie that was their life. My appearance was not something they were too thrilled about. My head didn't hurt that much to make sense of that. What was he thinking, the Head of Bristol, bringing me here when they looked like they all wanted me– That's why... Was that why he brought me here?
Before I could even think to take a step back and consider another game of Tag with his bodyguards, the Head of Bristol lowered his eyes to the side and caught my gaze with an all-knowing stare. As if he knew just what was on my mind. Not them, but it was I who turned into a statue the next second, frozen in my spot with a thudding heart and a hammering head screaming at me. This was not going to end well for me.
"Master Vincent." Suddenly, an old man approached us, wearing a fine tailcoat, dressed in extra serious black, the kind of color that signaled no nonsense. His round, thin-framed glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose did not help him from looking any less sophisticated, his face stoic and rigid like a math textbook. Without thinking, I took a step closer to the Head of Bristol and hugged my bag, somehow finding this man's lack of friendliness more frightening than the man who was his conniving master. It must be my throbbing head... I couldn't make sense of anything myself. "Welcome back."
"Welcome back, Master Vincent," the rest of them chimed in and slightly bowed, making my eyes widen in both awe and surprise. This place was a fairytale, the house a castle, I thought with my nails digging into my bag. They spoke in a polite, orderly manner as if he were their beloved king, and they were his loyal subjects. And if he was their king, then what did that make me standing next to him? A traitor? A criminal? A pest that needed to be gotten rid of quick.
"As you may all know," Vincent said, glancing over his shoulder to look at me , catching me off guard. "We have a guest."
"A guest..." I repeated under my breath. So, he was going to play mindgames.
"It has been quite a while since we have had a guest," he went on before he let go of a soft sigh. "Isn't that so?"
They all murmered among each other when their master finally acknoweldged me as if his recognition of my presence was the meaning of my existence in their eyes. Then, silence. It all seemed a little too perfect, the way they acted in sync as if they had rehearsed all the lines, practiced their expressions, and even positioned themselves until everything looked like a scene from a movie set.
Vincent smirked at the way I stared back at him with uncertain eyes before he turned back to his people, ignoring the chaos I was in because of him. If only he had taken my drink like a gentleman, then I wouldn't be here, wondering if his friend, Fiona, would kindly dig me a hole right here to bury myself in. But that beast was upset at me. I didn't think she'd want to help me after everything. She'd just make the grumpy bodyguard do all the digging, while she pranced around after they'd get rid of me. Ha.
"She is to stay here with us. I hope you all treat her well."
They all looked like they wanted to protest, but in that moment, his words seem nothing but a threat, that even I couldn't find the right words to express how ridiculous this all was. Someone should speak up. "It is my wish."
Someone should tell this man that he was mad, that he shouldn't stand here and ask his people to treat me like a guest when we all knew... why I was really here. Someone should... I opened my mouth to tell him what was really in my heart, but all the came out was an exhausted, weak sigh the moment I locked eyes with his. He was so... he was so... I turned away, crushing my bag in my hands when I sensed a hot blush on my face. Not only was he embarrassing with his persisting stubborness, but he kept making feel flustered as if I had done something wrong to be treated like this. Who told the Head of Bristol to be this handsome! Not me!
"Sunny."
"Yes?" I slowly lifted my gaze to find him watching me with insisting eyes.
"Let them know," he told me.
"Ha..." I nodded before I took in a shaky breath only to let it go. He was right. Since we were already this far into this mess, it only made sense to keep going until one of us got what we wanted. And in that moment, in my delirious state of mind, I knew just who was going to come on top as the victor. Until then, I had to play civil, turn into the guest that he thought that I was, and wait. I had to wait to rid the world from this wonder because he might just be too dangerous for anyone else to see. I was here to do everyone a favor.
"My name is Sunny. I'm..." I'm what! Here to kill your precious master? Here to save the world from this monster? Here to– My head hurt, I was tired, and I hadn't eaten anything since last night because my stomach kept bubbling at the thought of meeting the Head of Bristol. And now that I met him... nothing had changed! I still felt the shivers each time I came to my senses and realized where I was, who I was standing next to, who was watching me. Luckily the old man with the glasses caught on that my mind had short-circuited and had the decency to appease his master by filling in the awkward silence that stretched on for what felt like an eternity. The Head of Bristol was properly amused.
"Welcome, Miss Sunny." The old man forced himself to bow to me.
I shook my hand in front of him, looking back and forth from him and his master, who simply watched the scene unfold with no intentions of helping me out. "Just 'Sunny' is fine!"
"We are glad to have you," the old man lied, making my lips tremble. "My name is Stefan. I take care of the house when our Master is not here." In order words, he was in charge when Vincent wasn't looking. I gulped at his words, already regretting meeting this old man.
"Hello," I replied with a small head nod of my own. If we were all pretending to keep the Head of Bristol content, then I should play my part, or else I worried it would turn out to be a poor production in the end. Then, the Head of Bristol wouldn't be too happy. "I like your home! It's big like a castle! Even bigger! And the driveway is so long, it felt like we were on a road trip to another city!"
"Ha..." The old man snapped his head up to look at his master with a blank expression on his face. As if he had never been given this premise before, and he had no idea what to reply to my nonsense. "Is that so..."
My cheeks flushed when I heard the same deep chuckles next to me, letting me know how pleased the Head of Bristol was by our greeting. It must be working. We were all thoroughly entertaining this main who claimed to be bored in this vast world... We were doing a good job, especially me, I hoped. After all, my life was on the line.
"Yeah! I–" I grabbed my head when a sudden, splitting throb made the world around me spin. "I just haven't seen anything like this before..." I had never seen a villain try this hard in looking like the good guy. He must be a very good actor to make my heart race. He must.
"That's quite enough for now," the Head of Bristol said, making me curse my weakned state when I felt his hand on my back in an instance to keep me from swaying back before we snapped out of it in a heartbeat, his hand pulling away immediately. All my senses rushed back to me in waves of calamity.
"Stefan, escort her to her room," Vincent said. "The rest of you, stay. There is something I wish to discuss with all of you."
"Very well, Master Vincent." Stefan nodded. They all nodded, no one having the courage to defy him in the end after all. "Miss Sunny," the man called Stefan said in an foreboding tone. Haha... I must be imagining things. "Let's head inside, shall we?"
"I—" I began to argue, but the Head of Bristol shut me up with a single, reassuring smile and a nod that made me sigh in defeat.
"Go on," he said. If I looked at myself the way he did, I'd pity me too. He was simply letting me know that I was in no condition in coming after him. I had to rest, to get better, to recharge my energy before I could even dream of ruining him.
"Ha... okay." After all, I had nowhere else to go.
I bit my tongue from saying anything further and watched him with an uneasy heart before I slowly took heavy steps, leaving his side to follow the old man up the stairs. Suddenly, the air next to me felt cold, empty; my body hot as I imagined all of their eyes watching me... his eyes making my heart race as I imagined them follow me with their striking gaze. Ha. I was losing my mind. I had to listen and rest, or else I'd think of all sorts of things I shouldn't.
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I waited for my heart to stop beating so fast the entire time, but it began to pound even harder the second the old man opened the front door to the house, holding it for me to walk inside. Inside... this place? Where the Head of Bristol woke up and slept, where he dined and drank– no, he didn't drink, remember?– where he performed all sorts of secretive, heinous crimes. They were not going to fool me. Though my eyes were dancing around everywhere and took in the sight of a beautiful, marvelous house shrouded with rich simplicity, lavished shininess, and spotless arrangments of all sorts of expensive decorations, I knew that under all this layer of normal prestige and class was an eerieness that I couldn't shake off. I forced a smile at the old man before it broke when all I got was another blank stare, his eyes deprived of any sign of warmth.
"Let us head inside."
Right, I was blocking the entry way. What if there was a fire and everyone inside had to come out? I was a hazard, a threat. I was grateful for the old man and the rest of them for reminding me over and over again. With the Head of Bristol being confusing with his endless psychological torture, suspiciously generous and a little too welcoming, I was relieved to find some reality amid the thick fog of confusion.
"Mr. Stefan," I called to him when the door shut behind us.
"Just 'Stefan' will suffice." He didn't even look at me when he talked and began to walk deeper into the house as if he knew I had no choice but to follow him, which was something I did because the more I looked around, the more the house began to feel like some sort of a maze with tall ceilings, long hallways, and the type of silence that made me feel like it was the wrong genre. Not an action movie, but a horror one.
Cradling my bag for comfort, I rushed to take hasty steps to keep up with the old man, who was rather too fast for someone his age. One minute he was right there, and the next, I had to nearly break into a light jog to catch up with him, so he wouldn't leave me stranded and lost only for his master to find me. I didn't want to run into the Head of Bristol. He kept making my head spin for unknown reasons that I wished would remain unknown till the very end. His end, of course.
"Mr– Stefan," I said quietly, my head turning left and right to take in the sight with both awe and restlessness quickly. In the silence, everything appeared ten times bigger, more serious, more expensive. I couldn't slip up and accidently knock a vase or something... What if I fell into a terrible debt after getting rid of the Head of Bristol!
"What is it?" he asked, not hiding his perturbed state of mind now that we were out of his master's sight.
"Is it really okay for me to be here?"
He halted on his feet immediately, making me stop in my tracks with a small smirk. He too looked back at me as if I was some vermon that had slipped inside his house, only he couldn't do anything about it to kick me out since his master forbade it.
"We do not know how this happened, but if Master Vincent wishes for such a thing, then there is no need to worry yourself with such questions."
"Your master..." I thought about the handsome man outside who was the cause of this haggard state of mine, yet he did not want to take any responsibility for it. "He didn't need to do any of this, Mr. Stefan." My legs shook from the exhaustion finally creeping in, but I took a step forward, smiling a little better because he was no hiding the fact that for once we agreed. Vincent Bristol did not need to bring me here in his home, endanger his people, risk a mishap or two. But for some reason, he did. Why?
"I am sure, he has a reason," the old man replied, tipping his chin higher when I chuckled at his attempt in defending his master even with his poor decision in inviting the enemy inside his home. "For now, we merely need to listen to what he wishes. That would be best for everyone."
"Hm," I smiled. Truthfully, I was afraid of my end if I didn't heed to his warning. "I only want to get rid of him, Mr. Stefan. I have no ill-will towards anyone else, I promise."
"Wishing to harm him is wishing ill-will on all of us," Stefan replied without an ounce of care of my generosity.
"Then," I said with a hard smile, "do you want to kill me?"
The answer flashed in his eyes without any hesitation, but he was wise enough to keep his composure just incase his master was overhearing our conversation. " There is no need when our master himself spared your life?"
"This house must be filled with loonies," I said, giving up for now when I felt my head light yet so heavy with so many more questions. How many rooms were in this house, where did that hallway lead to, why was the inside reeking of silence when it should be filled with clamor because I was here... why... Why was I here? It's too bad I was too exhausted to actually say any of it.
Stefan didn't talk too much, which was something I was grateful for at the moment and hated him for at the same time. I thought he'd be decent enough to give me a tour of the house since I told him I found it so wonderful, but all he did was walk in purposeful, efficient steps, hallway after hallway, for what felt like forever. He never once looked back to check if I was still following. I was. I couldn't risk getting lost in this house for now and bump into the man who was the reason behind this old man's contempt for me, an innocent girl, who merely wanted to save the world and get a treat for it.
I didn't know where we were really going, and why it felt like we were walking in circles, but I kept close on his tail with eager steps that matched his, no matter how much the soles of my feet stung from walking barefoot all this time. That reminded me... I looked over my shoulder and wondered if I was leaving any footprints behind like a puppy who had stepped into mud and ruined the clean carpet. Even then, Stefan kept walking and walking, and I kept following and following till the aching on my legs urged me to take it for the team and ask him about our prolonged desitination.
"Mr. Stefan."
"'Stefan' is more than enough."
"Stefan," I said, swallowing back a complaint, "are the guest rooms on the other end of the world? If they are, then we might as well take a plane. I can us buy the tickets!"
"I don't suppse you are tired by this much," Stefan didn't look back to say. "We shall be there soon."
"Ha... if you were running all day from a crazy dog and huge men on your heels, you would've already collapsed by now!" I nearly cried.
"I suppose so," he said. "However, there was no need to, isn't that so?"
"And get caught?" I asked with foolishness. In the end, whether I ran or not, I was still caught.
"You wouldn't have gotten caught if you merely stayed out of his sight."
Stayed out of his sight... I didn't want to talk to him anymore. The old man knew nothing. If he knew what his master did to me, to others, the true horrors, then he would play a different tune. But I was sure, like everyone else here, he was brainwashed by the pretentious smile and amicability of the Head of Bristol. He needed people on his side, so he wore a mask that lured them into trusting him, and when they weren't looking– He'd catch them off guard, how he caught me today. So, I wasn't going to talk to this old man. I was going to show him, all of them, that they shouldn't be afraid of making their precious master upset. They should be afraid of me, the woman who was going to be his downfall. Ha!– The old man ruined the moment with his abrupt words and an even more sudden halt.
"Here we are. This will be your room for the time being." Was I that out of it that I had unknowingly followed him here and there, and up the stairs? My feet were on fire from keeping up with him, so I didn't protest when Stefan went ahead and opened the door to the room. For me...
"T-This is where I'm going to be staying?" My eyes scanned the room with the exhaustion leaving my body when I glanced around the room and found myself in another wonderland of some sort. There was a spacious, four-poster bed in the corner, decorated with a thick, mahagony blanket and two matching pillows. Adjacent to it, there was a tall, bare dressing table with an attached mirror, without a simple flower arrangement on it or anything else. Heavy curtains ornamented the window that was next to the bed, tall and wide, with the rays of the late evening pouring into the room and falling on the blanket like glitter. Everything about this house was glittering from the furniture to the man who lived in it, the man who was the worst for treating me like this. A guest, when he was nothing but an obstacle in my way. I heard myself groan and cry inside my mind before I spun on my heels with absolute interest. There were two other doors that caught my eyes, but I was going to explore them after the old man left. I didn't want him to think a mere room fit for royalty could sway me and distract me from the real task at hand... The task... what was the task again?
"Mr. Stefan, is this really where I will be staying?"
"Is the room not to your liking? We can make some arrangments–" He must be really afraid of what his master thought, I concluded with a faint smirk.
I shook my head. "It's not that. I just—"
"We know why you are here, Miss Sunny," Stefan said without holding back. "And we do not appreciate it. However, there is nothing much the rest of us can do when he has made up his mind. We can only hope you can change yours."
"It would be nice if you guys treated me like a threat instead of showing me kindness," I replied.
For the first time, Stefan broke into a smile, revealing small dimples on his cheeks that made my chest loosen in a heartbeat.
"You ought to rest."
"Can I ask you something?"
"What is it?" He looked at me with hopeful eyes.
"Is the Head of Bristol really that bored! Or!" I said, clapping my hands together after I gently dropped my bad to my feet. "Or maybe he's crazy!"
"Whatever it may be," Stefan replied as he grabbed on to the doorknob, making me drop my hands to my side with a sigh of defeat, "I would like you to consider this arrangement the two of you made. For the sake of all of us."
"You know exactly why I can't do that," I glared at Stefan with a bitter smile. "Are you forgetting he is the one who suggested this? I am only playing along until this is over." And then, I was free to roam wherever I wanted to. I would make sure of it. Vincent Bristol was the bad guy, right? Why else would Anthony want me to get rid of him? Anthony himself said that... Why would he lie to me? Stefan was the one who was trying to manipulate me into thinking his master deserved to live, that cunning old fox. I wasn't going to fall for it.
"Then, we shall see," Stefan said with an equally unhappy smile, "how this will end."
"Is this really where I'm going to be staying?" I looked around the secluded room that was clearly prepared for me. The bareness of it molded itself with the silence and left me feeling utterly small in this massive space like a the last crumb of a cookie inside a closed jar, forgotten. "Can't you prepare another room... closer to the Head of Bristol?" Got you, I smiled with bright eyes when he let me see how baffled he was at me for quickly catching on.
"I fear there were no other rooms prepared at the moment–"
"I can sleep on the floor, just give a blanket–"
"Master Vincent would be most upset," he replied stubbornly, getting me to shut up at the mention of his master. "We will be humbled if you rest here."
"Tch," I said, scratching the tip of my ear when it rang, surely the aftermath of the frightening experience I went through because of the Head of Bristol. "It doesn't matter, Mr. Stefan. Once I get some rest, it wouldn't matter if you keep me here or in the same room as your precious master. He asked me to play, so we will play." The same room as the Head of Bristol! I slapped my hot cheeks at the ridiculous nonsense blurting out of my mouth.
"For now, Miss Sunny needs to rest," he said, unwavering. So, this was what the caretaker of this house was like, stubborn like his master but in a completely different way. "We were unable to prepare clothes for you in such short notice. So, please excuse us and accept these."
I waited for him with anticipation when he walked back into the room and opened the top drawer of the dresser before he strode back with some clothes in his hands.
"These are..." I took the clothes from his hands before holding them up to eye their very essence. "I don't mind!" I smiled at the plain white shirt and the awfully long, black pants before I froze with an unsettling feeling inside my stomach. Awfully long pants... who wore such awfully long pants? The only one who was this tall was – It didn't matter, I told my racing heart. It didn't matter whose they were as long as I got out of this dress that was beginning to stick to me with today's exhaustion.
"Then, I shall let you rest. The restroom is in there." He pointed to one of the doors on the left with his eyes. "You may freshen up there."
"Stefan." I rushed to grab his arm only to let it go when he looked at it with a subtle resentment. "Ha... When can I see the Head of Bristol?"
He didn't want to answer me, but because he had no choice, he let go of a sigh before he said, "For now, Master Vincent wishes you would rest." He didn't want to see me?
"Oh..." I said, twisting the clothes around my arms when I felt a pang of disappointment in my chest. "Okay."
"Then, I will be on my way. If there is anything you need..." Don't bother, I imagined him say, but he didn't because he was loyal to his master in the end. Heh, Lady Luck was on my side today. Right when he said that, my stomach let go of an awfully loud growl, that made me hide it behind the clothes he had given to me.
"Do you offer treats to unwelcomed guests?" I asked with hopeful eyes, biting my lips when he couldn't help but to smile at my words.
"Only if that guest listens and stays here as she was told."
"Hm," I nodded with my arms hugging the clothes tighter because he wasn't showing any trace of contempt towards me in that moment. "If you get me something to eat, then I will listen, Stefan. Then, maybe you'll be nice and we can be friends. We can get along!"
"Is that so?" Like a flip of a switch, he was back to being an image of a hardcover textbook that he surely would like to throw at my face for threatening his master. "And what if I don't?"
"Ha..."
He shook his head, tired of my nonsense. "I will be back with something prepared. Until then, please rest. I am sure Master Vincent wishes that you do."
"And what about you?" I asked even when he turned his back on me to walk away. "What do you wish for?"
"As I said–"
"Besides that," I told him, feeling an embarressed smile on my lips. "If you don't want to, you don't have to be nice. I won't be upset. I won't tell him, and we can pretend we don't even know each other."
"You are mistaken," he said quietly as if he didn't want anyone to hear, reaching for the door. "If he sees you, then we have no choice but to see you. That stubborn boy."
"Ha..."
"Please rest," he said a little louder just as he stepped outside. "You ought to listen." With that, he shut the door behind him, leaving me utterly alone in this vast room full of nothing but my own breaths, shallow and unsteady as I made sense of the world around me. This was... I tilted my head back to look at the ceiling that was towering and pale, dropped my head back to the shiny floor that was beneath my dirty feet, and scanned the entire room with my eyes while I stood in the same place he had left me. In the middle of this gigantic mess.
Letting go of a breath, I slowly moved towards the door that Stefan had pointed to with the clothes still in my hands. It was empty, this room, that's why it felt colder now and made me shiver in my thin dress as I grabbed the cold doorknob, which felt like it never truly greeted the warmth of a hand for a while. Right then, I couldn't help it. My lips trembled at the unfairness before I found myself shoving my face into the small pile in my hands, instantly breaking down when its scent filled my lungs. What was this... This was nothing like Anthony told me... This was much worse! This room, this kindness, this suffocating silence! So, the Head of Bristol played like this, not even caring about what his guests felt towards his generosity. He was the worst!
I took in a deep breath before I snapped my head up, livid with the thought. No, this was good. He could keep being the worst, so I wouldn't feel any worse for doing what I needed to. This was good... I could think of this as a stay at a hotel! I beamed at the thought, rushing to open the door with high spirits now. A nice, long stay at the dreamiest hotel where there were malicious intents rather than scavenging rats, piercing eyes, and unspoken hatred. It was an upgrade. It was... all thanks to him.
[ Stefan sighed deeply, giving the door to her room another glance before he walked away.
How could this be. A strange woman in their house, a guest? So suddenly? After all this time of this house under the reins of seclusion and silence, he so abruptly surprised them with the mention of a woman who was someone unheard of. Her name, her age, her real identity, everything about her was a mystery, so Stefan was left utterly perplexed at the fact that his master had insisted that she stayed with them without once asking any of them to find out any information about her.
What was that boy thinking, Stefan couldn't help but to think again, his eyes growing worried now that no one was around to see him. He heard from Harry himself about what had happened, yet he still couldn't fathom anything even after he saw the very image of the woman become a reality when she stepped out of the car and stood beside his master, the very woman who told the world of her threats against the House of Bristol. All that, and his master just watched without saying anything. He invited her to stay, to give her a chance to... Just like always, Stefan had not a single clue of what was going on his head. Surely, he wasn't that bored as the girl mentioned... That would be most unpleasant.]