Invasion

I woke up the next morning to the sound of loud chatters of the maids. It was quite unusual for the maid to be so loud, and I wondered what was going on outside. The moment I tried to move my body, I was reminded of the long and exhausting love making session that I had with Reiner yesterday, my body aches all over.

To my surprise, Reiner seemed to be in a deep sleep next to me on the bed. Did he carry me back here last night? It was rare for him to oversleep. Usually whenever I woke, he would already be gone to carry out his duties. Slowly, I reached out a hand to brush a lock of his hair away from his handsome face.

I wonder if he would leave this mansion once he wakes up…

I didn’t have time to wonder for long before the sounds of panic outside got louder until it woke up Reiner as well.

“What’s going on?” Reiner asked gruffly as he sat up in bed.

“Good morning. I have no idea…” I replied as I wrapped a robe around my night gown and headed towards the door. There was only one way to find out.

Swinging the door open, I was immediately greeted with many worrisome faces of the maids that were eagerly waiting in front of my room.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Master Edward is here…and…he and Master Lucien are having a huge argument in front of the mansion…” a maid finally spoke up in a small voice as her eyes darted nervously around.

I see. These maids probably didn’t know how to intervene when two prominent family members were fighting and rightfully so.

I peered back into the room to see Reiner in the process of putting on his clothes. I guess I should leave him here and head over to Lucien and Edward first before all hell breaks loose. If it hasn’t already.

I ran hurriedly as fast as my aching body could achieve in my soft lamb wool slippers to the front of the house. As I got closer to my destination, the sound of argument between the two brothers got louder and clearer as well. Why is Edward here so early in the morning? Why was he confronting Lucien? Is he here to see me?

Arriving at the scene, I could see Lucien and Edward staring each other down while half a dozen bodyguards tried to keep the brothers separated from each other.

“What is going on?” I asked as I approached the two brothers.

“Lucien is refusing to let me into the mansion because he doesn’t want me to see you,” Edward replied with a shrug.

“This is my house, and you will stay out of it,” Lucien spat.

“Why are you here to see me?” I asked Edward, putting the hostility between the two brothers aside.

“It’s not something I would say in front of him,” Edward replied as he glared daggers at Lucien.

“Because it’s definitely something indecent. Get off my property!” Lucien shouted.

If it wasn’t for the bodyguards restraining them right now, these brothers would clearly be tearing out each other’s throats.

“Lucien, let me just have a short chat with Edward, ok?” I suggested as I smiled at him. If Edward just wanted to talk then it was only fair that I gave him some time.

Whatever it was that Edward wanted to talk about must be quite important for him to come all the way here instead of making a call.

“Whatever you came to tell me has to be urgent right?” I asked, turning to face Edward.

“Let go…” Edward’s cold tone addressed the bodyguards that were restraining him before he shook them off and adjusted his navy-blue suit.

Without another word, Edward suddenly grabbed hold of my wrist and started pulling me after him as he started to run off in the direction of his car.

“What are you doing!?” I asked in panic as I struggled to keep up with his pace.

“Taking you somewhere…” Edward replied vaguely.

I heard Lucien yell out his brother’s name angrily and was thankful that the bodyguards were doing their job to prevent physical fights between family members. I’ll apologize to Lucien when I get back.

For now, I need to find out what Edward wanted to tell me and where he wanted to take me. Knowing Edward, there must be a good reason behind this. There better be…

…

Edward has not spoken a word since we got in his car. Now we were driving to Edward-only-knows-

where.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked as I turned to face him.

“You running out in your pajamas with fur slippers on was such a sight…haha” Edward said, clearly amused.

“You’re not answering my question…” I said without bothering to hide my annoyance.

“There’s a large bag on the backseat. Grab it and take a look inside,” Edward instructed without any further explanations. Great.

Once again, I found myself dancing to Edward’s tune and doing everything he told me. I reached out behind me to grab the paper bag that Edward mentioned from the back seat. The bag was heavy, and I assumed that there were many things inside.

Once I had the bag on my lap, I realized that I was right. Digging through the items in the bag, I discovered that there were a white shirt, black suit and matching skirt, high heels, under wear and the heaviest of all a thick file packed with printed paper.

“What is this?” I asked.

“Can’t you tell?” Edward replied without sparing me a glance.

“I mean…what is this stuff for?” I tried asking again.

“Clothes for you to change into,” Edward stated the obvious.

“Stop fooling around with me, Edward. What are all this stuff for and where are you taking me?” I demanded for answers.

“I got you an opportunity to grasp the ticket to your future,” Edward replied proudly before turning to flash me a playful smile. The smile looked amazing on his handsome face, and I would appreciate the sight under any other circumstances but these.

“What do you mean?” I inquired.

“Instead of asking, why don’t you read the papers?” Edward retorted.

‘Interview preparation for S&J Laboratories – President’s Office’ was printed in large bold and black letters on the cover page of the A4-sized file.

“You’re taking me to an interview? Like…right now?!” I asked in shock.

--To be continued…