Chapter fifty

“Presentable” I praised him for how he served.

“Thank you” He flashed a smile sitting beside me.

“How did I do?” He asked waiting for me to say something when I took the food in my mouth.

“Considering I was the one who added all the ingredients, I did a good job” I teased.

“Can we pretend I think all the work?” He joked.

“You did good Lucian. I was telling you what to do throughout so you made today’s lunch” I said.

“You and I both know I barely did anything but I’ll take it” He laughed taking mashed potatoes and gravy.

“Give yourself more credit. With more practice you will be an excellent cook” I reassured him.

“How did you learn to cook?” He asked taking a bite of his steak.

“Eight years a slave?” I answered more like a question.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean_”

“It’s fine. You didn’t do that to me” I laughed but he didn’t look happy.

“If I had met you earlier. I don’t know I just wish I had known”

“But you didn’t besides I was really bitter” I reminded him.

“No. You were just hurt by everything. It’s a natural reaction” He tried to make me feel better.

“Don’t lie to me Lucian. I was really bitter. Maybe I still am but I really want to try. To have people who I want to fight for knowing they would do the same for me” I said to him.

“I wasn’t the smartest person either. We both have things to work on and we will work on them together to be better for ourselves and our family”

“That’s a promise” I agreed with him.

“It’s a promise” He nodded taking the last bite of his meal.

I helped him clean the dishes and he said he had to go for a meeting. He promised to see me later in the night so I agreed and told him to leave. I decided to talk to Henrietta about her weird behavior recently.

I stood in front of her door for a while before I knocked.

“I’m busy!” she called out.

“I need to talk to you, please” I begged.

“I’ll talk to you later Raina. I’m really busy”

“You said that yesterday and you didn’t see me. I’ll break this door down” I threatened. She laughed.

“Like you can” I took that as a challenge so I kicked the door hard. I did this twice before moving to use my shoulder. I moved to the door opposite the room and ran towards her room with full force. Instead of hitting the door I was trying to break down I hit air and fell. Ri laughed. I looked up at her with a glare.

“You could have done that a minute ago” I said to her.

“But I didn’t want to” She replied walking back towards a door I hadn’t noticed before.

“What we’re you busy with?” I asked.

“Nothing” I frowned.

“You said you were busy” I reminded her.

“What do you want?” She didn’t answer my question.

“Did I do something wrong?” There was no use beating about the bush. I needed to know.

“No”

“You’ve been avoiding me. You’re breaking the promise you made” I just couldn’t take it. I needed to fix whatever this was.

“Lucian” She replied me.

“Huh? What does he have to do with this?” I asked confused.

“He saw me as a competition, very stupid of him and he wants me to spend less time with him so you two will spend more time together” She finally confessed.

“Why will he see you as a competition? You’re his sister” I said. She shrugged.

“He was jealous and felt threatened when I was being there for you. I got scared and thought you would fall in love with me” She laughed like she was remembering.

“I’ve always told you your brother was stupid and i didn’t fully realize how stupid until now”

“I understand where he’s coming from” She tried defending him.

“If he treated me the way he was supposed to he wouldn’t get jealous of his own sister” I said

“We should respect his wishes”

“No. Our friendship has nothing to do with him and he has no say whatsoever when it comes to us. Okay?“

“Ok. I’m sorry I just pulled away from you like that” She apologized.

“Apology accepted” I laughed hugging her.

“Gosh. It felt like a week. I missed you” She said.

“Me too. Now will you tell me what you were doing?” I asked.

“Let me show you something” She smiled pulling me along to her door, more like an opening I didn’t know existed in her room. When we entered she flicked a switch and I was welcomed with beautiful paintings. Still, in awe of her work, I turned to her.

“You didn't tell me you could paint” I accused.

“Uhm_ I haven't painted anything in a while”

“Your work is amazing” I walked around looking at each painting. Most of her work was abstract. I felt drawn to this particular painting. The main colour in the painting was orange and had tiny bits of brown in them. Other smaller colours were there to highlight certain features.

“Can you explain this painting?” I asked Ri.

“This was what I was working on. My newest painting” She started.

“Ok, but what is the story behind it?” I asked again. I just couldn't understand why I felt really drawn to it. I moved my fingers and trailed them on the paintings when suddenly something hit me. My hard started to hurt and I felt my eyeballs roll back.

*************

A woman with brown hair and eyes held the small child in her arms in tears. My parents with brown hair stood in front of this couple with their child. My parents took the child from the woman in tears. The man with black hair stood close to his wife holding her head scarf that covered half her side view.

These four people kept talking but it wasn’t audible. I could not hear them but I could see the four of them were sad. If they were so sad why are they doing whatever it is they are doing? I thought. Everything happened in a flash and suddenly I staggered backwards.

*********

“What happened?” Ri was holding me from falling.

“I_i_i_ I don't know” I replied.

I stared at her painting in shock. What the hell was that?

“It didn't look like nothing. Are you_”

“I said it was nothing” I snapped moving out of her hold.

“You shouldn't keep things from me Rain” She looked angry but her voice was calm.

“I can't keep things I know nothing about” I replied walking away from her art room to her room to get air.

“Should I get you water? You look_”

“I’m fine Ri. I think I should get some rest. Thank you for showing me your work. You paint so beautifully” I praised her work. She smiled at me.

“Thank you” I left her room and went to mine.

Could this be a form of a dream? Whatever that was didn’t look like the future to me.