( Beverly Hills, California. )
“Arian, open up.” Selena said and held the spoon to his mouth. Arian ignored her and kept staring into space. He’d been doing it since forever and it was starting to get on her darn nerves!
“Why won’t you eat? You won’t get well at this rate.” She tried again but he blinked silently. The rest were in school. Mom Rose left earlier to do something after leaving Tommy with her.
The little fox laid beside Arian and naughtily mimicked whatever his big brother did which made Selena more mad! She looked at the chicken nuggets she’d cooked and concluded it was a waste.
Since Arian woke up, he hadn’t spoken a word. Not even to his own mother. The doctors said it was a side effect which would heal eventually.
The psychologists among them spoke all the jargons they could come up with but it didn’t stop everyone from thinking he was crazy!
All he did was to sleep when he’s sedated, eat when he’s forced to and stare at nothing endlessly. It creeped everyone out!
They said he was withdrawn. All the tests carried out proved that nothing was wrong with him. So they concluded it was psychological.
Selena looked at Arian. His beautiful skin was paler than usual and he looked weak. His mint green eyes were almost colorless. The spark in them were long gone.
“Don’t you like the food? I can cook you something else if you want.”
Silence.
“Just one tiny bite. Please?”
Complete silence.
“Arian!”
Total silence.
She huffed out in frustration and flipped her hair. Taking care of a baby was much more easier! Her phone beeped. She walked over to her bag on the couch and picked the call.
“Heyyy girl!” Jenny screamed. Selena rolled her eyes helplessly. She was her hopeless best friend. They grew up together in Korea.
“Do you always have to blow up my eardrum whenever you call?” She scoffed.
“Quit acting like you don’t like it! Duh, i’m the only sparkle in your current boring life!” She threw back and Selena chuckled. She really missed her crazy life.
“How’s my in-law? Lemme guess!… a baby’s on the way?? Make sure it’s a girl. Boys these days are jerks!”
“Who’s the unfortunate guy this time?” She drawled dryly. Jenny didn’t catch her sarcasm. She went on and pouted, ranting her angry heart out.
“You won’t believe it! Some asshole I met at the club last night made out with Jieun, my sworn enemy two hours after leaving me sore all morning! I’m really gonna strangle that pathetic whore of a bitch the next time I lay eyes on her!
“She did the same shit to the six other guys I hooked up with last week! I know what she wants. She’s trynna make me mad but nah! I know how to handle tramps like her! And do you know what hurts the most? I planned on sticking with this one much longer.
“Lena, you need to see him. Oooh! He’s one helluva hottie! But I told him to go shove his pathetic disappointment into her cheap hole ’cause I ain’t interested no more. Though I heard he’s some sort of idol but screw that! I don’t play with toys that slut touches! I’m sure she’s burning on the inside I got to him first!….” She fumed on.
And that was Jenny.
Calling only when she needed to rant.
“Hey, I’ve gotta g….”
“Don’t you dare hang up on me, bitch! I ain’t done. Anyway, good news is….” She held her breath. “I’ll be flying over to Cali in a bit. Yay!” She squealed excitedly.
“Stay where you are! I don’t need your crazy ass down here! You…”
“Great! Can’t wait to see you too. Is Damon also there?” Selena could feel her pout.
“Yeah. So?”
“Make sure you book me the hotel room next to his! I ain’t staying in no family house.” She purred slyly.
“Don’t even dream of it! You’re staying with me in….”
“Gosh! You’re so annoying! Get off my freaking phone, bitch!” She yanked and cut. Selena shook her head and giggled.
No girl played as much and as BAD as Jenny did! The average time she hooked up with a dude was half a day. Some special cases reached fifteen hours though.
Selena shuddered to think who’ld play who if she and Damon crossed paths!
“What do you think you’re doing?!” She yelled at Tommy who was almost done eating the chicken nuggets. His entire mouth was messed up! His tiny fingers barely clutched the big fork so he’d turned his left hand into a backup spoon.
“Arian isn’t eating so I’m helping him out. You can thank me later.” He righteously pouted with a mouthful. Selena gasped at the little monster!
When he continued eating, she flew to the bed and clutched his hand. The fork dropped noisily.
“You little brat!” She swore but stopped and yelped when when a stronger hand grabbed hers!
Selena whipped her head to see Arian glaring at the hand she was using to hold Tommy. She quickly let go and Arian did the same. Selena was stunned! That was the first reaction he’d shown since he woke up!
She kept gawking till Mom Rose walked back in with the guys. She rushed over to her.
“Aunt! Aunt, he moved! Arian moved by himself! He pulled me just now!” She hastily dragged her to his bed but froze when she noticed Arian had gone back to being motionless, staring at the ceiling.
“What are you talking about?” Mom Rose looked at her.
“B.. but he… he moved right now. I s.. saw him..”
“Selena stop exaggerating.” Jeffrey frowned coldly after getting his hopes up.
“You need to be hospitalized as well. Your hallucination is becoming annoying!” Nicky spat.
“I’m not hallucinating!” She yelled and turned to Tommy.
“Tom, you saw it too. Didn’t you?” Tommy tilted his head innocently.
“I only noticed when you scolded me for eating his food… By the way, the nuggets are over spicy. No wonder the aroma didn’t even move him. The dead would probably curse you if it mistakenly touches the floor.” He pouted earning a vicious scowl.
Ungrateful little rat!
Selena fumed and pushed the stifled giggles away. If she tried to be mean to Tommy again, Mom Rose would be the first to scold her before Arian got the chance. He wasn’t completely crazy! And she was gonna prove it.
‘Just wait for me, my love. I’m gonna get you back no matter how many memories I’ld have to crush on the way.’ She vowed and clenched her fists…
***
( Astheria, Australia. )
“Most of Mr Givanchy buyers are top influential figures worldwide. The list he gave us is large but I narrowed it down. The mastermind should be somewhere close so he can receive info from his spies easily.
“I’m not exactly saying within the Empire…. but somewhere close and undetectable.” Jake reported.
Natalia went through the documents before her.
“So if we’re gonna catch the mastermind, we need to get whoever supplies the venom to the spies inside the palace.” She finished and he nodded.
“I don’t think he’s a one man army.” Naomi blurted and everyone turned to her.
“I… I mean, the palace is supposed to be the safest place in the Empire, right? Yet, he easily infiltrated it. Don’t you think he had help from someone or people who knows the palace better than anyone?
“People who’ve been here since forever and have personal grudges with the Santianas? If I’m right, he ganged up with these enemies to make his mission more easy. ”
“So if we wanna get the head, we first catch these traitors?” Elva asked.
“Almost all the cabinet members hold a grudge once in a while with me. It’s politics. Everyone don’t have to agree. But we can’t rule out that possibility either. So we’ll get all.” Natalia coldly finished.
“I want results by tomorrow.” They nodded before leaving.
“A word, please?” Elva stayed behind and Natalia nodded, putting away the diary she’d been reading. It belonged to her grandmother.
“Were you really gonna kill his family?” She whispered. Elva couldn’t hold it in anymore. It’d been eating her up all day.
Natalia casually raised her head and studied her. Elva kept her gaze neutral.
“If it was gonna get me what I wanted? Then yes.” And she didn’t look sympathetic.
“Who are you?” Elva was speechless. “What happened to you, Nat? I practically don’t know my best friend anymore. Natalia, this isn’t you. What’s wrong with you?!” She tried not to yell.
“I know a lot of bad stuff’ been happening these past few months but the changes happening to you freaks me out! You’re a shadow of your former self!”
“So?”
“…” Elva was gobsmacked.
“So? The Natalia I know would never consider hurting someone else not to mention murdering an entire family! What’s gotten into you?!”
“Do I need to remind you who you’re raising your voice at? Whatever changes you ‘see’ is to get justice. Justice for my family! So i’m sorry. I don’t have the time for best friends.”
Elva’s heart broke.
However, she couldn’t let someone she cared for completely lose her innocence to hatred and vengeance.
“Natalia, you…”
“Elva!” She snapped and she unconsciously flinched, wide eyed.
Natalia had never raised her voice at her before, so Elva was smart enough to ignore the threat in her tone.
She didn’t push the topic further because by the looks of things, her best fr…. No…. The Empress wasn’t gonna listen anyway…