For the first time ever, the usually dark room was filled with beautiful blinding lights. For the first time ever, the curtains weren’t thick and heavy enough to not be lifted by the breeze of dawn or penetrated by the rising sun.
For the very first time ever, the curtains were drawn to the side and the windows left wide open to accommodate the candescent presence of the beaming rays from the fulgent sun peeking behind the towering buildings of the East.
A pair of half closed eyelids fluttered open, paving the way for familiar grassy green eyes to emerge and soak in the beauty of the lucent room. Her gaze moved to the open window as the parted curtains caught her attention.
But today, Emerald didn’t groan at the sight of the refulgent rays of the sun flooding into the room, rather, she welcomed it with open arms and a small yet bright smile on her face as she stretched her hands over her lying body.
Finally realising something, Emerald’s eyebrows furrowed when she took in her position on the bed. She hadn’t been lying still in her usual corpse-like posture.
For once, she wasn’t lying directly in the middle of the bed and instead of both her hands resting on her stomach like they normally did, one had laid limp by her side while the other had rested on her stomach.
Although it was a meager and almost inane gesture, it still made Emerald’s smile bloom brighter. Her sleeping position had been altered by her past. Her torturous past had left many scars so deeply embedded into her being, yet this little change in her gave her hope for a better future ahead. She couldn’t help but have faith in that little flicker of light at the end of the dark tunnel that was her life.
She might heal from this, after all.
With the irrepressible smile etched on her face, Emerald performed her morning rituals, taking more time than usual in deciding what outfit to wear for the day.
Since it was a lazy day for all of them until they returned to their respective lives the next day, she finally settled for a casual and comfort giving outfit, which comprised of a cream coloured silk satin dress which stopped mid thigh with slits at both sides.
With her face beautifully caparisoned with a contented smile, Emerald wrapped her golden hair up in a messy bun, smoothing out the imaginary wrinkles on the short dress before finally walking out of the room.
She descended the staircase rather briskly, brimming with invigorating anticipation of seeing a certain someone. Walking into the silent and desolated kitchen, Emerald turned on the lights before pulling up the Venetian door blinds in order to allow the rays of sunlight pour into the cooking area from the beautiful backyard slash garden.
After rummaging through the cabinets, cupboards and refrigerator for a suitable meal to prepare, she cracked her knuckles and instantly got to work with profound determination to impress someone.
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A freshly showered Armani made her way into the kitchen when a congenial and very delectable aroma tickled her nose the moment she stepped outside her room.
Wondering who had gotten up so early to bother themselves with the task of making breakfast since her parents were currently on their honeymoon and it couldn’t have been her mother, she walked into the kitchen just to stop short at the sight of her older sister.
Emerald had her back to Armani and Armani could clearly see her sister swaying her beautiful and bodacious hips-which were well accentuated due to the short and fitted dress she wore-to a rhythm she was humming.
Seemingly wrapped up in the shock of seeing her sister so cheerful and energetic in the morning, Armani stood still, gawking at the entrance of the kitchen and was quick to stop Oriana who trudged sleepily towards the source of the aroma trail left behind by the viands Emerald was currently preparing.
Armani swiftly pulled her to rest on the wall beside the kitchen ingress, making Oriana let out a little groan as she rubbed her sleepy eyes while letting out a yawn.
“Wha-”
“Shhh.” Armani immediately hushed, making Oriana frown at her secretive behavior. “I wanna show you something but please, promise you’ll be quiet. I want to capture this rare moment,” she brought out her phone from her pocket with a wide grin on her face, further confusing Oriana, who only nodded wordlessly.
Gently, Armani guided Oriana and together, they both peeked at the voluptuous hummingbird from behind the corner. Armani’s smile stretched even wider as she pressed record on her phone while Oriana’s eyes widened at the sight before her.
Emerald had turned around to face their direction and she looked to be garnishing the already prepared meal. What surprised Oriana the most was how wide the smile on her best friend’s face was.
She looked like she had just been replaced by a more, much more, canty and mettlesome version of her former self. She was humming and even dancing for crying out loud! Oriana couldn’t stymie her wide mouthed gape.
The moment was about to be ruined when Logan walked into the house and made his way down the entrée hallway to see the figures of two people peeking from the kitchen corner.
“What are you guys doing here?” He asked and both preoccupied ladies panicked and soon enough, he found himself on the wall, in the exact same position Oriana had earlier been. He stared at them with wide eyes as they both shushed him quietly.
Their eyes went back to Emerald who seemed to be too engrossed in the task at hand to notice or hear anything. They heaved sighs of relief, not yet ready to fully take in the rare sight playing out in front them. It was too soon for her to go back to her po-faced and sober self.
“What is it?” He asked only to be shushed again.
“Be quiet. We can’t let her hear us.” Oriana whispered and Armani nodded in agreement.
“Ok. . .?” He emphasised bemusedly. “Tell me, why are we whispering? And who can’t hear us?” Logan whispered back.
Cheshire grins spread across both ladies’ faces, scaring Logan a bit, as they gestured towards the kitchen where Emerald was still wrapped up in her own little bubble. Armani immediately whipped out her phone again when she saw that her sister was no longer humming but now full on singing.
Her melodious voice filled the entire kitchen and the three spies couldn’t help but stand and watch her in starstruck awe as though she were a famous celebrity. They would’ve never thought she had such a beautiful voice since they had never heard her sing.
Logan wasn’t at all surprised, he already knew something like this was bound to happen the moment he had began noticing the fleeting looks his childhood friend and the Mafia emperor had been passing to each other during dinners however, he was amazed by how soon it was happening.
He had to admit that he was indeed happy for her. He remembered how broken his best friend had been as a child. He remembered how she had always looked like she was in agony, although she had tried to hide it. He remembered how extremely difficult and nearly impossible it was to get the ghost of a smile to appear on her face.
She deserved all the happiness she could get, even if she didn’t think so herself, even though she still carried the heavy burden of guilt like a trophy on her chest and shoulders.
Logan had spent adequate time observing Jordan enough to know that he was perfect for Emerald. Although the man seemed to have a hard exterior to himself, he was a real softie deep within, but Logan could tell he wasn’t the cruel and ruthless man he was today by choice.
He had been compelled to be the monster he was today; life had forced him to morph into who and what he was today and Logan had seen through all his cold and apathetic façade to know that he was just the perfect man for his best friend.
A small smile appeared across Logan’s face when he remembered a certain memory. Some time in the past month, Logan had woken up rather early to get a few things done before heading to work and in that moment, he had caught Jordan leaving the house and walking back in minutes later with a food flask in his hand.
He had been confused at first but after catching him three to four more times and also seeing Emerald washing the same food flask at night when she was back from work, he had discovered Jordan’s food delivery secret and how he had lied, using his sister as a cover.
Having made that discovery, Logan decided to dig deeper into the matter and he had also found out that nothing had originally happened to Jordan’s house to warrant him moving to Emerald’s.
In that moment, Logan began to put two and two together and he was finally able to solve the very interesting and unbelievable puzzle that was Jordan Kale’s reasons for his actions.
That discovery of his finally confirmed that Jordan did indeed feel something for Emerald. His reaction to Logan’s and Emerald’s ‘friendly’ PDA was the nascency of it all although, he had no idea that the two of them were just friends. Logan had decided to use this fact to his own advantage.
Now seeing his beautiful friend’s beaming reaction, he knew instantly that one of them had probably made the first move. Who had? That would be a secret between the two lovebirds.
“You know that food is ample enough to feed the entire inhabitants of Back Bay, Boston, right?” Logan teased as he finally walked into the kitchen, leaving the two ladies to straighten up and follow him before Emerald could suspect anything.
The jaunty hummingbird looked up from the wooden platter, where she was carefully placing square strips of white butter around the beautifully arranged pile of pancakes and waffles.
Hearing Logan’s words, Emerald frowned and looked down at the platter again to take in the amount of breakfast she had made for just five people. She flushed pink in embarrassment as she realised why he had made that statement. The food she had made was indeed of a large quantity.