Delon's Slivers

Prologue

          "Good evening Sir" The maid greeted as Stephan walked into the dining hall,pulling out a seat for himself and slumping into it there after. "Good evening Odette" Stephan gave a terse reply, "Get me some water please",followed by a request.

          Taking hold of the tie which wrung itself around his neck,Stephan loosened its grasp in his attempt to secure 8f there was anything he hated about his profession,it was the recurring and sometimes incessant conferences and mostly,seminars.

         Don't get him wrong,he did love his job. He was grateful to his elder brothers for shouldering the family business and leaving him to pursue a degree in pharmacy. He loved treating people,rendering services to the sick and dispensing medicines to the public.

          However,over the years,he'd began to doubt if there was really any difference between his brothers and himself. He'd started with a medium sized pharmacy at the corner of the estate he formally resided. But as nature would have it,his little pharmacy had become a suite of many other branches,scattered all over the country.

          Stephan gulped down the glass of water he'd been offered in one go,taking to his feet thereafter and beginning his ascent over the pristine tiled stairs. He was glad he was home,because he'd missed Delia immensely. He struggled to tame the impatient urge to have her in his arms again as he strolled the hallway,in search of his wife. Although he knew just where she would be.

         Sitting before her canvas and with her black-brown hair held up by long sliver hair pins in what could be more or less called a french plait. Delia was bodily absent. All she could catch from her surroundings were the smooth sloshes of her paint brush over her canvas. She'd been on this piece for days now and with the colours she'd added today,it seemed to finally coming alive.

         She dropped the brush in hand on her palette,in search of the smaller one which she always used for the finishing touches. Just then,the sound of a few knocks resonating from the door had her flinching in her place.

         "Steph!" She cried,a smile quickly replacing her shock. "Lia" he hollered in a less enthusiastic tone,looking between her and the canvas and making her aware that he wasn't pleased.

        "Don't tell me you've been sitting here since I left for the pharmacy this morning" he queried,leaning against the door frame and bringing his hands to a fold over his chest. "Um,I did walk around" She beamed.

          Stephan did try,but he simply couldn't resist Delia's antics. Two years of courting and six months into their marriage,Delia still knew how to push his buttons real good. He could hardly resist a smile from her let alone a grin. It was the first thing which had him attracted to her,the first thing he'd loved about her. Her smiles were eternal,Delia was a joy giver.

           After their first year of dating,Stephan had decided to start a pharmaceutical company. He had no superfluous plan,he would just produce a few cough syrups and anti-bacteria medicines. Perhaps,anti-malaria too.

         But that plan had also come crumbling as his supposed little brand,Delon had so boomed after its establish that he feared it would someday monopolise the drug market.

       "That doesn't work on me anymore" he told the lie,walking into the studio to where she sat. "Is it the glamorelle painting?" He questioned from where he stood behind her,leaning down so he could wrap his arms around her waist and place his neck over her shoulder.

         "Yeah...." she trailed off,staring at her incomplete artwork,her dissatisfaction well laced with her tone. "Hey,you know you're doing great right? It's going to come out perfect" he whispered to her,brushing a few strands of her messy hair out of her face. He simply loved the intoxicating scent she eluded whenever her perfume got whipped with the tangy smell of vinyl chloride in her paint.