Yuxuan

2

"Alexandrea!" One of our maids, named Bella, called as she raced towards me, down the hall. I folded my arms together and shook my head.

"Bella," I sighed. "Just call me Alex. No need for formality when my father isn't around." My father, Carter Noles was the head of this house. He was a wealthy businessman, known for traveling the world and collecting treasures from all over the world to sell them here in London.

My parents were both beautiful English people with fair skin and green eyes, and wavy brunette hair, who adopted me from the other side of the world. Although I looked nothing like them, they took me as their own child and brought me here to this country for a better life. Since I had brown skin and curly hair, I was teased a lot in school.

But it didn't matter too much to me, because my father always had my back and was ready to confront and shut the entire school down. He was a bit of a control freak, especially with those who worked for him. Mr. Noles didn't like to play games, which brings us back to my conversation with Bella.

"Your father wants you to come down for dinner." She bit her lip nervously. "It seems that he's upset."

"When isn't he?" I joked with her and sent her a warm smile. "I'll be right down."

Bella nodded and strolled away from me in the opposite direction. I made my way down the stairs and into our vast dining room, before sitting next to my mother, Claudine Noles. We both exchanged a slight smile to each other, but my expression changed when I saw my father stroll in with his gloomy aura.

He sat down and across from us, and pulled his seat closer to the table. His eyes were never taken off of me when the maids came in and placed food all around the table. I grabbed a fork, and stuck it in a piece of chicken, finally earning a few words out of my father.

"Alexandrea." He cleared his throat. "I don't have to remind you of your manners, do I?" He pointed to one of my elbows that was pressed against the table. I raised it and apologized.

"Sorry." I placed a piece of the chicken into my mouth, and chewed on it, letting the flavor seep through my taste buds. My father still had his eyes on me.

"So.." He started, "I heard your meeting with Richard of the Edwards family didn't go well."

He was referring to the man he wanted me to court. I scrunched my nose up in disgust. "I didn't like him." I shoved another piece of meat into my mouth. "He was a pervert, and always liked touching me."

"That dastard tried touching my little girl?" My mother tilted her head in surprise. "Before marriage?"

"Don't encourage her, Claudine." My father spat, "Even if he was so, you shouldn't have attacked him. Because of your wild behavior, his father is threatening to sue me for damages you've caused."

A smile formed on my lips as I recalled the memory. Richard was very touchy. Although he was very handsome as a white man, he had some serious issues. He touched my breasts, and so I kicked him. He won't be thinking of having children anytime soon. "It serves him right." I hummed. "He'll be fine after a week." I shrugged and continued eating.

"I wonder," My father seethed. "If you get that wild behavior from playing with those.. animals. It's not the way I taught you."

"It's not playing, daddy." I corrected him about my profession. I wanted to be a zoologist. My father traveled the world and brought home various items to show to the citizens here, and I admired him for that. I wanted to travel the world and study animals, to teach people more about them here. "It's a real job."

"Job? Ha!" He snorted. "Playing and drawing animals all day isn't a job, Alex." He slammed his hand on the table, startling both me and my mother. "You won't make any money by doing that, which is why I set you up with some of the influential men here in our city. You're better off becoming a housewife of a household with money."

"Carter," My mom hissed. "You know Alexandrea has always been a bit of a tomboy." She placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me.

"What difference does it make? She needs to know the truth!" My father bellowed.

"I don't want to marry." I frowned. "I won't make any money here because there are no exotic animals in London, daddy. I want to travel."

"And where will you go in your position?" He leaned forward. "You can't travel and do much as a woman."

His words were cutting deep into me. Everything he said had hurt. "I'm going on a ship that'll take me to Thailand." I looked away and shoved some more food into my mouth. My most recent study of animals was of the Elephants. Large and beautiful creatures, I've heard they were.

I've never seen one in person, so for research purposes, I decided to go and study it up closer. Perhaps I may find something interesting about them.

"You've already made plans to go without telling us?" My father crossed his arms. "Now I know you get your crazy behavior from those pests."

I decided to ignore his insults and finished the rest of my food. Whatever rejection he had didn't matter to me anymore. Pretty soon, I'd be on a ship sailing off to do what I wanted to do, instead of being stuck here meeting up with filthy men.

~