A Rose and A Phantom (Descendants of Classics Book 1)

Chapter 6: A Second Encounter

Chapter 6:
A Second Encounter

The next day came all too quickly for Rosabella and Derik. Each had had a most happy dream that included the other in it. Derik looked forward to seeing his Rose again that day. He couldn't wait to see his beautiful redhead and hear her voice. Rosabella couldn't wait to hear the voice of her new friend of whom she felt she could fall in love with. Each were awaiting the moment they could be in the other's presence. Each possessed a strong longing for the other's company. The time soon came for them to see each other and Rosabella was excited to clean up the beautiful mansion while talking with Derik. She blushed at the thought as she walked into the entrance parlor. Derik saw her enter and decided to practice one of his many learned accomplishments.
"I see that a Rose has bloomed in my parlor," he focused his voice to where it would seem as though it had come from behind her. She jumped startled and turned around in confusion.
"I see you are a ventriloquist," she said after a moment of thought.
"Well done, Rose," he responded teasingly making his voice come from beside her this time. She smiled and looked around.
"Can I at least know where you are so I know where I'm talking to," she asked innocently.
"Only if you promise not to seek me out. I would not wish you to leave and never return."
"I promise, Derik." Hearing his name from her lips brought a shiver to travel down his spine. He enjoyed the way it sounded when she said it and never wanted to stop hearing it.
"I'm above in the balcony. Don't bother looking for my figure, I'm hiding in the shadows." It was then that she realized there was a wrap around balcony. She smiled as she then started to get to work on restoring the beautiful historical piece that was the building she was standing in.
Derik followed her closely as to not miss any moment of her beauty. He could not imagine being without her in his life. His thought process continued in that direction as he watched Rose clean up the study. He was not, however, the only person watching over Rosabella. There was a third person involved in the occurrences in that room.
Baron Clinton Vergil von Lockhart was a wealthy man with a title. He was also very handsome. He was very complacent with his lifestyle and thought of beauty above all else. He had first seen Rosabella-Luna the night of the first performance of the musical. When he saw her, he became enthralled with her outer beauty alone. He didn't care if she was nice or mean; he just wanted her for his own evil purposes. Since that day, he had been watching over Rosabella-Luna. Even though it had only been three days, he was slowly becoming obsessed with the poor girl. He didn't care that she was not of age yet or that he was twenty-one years her senior. He saw her and knew he had to have her for himself.
Now, Clinton was indeed the other onlooker that day. He could not get enough of her appearance. She was tempting and tantalizing to him. He wanted her to be his and his alone. The only requirement he had was that she needed to be obedient and silent. That was all he wanted from her aside from his foul thoughts. He watched her every move with mature interest. His thoughts of Rosabella-Luna were far from innocent while Derik's were kind, noble, gentle, and chivalrous. These two men were complete opposites. Clinton was handsome, selfish, and vain; Derik was self-loathing, grotesque, generous, kind, thoughtful, talented, and innocent of mature thoughts. As one can see, they are bound to be the other's arch nemesis and rival in winning Derik's precious Rose.
Clinton had been thinking about a way to get the girl alone. Watching her in the abandoned mansion gave him an idea. All he needed to do was get her there alone one night and then his work would be simple. He just needed to wait for the perfect night and then she would be his.
Rosabella was ignorant to the attention she was receiving. She had no notion of what each man was thinking or planning for her. All she knew was that Derik was her friend, that she wanted to see his face, and couldn't wait to be eighteen to see if they could become more than friends. Her thoughts were naïve and innocent. She was never one to think beyond the fantasies that were presented to her in the books she read. She hoped and prayed, no yearned for a fairy tale love story of her own and thought that she might find it with the mysterious man that lived with the mansion she thought had been deserted for as long as she could remember.
Derik spoke with her as she cleaned. He enjoyed the sound of her voice and her laugh. It was a delightful sound to him. He knew that he was wrapped around her finger and she had no idea. He knew before that he would sell his soul but now he knows that he would do anything for her, even kill or die for her. He felt that she would be his undoing if he let her, and that he was all too happy to allow her to do. He was talking with her and looking in on her when he caught a glimpse of himself in the reflection off of a vase. He hid completely and was breathing heavily. He peeked back into the room and caught a small glimpse of someone watching from outside. His back became stiff as he looked on at the window.
"I'd hate to alarm you, but I'm going to have to ask you to remain calm before I tell you something disturbing," he said to Rose as he tried to warn her.
"Of course I can; what is it," she asked.
"I just saw a man peeking into the room from outside. Don't panic, I will get Frau Garrett to look into it," he said as he pulled out a cell phone and sent a quick text message to the Frau.
"Thanks, I felt like someone was watching me aside from you," Rosabella said laughing. "Might I be able to ask your hair color and eye color?" She bit her lip out of nervousness.
"My hair is black and my eyes are grey," he said in a solemn voice. She felt his sorrow in the air.
"Well I imagine you are quite the ladies' man with that combination," she said feeling shy.
"Far from it; you could say I'm more of a lady killer," he sneered.
"Why do you say that about yourself?"
"It is because anyone that has seen my face has either run away in fear, looked at me in disgust, or die from fear," Derik said as he remembered the first tutor he had tried to hire for himself.
"That's terrible! Who could do such a horrible thing? You have my word that I will be there for you for as long as I am able to be," he heard her say with conviction. His eyes welled up with tears at her proclamation.
Gretchen was alarmed when she had received a text message about a trespasser. She had instantly gone to investigate this as she knew that Rosabella-Luna was there as well. She walked the perimeter of the building and found a man looking in the window of the study. She became horrified at the thought of him trying to watch the girl inappropriately. She instantly walked over but hid when he turned to face her. He began to walk off and had an evil like grin on his face as he walked by her hiding spot. The old woman knew something was wrong with that man. She had to warn Derik as soon as she could. Gretchen could not bear the thought of something happening to either person that was in that room.
She rushed inside and entered the study to find Rosabella-Luna looking at the wall that hid Derik with longing in her eyes. The Frau wasn't sure if the girl realized this but she knew that the girl was smitten with her employer of whom she thought of as a son. She prayed that the girl would be the one to love her surrogate son without bias. Her heart broke for the two youngsters that obviously liked each other but had no idea that the other returned their feelings. She wanted so much for her son to love and be loved by a wonderful woman, and she knew the girl standing before her would be that girl.
"Sir, the intruder has left the premises. I'd recommend that Miss Deiner should leave in the case of his return," she suggested.
Rosabella nodded and bid Derik goodbye. She left with a smile on her face as she walked. There wouldn't be a performance that night so she planned on visiting Derik again. She had left a note with her phone number on it along with her name. She told him to message her so she could save his number in her phone. She blushed at the memory of what she had written. . She felt a truly strong connection to him. She truly could see a future with him in it, if only he would trust her enough to show her his face.
She longed to see the face of the man that she held so dear in her heart. It pained her to know that he thought lowly of himself. Rosabella wanted to make that decision for herself. Her heart sympathized with him. She longed to be able to comfort him through the pain he must feel. It was then that she realized that the torn up room she had found the day prior was Derik's. Her heart broke for him at that. He must feel so lonely, she thought. He must feel as if no one will love him. Tears formed in her eyes as she walked back into her room. She prayed that he would message her soon.
Derik was sad when Rose left him. He had wanted to speak more with her and know her better. He didn't want to come off as a stalker by researching the girl. He hoped she would visit him again that night. He had quite enjoyed their conversation last night when she comforted him after his nightmare. She was so kind and endearing. She seemed as if she cared greatly about him. He liked that about her. She was the most sincere and innocent person he had met. If she were to meet his parents, she would be destroyed and crushed to pieces. He had to shield her from the horrors of the world. He would not allow anyone to take away her happiness like his parents had done to him. She was innocent and should remain that way for as long as he can keep her that way.
He walked into the room she had been in and saw a folded piece of paper on the desk. He picked it up and opened it. In it he found Rose's phone number. He was filled with such joy. He immediately saved the number into his phone and messaged her saying hi and that it was him. She responded with a yay, you responded. He chuckled at her response. He asked her what she was doing and she told him that she was laying on her bed. She asked him if she could visit him again that night and he quickly responded yes. He was all too eager to see her again.
Rosabella was so happy to know that she would be able to hang out with Derik again that night. She was getting ready for dinner when all of the cast members were called into the entrance for a meeting. In the front stood Mrs. Pamplin and a strange man. He was tall with short blonde hair and the darkest brown eyes she had seen. His eyes caught hers and she gasped at the darkness that his eyes held in their stare. She was frozen on the spot in fear of the man who was holding her gaze in a forceful manner. Mrs. Pamplin announced to everyone that the man standing there was Clinton, the Baron von Lockhart. Everyone was dismissed after she also announced that he was their new sponsor. He made his way through the crowd after it had somewhat dispersed. He made a direct beeline to Rosabella which made her skin crawl.
"Hello, who might you be," he asked in a suave voice that seemed to be too well rehearsed to Rosabella.
"Hi," she began shyly, "I'm Rosabella-Luna." She felt too uncomfortable under his gaze and couldn't wait to be rid of his presence.
"Rosabella-Luna? Did your mother hate you or something? That's a very long name; would you mind if I just called you Rosa," he asked smirking. His mentioning of her mother struck an emotional chord with her.
"My mother loved me very much for your information and I do mind. I'd prefer it if you called me Rosabella instead," she said with her voice laced with venom. How dare he disrespect her dead mother in such a way?!
"Whoa there tiger; my apologies for hitting a tough chord with you," he said as if he was just brushing her comment off.
"I would appreciate it if you no longer mentioned my dead mother," she shouted at him before storming off with tears in her eyes.
Once she was out of eyesight, she ran all the way to her room. She cried into her pillow and waited the night out. She didn't feel up to socializing at that moment so she skipped dinner. She would just see if Derik wanted to eat dinner with her. She texted him her concern and he replied that he would not mind eating dinner with her under the condition that they sat with their backs on opposite sides of a wall. She agreed to this; anything so she could be with him again.
Clinton was enraged! How dare that girl shout at him when he was trying to flirt with her?! She would have to be taught a lesson if she was going to remain in the theatre. He could not understand why the wretch wouldn't be grateful that he was actually talking to her. She was ungrateful brat. She must be one of those spoiled rich girls that got everything she wanted. He couldn't stand that type and would have to break her fiery spirit so that he could easily control her. She would be his mindless puppet whether she liked it or not. He would have her as his no matter the cost.