'' ᵃ ʳᵉˢᵗˡᵉˢˢ ⁿᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵃⁿᵈ ᵗʰᵉ ⁿᵒᵗ⁻ᵃⁿʸ⁻ˡᵉˢˢ⁻ʳᵉˢᵗˡᵉˢˢ ᵐᵒʳⁿᶦⁿᵍ ᵃᶠᵗᵉʳ ''
Yuri couldn't sleep. She had never been good at adjusting to new environments, and the vibe of her new bedroom really wasn't helping her to relax. There was far too much green around her, and it seemed to be closing in on her from all sides as though it was determined to suffocate her while she rested. She feared that if she closed her eyes for even just a brief moment, it would swallow her whole.
Her eyes darted around the darkness several times, hoping to find something that would ease her mind. Unfortunately, her gaze always fell to rest on the ghostly white roses that seemed to glow in the dark and mock her from their place on the vanity table. Pure. Innocent. Silent. Devoted. Never forget.
She let out a sigh and discarded the thought of visiting Mr Cassano as soon as it entered her mind. Yuri didn't wish to inconvenience him at this hour even despite knowing that seeing him would remind her that she wasn't alone in this castle of ice, and that would most likely soothe her. She had already made two mistakes that evening—she wouldn't dare to make a third.
Silent, she reminded herself as her gaze glided over the ghastly white petals once again. A wife must be silent, just like a white rose. Keep your thoughts and worries to yourself, and don't make any trouble for your husband. You can work things out between you that way, so remember to stay silent.
After tossing and turning under the covers for quite some time, Yuri could stand the suffocating darkness no longer. She made her bed and hurriedly escaped the stuffy bedroom, closing the door behind her gently so as to not make too much noise and alert Mr Cassano. She then tip-toed down the corridor, cringing at every creaky floorboard and praying with all of her heart that her movements wouldn't disturb the rest of the man that she had wedded that day.
With some difficulty, she finally made it down the stairs and onto the landing. A strip of golden light seeping out onto the carpet from the crack beneath the study door caught her attention, and curiosity led her over to inspect it.
Mr Cassano must still be awake, Yuri concluded upon listening to the shuffling of pages and quiet sighs of annoyance coming from inside the study.
With hesitant steps, Yuri made her way into the living room as quietly as she could and settled herself down on the sofa across from the unlit fireplace. She accepted the comfort of the fabric beneath her body and snuggled her face into the arm rest, closing her eyes as she curled up into a ball.
The occasional sound coming from the study across the hall now put her mind at ease. Despite Mr Cassano being a complete stranger to her (save for the tiny details about him that she had learnt through rumours), he was still a somewhat familiar face to her now. The thought of him being somewhere nearby made Yuri feel comforted, in a way, and eventually she began to drift off. The muffled sound of rustling pages and her husband's pacing steps coming from across the hall slowly lulled her into dreamland, and soon she welcomed sleep with a peaceful look on her face.
˗ˏˋ ꒰ 🌠 ꒱ ˎˊ˗
Vincenzo almost suffered a heart attack the following morning when he went to open the living room curtains and found a figure huddled up in the corner of the sofa. He whipped out his gun with the intention of shooting the intruder, but halted as the sunlight pouring into the room disturbed the figure's sleep, making them shift around with a muffled grumble.
As soon as he recognised the curls of honey tresses framing a familiar pale face and the thin silken chemise that he'd gotten a glimpse of the previous evening, Vincenzo relaxed his finger on the trigger and put his gun back in his jacket pocket with a slight huff. Yuri shifted again and the young man instantly turned his back to her, his gaze darting around the room in an attempt to distract himself from the image of silk inching up milky white thighs.
Why is she here? he wondered, And why is she wearing that again? God, this woman...I swear there was a blanket around here somewhere—where did I see it?
Heading straight for the antique cupboard standing in one of the corners of the room, Vincenzo mentally congratulated his excellent memory while pulling a soft blanket off one of the shelves. Returning to his wife's side, he draped the fabric over her and then took a step away, watching as she welcomed its warmth and snuggled her face into it in her sleep.
Did she come down here earlier this morning? he wondered with a light frown, observing her troubled facial expression that was most likely caused by the sunlight falling across her face. She must have done—surely she wouldn't have spent the night here...right? Surely not...oh, what does it matter? I have work—I should go.
Deciding not to wake her, Vincenzo quietly began walking away only to halt in the doorway. He had heard another grumble coming from the young woman followed by the sound of her shifting around in her sleep. Vincenzo stood still for a moment, fought a war with himself, then let out a sigh as he hung his head in defeat.
Turning on his heel, he walked back over to the large living room windows and closed the curtains over one of them—the one that was allowing the sun's rays to disturb the honey-haired female's sleep. He then checked to make sure that he had closed the right one and after confirming that he had, he grabbed his things and hurried out of the house as quietly as he could.
˗ˏˋ ꒰ 🌠 ꒱ ˎˊ˗
Upon waking up some time around midday, Yuri rubbed her eyes sleepily and sat up on the couch, stretching her limbs with a stifled yawn. Once she peeled her eyes open, her gaze rested on the fluffy fabric covering her. Confusion was soon replaced by embarrassment as the young woman realised that her husband must have draped it over her while she was asleep.
I hope I didn't inconvenience Mr Cassano too much, she thought as she scrunched up the fabric in her fist. Was it obvious that I was cold? Did that bother him? I suppose it must have done if he went out of his way to cover me with this...or was it my attire that bothered him? He didn't seem too pleased when he saw me in it yesterday...or was it not that he was bothered, but that my appearance disgusted him? Perhaps that was it...
With a troubled sigh, Yuri stood up and folded the blanket before putting it away into the cupboard that she had assumed her husband had retrieved it from. She then returned to smooth out the folds on the sofa until it appeared untouched, and then finally padded out of the living room into the landing.
Climbing up to the second floor, Yuri hesitantly approached the closed door of her husband's bedroom and rapped her knuckles against the wood, listening out for any form of response coming from inside of the room. Nothing.
"Mr Cassano?" she called out softly, knocking again and listening for a reply once more. Still nothing.
Perhaps he doesn't wish to see me, Yuri concluded for herself, moving away from the door and making her way over to the bathroom closer to her own bedroom located at the other end of the hallway.
Once she had freshened up, fixed her appearance, and changed back into the white lace dress which is all that she currently had in her wardrobe apart from her night-time attire, Yuri made her way back to the first floor and entered the kitchen. The rich smell of spices and vegetables wafted through the air, and the young woman closed her eyes briefly to appreciate it. Once the moment had passed and her eyes opened, she spotted something laid out on the dinner table and curiously approached to inspect it.
A sticky note was taped to a silver cloche that stood in the middle of the table, covering something. Upon removing the cloche, Yuri found a bowl of orange-coloured soup and plate of golden toast with assorted jams and butter laid out alongside it. Just the sight of the food had her mouth watering, and her stomach let out a quiet rumble to notify the woman of just how hungry she was. She had been far too worried about the impression that she had left on her husband to notice her hunger until now.
Holding herself back from devouring the meal, Yuri turned her gaze to the note still stuck to the cloche and scanned over the neatly handwritten message left on it.
Good morning,
I have left for work, and will be back late. There is food in the fridge, and breakfast is already laid out on the table for you. A spare key can be found under the doormat should you need to leave the house for any reason. Should you need to contact me, my number is XXX-XXX-XXXX.
~ Vincenzo Cassano
Placing the note down, Yuri turned her attention back to the food laid out in front of her. Guilt now replaced hunger, nibbling at her heart as she watched a thin wisp of steam leave the soup and dissipate into the air.
I should have woken up earlier, the young woman scolded herself as she sunk into a seat at the table—the same seat that she had occupied during dinner the previous day. Mr Cassano has been forced to cook for me twice now. Twice. This isn't how it was supposed to go—I should've been the one to prepare meals for him, not the other way around...what does he think of me now? Oh gosh, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't find me fit to be his wife...what am I to tell Father if Mr Cassano files for a divorce today? How do I explain myself?
With these thoughts plaguing her mind, Yuri dejectedly ate her breakfast. She made sure not to leave even so much as a crumb behind, her feelings of gratitude and apology towards Mr Cassano making her push herself to finish everything despite becoming full only about half-way through the meal.
Once she was finished, the honey-haired female tidied away the plates and put the unused jars of jam as well as the remaining butter away into their respective places in the overhead cupboards and fridge.
I need to get my act together and do better from now on, she thought as she wiped the table with a damp cloth. It was my choice to come back and accept my fate after all, so now I have to follow that decision through until the end. Hopefully I still have a chance to atone for my mistakes...perhaps cleaning the mansion and preparing dinner in time for Mr Cassano's return will somewhat help me to redeem myself and make up for all that I have failed to do both yesterday and this morning.
Mind set and determination blazing in those beautiful silver eyes of hers, Yuri washed the cloth and then left the kitchen, beginning her quest of finding the right tools to help her clean the grand castle of ice.
🌠🌠🌠
yuri is such a sweet bean ;^; bless her heart, she blames herself for every little thing even though vincenzo literally hasn't complained about a single thing that she's done so far...poor bby ;^; i wonder why she is that way... (¬ ¬ )
i know this chapter is a little short compared to the others but i tried to make it as long as i could by adding more thoughts and stuff but this is as much as i could come up with =3= oh well, hopefully further chapters will be longer
i hope you enjoyed this update!! thank you so much for reading, please vote and comment if you can!! i love you beans, thank you so much for showing your support for this fic - i'm so glad that you're enjoying it so far!! take care of yourselves, and i'll see you in the next update!! ❤