Last night was a little blurry in my memory. After the encounter with that random man on road, we had returned to Sean's house and he had "ordered" me to go back to my room and not come downstairs until next morning.
Now it was next morning. After doing my morning routine, I went downstairs for breakfast. Turns out, I was alone in the dining room today as Jason told me the Miller brothers had already left.
"You don't have to cook specifically for me." I told him.
"It's my job." He said as he lay down all the food items on the table.
"Sit down with me then. I don't like eating alone." I said to him.
"But---"
"Relax. I won't tell anybody." I said.
"Fine." He sat down beside me, passing me a brief smile.
I served a fried egg, some sausages and a hash brown on my plate while Jason hesitantly poured himself a glass of orange juice.
"Do you know what happened to that guy?" I asked.
"The one who followed you both last night." He asked.
"Yes." I nodded. "Did they let him go?"
"I don't know but it seems pretty impossible that they would let him go so easily." He said, chugging the juice down.
"Where are they keeping him?" I asked. "I want to talk to him. I deserve to know why he was following me."
"Um... I'm not sure Mr. Miller would be open to that request of yours." Jason said.
"But---"
"Just let them handle these things Penelope. You and me don't know how such affairs work." Jason advised me.
"Hmm." I nodded. "You are right."
After finishing the breakfast, I helped Jason in cleaning the table and then walked over to the library. I searched through the library for a good book and finally settled on a novel by George Orwell.
I read for the most part of the day, except when I went downstairs to grab a sandwich for lunch. At around 6pm, I went back to my bedroom and organized the whole cupboard. I set everything I bought yesterday in the respective drawers and then took a long shower.
For some reason, I wanted to dress up nice today for dinner. I changed into a yellow sundress and let my hair dry naturally in loose waves. Applying some tint to my cheeks and lips, I slipped my feet into a pair of sandals and made my way downstairs.
But my mood instantly soured when I saw the person sitting in the lounge with Sean and Lucas. It was Hailey, Sean's girlfriend or whoever she was.
She was sitting on the sofa with crossed legs, her whole outfit reeking of money. She radiated so much arrogance with the way she held her head stiff. I had always disliked girls like her who thinks the whole world revolved around them.
"She hasn't left yet." She said as soon as she noticed me.
"I wanted to, but Mr. Miller doesn't let me go." I said and the way her eyes widened was almost comical.
"And why is that Sean?" She asked Sean, who happened to be eyeing me up and down. I should have felt annoyed at him for staring at me while sitting beside his girlfriend but I didn't. Instead, his heated gaze made me feel warm.
"You don't need to worry about her. She will be leaving soon." He said after a moment and stood up, ignoring everyone. "Jason! Set the table." He called out.
All four of us walked over to the dining room. Sean Miller took the central seat while Hailey set down on his right. I took the seat on his left and Lucas seated himself beside me.
"This house needs a woman." Hailey said as she patted Sean's arm suggestively.
"That will be fun." I heard Lucas mumble under his breath as he poured some gravy and mashed potatoes in his plate.
Sean chose not to comment and continued slurping his cream of mushroom soup.
"When are we going to get married?" She asked. Hearing this, Sean visibly choked on the soup and coughed to clear his throat.
"Soon." He replied briefly.
"Even the thought gets me excited. We will be the hottest couple in town." She said, serving only steamed vegetables in her plate.
"I can't wait to have you here permanently." Sean smiled at her. It was more of lifting the right corner of his lips than a smile.
"Yeah, imagine, Hailey here with us at every meal." Lucas commented and then whispered. "The horror." Hailey didn't hear the last words but I did and that made me chuckle.
"Aw." She said and moved closer to Sean to place a kiss at his cheeks. The sight caused bile rise in my throat. Disgusting! Can't someone eat in peace?
We were close to finishing our meal when Thomas entered the dining room and whispered something in Sean's ears. "Feed him enough to keep him alive but no more than that." Sean replied in hushed tone but I heard it anyway. Thomas nodded and made his way out of the dining room.
"I'm full." I said and stood up to leave.
"Sit down and finish your plate. It's impolite to leave the dinner midway." Sean said to me.
"Let her go. It's a family dinner. We don't need random people around." Hailey said and I had half a mind of dumping the whole bowl of soup on her head.
"First, unless you have a ring in your finger, I don't understand why you would call this a family dinner." I said to her and her face grimaced. I then turned to Sean, who looked somewhat amused. "Secondly, I'm not feeling well. I need to use the restroom."
Saying this, I excused myself and made my way outside. I followed Thomas as he walked out of the gate and wandered around the ivory house to reach its backside. It wasn't easy to follow him considering there was a lot of security there. I had to act casual or I would risk getting caught.
Thomas reached a door that I didn't even know existed and unlocked it using a key that he took out from his pocket. He then descended some stairs and got vanished in the dark. I tried to peak but there were only few steps of stairs visible, the rest of the place was drowned in darkness.
Not wanting to get caught, I walked back inside the mansion where I suddenly came across Sean Miller, who got alerted on seeing me.
"Where were you?" He asked.
"I felt nauseous so I was taking a walk in open air." I replied, gulping.
"Really?" He said and then gave me a quick look from head to toe. "You don't look sick. In fact, you look quite the opposite."
"Careful Mr. Miller. It almost sounds like you were complimenting me." I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest and his eyebrows furrowed. "Your fiance might not like it."
"I was not complimenting you." He said. "And she is not my fiance."
"But she is your girlfriend. And you are her loving boyfriend. Aren't you?" I asked.
"I am. I love her a lot." He said, not a hint of passion or love in his voice.
"If that's how you love, I wouldn't want to be the one receiving your hate." I said.
Hearing that, he stepped a little closer and the scent of his signature perfume hit my nostrils. His dark eyes stared into mine, dark and mysterious, just like him.
"You won't be receiving either. You aren't that important, Miss. Woods." He whispered as our eyes locked together for a minute. His words were simple yet hurtful, even though they shouldn't be hurting me. Being important in Sean Miller's life wasn't exactly my life goal.
"Whatever." I said and turned around to walk away when he caught my wrist and tugged me towards him with a jerk. I bumped against his hard chest and yelped in pain. "Ow."
"You do not get to whatever me or walk out on me inside my house. Be grateful I'm keeping you." He glared at me. "And don't disobey me in front of others next time. If I tell you to eat, you eat."
"No." I said.
"No?" He asked. His face was few inches away from me and from this close, he looked scary. Beautiful, but scary.
"Just because it is your house doesn't mean you have bought me." I said, pretending to keep my composure even when he was this close to me when in reality, I was feeling dizzy.
"Oh but I can, Mia Cara. I can buy you and everything around you." He whispered, bringing his gaze to my lips.
"You may be rich but not everything has a price, Mr. Miller." I replied, resisting the urge to look at his lips. "Certainly not me."
Saying this, I withdrew my arm from him and flounced out of lounge, not stopping to gauge his reaction.
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