"Good Morning." Ciara greeted Dylan, announcing her arrival.
He had come in yesterday night while she was asleep, so she didn't get a chance to see him. And he came back way past dinner time, she couldn't have possibly been awake by then.
And this morning, he came down after others had breakfast, so he was alone at the table.
Until she came along.
He felt annoyed, but he managed to swallow the bread.
Ciara ignored him not replying to her greeting and sat down a chair away from it. There were different foods on display even though he was the only one eating.
"You came home too late yesterday."
Was she expecting an answer? It wasn't going to be from him.
She didn't feel discouraged. She just helped herself to some food.
She brought bread and smeared smashed meat on it.
They ate in silence for sometime and she noticed he was eating the beef stew instead. She had had two breads by then, so she decided to try the beef stew.
It was when he moved to eating the Black Forest Cake that she realized he wasn't eating anything she touched.
She frowned. "Dylan, is anything wrong?"
He took a tumbler containing coffee and stood up.
"I'm full."
She was left looking at his retreating back. What was wrong with him nowadays?
She just forgot he was always like that.
-----
They had searched everywhere, but she was not found.
Where could she be? He was responsible for her and now she was lost?
God, no. Not on his watch.
Well, not on anyone's watch.
The servants were tired and they were waiting around for his orders. They had searched hours for her, but still they had not found her.
But why should he care? They were wondering. She was mature enough to take care of herself. Even if she wasn't, who would dare touch her if they saw the look on her face? She must be Okay.
He waved them away. They didn't have to be there, he was supposed to be looking for her himself. They were just working for her, not responsible for her as he was.
He exhaled and rubbed his forehead. There was nowhere else to look.
It had started raining again. Badly. And he couldn't go outside to look for her. Even if he could, where would he?
He could only pray she was Okay.
-----
Everybody was exasperated. Why did the rain choose to come by this time of the year? They were having so much fun and it suddenly started raining.
How unlucky!
"I thought I would have fun today, since I couldn't yesterday." Christine complained. They were back in the room. They had immediately rushed back with the intention of getting to the room before the rain started in earnest, yet, they were dripping wet.
"Will you stop complaining? You've done that so much that I lost count." Dara laughed at Christine. She knew she loved partying.
"Aha!" Christine snapped her fingers, a smile kicking up her lips. "I almost forgot. Did you see that Transformer we saw on our way here?"
"Yeah?" Dara answered uncertainly, unsure of why she was suddenly changing the topic.
Her smile dropped like it was never there.
"Go hug it." Christine told her and Dara gasped. She wasn't expecting her to say that!
"You fool!" She grabbed a pillow and threw at her, but she didn't have time to dodge and it ended up hitting her.
She looked up laughing, grabbed the pillow and threw back at Christine.
"Hey, stop that nonsense! Big fools behaving like children." Abigail shouted at them. She was also in a bad mood. Never in her life, would she have believed she would be in a room, by this time of the year, doing nothing by this time!
Dara and Christine looked at each other. Who was she telling? Christine fell from the bed, lying on her back and kicking into thin air and Dara collapsed on the floor, not minding her wet clothes nor the cold floor. When she turned on her front again, she was clutching her stomach. It tickled her while she laughed.
Abigail, of all people, talking to them that way, was the last thing they thought they would see.
Briana shook her head. "Imagine how stupid you look that she's telling you to stop." She said as she looked at Abigail. She wanted to smile, but she was controlling it well.
Dara stopped laughing immediately, a tense look came in her eyes and she cleared her throat unconsciously, making the atmosphere turn a bit awkward.
Christine glanced at Briana with a 'what happened?' look.
It was obvious something had happened. There was that tension in the air whenever their eyes met or they replied to what each other said or they were alone. As stupid as Abigail was, she also felt it. And she hated it when they fell out with each other.
Her eyes scanned them one by one, then she let out a loud, nervous laugh.
"I was wondering what Boss Lady will be doing right now." She explained when they gave her questioning glances.
"Right?" Christine asked rhetorically as she got up from the floor and sat on the bed and she, too let out a laugh. "I can imagine her dancing."
Dara imagined too and she winced at the image. Christine laughed some more when she noticed her reaction.
"C'mon, Dara. She can't be that bad."
Dara started chuckling. Apparently, everyone but Briana was happy. "It's not about being bad. I was just imagining she would be like," she got up from the floor and did a little part of Beautiful Liar.
When it got to the part she had to lift and drop her hips, she brought down the hand she had above her head and snapped it in Abigail's direction with a frown on her face.
With a stern look in her eyes, she pretended she was talking to Abigail. "I'm not paying you to sit around and watch, duffer. I can't be wasting my money like this. You're fired."
Briana was thankful the atmosphere had changed a bit, but she still tried to be as discreet as possible. When her eyes locked with Abigail's again, she gave her a smile that expressed her gratitude.