Heather blinked her eyes in disbelief after reaching the villa.
The place she expected to be empty has Cyrus in it, together with Amelia and Ravier.
'It was just about two weeks, he seemed to have been back more than half the year that passed in our marriage,' she instantly thought as she walked over with her things.
Ravier went to her and took the things she was carrying.
She handed it over before walking towards the table, Cyrus was eating lunch and she could only ask Amelia for some coffee.
She drank a bit too much the night before and now she was having a bit of a headache. It wasn't the conventional drink for hangovers that will help her recover. But instead she needed a good dose of coffee in order to be better.
She had planned to drink one on the way back, but she found it troublesome that she has decided to drink one at home.
She remembered that Amelia's coffee was one of the best she had drunk.
"Coffee Latte," she asked.
"As you wish," Amelia smiled before entering the kitchen.
Amelia may not seem like it but she has quite a lot of talent, something she had acquired over the past years of serving the Porter family.
Now only Cyrus and Heather were on the dining area.
One ate in silence while another sat silently waiting for her coffee.
All she wanted at this moment was to have that coffee, that she didn't care whether this person was to talk to her or not.
Cyrus was the most bewildered at his actions.
After seeing Heather fall sick, he found himself becoming more and more guilty for neglecting her.
That the more he felt this way, the more he couldn't just ignore her.
He frowned, 'Was her new strategy working?'
A push and pull strategy where after trying to pull him to her, she started pushing him away.
His eyes darkened at the thought that this could be the case and he seemed to be falling for it.
Heather, who was tinkering with her phone felt his gaze, looked up and raised an eyebrow when she saw the way he was looking at her.
"Why are you glaring at me? I wasn't even doing anything. You are the one who suddenly came back and ate here. My arrival was already planned from last week," she spoke.
"What are you really planning?" he asked coldly.
Heather openly rolled her eyes, "Are we on repeat at this moment? No matter how many times I tell you that I am tired of acting, you will keep on thinking that I am still acting?"
Cyrus' glare turned sharper due to her response.
Heather propped her head on her hand that was on the table.
"Listen carefully, mama's boy."
Obviously, the ice-cold temperature turned even colder when she called him mama's boy right in his face.
"I think you are smart enough to know that we are currently playing a game. A game of unconventional chess that does not only have two players but three. The past week that passed, I suppose you already realized right?"
She exaggeratedly gasped, "Or could it be you really didn't realize?"
Cyrus squinted his eyes giving her an answer that he knew what was going on.
Heather smiled as she leaned back on her chair, "You see, there is something I needed to do that I really need to get close to you."
For the second time she rolled her eyes, "Will you stop causing the arctic wind to blow here?"
"Anyway, I was planning differently when your mother chose me to be her pawn instead. I thought why not? The fastest way to get close was already presented in front of me. Yet a year and I failed miserably, you hated me even more. And so, I stopped. But that doesn't mean I didn't have a grudge over being used…"
She smiled and her eyes flickered, the moment it did, Cyrus could tell a sharper woman he couldn't recognize was now sitting in front of him.
A look in her eyes that he never saw nor heard of as Heather Relish was out of the lime light for a decade.
"Since that is the case, why should I let her go so easily? Hmmm? I am a vengeful one after all," she chuckled as Amelia returned with her cup of coffee.
She thanked her before returning her look towards Cyrus.
'Of course I won't do anything as long as they don't do anything either,' she added in her head as she had a staring contest with him.
He was stunned at the different sides he had been seeing for the past days.
A playful one, a teasing one, a weak one and now there was even a strong side he never expected she had been hiding all along.
This tangled emotions made him unable to remember that Heather called him 'mama's boy' right in his face and he did not realize that she had spoken of something.
That she needed to get close to him, something she never said over the past year of their marriage.
On the other hand, the way he looks at her, Heather knew that he still does not believe her.
But she didn't care, she was not asking him to believe her so easily.
"Seeing how you act now, I guess you really have recovered from your sickness."
After that he left through the front door and the sound of a car could be heard leaving their place.
She frowned because she couldn't understand the changes that is going on through him.
First, he was making her look like she was still plotting against him-
No, she is indeed still plotting but it was not something bad… right?
Anyway, after being mean he was suddenly talking about her recovering from her fever.
So, what was his real purpose for being here again in the middle of the day?
"He was worried about you, he had been in here since last night."
She snapped out of her confusion when Amelia spoke beside her.
And the words that Amelia spoke of, made Heather laugh.
"I don't think so, aunt Amelia. I mean you saw how he looks at me, worry is the last thing one could think of from that. There must be something he has to do here for him to stay that long. And you have to remember that he stayed while I was not here, that on itself implies that he has no worry for me."
She took a sip from the cup and felt better.
Amelia sighed, she knew that Cyrus was doing things that confuses him, something she noticed since this morning when she saw him back in the villa.
At the same time, she knew it was the last thing Heather will accept that Cyrus was worrying about her.
"You still don't seem well," Amelia placed a hand on Heather's forehead.
Heather smiled, "Don't worry, I have fully recovered."
"But you still look pale," she worriedly added when she felt that Heather's temperature was indeed normal.
Heather looked away trying to cover up with drinking her coffee the look of guilty she was having.
'Well, the just recovered sick patient ended up drinking too much after recovery that I actually received a whole travel of nagging from my brother.'
"Why don't you rest more for today?" Amelia suggested.
"I plan on doing that," she replied.
That's when she realized something.
Ravier remained here and she was not shock as she was aware of it before leaving last Friday. But what she was curious about is Maya.
If Amelia was here and with the fact that Cyrus actually came home, surely Maya should be around here, yet she did not see even a shadow of hers.
Heather couldn't be blamed as when Amelia made her lie down again, she instantly fell asleep. So, she was unaware of what had transpired within the house last Friday.
"Maya is gone," Amelia answered.
Heather coughed so hard for Amelia answered as she drank from her cup, she choked in the end.
"Maya's dead?!?" her eyes went wide.
"Oh dear, no!!" Amelia reacted, too shock at the way she jumped in her conclusion.
Heather wiped her mouth with a napkin, "Then what happened?"
"The young master fired her. No one knew she left the house until she returned last Friday. When she came, the young master was still here and was enraged at her lack of responsibility. So, he fired her for not following the madam's orders."
"Oh."
"She was fired because you were sick while she still chose to step out," Amelia added seeing the lack of reaction from her.
Heather simply smiled, 'More like he knew Maya was left here by Amanda to watch me closely yet Maya chose to go and have fun. In the end, she didn't do what a maid should do in serving their master and she didn't even follow the instructions of the witch of watching me closely. Such a servant is unneeded whether it was for a good or bad purpose.'
The two of them were unaware since they never voiced out anything to one another but if one were to hear their thoughts, they would say that the two actually has some similarities in the wavelengths of their minds.
At this moment, it is the case for Heather towards Cyrus, she can somehow understand the thoughts behind his actions.
When she left to return to her room, another thought came to her.
'Though it is possible that my sudden words were actually the truth for the outcome of Maya.'
Knowing how Amanda's mind usually works, Heather knew that towards servants who didn't do what was asked of them, Amanda wouldn't mind disposing of them.
She shook her head, no matter what was the outcome of Maya, it was no longer of her concern. At this moment, she needed to keep studying in order to have those teachers take her in as their student.
'But a rest is not bad,' she thought after feeling her head still pounding even though she had already drunk some coffee.
And so she went to dreamland after cleaning up.