Arisa felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach in shock, but regardless, she could feel the child's intent gaze on her and her daughter so she composed herself and let out a smile which did not at all reckon to the rage brimming inside of her.
"Oh really? And he's seven?" That means, even before she and Stephan met, he and Ravenna had been together. And they had just let her play right into their trap like a pawn in a chess game which they had easily killed off when the chance came.
She took a closer look at the boy now, noticing Stephan's undeniable similar features. The similar stubborn jut jaw was already visible even at his age, The teal colored eyes that stood out so much from his other features, you were bound to notice it first.
He had Ravenna's soft, silky blonde hair with silver streaks... a beautiful birth mark Ravenna had as a child which made her hair stand out, especially when she let it run down her shoulders just like It was on Ares's shoulder now, balancing perfectly on his shoulders.
Their 'creation' was so perfect, so beautiful, but unfortunately, he was birthed by the two worst creatures on earth and would bear their past sins upon himself as innocent as he was.
"I'm hungry." He had quickly lost interest in staring at the new unfamiliar face that had just arrived and turned to Aisha.
"Me too." A voice said, causing the young boy to raise his head towards the room, but this time, he brought his head down a little bit, finally noticing the girl who had spoken. His eyes grew a bit wide upon meeting her huge, diamond blue eyes staring up at his in awe, probably stunned at the beautiful color blend of blue and green.
"Ares... this is Ruby. She's her daughter and I hope you two would get along since you'll..."
"I don't want friends." He snorted with his signature grumpy look which had yet to waver for even once, and immediately grabbed Aisha's hand, already pulling her away to prepare lunch for him.
"Why doesn't he want to be my friend mummy?" Arisa could finally find her tongue when Ruby turned towards her with a disappointed look on her innocent face.
She stooped low and beamed at her before placing her hand on her head and patting her. "You two just met, and you know he's the Alpha's son so I would advice you to stay away from him, okay? When you start school here, you can make as many friends as you want there!"
Her disappointed look was immediately replaced by a cheerful one as the thiught of going to school crossed her mind. She threw her hands in the air. "Yay! School!"
"Now let's unpack and freshen up. You said you were hungry so we'd eat."
After several tedious hours of unpacking, putting things together and then freshening up, they both changed into fresh new clothes before heading out of their room. Arisa remembered Aisha telling her her room number just incase she didn't know her way around, but she knew the place like the back of her hand.
She enjoyed the little walk from the quarters to the main Alpha's mansion, especially as Ruby seemed to be fascinated by almost everything and got her to explain every teeny bit thing she saw. By the time they arrived in the kitchen, she was already exhausted from talking.
On the slab, seated on the stool was Ares. He was silently eating a bowl of fruits which sat close to an empty bowl of food which he might have finished a while ago. He only glanced up briefly at the two that had just walked in before he lowered his eyes to the game he was playing on his phone.
"Okay Ruby. Wait here while I go look for Aisha. I'll come right back to prepare you a meal okay?" Arisa comfortingly said as she lifted Ruby on one of the stools around the kitchen slab, ensuring to settle her down on the one farthest from Ares who didn't even notice or If he did, pretended not to.
"Okay."
Arisa gave her a look, not trusting Ruby one bit when she just readily agrees with her on certain things. "Don't move from that spot. Do you understand?"
"Yes mommy."
Narrowing her eyes at the beaming girl, she left the kitchen.
The moment she did, Ruby's eyes automatically traveled to Ares and her stare settled on him for a while, fascinated at the beautiful tab he was holding before It moved to his hand which would occasionally reach out to pick some berries from the bowl before putting it into his mouth and resume playing.
After a while, Ares who had clearly known she had been monitoring his every moves finally spoke up, glaring at her, "Do you have a staring problem?"
Ruby just blinked at him, not knowing what to say. He couldn't tell If she was flustered that he had spoken to her or because of his eyes... he had gotten looks like that when people met him at first and It disgusted him and annoyed him when they stared right at it and fused over how beautiful it was. But when It came to Ruby, It was different.
He actually found it amusing how her eyes would glint and glimmer upon meeting his.
"Stop that." He grew annoyed now, flustered at how boldly she was looking at him. Did she not know who he was. Although he hadn't seen her before- not even in school. But she must have certainly heard of him. She was too audacious; to bold to be staring into his eyes so challengingly.
"Stop what?"
"Stop looking at me." There was a deep frown on his face as he replied.
"You can't tell me what to do with my eyes." He was taken aback by her words- especially as It was spoken with such arrogance and confidence for someone her age.
"You shouldn't look at mine." He was fully focused on her now, his hand holding tightly onto his tab, wondering at her audacity.
"You looked at mine first."
"I did not."
"You did too."
"I didn't. You were staring at me!" He almost yelled, his rows furrowed in anger. He hated the way she made him banter back and forth with her when he just wanted to play a game.
"How did you know I was If you hadn't looked at me first." She retorted smugly before settling back with folded arms and a ludricuous smirk on her face like had won a contest.
At this point, he didn't even know what to say and just focused on playing his game and completely ignoring her existence even If she wanted to bore a hole into his body with her stare.
Suddenly, her stomach rumbled, and at the same time, her eyes followed his hand movements going into the bowl to pick cherries this time.
"Can I have some?"
"No."
"But I'm hungry. And you have lots."
"So? Why do I have to give you just because I have more than enough?"
"Because sharing stuffs with your friends is..."
"You're not my friend." He snapped at her without thinking and she fell silent, but with a pursed lips, staring disapprovingly at him now.
He had finally had enough as he got down the stool before grabbing the bowl and tab and started walking away.
"But why?" He heard her small voice ask like she would burst into tears any moment from then, but he just walked away, leaving her in the kitchen alone.
Ruby pursed her lips hard before turning away to fold her arms. Her eyes, filled with anger settled on the stool where he had sat previously. She stared hard at It for a while liked she was just imagining him sitting back there... Ignoring her.
Suddenly, her eyes turned teal green, bright and beautiful like a precious gem before It faded back to her original color just as someone walked in behind her.