CHAPTER 7: The Dining Table
Laura POV
It was from a poor family I came from, a very poor one.
It was a family of five, my Mom, my step dad and two siblings who were my stepdad's. My Mom had them for that man.
Landon and Olivia, my step siblings. Gabriel, my stepdad and Georgina, my mother.
They all treated me like trash and-- The footsteps approaching zoned me out of my trance back to reality. I must have thought about my family for a long time again that I didn't notice that time had slipped away.
I turned my head to see Ariana stopping behind me.
"If you are interested in dinner, you can come to the table and if you are not, please stay and truth be told, I would prefer the latter" She said and I sighed, she's just so mean.
"And why is that?" I asked.
"Because I prefer eating alone with my brother but here you are joining in" She said with a glare.
"Your brother is the one who wants a wife, remember?" I asked and walked to the dining table leaving her behind.
Right! I will be staying here for two years and by the time the contract ends, I will be a rich woman so I should just try not to think about my darn family.
I settled down on the chair with Ariana sitting beside me, the table was already set and confessing the truth, I've never seen a food table like this.
There were grilled chicken, seasoned veggies with chicken cheese salad with shrimps.
There was a wine which I presume to be very expensive from the way it looks, I don't know anything about wines but just know that it is a red wine.
There is also a fruit cocktail set aside for dessert.
I scanned the table all in a minute and shook my head. He's really a billionaire, having all these things I could eat in a week for just a day's dinner.
I saw Xavier walk down the stairs, he wasn't cladded in a suit like earlier, he was wearing a white long sleeved top with black denim.
He sat down without saying a word, he didn't even spare a glance at me, they started eating and I followed suit.
I tasted the food and it was a hmmm! I could tell the cooks do a great job cooking here. I have been the one cooking for my family for years but I haven't cooked something this delicious or was it money never allowed me?
I haven't gone long into eating when some cheese fell off my spoon, damn me! I tend to be this clumsy sometimes.
I bent down to pick the cheese on the floor so I could shove it into my mouth but then stopped with my hands hanging midways, I could feel the four piercing eyes on me.
God–damn me! I just tried to pick food from the floor and I think they caught me!!
"The hell are you trying to do?" Ariana asked and I blinked my eyes multiple times without lifting my head up.
Son of Mary, save me! What do I tell her? That I wanted to pick the food so it won't go to waste??
Shit! I muttered and turned my hands away from the cheese to my legs, I itched it real hard and lifted my head up with a smile and just like I had thought, the two of them had stopped eating and were staring at me.
"My legs were itching, sorry, I think the food is having some effect on my body" I said and smiled, staring at Ariana who asked the question.
She stared at me for a while before nodding.
"Oh! I see," She said and continued her food. I turned my gaze back to Xavier who was still staring at me, I gulped down nothing and stood up abruptly.
"I will go to my room then" I said and walked away ascending the stairs.
I got to the front of a room and realized I don't even have a room yet, damn! Why am I so foolish!!
Do I go ask them where my room is?? I thought but waved it off deciding to find a room that could fit to be called mine.
I opened the first room and couldn't help but gasp, the room was so huge, it could fit in for the sitting room of my parents house.
I entered and checked the room and from the few things I saw, I could tell it was Ariana's room. I walked out immediately before she could get to the room and meet me inside there.
I checked other rooms but couldn't find an empty room or a room that could look like mine, I sighed and just sat in one of the rooms laying on the king sized bed.
My mind drifted back to earlier at the dining table, I heaved a sigh. It has always been like that, I always had to eat from the floor at times.
I closed my eyes and swallowed hard because I didn't want to remember anything from the past but it rushed in instead of leaving me be at the moment.
**
How I laughed bitterly to myself, with my sound hollow and laced with despair. I hadn't even realized when tears began to fall from my eyes. Slowly, I scooped a handful of the food from the floor and brought it to my mouth.
"Delicious! Delicious!" I muttered through sobs, choking on the food as I wept, eating from the floor like a dog.
I opened my eyes gasping for breath as it looked like I had been suffocated by the little flashback I just had. The past days were like a nightmare. I didn't even realize that tears had fallen from my eyes.
I lifted my head up and saw someone in the room, it was Xavier.
"What..are you doing here?" I was shocked.
"I should be asking you that" He simply replied and I stood up from the bed realising that I was in his room.
"Oh Sorry!" I said wiping my tears with the back of my hand as I walked past him but a strong hand grabbed me making my heart skip, that was so sudden and unexpected, I faced Xavier, my eyes flickering like an unstable bulb.