Rose Coloured

Chapter 48- Intervention

"Hurry up with the food, we're starving here!" Ignia called from the dining room, all of the guests at the table quickly joining him in agreement. "Lucy!?"

"I heard you!" The frazzled blonde shouted as she fumbled around the kitchen. She was woken up at 8 AM and told to get ready, because Ignia was having 5 businessmen over for lunch, and she was expected to cook for them.

Lucy barely had any time to think since she'd woken up. Ignia made her straighten her hair and put on a short sundress he'd picked out for her, and wouldn't let her put on her gloves. He claimed it was because it would seem suspicious to see a woman wear gloves in her own home, but she had a feeling this was just another one of his subtle acts of torture on her for refusing to have a baby. 

It took about 30 minutes for her to get the courage to walk past the men at the table and into the kitchen, and then 30 more minutes of her crying in the kitchen afterwards. Then she had to figure out something to make for 6 men, and after asking them for their preferences, she just decided to make club sandwiches. 

This should be easy, and she'd only need to cook the bacon. 

Things had been going well, but then everyone started rushing her, and the pressure was sending her into a panic. It's been so long since she's cooked in this kitchen, and the constant reminder of what happened last time was shown on her arms. The longer she took, the more she was rushed, but the more she was rushed, the more she began to freeze up, thus making her take longer.

Just when she thought it couldn't get worse, Ignia came into the kitchen and just stared at her in silence. At that point, Lucy had enough, and she turned off the burner and stepped as far away from the pan of hot oil as she could. 

"What the hell are you doing?" Ignia shook his head and approached her, "You do realize you need to keep the flame on to cook, right?"

Now, he was way too close to the stove for Lucy to return to cooking, so she only shook her head. Actually, her whole body shook as she mumbled, "...I'm sorry."

"...You're so dramatic," Ignia rolled his eyes and took over the cooking, "This is enough, they'll manage." He began to make the sandwiches himself, but turned to her expectantly. 

Lucy knew he was silently ordering her to get back to the task at hand, but she just couldn't. He was just too close to the hot pan.

 "Hey, snap out of it, you crazy bat," Suddenly, he was right in front of her with his hands on her shoulders, shaking her.

 Lucy hadn't even realized she'd blacked out, but she definitely wasn't comfortable with him touching her, so she snatched his hands off of her. "I'm not crazy…" Her voice was meek, "You did this to me."

"That was years ago, get over it."

"...You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? Making me cook while my arms are exposed… You want me to be uncomfortable."

"Lucy, just finish the sandwiches," Ignia gave her a kiss on the cheek and walked back to the dining room without saying anything else. She was sick and tired of these mixed signals. He still hasn't hit her yet, but she knew it was coming. 

He'll do it, and then act like it was an accident. He'll say "Look at what you made me do!" Because he always blames her whenever he gets violent. Then, he'd pretend like he feels guilty about it afterwards, pleading for forgiveness. Lucy really could read him like a book by now.

Eventually, she was able to collect herself and finish the sandwiches, and she kept her gaze downward as she served them to their guests. They thanked her and began to eat, and just as Lucy thought she was done, Ignia told her, "Could you bring some drinks, babe?"