Death Raids A Heart II

Chapter One

It was a warm, spring day in England. 

In the Croft mansion, Winston the butler had felt ecstatic over babysitting the children of the woman he'd known since she were but an infant. Lara had spent most of her days in her office writing up stories while her spouse spent his time sprucing up the manner to make it more appealing and less morbid. 

Every so often, David would hear loud rushed footsteps trek down halls followed by excited, shrill screams from the young children that ran around the mansion without care of the sharp and deadly objects in every corner of the room. David was most pleased to be living a normal life, yet interaction with his wife was slimming faster than he was. 

Upon noticing the shortage of food, David took it upon himself to head to the market and buy groceries. But before doing so, he notified his wife who simply dismissed him without even a single glance to his disappointment. And so, David embarked on a journey to the market to collect food as well as a few extra ingredients to make a nice dinner. After over an hour of driving, David arrived in the market only to find it packed with eager shoppers who'd hoped to find a decent sale. 

With ease, he found a decent parking spot and ventured into the market where hundred of people all chattered at once, some of whom were stall owners barking bargaining prices to passerbyers. As David went about his business, people were impolite as those who bumped into one another sent rude remarks their way when someone had the decency to be polite. 

A woman in a vibrant pink dress with curly blonde hair that went down to her shoulders sucked on a lollypop as she carried an expensive pursed from her shoulder was being subjected to stall owner harassment. David stepped in and sternly told off the stall owner, earning the woman's respect. The two exchanged glances and started up a conversation as they slowly began to walk away from the stall owner that gave the woman a hard time. 

In return for his generosity, the woman gave him a kiss on the cheek and managed to organise a second meet-up at a more suitable location. While he was loyal to his marriage, he had himself a golden opportunity. Without a hint of hesitation in his voice, David agreed and passed over his phone number to the woman, locking in their date for the next few days. Somewhat pleased with himself, David made off to return home. 

Another hour passed as David rode home where he was greeted by his children. It was easy intentions from his children, it wasn't so much from his wife who knew him like the back of her hand. But seeing as how she was so indulged with her work, he became hopeful that she wouldn't even bother noticing the strange turn in his behaviour. Winston was most generous to help David carry the groceries but the younger man knew better to cut the butler a break. 

In the privacy of her office, Lara continued to work nonstop even by the request of both Winston and David. Even using her children to convince her to take a break was not enough. Taking things up a notch, David entered Lara's office with a valuable ancient urn in his possession. When Lara glanced up, it took her a second to look again and realise what he was doing. 

"D-David, what are you doing with that? No, no! David, no. Put that down. No, no. Put it back where you found it right now. David! David... David, please." Lara spoke with nervous excitement. 

"What?" He replied innocently. "Oh now you're giving me attention." 

"David, please. Gently put the urn down." 

"Or what?" 

"This is not a game, David!" 

Immaturity, he mimicked her which made her frown. She put all her focus on him as they began to wrestle over who got to hold onto the valuable urn. Little did she know, he didn't care who got the urn. Once he knew the moment was right, he struck. Entangled in his arms, Lara grunted and squirmed in struggle of her husband's grip, unable to escape.

"Was... was this your plan all along?" She asked with another grunt.

David simply smirked and eased his grip on her as they laid on the floor with him now on top of her, keeping her pinned by her wrists where they stared deeply and longingly into one another's eyes. This was something David hadn't realised was at stake. Regardless of that, he made the conscience decision to quit playing around, missing the fact that Lara wanted to kiss him. 

Clearing his throat, David helped her up to her feet and behaved maturely by taking the urn back to its rightful place, leaving Lara sceptical about his newfound behaviour. Despite that, she simply shrugged it off for now but made sure to keep an eye out for anything else out of place. Now that she was put off from her work, Lara decided to go spend some time with her children. 

The brunette found her children playing in the indoor pool where Winston monitored them in case there was to be a near drowning incident. Lara was relieved to see that the old butler was still awake and conscience to watch the children play in the shallowest end of the pool in their swimming costumes and with their floaties. 

Winston had noticed the Croft woman approach and gave a weakly gentle smile her was as he caressed his trembling hand for comfort knowing that he was beginning to reach such terrible stages in his old age. Lara was also aware of this and yet despite requesting for him to hand in his resignation yet he still remained committed to serving her and her family.