Ivory And Her Brothers

Chapter 8: Study Time

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - Martin Luther King JR.

Winter flower - Younha ft RM

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Hudson abruptly entered the library, closing the heavy old door behind him. The noise disturbed Ivory from her troubled thoughts, leaving Hudson and Ivory alone for the first time since she had arrived at the King's household.

The sudden appearance of her fourth eldest brother surprised her but she was not alarmed as she heard this was where Hudson was known for spending the majority of his free time in this room. Isa joked to her that sometimes he thinks Hudson preferred his books over them.

He was absorbed in his own thoughts and he had yet to notice Ivory's presence or her curious scrutiny of his appearance.

Ivory observed Hudson, her fourth oldest brother, he was quite unusual in comparison to her other brothers with his curly hair and lanky broad frame. Especially his odd selection of clothes as he was sporting smart brown trousers paired with a white collared shirt with stripes on it tucked in with a few buttons left undone. Also unlike the previous times, she discovered Hudson was wearing gold-coloured glasses which complimented his overall unique selection of fashion.

He appeared intelligent, everything Ivory was unfortunately not… Maybe Miss Turner wasn't that wrong after all. Ivory was the unremarkable one of all her siblings and she would never fit in no matter how much she tries. She would always be an outcast and the child nobody wanted or needed like her Mama always loved to remind her. Forever unwanted and alone…

Ivory felt upset after her tutoring session and her miserable thoughts were not helping. She glanced down at her large stack of homework and Hudson turned in her direction finally noticing her presence.

A big grin graced his face. "Hey, Ivory how are you, little sis?" He strode towards her, his steps getting closer and closer as he approached until he finally grabbed the seat next to her on the large brown dreary study table.

"I'm uh...fine thank you," she muttered meekly. This was awkward, to say the least. This was the first time she was having a conversation with Hudson since she came to live here, all her nerves came back to her at once leaving her a terrible mess.

"I heard from Isaiah that Roman got you a tutor to catch up on before school starts. How did the session go? Do you like the tutor?"

Ivory fixated her eyes on her Maths paper looking away from Hudson's penetrating gaze as she focused on the maths equation in front of her. When in reality she had no idea what any of the numerous algebra equations meant. Sweat was starting to accumulate on her forehead, the room was suddenly feeling too warm with the weight of Hudson's question weighing down on her. Should she tell the truth that Miss Turner despised her? Or would Hudson not believe her and call her a liar like her Mama to use to accuse her of? Her doubt and worries plagued her thoughts that she completely forgot Hudson was watching her waiting for a response to his question.

She wiped the sweat from her face. Why was the room feeling so hot right now she thought.

"Oh, are you really warm Ivory? Do you want me to turn the air conditioner on?" Ivory just nodded in response, thankful for the distraction hoping Hudson would forget that she hadn't answered his question.

Whilst Hudson was fiddling with the air conditioner button Ivory tried to focus on her homework so Hudson wouldn't ask her any more questions. But she didn't understand any of it. Despite how much Miss Turner screamed at her Ivory couldn't seem to understand the complexity of Mathematics. She felt the sudden urge to cry.