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Seven | Virgin Eyes

SOTC: Dior by RASA

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Boom!

It was the sound I shot my eyes open to find a wave of girls in bralettes matching cream sunskirts flowing through the opened door of the outrageously aesthetic guest bedroom, my new room.

"Good morning," Xerxes said flatly behind it.

"What are you- YAA!" I dug my hands into my throbbing face of fatigue as the blinds shed the poisonous sun into my eyes.

"You'll be letting these maids get you ready," he replied as a servant hoisted me out of the covers. "I'll see you in an hour."

Internally on the threshold of cursing him out for chainsawing my moments in a real bed, I complied. I let a maid peel my clothes off to sink into a drawn bathtub. One scrubbed off fifteen hundred layers of skin, another lathered my hair in bubbles as one searched through a jaw-dropping wardrobe. Meanwhile, the maids spoke and giggled, which made me wonder if they were high. No one has that much dopamine.

Then I was wrapped in a towel as my long hair was blowdried and styled. Afterward I was thrown in an outfit, completing the look I examined in a full-length mirror.

Long, light hair cascaded down an angelic toga complimented by a gold necklace with a diamond rectangle centerpiece and gold flats with a small lace tying in a pattern just above my ankles.

"Wow," was all I could breathe as the maids gasped in joy at their creation.

They led me out the door and down a quartz hallway to Xerxes. He had on an airy, long-sleeved pollo and black pants. But I more stared at the teardrop on the outlet corner of his eye afar.

How ruthless was he?...

When I finally got to him, he looked at me up and down.

"I'll give you a tour of the first floor," he then said, and I followed him to the dark doorway at the other end of a hall.

"First, here is the guest stu—" Xerxes started as he opened it.

I gasped, and he exhaled.

"UGAH DADD— AAH!" A girl shrieked as she peeled herself from a man, both cosplaying Adam and Eve, resulting in her falling over the desk in which they banged on. The man cursed in Greek as she petrified-crab scuttled behind the desk.

"Achilles," Xerxes said as I averted my eyes and vigorously scrubbed my brain with bleach. My virgin eyes! Oh, my virgin eyes!

"Are you Maria?" the man whispered to probably me.

"OH MY GOD, IS THAT MARIA?" the girl screeched.

Xerxes exhaled. "No, she's not Maria. I'll explain who she is in a minute. Just get dressed and meet in the main office." Then he gingerly closed the door and looked at me. "In any case."

Trying to get over my scaring experience, Xerxes continued the informative tour, where he showed me more studies, a seasonal dining room, and a gaming room completed with a bar and a pool table in the span of an hour. Each feature of the spaces were of godly perfection for the vision, fitting the complementary exterior of the mansion.

"Now you'll meet my family," he said when he opened a door labeled, 'Main Office'

Inside was a cluster of people: the woman from the Dining Room, a collection of older teenage boys with the exception of a younger-looking one and a little boy playing with eggshells on the floor. Plus the, well, people we saw earlier. They all spun to the door upon us walking in.

"This is the Christakos family. Here is my Aunt Polly." He gestured to the woman in the center of the U-shaped table yesterday.

She only gave me a nod.

"And these are Polly's children." He pointed to the man we walked in on. "Achilles, the oldest. He's 24." Then he gestured to the woman on top of him. "That's his wife, Ada. Same age."

The man sheepishly smiled as he goes, "It's nice to formally meet you."

Ada nodded, continuing to avoid my gaze with the floor.

"When did you meet Xerxes's right hand?" Polly asked in a harsh rasp.

"Doesn't matter," Xerxes said flatly, pointing to an older teenager with dark curls matching his eyes. "That's the second oldest, Basil. He's 19." Then he pointed to a boy with honey hair and brown eyes. "Third oldest, Calix. He's 18."

Basil and Calix said nothing.

Xerxes pointed to a boy that looked slightly younger than the preceding boys but identical to Basil in looks. "Fourth oldest, Damen. He's 16." Then he pointed to a boy who was clearly younger than Damen. "Fifth oldest, Eros. He's 12."

"Hola, Senorita!" Damen and Eros exclaimed far away on swivel chairs.

"And the youngest." Xerxes pointed to the floor to a little boy belly-down on the floor coloring with crayons. "He is Felipe."

Felipe dropped his crayons. "I'm this many!" He held up seven fingers in euphoria.

"If it helps, we're named alphabetically from oldest to youngest," Ada said quietly, peeking a small smile. "Like Bridgerton."

"Do not mention that soft-core porno again," Basil retched with his tongue out.

Polly struck his head with a rolled newspaper. "AI, you filthy boy!" she exclaimed.

"What's a porno?" Felipe asked, all innocence.

"NOTHING!" the other six chimed quickly.

Xerxes just resumed. "Everyone this is my new right hand, Clara Stratton. With that said, I have business to attend to." He turned to the side. "Ada, fill her in on the family, how we conduct ourselves here, and whatever else. Goodbye."

Then he simply walked out of the room.

"So, um, lets get started," Ada said in a soft voice.

She led me out of the room and we walked side by side down a few hallways with the ability to hear a pin tap the coffee flooring between us.

"I apologize for what you walked into an hour ago," Ada said in a quick breath, tucking a stand of her noir hair behind her ear. "It's a horrible first impression."

"Um, it's okay." It's not ok to mentally scar someone for life with that image, but it was like when a Miami chick tries jumping into jeggings on AE's sopping wet floor, resulting in a violent yeet sideways and a fractured femur: try to forget the image.

In that case, pretend you hadn't mopped the floor, either.

"It just kind of happened and.." She shrugged. "We got married four months ago so he and I are still kind of crazy. Have you found yours yet?"

"My what?"

"Your soulmate."

I shot my head up to her, sure my look was similar to if she crashed through a window. "I'm sorry, my wha—" That's when I saw it on her wrist. "Wait, your Soulmate Scar— why isn't it covered?"

Ada looked at me as if I dissolved into the wall. "No one's Soulmate Scar is covered." Then she looked at my own. "Why is yours?"

"Because no one finds their soulmate anymore?"

Ada stopped in her tracks. "Wait a minute." Her eyes sunk into mine as her voice lowered to a whisper. "Are you from America?"

I nodded.

Her smile grew. "Well, Clara Stratton, your world is about to change."

"How?"

"What if I told you everyone finds their soulmate here?"

Teaser: Ada proves soulmates, and Clara has another flashback