𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄

ᴇɴᴛʀʏ #36 | ꜰᴏʀᴄᴇ

036 | Force

"Investigate this girl," Mr. Orval asked his most trusted servant as he sent him the picture of (Y/N) that he took, his blue eyes holding nothing but a frigid threat if the other man wanted to reject his order. "And do so thoroughly."

"Yes, sir," he replied with a low bow after checking the picture before walking away.

"Now, then," Mr. Orval tucked his phone away and straightened his suit's jacket. "How about I invite her to stay for dinner?"

Walking down the hallways of his grand mansion, finding nothing short of perfect in the furniture and setup, in the oil paintings and artifacts displayed, in the maids and servants who lined themselves up against the wall when he passed with their gazes lowered in respect, he knew he had to make sure (Y/N) herself fit his ideal of perfection. She had somehow managed to make his rather unruly and misbehaving son care for her.

It was unexpected.

Puzzling, even, as to how it ended up that way.

Opening the door back to the den to see (Y/N) packing up whilst saying her goodbyes, he interrupted her by offering, "Would you like to stay for dinner, (Y/N)?"

At that, most everyone faltered at the unexpected gesture, Jian even smiling at the thought. Mr. Orval knew that (Y/N) would be highly respectful towards him since he was the headmaster of the school she went to, and would have a hard time declining if she didn't want to sound rude. Even then, he could see the slight panic in her expression and body movements, finding it humorous how she tried to stutter out an answer whilst glancing at Nicolai and Jian.

No wonder Nicolai is so twisted.

Mr. Orval almost laughed to himself at the fact that he just realized.

Like father, like son, it seems.

"It is already quite late, and I would feel much better if I were to drive you home than one of my servants to ensure your safety," he continued with his usual business-like smile, wanting to take that opportunity to learn more about her and see how she had managed to grasp Nicolai's heart. "But you must be hungry, so why not have dinner first? I can assure you that we only have the finest chefs here."

(Y/N) gave him an uneasy smile.

It's not the chefs I'm worried about...

Mainly it's Miss Shreya who will likely strangle me... and your son over here.

Flicking her gaze to Nicolai to meet his own, she shivered at the cool tone of the amber, finding it looked almost deadly like that of a knife rather than someone's eyes. Trying to shake herself of her initial wariness, she texted Shreya and was surprised when she agreed, also stating that she'd feel better if Mr. Orval drove her.

Glancing up at the man, she said, "It looks like Miss Shreya is okay with that."

"Excellent!" He smiled broadly with a clap of his hands. "We should head up to the dining room now, then. Already, our chefs are preparing quite the meal since we have a guest over."

Smiling awkwardly at how pleased he seemed, (Y/N) followed him and Jian and Nicolai up the stairs to wash their hands before settling in at the grand table. It seemed to be made of polished oak with swirls of branches engraved in the sides, the chairs plush and comfortable that she immediately sank into when sitting down.

"So, tell me, (Y/N)," Mr. Orval began from the head of the table as he placed his napkin in his lap. "When did you meet my sons?"

"Um... just this year, actually," she replied as her mind threw her back to their initial meetings. "I met Jian on the way to school and Nicolai in my English class."

"They haven't been causing you any trouble, right?" He chuckled.

"She's the one causing trouble," Nicolai grumbled as he sank further into his chair, glaring down at the surface of the table.

(Y/N) sighed.

He still hates me, huh?

Mr. Orval, on the other hand, raised his brows.

Interesting.

Very interesting.

"Do you live near here?" He prodded with a smile as he speared a piece of meat with his fork that the servants and waiters had brought out, along with ice cold waters and silverware. "What do your parents do? Have I met them before? What about a boyfriend? Do you have one?"

At Mr. Orval's barrage of questions, (Y/N)'s eyes widened, especially at the first one.

What the...?

Why is he suddenly asking all of this?

Hesitantly, she answered, "My parents... passed away a couple years ago. I live with my guardian, Miss Shreya. And..."

Why did he ask if I had a boyfriend?

I can't answer that!

"What did they do?" He smiled at her, not seeming to notice her discomfort.

Why is he so interested in that...

I wish I just went home.

Before Mr. Orval could repeat his question since (Y/N) went quiet, Nicolai slammed his hands down on the table and pushed his chair back which screeched loudly against the floor. Glaring at his father, he didn't say a word as he snatched (Y/N) by her wrist and dragged her out the door, not listening to a word she said even though she tried resisting when being led to his car. As they sped away from the mansion, she fidgeted with her hands since Nicolai just sat in a seething silence, hands that were gripping the steering wheel practically strangling the object.

It was like that for several minutes.

Finally, she asked, "Nicolai... is something wrong? You look... pretty upset."

"Of course I'm fucking upset!" He swiveled his head around to meet her eyes, his own twitching as they glared straight through her. "You fucking sat there as that shitty old man practically interrogated you! You acted like a fucking pushover!"

She balked at him, never expecting him to be so upset over something like this.

She honestly didn't know what to say.

"You never do that shit with me! You never just sit there and take what I say to the point that it pisses me off. But..." he trailed off, letting out a haggard sigh as he ran a hand through his dark hair. "...that's just you. And when you didn't do anything earlier... it annoyed the shit out of me."

(Y/N)'s surprise soon melted away.

In that moment, Nicolai's words gave her a lens to see through that showed he wasn't so bad after all.

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To be continued...