The Muse

Part 8

"Watch your step" Yuri warned her as they walked into the house. He switched on the lights and the entire house illuminated in seconds. The walls were a light brown shade complimented by the green plants allover. She saw different art work on his walls. Every colour and every decor all together made his home the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"It's beautiful right?" he said while scanning her face

"I didn't come here to talk about home decor" the angry expression was back on her face again.

"Oh yes. Your first assignment" he led her to his living room. He sat down on one of the bean bag chairs that was a solid green colour. If you didn't know Yuri was a spy, you would never guess. The same way she had never guessed either. He idly waited for her to sit down. The leather sofa chair sank in immediately she sat down.

"So are you aware the house you live in is one out of the many houses your mother owns" Yuri said with complete seriousness.

"No I did not, but go on"

"Although we doubt there might be serious evidence, we want you to search your house top to bottom for anything that we might consider incriminating " for a quick minute, a sad look passed over his features.

"I live there. If there was something incriminating, I would know" this whole thing was ridiculous. What did they expect her to find? Barrels of gun powder? They had to be joking.

"Your mother has a home office, yes?" he ignored everything she said. She had forgotten about it because it was on another wing of the house.

"Yes" her voice was strained.

"Search all the files, check for secret rooms and check under the floor boards" Yuri said pulling out his phone and handing it over to her. "Put your number in" his hand was still stretched out.

She reluctantly reached out to take the phone from his hand. His index finger brushed against her own and she fought the urge to keep it there. She had gotten a new phone the day she left Riley's house and it was the same day she had to call her mom. She put in her new number in his phone.

"Okay I'm going to text you" He said as she handed the phone back to him.

"Yeah" It was very awkward now that they didn't have anything to say. Would he chase her away? Or would he just sit there till the silence was too much to bear?

"Was any of it real?" she had shocked herself by asking but the question had been eating her up inside. He had to be a really good actor or she was just naive.

"What part?" He looked down like he couldn't bear the shame of meeting her eyes.

"The fashion designer part, the art loving part" her anger was diminishing with every word she said. She preferred the anger to the hurt she definitely felt now.

"I didn't lie you. I didn't have to pretend to be someone else when I was around you" his eyes were still downcast.

"I don't know if I prefer you having an alter ego that betrays me or the real you betraying me" She didn't know how much longer she could stand being in his presence "Why am I even acting like it matters? We only even had two conversations" she was walking away from him and out the door before he could even look at her.

Something caught her eye. She saw a painting hung on the wall that she didn't see when she came in. It had light strokes of blue, gray and white on it. It had been almost a month since she had last seen it. Yuri bought her work. She didn't know how to feel.

Her heartbeat was still loud when she had entered her car. Why had Yuri bought her painting? Was it to laugh at her? She hated Yuri for all different reasons now. Her hands managed to stay steady as she drove back home. She saw Amari with his dog infront of his gate. His black German shepherd rand around him happily as Marcy drove by. She hoped Amari didn't see her pass even though she seriously doubted that. She didn't have the energy to speak right now.

She was crawled into bed immediately she got home. She didn't feel like finding out more horrible things about her mother right now.

"Marcy?" she heard a knock on her room door as May popped her head into her room.

"Yes?" she barely moved for her spot on the bed.

"Riley has been a bit down lately and we want to cheer her up with some movies" May was holding a bag of snacks. She felt a bit of irritation but she pushed it down. Maybe she hadn't been as down as Riley.

Around 10pm, they were all gathered by the fire with a bowl of chicken soup watching cartoons.The door spun open and Theo walks in the house. Its late and he looked like he had just come back from a rave. He looked exactly like Macy except from their eyes, where she had brown-black doe eyes, her brother had gray green hooded eyes. He was so used to Macy's friends being here, he barely reacted all four of them sprawled on the couch.

"When is mom coming back?" his question was directed at Macy, but they all turned to look at him. She cringed a bit at the word 'mom'.

"I have no idea" she regretted saying it almost immediately because Theo did not have an ounce of responsibility in him. Even though he was two years older than her, she never really looked up to him as a responsible figure. He was supposed to go to college a while ago, but he stayed back focus on his music career. She knew her mom was never bothered because they were both trust fund children. When their dad died eighteen years ago, he had left all his money to his children, and he was worth millions. Now she even questions if the money in their trust fund was even clean money.

"I will be hosting the best party ever then" he mumbled to Macy as he went over to the couch to give her a kiss on the forehead.

"hello to you too" May rolled her eyes at Theo. She used to chase him with a knife when they were younger but it never really made sense because Theo was bigger than her.

"Strawberry shortcake" he went over to her to May and gave her a kiss on the forehead too. He was by extension, a big brother to all of them. Macy snorted at his comment.

"Nice one" she rolled her eyes as Theo slumped down on the couch next to Amari. They did some sort of secret bro handshake as a greeting.

After a while, Amari slept off and it was only three of them watching the TV. She hadn't showered since she came back from Yuri's and she wanted to wash off the feel of his house. Maybe if she scrubbed hard enough, she scrub away the past. She contemplated going back downstairs or even her art studio but she hadn't been able to paint for weeks asides the short spray painting she did with Yuri.

'more relatable' she had been thinking about what the judge said every time she picked up a brush. It was easier not even pick up a brush than be a failure. In her head, that was what she was now. When the lights were off and she was snuggled under her covers, her thoughts couldn't stop wandering to Yuki.