Into the Unknown

t h r e e

Vincent was like a closed book. If Aileen wanted to get out, she would have to break down his walls, find a weak spot. Everyone has a weak spot, you just have to dig deep enough to find it. That's the plan, anyway.

She was sitting in the huge library, because of course he has a fucking library bigger than her house, reading   Harry Potter. Her mom used to read it to her when she was little. Her eyes gazed over the black words, not actually reading them, but thinking, planning.

No matter how well thought out, Plan A was a failure. She didn't expect the butler to ruin it, but it happened. Poor guy now was too intimidated to tell anybody what happened between them. He was walking around, a scarf covering his neck and the gash she'd left on it, claiming he had a cold. She huffed. Yeah, right.

Plan B had to be a success. Aileen had to find out more about her mysterious Master. But at the same time, she was curious. She'd always been the one to phychoanalyse people, judge them from their behaviour, but with Vincent she came up blank. That rarely happened and it intrigued her.

Of course, she couldn't just ask him. So what better way than to ask the people that had been around him for so long?

"Hey Barbara!" she said excitedly as she walked into the kitchen. The 50-year-old woman was cutting salad at that moment, but she lifted her head  and smiled brightly at Aileen.

"Hello Aileen" she said. "That was quite the stunt you pulled the other day." She frowned at her slightly.

"Yeah it was a spir of the moment, won't happen again" she dismissed it easily waving her hand and smiling at the woman. "Besides, how could I leave, when there are such wonderful people here?" she winked slightly at Barbara, who chuckled shyly. She isn't used to getting compliments Aileen thought.

She flipped her hair over her shoulder and rested her hand on the counter, her head on her palm. "So tell me about yourself, Barbara, where are you from?" she asked, the charming smile never leaving her face.

"Oh me? I'm from Poland." she replied shyly, and Aileen nodded her head, gesturing for her to continue. "My husband and I moved here 20 years ago in hope of a better life." That would explain the lack of accent Aileen thought. "Our families were poor and we thought here we'd have a better chance"

"And how long have you been working here?"

"Philip was assigned to hire the rest of the stuff, since Mr.Russo  trusts him so much" Russo? Huh.. "A friend of ours made the introductions and we got hired 7 years ago. Unfortunately, my husband passed away. Cancer." She suddenly looked about to cry.

"Oh I'm so sorry" Aileen frowned. "But tell me more about Vincent. What was he like?" she tried to distract her from her dead husband.

"Mr. Russo, well he's always...like this, I guess. But deep down, he's actually really sweet and caring. "Must be really deep down then" Aileen huffed.
"No, he really is. He was there for me when...when.." She suddenly sobbed and Aileen was taken aback for a second.

"Hey hey Barbara, it's ok" she smiled at her. "You don't have to tell me." The woman nodded, smiling sadly. "I'll see you later!" She flashed another smile, kissed her cheek quickly and stormed out of the kitchen.

So, if Vincent was so sweet and caring, then why was he always acting so stiff and emotionless? There had to be a reason. Lost in her thoughts, she bumped into something. Or rather, someone. She looked up to see Philip, who had started trembling slightly.

"M-Miss Johnson, h-hello" he said, attemting to smile, but it came out as more of a costipated look.

"Oh nonsence, Phil" she said, fist bumping his shoulder. "Call me Aileen." She then noticed the black scarf wrapped around his neck. "Nice scarf you got there. I could actually stab someone for it" she winked at him playfully and chuckled when his eyes widened.