One Different Choice [Lucius & OC]

A Late Morning

Disclaimer: All belong to J.K. Rowling (except for my Elizabeth Rennold.)

WARNING: Domestic violence, trigger, physical abuse (not detailed).

oOo

Elizabeth left the coffee shop and headed... home. In her previous life, she wanted to move back here and stayed for a while before planning what to do next. Unfortunately, at that time, the flag was no longer hers. Now, she was standing inside her flat, the little thing with gray wallpapers and not much furniture. Her living room was joined with the kitchen. Her yellowish sofa sat tiredly next to the door leading to her bedroom. On its left, her tiny lamp was covered with dust. I should clean this place sometimes. There was a small bookcase with a few novels and random reading books. A small coffee table placed in front of the sofa with a cup of tea that she left behind in the morning.

The smell, the scene... everything in her flat finally gave a last push to break her ball of emotions. Tears rushed one after another on her checks. They were the tears she held back when he screamed at her face, flashed the furniture, and laughed at her stupidity... Those were the past, the wound that she kept reopening them every night to remind herself of how foolish her choice was. The blood and the pain she had to endure in those ten years while he was living happily with his family still made her body shudder from time to time.

Elizabeth collapsed on the floor but the tears did not stop. They continued rolling down on her cheeks, helping her to accept everything that happened to her in the past hours. She never had a moment to stop and think of what had happened. She never got the chance to heal from all the wounds she got, physically or mentally. It was a miracle for her to stand there and look at him without turning around and running for her life. She was free for real.

The crying eventually tired her out and she slowly went into a deep sleep.

Elizabeth did not expect to find herself waking up at 10AM the next day... on the floor. Her eyes widened and quickly looked around as if she expected to see herself on that small bed again or worse she could be in that room. Fortunately, she was still in her little flat and nothing seemed to change since... yesterday. Yesterday? Apparently, she slept on the floor the whole night without moving much. Every muscle on her body was aching like she was having a full exercise just a few hours ago. She dragged herself into her bedroom and dropped on the bed. She did not want to do anything else besides laying there lazily for the whole Sunday. However, the rumble sound from her stomach changed her plan.

She finally got herself out of bed and walked to the bathroom. After a quick shower, she was in her little kitchen and made something between breakfast and lunch: fried rice with bacon and a bunch of broccoli. She was always confident in her cooking but since living with him in those three years, she was not sure about her skill anymore. Also, she had not touched them for more than ten years. Fortunately, everything turned out fine and she did not burn a single thing.

A cup of orange juice and a dish of fried rice, bacon, and broccoli placed neatly on the counter. Her Daily Prophet was already on the counter so she opened and read it while having her breakfast and lunch.

It was just a typical Sunday's morning. Something she had not been able to do for a long time. When was the last time she sat in the kitchen freely? Suddenly, a loud bang made the cup in her hand slip and fell to the floor. An image from the past flashed right in front of her eyes...

"What are these?" Her husband hissed dangerously.

She was not sure what she had done wrong. It was just dinner. She thought he would want a warm meal after a long day at the Ministry. Did she forget something? However, the answer never came as he flipped the table and everything crashed on the floor. He always said mean things to her, but he never did anything violence.... Physically to her. However, that night, he was yelling and hitting her with everything he had.

"NEVER! Ever make those useless things again!" He warned her dangerously after seeing the young woman curved into a ball on the floor. She could barely hear his voice or see him walk away from the living room.

It was a month after their marriage. She had seen the signs, even Lucius had warned her but she was too blind to accept them. Slowly, day by day, from his disappointments to the house's rules, Severus successfully turned his wife into a silent victim. Only after three months, she had become someone else; someone who feared the yelling, the sound of broken things, the tone of an unhappy person...

"Liz?" A warm hand touched her cheek and she jerked away from the contact as she fell off her chair. "Did you get sick?"

When her vision finally came back, she found Lucius was squashed down in front of her. His worried eyes were watching her carefully. She looked a bit confused and scared. However, she looked away to avoid his caring look. Something told her if she looked at him right now, he would know that she was not the same Elizabeth he used to know.

"How... How did you get in?"

She nervously tried to stand up but her legs were shaking badly. She thought she had escaped those memories but apparently they only hid themselves away and waited for a trigger.

"I..." Lucius lost at words. He did not know what was stirring in him as he looked at her shaking form. Something definitely happened yesterday but he could not tell what exactly it was. He also recognized her distress. It was something resembling his mother in her late years. Someone who had mentally and physically gone through things that most pureblood families refused to acknowledge. Domestic violence.

"I am worried about you," he chose to tell her the truth. For some reasons, he did not want to use those fancy words, those lies in front of her. "I do not know what is happening to you, but since yesterday, it keeps bugging me. So I just want to check in with you today to see how you are doing. However... when I knocked on your door and heard a strange sound inside, I... broke in..."

Her big and beautiful eyes opened widely at him. She was surprised to hear the worry in his voice as well as his actions. In that past, he never did anything so reckless like this. They always had a very professional relationship. Was it?

"I'm... I'm fine," she suddenly felt nervous, not knowing what to say. "The cup slipped from my hand. That's all."

The broken cup was lying next to where she was sitting. The water spilled around it, making a small bundle of mess. He waved his wand and everything was back to their original stage. He reached out and pulled the young woman up. She was still shaking but her breath began to steady. He helped her to the sofa and sat right next to her.

"You know you can tell me everything right?" Lucius suddenly said as he pushed a few of her hairs away.

When his fingers accidentally touched her skin, she felt a tinkling of strange emotion. However, her head was having too many things at the moment, she ignored it. She unconsciously moved herself away from him a little bit.

"I'm fine," she refused to discuss the matter. "Thank you for checking on me." But then, she turned and smiled at him. No matter what the circumstance was, he was there when she was at her worst. "Do you... want to stay for dinner?" And she had no idea why she suggested something as strange as inviting her boss to stay for dinner.

"Sure," Lucius agreed as if her invitation was a normal gesture between friends.

A flash of surprise appeared on her face because she did not expect him to agree too quickly. However, the expression came and went in a flash. She asked if he wanted to go out. There were a few Muggle restaurants that had wonderful dishes. Yet, his request was as strange as her invitation.

"I don't mind eating something you cook."

Just a simple request but she almost cried. No one wanted to eat her food for a very long time. She could not explain his sudden request, but she heartily agreed to it. This time around, might be, might be someone would finally like her cooking.

oOo

A/N: Ah! Lucius! He wants to protect his Liz from all the bad things in the world lol More chapters will come next week. Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing. Love you guys!

Fixed and updated on Jan. 18, 2024