Love, Aurélie | REGULUS BLACK

Chapter Thirty-Seven

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[CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN]
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SHE WAS IN ANOTHER DREAM, Odette thought to herself as she sighed. She sat on the floor as she pinched her arm.

"Is this how it feels like to be a ghost?" she wondered out loud as she stared at her arm. It was the same color it was before, no reddening. "It's boring."

She looked around her surroundings carefully. It was such a spacious and neat house. There was a huge portrait of a woman on the wall. Odette stood up and stared. She looked familiar. She couldn't place her finger on where she had seen the woman in the portrait before. She was taken out of her thoughts as she heard footsteps.

She turned around to see a woman entering. Odette wasn't sure how, but the woman looked expensive. Perhaps it was the way her short blonde hair was curled perfectly without a single hair out of place or it could have been her perfectly painted face. No, she was certain it was the gorgeous gown she wore. It was such a nice color of emerald with the right amount of — were they diamonds? Odette couldn't help but admire the dress. She hadn't seen anything like it before.

Odette thought it couldn't get any better, but the woman lifted her dress and revealed her shoes. Odette couldn't even describe them with words. The pair of shoes alone looked worth more than Odette's entire wardrobe. The woman released her dress as she sighed. A frown made its way onto her plump, dark red lips. She slipped off her diamond bracelets and placed them down in the small, white table. She removed her gloves to show her soft hands. Her nails were plainted a shade of emerald green that matched the dress perfectly. She wouldn't be too surprised if the little gems on the woman's nails were real diamonds either.

The woman bent down and undid the lock of the chimney. She opened it and left the room.

Odette didn't follow her as she walked closer to inspect the jewelry that was left behind. She knew that Liu owned a few pieces of expensive jewelry, but those looked nothing like the ones in front of her. She couldn't touch them because she wasn't part of the dream, she was just watching the dream. However, if she could touch them, she wouldn't. It felt as if she just poked it, she would break it.

The woman returned with newspapers. She unfolded the newspapers and threw a few logs inside the fireplace. She then proceeded to enter the newspapers in the fireplace. Odette watched as the woman lit up the fireplace. Even the fire looked beautiful in that house.

Still, she wondered why the hell she was dreaming about a wealthy woman lighting the chimney.

"Mother," said a quiet voice. Odette looked up to see a younger girl in the corner. Odette wondered why she hadn't seen her before. The girl looked a lot like her mother. Unlike her mother, she wasn't wearing any formal wear. Instead, she was in nightclothes that appeared to be made from silk.

The woman looked up, "Ah, it's just you, Esmée."

Odette froze, Esmée?

Esmée smiled, "Yes. It's just me. Are you hiding from father again?"

"No. Quite the opposite, actually. Is your father looking for those two troublemakers again?"

"No. Just Aurélie. He thinks she's run off again."

"The fourth time this week?"

"The fifth," said Esmée.

"And where is Clément in all this?"

She shrugged, "How would I know? Ask Archie, he's always following Clément around like a lost puppy."

"I'd rather not."