When dinner arrived everyone sat quietly around the table. The smell of green pea stew filled the cold air. Jasper sat at the middle end of the table, while Agatha sat on his right and Vivian sat on his left. It was clear Jasper didn't want Vivian anywhere near him, he was a man of his own, but Agatha insisted. Despite his menacing reputation in the world Jasper never dared go against his sweet sister. Which later Vivian realized was his only family left in the big three storied home they had.
"When's father coming back?" Agatha pestered. "He's been gone since the ball."
"We went overseas, it varies when he's coming back." Jasper twirled his spoon in the stew. "It may take a day or two."
Agatha frowned and deliberately continued forcing down the broth down her throat. "Tosh," she muttered, reminded Vivian of her mother. I wonder how she's doing without me, Vivian thought. probably relieved.
"So," she said quietly, her eyes flicking between the two men at the table. "What did y'all talk about in the garden. I heard a shout."
"Never mind that," Jasper said, his mouth full of peas. "Your dear man here scored himself a job as a record keeper."
"Record keeper," she scoffed. "That's not merely much of a job compared to the others that still have positions to fill. I don't know about you, but certainly it's more better than what Mr. Smith deserves."
"Others?" Vivian breathed in shock. "What others?"
Jasper frowned. "That's enough, as for you Mr.Smith, I advise for you to keep your nose out of my business."
"I know enough just by being in this family," she pointed out. "And I beg you to give him something a little for fit for a man than a boy."
"Humph," Jasper. "That boyfriend of your has the education of a school boy, and is not fit for such clemency on my part."
Agatha gave her brother a cold icy glare. "So why don't you teach her?"
"I have better things to do with my time," he replied.
"No you don't" Agatha crossed her arms. "I know you don't."
"And what makes you just so happen to know?" he questioned.
"Because all you do is go on about you day judging people lower than us and ruining careers, thanks to the legacy of our father. Then after the tiny bit of work you do you go home and relish in the thought of being intimating," Agatha said pointedly.
"I learn from the best," he sneered. "Our father taught me."
"Wouldn't you like to be somewhat admired?"
Jasper frowned. "No, I want to be praised."
"And what other praise is there than taking in a man and making him go from nothing to something. You two could be business men together," she excalimed. "You two can run things together instead of that Reuben cousin of yours you hate so much."
"Despise," he added. "Reuben is too much of a romantic."
Reuben, a memory of his grey eyes flashed in her memory. Vivian shifted uncomfortably in her seat, gulping. All so suddenly Agatha rounded on her. "Are you a romantic Mr. Smith?"
Agatha's determined gaze made Vivian shake her head. But it was the truth, she didn't enjoy courting or the prospects of marriage- but she did enjoy Reuben, unlike Jasper. No one enjoyed that man.
"See, you can use this to your advantage!" Agatha said, beaming at Vivian knowingly.
There was a long pause, and slowly Jasper stood up and left without a word. The maid's came and removed the lone stew, still filled halfway.
"Where are you going?"
"To the patio," Damion muttered, closing the door on them yet again.
Agatha's eyes lingered on him for a moment in despair. "I'm sorry for my brother, viv," Agatha said, nicknaming her. "He doesn't trust anybody, but me."
Without a word she stood up and grabbed her own bowl, laying it besides the sink. It was only a little less than Jasper's stew she had left. "I'll come by later tonight, and we'll talk about getting you settled in here for a while." she said quietly, before joining her brother on the patio.
Vivian hungrily finished her stew in silence, watching as Agatha talked civilly to what was equivalent to a cold rock, sitting besides her on the bench. For the first time Vivian didn't know what to do with herself. Her felt as if her stare was intruding their moment. She finished her stew and carefully put it in the sink, strutting away quietly toward the garden to be one with her thoughts.
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A/N - Please vote, comment, and share if you like and want me to continue the story :0 ! thank you all, stay safe! :)
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Hiding from Mr. Billionaire
Romance"You cannot fool me, I know who you really are." His hot breath fanned Vivian's lips as she stared into his hooded grey eyes. "And if you don't reveal yourself to me, I shall do it by force" It is the mid-19th century. Despite society's efforts to t...
