The Outsider (Outsider #1) ✔️

Chapter 80 : Catherine Spills ...

Dusk had been sitting with her face covered by her hands and Susco had her back to the door. Neither of them noticed Catherine entering. They both startled and looked guilty. Susco was more worried because the anger in Catherine's eyes seem to be targeting her most. While Dusk had at least her achievements, Susco herself had no protection.

"How can you be so ungrateful! He has done so much for both of you!" Catherine almost screamed with both of her hands thumping on the table so hard that Dusk worried she may break it.

"Princess Catherine, I am so sorry, I did not mean to insult your brother or say anything against him. I think you are misunderstanding..." Susco tried to explain.

Catherine got wilder at hearing Susco's defence and pushed Susco, who was completely unprepared, causing her to topple of the chair on to the ground. Dusk got up and rushed to her aid.

"Cath! What are you doing? Do you want all of us to be punished by the Emperor again? You know he does not want you to behave like that! You can't hit someone."

"But how can she say something like that? She wants to separate you from me and him!"

"But Princess, I did not say anything about your brothers or about you! I was talking of Luke Jones."

"LUKE IS MY BROTHER! AND HE IS THE BEST!" the Princess shouted. "And he loves Dusk. He will not leave her."

"Cath, come here." Dusk said and pulled Catherine to herself. She embraced the girl in a hug in an effort to calm her. She gave a warning look to Susco not to say anything more. Susco had not seen Catherine and Rosemary around Luke and had no idea how close they were. They behaved as if he was really a part of their family. Both the girls were in fact protective of Luke, though they did not say it. Their actions were evidence enough.

"Look Cath, Sometimes, there are things that adults and grownups say that is meant to be only between themselves. You overheard something that was not for you. It will happen in future also and you must be calm and understand the context. See, you love Luke, but you cannot interfere in some parts of his life." She tried to explain.

Catherine continued to stay in the embrace with her head resting against Dusk's chest. Her voice was slightly muffled but audible. "But she is specifically telling you to leave him and go! How can she do that? She is your friend, so you will listen to her."

"Cath, my dear, you still have a lot to learn about life and relations. We hear what our friends say but we take our own decisions. Friends say what they feel is best for their friends, but it is always from a certain perspective. They give an opinion that they believe is true, but it is still an opinion of that person. Very rarely does a friend give an order to be followed. I do not intend to leave Luke."

"Yeah, he is rich and handsome." Catherine said with a giggle, recovering a little.

"Princess Catherine! I did not know he was rich till today. And it makes no difference. In fact, I don't want him to be rich. It creates its own problems. I would be happy if he was not rich." Dusk told her sternly pushing her away.

Susco returned to her seat, still apprehensive. Catherine also sat down, still giving her dirty looks.

"You see Cath, I know practically nothing about Luke. He has lied about many things till now. He told me his father is a government clerk." She stopped seeing Catherine giggle and then continued with her lips pressed together in annoyance, "See, even you find that funny. He told me his family was not a Noble Family, and that they were nor rich, only money they had was from selling his maternal grandfather's farmland."

"The Spice Yard in Romana? Why will he sell it? It is one of the biggest in the country and very profitable. Only a fool would sell it. And he is rich, why will he sell Spice Yard?" Catherine could not stop the surprise from showing on her face. Then she realised, that she had again disclosed something she should not have.