The Outsider (Outsider #1) ✔️

Chapter 127 : Intruder

By the time Dusk came out after changing into her nightwear, Scarlet had vanished. She sighed and asked the AI to shut off the lights and lock the access to the apartment. She peeped into Catherine's room and saw the teens sleeping.

Dawn never had a bed this soft in her life or silk coverlets. She was wearing a new night-suit she had got from the mall and slept with a satisfied smile hovering on her lips. Next to her, Catherine had once again, rolled towards Dawn and was holding on to her arm in her sleep. She had a wide smile on her face making Dusk wonder if she was dreaming of crushed-ice candies.

Luckily, Catherine had not rolled on Dawn like she did when she slept with Dusk, because Dusk had a feeling Dawn would not be comfortable with someone touching her like that... Both sisters had different personalities.

She smiled as she left the room. However, thinking of how she would now be responsible for Dawn for ever, she had misgivings. Behaviour like what her sister exhibited today was daunting. She was sure that soon they would have a fight as Dawn would want more freedom and Dusk could not give it to her... She also wondered what Dawn would do from now on, because all she knew is how to be a server at the Tavern. She had not studied in college like Dusk.

While Dusk did not look down on hard working staff at food outlets, getting Dawn a job in one of them was not possible. Till she was 18, Dawn could not be left to live alone. Staying at Uni-Viva Dorm, she could not travel across the city to work. Besides being tiring, Dusk was sure that Imperial Security would not be happy about her sister travelling in a Mass. And she was not about to give her a car! She could try to get Dawn a job in one of the restaurants in Student Square or perhaps in Uni-Viva itself.

With her popularity, no one would refuse Dusk a job for her sister. But any such request would mean she owed someone something which made her uncomfortable. A job in Uni-Viva would be easy to get, all she had to do was to ask Susco to call the President. But she was sure Dawn would be harassed by students who wanted to get back at Dusk herself and also Social Media would have a field day on how she forced the university to do her favours... again.

As she went back to her room, she wondered whether Catherine was going to let Dawn get a job in the first place. Dusk did not want Dawn to be Catherine's pet or companion, like some 'Lady-in-waiting' of the earlier era. But at the moment, they both seemed to be clinging to each other. She wondered whether Dawn was the answer to Catherine's loneliness. But it was not a long-term solution. And in the meanwhile, Dawn would get used to luxuries that she couldn't afford later.

She realised that she should be thankful that Lady Crystala was not there, because it was very likely that the Lady would officially appoint Dawn as Catherine's companion! Anything that made Catherine happy, Lady Crystala latched on to it. She felt the Lady was obsessed with Catherine. She had never seen Lady Crystala paying so much attention to her own son.

Dusk resolved not to think any more about it, as she knew that she would get a headache due to the stress. She soon fell asleep. It had been a tiring day and an emotionally draining one.

As she drifted off, she frowned remembering that Luke did not bother to respond to her message saying she missed him. She wondered what he was doing and who he was with. It was rare of him to ignore her like that. A picture of Romali, from the cruise ship floated into her mind as she went to sleep, and she dreamed of Romali and Luke dancing to slow music.

... ...

Sometime in the dark night, Dusk woke up. Her legs had got entangled in the covers of her bed and she was feeling hot and bothered. Fragments of her dream came into her mind, of Luke dancing with beautiful girls who were laughing at her only able to stand at the side...