Page 17 of TAINTED by TWINS

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Meanwhile, the moment Lian came into Lady Deveroux's office, he wanted to get out. He wanted to exit with his head intact. But one touch of the doorknob, he heard an elegant voice filled with solemn smoke.

"Teacher..." she called out from her chair overlooking the giant window.

Lian turned around, terrified.

Her table was filled with cigars, papers, and unopened boxes from niche designers that costs more than a mortgage on a house.

Everything else was dark oak, old yet grand.

What stood out of place was a pure white vase carrying a fresh bouquet of blood red flowers, possibly plastic with how perfect they are.

She finally turned around with layers of pearls on her slender aged neck, deep purple eyeshadow and bloody red lips that is touching a golden cigarette holder.

The way she looked at Lian was as if looking at a stolen painting recently recovered.

Her stern eyes softened as she looked at him from eyes, nose, lips, neck, then hands.

In that specific order.

"Come closer."

I don't want to. But with trembling legs, he moved towards her desk. Now that he looked closer, the roses look more real.

She noticed him staring at her roses. "You like them?"

"Uhh... sorry, I was uhh... wondering if they were real." Lian awkwardly smiled, "They're beautiful."

"Of course, I shall only have the freshest blood red roses in my office at all times." She seemed to look proud at what he said. "I am impressed you have eyes peeled enough to notice the most beautiful object in the room."

Lian could only look at her. Velomina Deveroux's beauty is lethal; intimidating. Her jawline and cheeks can cut, her nose slim and unreal. Her eyes are deepset yet never hides the beautiful blues inherited by her sons.

"I'd like to lie and say you're here to discuss about my son's school behavior..." Surprisingly, the woman stood up. And oh dear, she was taller than Lian especially with heels. Velomina Deveroux was already 5'11; paired with 6 inch heels, she towered over him. "But you are here because I want to take a closer look."

She walked around the table, each heel click becoming closer to Lian's heart being stabbed. She stopped in front of him, scanning his face closer as if investigating a specimen from Venus.

"L-look at what?" Lian took one step back.

"You are young," she says with a voice that could rule the world, a bit condescending. "What do you know of the world, silly boy?"

"I'm not a boy," Lian spoke up, his voice firm but his breaths wavering. "Not anymore... I'm a man now."

"Indeed you are," she took a drag off her cigarette and with it between two fingers, reached for Lian's neck.

Lian closed his eyes and flinched, expecting her to do something horrible. But to his shock, she only ran her perfectly purple-manicured nails over Lian's exposed collarbone courtesy of Jonah's large dress shirt.

Her eyes seemed to soften even more. Her voice, not above a soft whisper but perfectly heard. She sounds delicate, elegant and refined. "You fear me?"

"I... uhm... forgive me, Madam." But I do.

She left his collarbone alone and ran her hand down his arm, stopping by his hand. She froze, staring at nothing but his limp hand by his side. Her breath seemed to slow down, her eyes stuck lingering on it.

Then, ever so slowly, she picked up Lian's hands with her wrinkled ones. Something flashed in her eyes, and Lian can't help but stare as she lifts his hand closer to her.

"Your name." She lifted her eyes towards him, "What did you say your name was, Teacher?"

"L-Lian..."

"Lee-ann?"

"Lian," he politely corrected.

"Hmm..." she says, "You have her hands. And you even carry her name."

Lian looks up at her with wide eyes, snatching his hand away in fear. "Y-you're talking about my mother? Madam, I—"

"Mother?" At the mention of her, Velomina exhaled humorously. "Indeed. You are her... son. Do not look at me with fear in your eyes, it is disrespectful. You are no prey to me, Lian Miller."

"Th-then why am I here?"

Velomina turned away from him and slowly walked towards the vase of roses. "I simply wanted to look closer. Last time, you were... hiding behind my sons. With Jade disrespectfully barking me away, I couldn't have a moment with you."

She doesn't want revenge? She's not gonna kill me?

"Tell me," she demanded while pulling out a rose; in its raw form, thorned and rich green at the stem. "What did your mother say about me?"

Lian's lips parted. "She said you were good friends. And that she ruined your marriage."

"Nothing else?"

"Is there anything else I should know?" Lian asked. She snaps her siren eyes at him, and he shivered. He looked at her fingers, unbothered by the thorns pricking them.

She walks towards him with that single rose and grabbed him shoulder, turning him to the side where he came face to face with his own reflection; her height dwarfing him, her slender figure dominating him as she stood on his right.

"The most beautiful roses will always have everyone desire to pluck it, and display it until it rots. Then it will be thrown away." Velomina puts her slender arms around Lian's waist. "Plastic doesn't rot. But it also doesn't shine, doesn't smell as sweet."

"Ow!" Lian pricked his finger because of the rose in Velomina's hand, now pressed against his skin.

"Yes, it pricks. It is the only defense it has against everyone wants to take it." She leaves and puts the rose on her table, "You know what would look good on you? A nice golden chain necklace..."

"What?" Lian turns toward her and watches the mistress open one of the boxes on her table haphazardly.

"I detest a bare neck. If there's one thing I'm proud about Jade, is that his neck is never bare..." she presents a gorgeous red velvet box to Lian and open it to reveal a dainty gold chain. She took it off the vase and walks toward Lian, pushing him to face the mirror.

Lian is still tense, but she was delicate and careful in putting it around his neck. It was indeed beautiful, shining against his skin and making it look like it's resting on silk.

Her eyes seemed to glaze over his face, as if only seeing another. Is it possible to touch one person, and feeling someone else in her hands?

"I've got a bracelet!" She softly exclaims as she went back to retrieve another piece. Lian stayed quiet and nervous as she once again takes his hand, and ties a golden bracelet around it. She smiles in admiration... not for the jewelry, but for the hand she is caressing her own. "Perfect. For such lovely hands..."

"Thank you. But I don't understand the gifts, madam?"

She seemed to snap out of it. "Well... I... I like pearls. Everything else is... disposable." She dropped his hand and went to her table. "Consider them gifts for tutoring my son. I couldn't care less about what you do with them..."

"I think they're beautiful," Lian looks up to her with a smile, making the woman raise her eyes. "Thank you, madam. Maybe... I was wrong to fear you. A woman with power like you... could easily stomp on people like me. But... you nicer than what they led me to believe."

Power... yes, Velomina has power. But why can't it let flowers bloom? "You may leave. Do your job with my sons."

When he left, Velomina's heart became as empty as it was before he came in. She picked up the rose lying on her table, resting her forehead of the bloody red petals.

Once upon a time, an heiress with a failing family business had to wed a vineyard and real estate owner to save their family.

Her medical and fashion degree is useless.

She could only use her looks and womanhood to get ahead in this world—for she is only of use to unite two families and provide an heir.

After the ceremony, her husband didn't even notice her running away from the reception in her giant satin wedding gown, running out to the garden just to breathe away from the aristocrats. The heiress ran, and ran, and ran, turning a corner to another set of steps. The motion hiding her tears.

Nothing but a bride. Nothing but a child-bearer, nothing but a prisoner!!!

"!!!" She crashed onto an unknowing servant, the two of them yelling in distress as they rolled down ten steps until the young maid landed on top of her very expensive dress.

Velomina stared in shock at the horrified maid who only blinked at her. "Get off me, servant!"

"M-mistress!" She did, and Velomina pushed her away when she tried to help her. "Mistress, I'm so sorry are you hurt—"

"I don't need the pity of a lowly maid!" Velomina looked down at her dress. "Ugh, you ruined my dress too!"

The maid awkwardly looks at her discarded chocolate donut that she stole from catering, staining the bride's dress. "Oh... I really wanted that donut..."

"You will be FIRED!"

"No! Ma'am please, let me fix it! I-I'm in charge of the laundry," the maid smiled with the most adorable dimples that looked impossible to exist. When the bride still looked unhappy, the maid knelt on the ground. "Please madam, I cannot lose this job! I'll do anything!"

Velomina scowled at her. She knows how it feels to have no money. And besides... she hated this wedding dress anyway. "Fix it. But take me far away from here. I need to breathe."

The maid gave her a big smile, happy to have kept her job and her head.

Suffocated, Velomina excused herself outside the dining room where she once again seeks air from the veranda. She breathed the night air to ease tension, but heard a chewing noise behind her.

She gasped, "YOU!"

The familiar Chinese maid froze with her platter of stolen desserts. With her teeth filled with chocolate, she smiled. "M-madam..."

"You're a compulsive thief, aren't you?!"

"N-no! I... I asked these from the chefs. Uhm... they always give me free food," she giggled proudly. Of course they'd give her food, she's good looking for a maid. Velomina looks disgusted when her peasant hands took a cake and handed it to her. "D-do you want some?"

Velomina dare not take dessert from a servant's hands... but those hands are really pretty. With long pink nailbeds and slender pinkish fingertips. She looked very clean. So, the maid shared her treats with the madam.

"I heard about your two college degrees, Madam..." she says as they both face the garden. "How many years did it take?"

"Four years for each degree, then two for my two masters," Velomina answered with her head held high.

The servant dare look at her dead in the eyes. "Wow! You must be very smart. I don't think you need to marry Master Khalid at all."

"Salaries cannot save billion-dollar businesses," Velomina strictly answered.

"I don't think humans need a million dollars to survive," the maid says, sighing at the moon. "If it's just me, I'd just need one degree and a good paying job. Billions, I don't need. Oxygen is free."

"Silly girl..." Velomina looked at her from her peripherals. "What's your name, servant?"

She held out her hand. "Lei Ann. You can call me Lei."

Masters shouldn't touch servants, especially someone who holds cakes bare handed and wiped their dirty apron with it. But Velomina stares at her lovely hand, and can't help but be curious about what they feel. Upon shaking it, she felt soft fingertips and cold skin.

"Guess what I got, Madam!" Lei came bouncing to the lady while she was observing the landscapers in the garden. "Turkish delights!"

"You stole them again?"

"Psh, no. The chefs gave them to me after I told them I was hungry. I think the sous chef had a crush on me."

Velomina looks at the dessert in disgust. "Eat them. I'd like to stay in shape."

"Okay, suit yourself..." Lei giggles happily as she ate the desserts. "The master is home, is he not? Why aren't you with him, madam?"

"Stop eating with your mouth full, pig. Ugh, the Master and I aren't that close... he is busy with paperwork." She sighed, "My purpose here is to give him an heir, not so much being his wife."

"Hmm... I've always thought marriages are only for people who love each other. Don't you?"

"Silly girl," Velomina sighed, "For the ones on top, marriage is simply a union. To me... it is a prison."

"You're not in prison..." Lei smiled, "You're outside! You have a lot of money to cheer you up, you have me!"

Velomina meets her eyes. "You're a sweet silly girl."

Lei smiles as she enjoyed her desserts, the two ladies watching the landscapers wheeled in carnations, making Velomina look at them in disapproval.

"I hate the look of carnations..." Velomina says while fanning herself, "I hate how flat tulips look as well. I don't see the point in decorating with flowers.

Lei, with cheeks stained with white powder, "Maybe you should have them plant your favorite flower. Maybe it'll cheer you up; whenever you're upset, just come outside to look at them. Mine are roses, doesn't matter what color."

Velomina looks at her, her fan halting because the maid has too many powdered sugar on her lips. The mistress was about to reach out, but pulled her hand back to retrieve her handkerchief. She offers it to Lei, "Wipe yourself. You look disgusting."

"Hehe... are you sure you don't want one?" Lei dared offer a half bitten Turkish delight to the mistress with her bare hands. The strawberry red poking through, making Lei look more delicate and soft.

Velomina's reluctant hand reached out for the dessert, until she had it in her gloved hand. "Hmm... red does look good. I shall have them plant roses."

"Come, come! I need to show you something!" She squealed, suddenly stopping as Velomina followed behind her with heavy breaths.

"Oh goodness..." the mistress held her stomach to catch her breath, "Lei, if you took me here for something silly, I will take away your dessert privileges!"

"Look..." Lei kneeled in front of a rose bush which had the bloodiest, dark-red, rich-burgundy, deep-crimson red rose that sprouted among a field of strawberry red roses. "It's beautiful. It's the most beautiful rose in the garden! This'll have to cheer you up!"

Velomina watched as the rose made Lei's complexion glow even more. "Yes... it is beautiful. The most beautiful rose in the garden."

The mistress started gardening as a hobby, picking out any rose less bloody than what she liked. Soon enough, the mansion was surrounded with bloody red roses thanks to the Mistress' care.

Lei Ann was there picking off weeds as the Mistress had a basket of roses for decor. "How many times do you and the master even have sex, madam? It's impossible for it to be three years of marriage already but you still aren't pregnant."

"I guess it isn't time. We're young and newly married, I guess babies need patience..." Velomina's eyes rested on a blooming rose that looked to have hundreds of petals, the size of a saucer. Which room in the mansion should this rose be displayed in?

"Master Khalid is handsome, and if you make babies with him they'll be very beautiful. I hope you have girls!"

"He... prefers boys," Velomina sadly says, "But a girl would be nice. To have a girl with lips red as a rose... skin as white as snow. Hair so dark, you can't the light."

"She'll be a lucky girl," Lei Ann giggles as she wipes her sweaty forehead.

"Indeed..." Velomina carefully snipped the rose in an angle. "Lei..."

The girl turned around, seeing Velomina behind her with a gorgeous fully bloomed rose in her bare hands, pricking her pristine aristocratic skin. The rose, only meant for her bloody beauty.

But Velomina widened her blue eyes, because her hand flashed from holding the rose—to being outstretched as Lei fell. The memory of her empty hand overlaps the rose she's giving to the girl—flashing to when she pushed her down the stairs.