After his mother had left, Ian stood still in the corridor for a while, still upset, before he noticed a presence not too far from him.
He turned sharply to face the startled girl.
"M-master Ian, I am only here for my miss! I’m sorry!" He had not even had the mind to ask the girl anything, but she volunteered that information on her own.
Ian sighed, wondering what she was blabbering about, and then walked back into the room, not bothering with the scaredy cat. He had other more pressing issues to take care of.
Back in the hallway, Suzie slummed down, one hand on her heart and the other holding onto one pigtail, twisting it nervously with her trembling hand. She sensed the stuffy air of an extremely pissed-off person and wondered why she had even come in for her mistress that early!
"OMG! I think I lost a year of my lifespan from just that piercing look!" Her face was all pale as if she had seen a ghost as she remained crouched down, willing her thundering heart to calm down.
She had no idea why, but her Master Ian invoked the fear of the unknown in her so much that she did not know what to do. Even without that, she was like an ant in front of him. Her worst fear was that he could just crush her if he ever wanted to.
However, a few minutes after Ian had left the hallway, a thought finally struck Suzie that temporarily brushed aside the fear: "Master Ian came from Missus’s room and then went back in there.... And he is in his robe! The same from last night! Ahhhhhhh!" She held her mouth with both hands and jumped up and down, her pigtails flying all around her as she relished in the epiphany of the findings about her Missus and her husband.
Entering Shelby’s room, Ian finally took a good look at the place. He had entered there a few times, but never once had he bothered with this.
He frowned a little, thinking, ’Why is she in this small coop? This is absurd!’
Shelby would have flabbergasted if she were privy to his thoughts, for she thought that her room was state-of-the-art at least compared with what she had been used to all her life!
When his eyes met hers, that was the look that greeted her, and she started wondering what she had done wrong.
’Why is he frowning at me? Did I do anything wrong? Bu-t I don’t think so...’
Ian took in the emotions running over her. He could read her like a plain paper. He started towards her, taking in that she was seated on the bed with her back on the headrest and had obviously been waiting for him. He finally arrived by her in a couple of strides, bent down, and kissed her forehead lightly.
"Stop thinking about those useless thoughts!" He poked her forehead gently, and her eyes widened.
"You have done nothing wrong, so stop with the self-blame..."
Shelby’s eyes opened even more impossibly wider thinking how the hell he could guess what she had been thinking about. However, she unconsciously relaxed when she deduced that his thoughts had not been directed at her. She could not bring herself to ask anyway. She had been so engrossed in her thoughts once again that she missed his unfathomable gaze.
For Ian, taking one general look at her again, his heart constricted in a complex way. Ian could see the way Shelby cared for those two kids who had no relation to her in any way. Gabriel now had his head on her lap.
The boy was like a warmth magnet, following them everywhere in his sleep with that stupid, peaceful grin! Ingrid was still the same way as he had left her, but she was also very close to Shelby’s lap and Shelby routinely ran her hands through Ingrid’s hair.
She cared for them when Shelby shouldn’t even be worrying about them. They had nothing to do with her at all except that connection to him.
It made his heart swell as he took in that scene.
However, it did not mean that he liked sharing. Shelby’s eyes met his grey ones then, taking her breath away. He was looking at her like the most precious thing he had ever seen in his life. Stunned, it took her a couple of seconds before a rush of blood flooded her cheeks, making them a very deep shade of rose.
At that moment, she wanted to soak in his very essence. Despite his gigantic frame, he only ever looked at her with a very warm gaze. As to whether it was a side-effect of the blood oath, Shelby had no idea, and for once, she wanted to let herself go and leave all the reservations, but she was only human.
He leaned towards her, his warm breath dancing all over her lips, and Shelby automatically closed her eyes, waiting for that electrifying touch of his lips but then.
Ian clenched his knuckles so hard that it became white. Shelby giggled, opening her eyes and staring into his in amusement. To say that he was frustrated was an understatement. However, he pegged Shelby’s lips, lingering just a bit before he straightened and looked down to see Gabriel’s wide eyes staring at them.
Ian ignored him and turned back to Shelby,
"Why are they still lazing about now? Shouldn’t they be in school or something?" Shelby could still sense that annoyance in him so she continually giggled. Unknowingly, that relaxed Ian but he did not let on.
"Gabriel is only four years but, come to think of it, I have not seen any of them attend school. Samantha goes out periodically, and I think maybe it’s to her school. She’s close-mouthed about herself, and no one has been interested enough to give me the details."
After those words, she lowered her eyes realizing that she had ’failed’ in her job as a step-mother.
’I should have had all this information ready. Why didn’t I know this basic thing?!’
Ian rubbed his hands over her hair, guessing the direction of her thinking.
"What could you possibly have done? Don’t take on the worries of the world on your shoulder."
Shelby looked deep into Ian’s eyes, checking for his sincerity. She couldn’t help it but question most words that came out of him.
"He needs to go to school today!"
"Ian, I don’t think he’s old enough for the school system here..."
"When I was his age, I could already read and write some words. He is old enough!"
Then, Ian’s eyes took on a mischievous glint. Even though he did not reply to Gabriel, his large hands found their way to caress the little boy’s soft cheeks while his eyes still held Shelby’s.
"I will put up with certain things, my Elfin, but never something like what happened last night! Bear that in mind. "
Shelby choked on whatever she had been about to say. His implications were clear, and he booked no room for argument.
"They have too much time on their hands, and that is why they see things that are not there!"
Shelby gulped, feeling Ingrid stiffen by her. She knew that Ingrid had been awake for a long time but was only pretending. She stilled her hand’s movement and used it to caress her back instead as if to say, ’It’ll all be okay.’
Shelby was unsure of who Ian was referring to for a moment until Suzie strode in, in her comicky walk. It was like she was trembling but trying to walk straight at the same time as her braided hair bounced off of her with each skip-like walk.
"Take these two and help them get ready. They’ll leave with me. Make sure that the third one is also ready to go!"
Suzie bobbed her head up and down and then waited patiently while Shelby attended to them.
"Gabriel, go with Suzie, okay?"
Contrary to her fears, Gabriel was so happy because a new adventure had presented itself to him in the form of school. She reached down and kissed Ingrid’s curls, whispering something to the small girl, who scrambled off the bed.
Suzie soon left with them in tow with an overly excited Gabriel.
As soon as the door closed, Ian swooped in and ravished her mouth.
They were soon breathless as he licked the corner of her lips.
"I’ll see you later. I have some company-business matters to take care of. Knowing that old man, he’ll probably never set foot in there for a while."
Shelby’s mind was still reeling from the kiss and she found it hard to concentrate.
Ian caressed her nose and stood up to leave. But he paused.
"You don’t have to stay away from your family on my account. If you want to talk to them or even visit, go ahead."
"Really? I can do that?"
"You don’t need permissions for such trivialities. Just do what you want to do. Don’t stay cooped up in here. If you encounter any issues, just let me know and I’ll handle them for you."
"I-s th-at really, okay?"
He smiled at her, rubbed her hair and then turned to leave.
Shelby hesitated and then dialled her mother’s number a few minutes later, only to be left baffled. It did not take long for what she dreaded to come to pass.
Clara’s voice came out clearly over the phone: "You useless girl! Wasting all that beauty for nothing! That should have been me! You have all that beauty and do nothing with it! Why are you not helping your father?"
Shelby gasped as she tried to blink back the tears.
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