David's Mansion
Iris Sinclair's pov
"Wow, your house is so big!" I exclaimed as David took me on a tour of his house. His house has 6 floors, 5 washrooms, a private gym, a private library, a swimming pool, an underground parking lot and god knows how many bedrooms.
"Thanks." he chuckles. "Though it gets very lonely with just me and my dad, especially when my dad is out of the house these days."
"What about your mother?" I asked. I run my hand over the crystal stair handrail, not a single dusk is on my hand.
"She died of breast cancer a few years ago."
"I'm sorry to hear that. It is already painful enough for me to lose a mother I have no memory of, I can't imagine what it would feel like to lose one with memories. The pain would be like losing my stepmother right now, but greater." I blushed when I realised I've said that out loud.
He nodded "The pain is very grave indeed, even till this day I'd still have dreams of her hollowed body limped against the white hospital bed when she let out her last breath. My dad got me some appointments with some therapist but I don't think I'll ever move on for as long as I live."
"I'm sorry that I assumed your life is easy just because your dad is rich." I said softly.
"That's alright. And I'm sorry for the time I said you killed your mother in grade four. I was so so stupid, I didn't know how to express affection and tried grabbing your attention through bullying you."
He paused for a few seconds, then he added, "I'm sorry for so many other things too. I'm sorry for not apologising to you sooner, I was too ashamed."
I didn't say it is alright because it is not, I can't just forget everything he did to me after one useless apology. "Let's get started on our project." I say instead.
Me and David chose sunflower to be the plant that we do our biology research on, finally something we can agree on. I carefully cut off a sunflower that is the size of my head, my heartache when I hear the sound of the stem snapping. Sorry sunflower but I really had to unless I wanna fail biology.
He took me into his enormous library. My mouth dropped open, there's gotta be at least ten thousand books here. All the rows are neatly labelled with its genre and in alphabetical order. Not only there's books in this library there's also other equipment, like telescopes, microscopes, all sorts of instruments etc. This library is not less than the national library, if not more. There's an ipad stationed on some of the rows. "Is for looking for a specific book." He explains.
We settled down at one of the many tables that are scattered throughout the library. I sink to the soft velvet chair and I let myself relax.
David carried the massive microscope to the table, he set down with a thud, I winced thinking it was gonna break.
"Is a 10000x binocular." He announces proudly.
We quickly got to work. He let me borrow one of his laptops so I could do my research online. David puts the microscope under the lenses then starts fixing the buttons to get the best angle and lighting. He squints one of his eyes and fixates on the eyepiece with the occasional "ohh'' and "ahh" whenever he comes across something interesting, '' Sinclair look at this!" He would say.
It was super quiet except for the typing sound and the sound of pen kissing paper. Soon my paper is full of facts and his is full of cell images along with diagrams.
"Looks like we finished our rough draft already, good work Sinclair." He yawned. "Let's take a break, do you want some snacks?"
I was going to decline since my father once said it is impolite to accept food at someone's house, some Chinese etiquette I guess. But my stomach protested loudly. "Sure."
"What would you like? Name whatever you want and I'll get my maid to get some. "
"I want some vanilla ice cream and some waffles."
While we waited David pulled out a medical textbook and started reading it. I stare at him as he skims line by line. He actually looks like a decent human being once he learned how to style his hair, he looked even better when he concentrated. I cringed when I remembered how ugly he was.
Soon a maid scurried into the library with two vanilla ice cream in cones and a plate of soft waffles in maple syrup after he dialled a number.
"Thank you." He smiled at the maid, he's not completely mannerless afterall.
I lick the ice cream slowly, savouring every bit of taste. Is not often that I get such a delicate treat. I have only eaten ice cream two times in my life as I recall. My father say a murderer doesn't deserve good food. David on the contrary bits into the icecream like a starved man.
"What colour?" David asked.
"Blue" I say, though serenity isn't quite really my mood right now. Infact, I haven't felt peaceful the day I discovered Samson's betrayal. I'm always thinking about it in the back of my mind. But now at least I feel the most peaceful in weeks, sitting with David and licking an icecream cone. "What about you?"
"Pink." He said without hesitation, pink means love and I blushed at the implication.
Why is he being so flirty when we are supposed to hate each other? Maybe he's just doing so to distract me from the mid-term test so he would be first place.
"Why were you sitting alone the other day?" He mumbles through the cracks of ice cream cones. "Where's Bianca? You guys were inseparable if my memory served me right."
"She ditched me because she didn't wanna be seen with a whore." I answered as I stuffed my mouth with more waffles.
"Such a bitch, not you, her I mean."
"Don't call her that! She's just scared of getting bullied too."
"A coward, a bitch, same thing. If she's a true friend she would have stuck with you no matter what. Even if you murdered someone I would help you bury the body." He pointed out, I can't argue with that.
"I-I am sure she will come back by next week." I made a weak argument, deep down I'm really not sure.
He scoffed. "I doubt it, judging by her personality, she probably won't talk to you in school until graduate. Wanna make another bet?"
I raised an eyebrow. "As long as it doesn't involve me being your slave."
He laughed a little at that. "No." he said, "I just like to make extreme bets with you because it motivates me to work harder. I like having a competitor."
"That's some strange ways to motivate yourself, but ok. Tell me the bet"
"So if Bianca started talking to you again at school by next week you won, if she didn't, I won. If you lost you have to hangout with me during the weekend. If I lost I'll buy you the newest iphone. Deal?"
"Deal." I grinned, who would be so stupid to pass on a chance to get an new phone? Even if it means risking spending a weekend with your enemy, plus he isn't that bad when he's nice.
I hear the sound of keys turning the lock. Beside me David looks petrified as he shoves the medical textbook under his jacket, somewhere unseen.
Footsteps echo downstairs. A few minutes later the owner of the footstep is gone with another click of the keys.
David lets out a sigh of relief and lies the medical textbook back to his desk again.
"Why did you look so terrified? You act like someone just broke into your house."
He lets out a nervous laugh. "No, it was just my father. H-he isn't exactly supportive of me pursuing medical research."
"How come? Don't most parents wish for their kids to be eager to learn?"
"Not when your parent is a millionaire who has a company that needs an heir. He doesn't think I'm capable of doing both at the same time. He said 'there's a lot of meetings that requires you to fly across the globe, you can't have everything, you must choose.'" He quotes him with an overly serious mock tone.
"And you chose pursuing medical research over taking over a million dollar company?"
"Yes." He answered without hesitation. "My mother died of breast cancer, just imagine how many mother I can save if I developed an effective medicine."
The glow in his eyes when he said that reminded me how I chose Chinese major because of my deceased mother. Maybe me and David Singh have more in common afterall.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
I come home to find my dad yelling at Lily. I pause to see what's going on, it is not often Lily gets scolded, she's the apple of everyone's eyes.
"Stop being a brat and give me the bag! " my father howled.
"No you can't take them!" My sister cried, wrapping her arm protectly over a Louis Vuitton bag.
" Lily. " My father said slowly.
My sister ignored his warning and clutched the bag tighter. "Why do you have to take them away? I need it."
"You don't need it." I corrected "you want it."
They both ignored me so I carried on walking to my room.
"Why is dad so desperate to sell her bags?" I asked when I saw my stepmother lounging on the couch. Our family never have financial crisis, both of my parents have high paying jobs and big savings. Maybe my father finally realised Lily is too spoiled.
She didn't even look up at me and I remembered that she's still mad about the intimate pictures. I should really talk to her sometime.