7 HOUSE GUEST.
Tang An woke early the next day, it was a Saturday and she had chores to do. Although her family was rich and had lots of maids, Tang An's mother always made her do house chores, claiming that she could not raise a indolent pig. So ever since they had moved back to China, Tang An was made to do the house chores on weekends.
Moreover, the weekends were off for the maids, so all the house chore fell on Tang An. It was a tasky job, seeing as they lived in a gigantic mansion, not as large as the Lu's, but equally grand.
The mansion was situated at an estate known popularly for the rich. Only wealthy billionaire's lived here, and it was basically owned by Tang Enterprises.
Iron gates of massive heights were the only entrance into the compound. On passing through it, one was met with an array of trees of the peach species having pink leaves which fell to the ground in the most magnificent way during autumn, the fruits it bore were said to be the sweetest in all of A city, and what many people paid to have just one of it was unspoken of.
The trees were arranged in such a way that a path was made in between it. This path led up to a water fountain located in the heart of a garden of lotus flowers.
Terracotta sculptures danced about the compound here and there. Towards the right side of the compound a lake stood, the sight of which was as glorious as the psalms sang by the moon at night.
A brass door formed the door to the house and on this enormous door a golden lotus flower was embedded, serving the function of the family's crest.
On entering the mansion, a small room could be seen which led to a giant hall. In the middle of the hall, a chandelier made of pure emerald hung.
Velvet curtains draped over the windows and a red carpet ran from the hall to the stairs. Exotic paintings hung on the walls of the hall, along with other ornaments gotten as souvenir from their stay in Nigeria.
The great stairs led to the first floor, then to the second floor, to the third, fourth, fifth floors, and finally to the last floor.
Several rooms and halls where situated on each floor. On the third floor was the grand library where Tang An spent most of her time reading one of its many books.
The fourth floor basically belonged to Tang An, as her room covered most of its mass. Her music room where she practiced, and recorded songs, in here were also her musical instruments like the grand piano, violin, saxophone and guitar. And her art gallery where she kept her art works and photography works were also located on this floor.
Down the hall of this floor was a spare room, Tang An always wondered why there was an extra room on her floor. Although she never really asked but shrugged it off on several occasions.
The fifth floor was Tang Jiang's penthouse with all his belongings. And the last floor belonged to her parents.
Although the mansion was always kept clean by the maids during the weekday. It didn't change the fact that it was pure human cruelty on her mother's part; making Tang An do all this work by herself. Imagine having to clean such a large mansion on your own.
The main reason that Tang An carried out her functions so diligently was the fact that her mother threatened to deprive her of food till she was done with all the work.
This was why Tang An woke up so early, instead of sleeping in on a Saturday. It was at times like this that she wished they were just an average family living in an average home.
She wore a giant T-shirt that had once belonged to her dad and some short-shorts which revealed her long flawless leg. The pink colored flip flops that her father bought for her from Ireland braced her legs. She packed her hair back, away from her eyes and walked into the maintenance room to get all the equipment she needed for her functions.
She started from her floor and worked her way through. Each floor took about 3 hours each to complete. Tang Jiang's floor was the worst. She spent her whole morning cleaning and dusting, mopping and sweeping, scrubbing and wiping.
******
Lu Xiang woke up really late and lay in bed for an extra hour, before doing his laps around the lakeside. He had his breakfast of cold milk and cereal, before he settled down to work on his painting piece. Lu Xiang was an artist, he had learnt the art skills from an art teacher in school, which whom he was very fond of.
When he was looking for an area to build his house, the main thing he looked out for was a scene fit for a painting. He had accomplished this task, as the lakeside provided the best view, at summer, at winter, autumn, and spring.
He had started the painting a month ago, and wasn't rushing it, everything had to be perfect and detailed, so he wasn't in a hurry.
He sat in front of his work, paint brush in right hand, palate in left. He was in a white shirt which served as an overall, the button of which only went half way up; revealing a broad mass of chest. His hair was thustled by the wind, so he had this great aura around him, making him look even more handsome than he truly was. Too bad no one was here to witness or enjoy this.
He starred at the canvas for a while, try to decide on which shade of blue to use. He looked at his color palate, then at the lakeside. Then his eyes caught something, it lasted for a second, but he still saw it well enough to know what to do.
A smile crossed across his face as he mixed some more colors. He was glad that he caught it because it was a rare thing to see.
After getting the perfect shade, he applied it with light strokes. This created an effect which made the water body glisten in an extraordinary manner. This was a difficult technique to do; only those who had a vast knowledge on painting could perfect it.
He was pleased at his work and took a step back to admire it. He remembered when he was learning how to paint; he would always beat himself up when there was even the slightest error in it.
"Everything had to be perfect," he had said repeatedly.
******
"Stop that! Stop that at once boy!" Mr. Peter said trying to suppress a raging Lu Xiang.
He carried him off, yanking him forcefully of the wall, which he kept on punching.
"What are you doing?" asked Mr. Peter, hands on his waist.
Lu Xiang just stood there breathing sporadically.
"How many times most I tell you, practice makes perfect, no matter how many times you punch the wall, how hard you punch it or how many bruises you get, you will never succeed.
Painting is an art which requires precision and patience," he said emphasizing the patience.
"You can't just go around punching things just because of some slight mistakes.
How would you feel if I beat you up whenever you made an error? Things just don't work that way, remember that we are all but human; no one is above mistakes. We just have to learn from them and improve on it. Only a fool makes the same mistake twice, remember that. Patience my child, patience."
Lu Xiangs' breathing had stabilized by now. Mr. Peter smiled at him and ruffled his head.
"This anger takes you nowhere, painting is supposed to help you calm the nerves and tame the wild, not aggravate it. So don't let it, Ok?
Now clean up this mess before I spank your booty."
This made Lu Xiang smile a bit, and he cleaned up the damage he had done.
******
Present day Lu Xiang smiled as he recalled this event. Mr. Peter always knew how to handle him, especially when he was younger and very stubborn.
Mr. Peter was his art teacher in school. He was the person that Lu Xiang spent about 6-8 years with. He had learnt all he knew from him, and he had become his friend, actually more than that, he had become his father figure.
....
Lu Xiang had his bath and threw some cloths into a box. He grabbed a couple of underwear and some other accessories and threw it into the bag.
He drove straight to A city, towards the estate" known for the rich." The massive iron gates parted to make way for him. He drove up the narrow path in between the peach trees, past the fountain to where the attendants accept the car keys to park the car.
Lu Xiang came out of the car in the most alluring manner. He was dressed in a corporate long sleeved shirt with two buttons undone; fitting his built masculine form perfectly. With a pair of pleated trousers which seemed like they were tailored just for him, outlining his important features.
He emitted a very strong sexy aura, that seemed mysterious and dangerous. Covering his feet were a pair of shiny brown brogue shoes.
On entering the house, Lu Xiang was surprised at what he heard.
AUTHOR'S SIDE NOTES.
Hi guys, so sorry for the delay in updates. I had exams, which I was preparing for. But now, although I still have exams, I'll try to update every week until I'm done.
Thank you so much for understanding and staying loyal up to this point.
Don't forget to rate this chapter, and leave a comment. Tell me your take on the story and how you think I can improve it.
Thanks again.
Author,
XOXO
