11 Magic

Lillian held the dress in her arms as the sunlight played with the glitters on it, sparkling like crystals in the light and yet she couldn't admire it.

She is seated on a chair with the dress draped over her lap like an inflatable body pillow.

Rose and Jasmine sat beside her, opposite to them was where the man stood. Though he isn't there anymore, his presence is still heavily felt. Stifling and threatening.

The man introduced himself as the Duke of Lenhd, aka, the Duchess Margaret's husband, Geno Atkins.

Lillian's jaw dropped when she heard what he said. The gears in her mind turned as she stared at the man, trying to connect the clues she has gathered.

Why is she so insistent on losing the child? What does he have to do with anything? Why was he shown in my vision? Nothing makes sense!

"What are you doing here?" Rose scrawled at him. Her sword appeared in her hand.

Jasmine also radiated magic off her fingertips as the man's aura darkened.

Lillian, unsure of what to do, picked up the closest thing in front of her which, unfortunately, happened to be a teacup.

The tea isn't even warm anymore and she rolled her eyes at her uselessness. Tossing the teacup she grabbed the extremely blunt knife used for cutting pastries and held it, just in case.

His expression on them was one of a man watching an ant attempt to escape the rain. He was very amused with Lillian, to say the least. Snapping his fingers, the blue dress manifested in a brilliant blue haze and landed on Lillian.

"My dress! It was with you? How did you get it?" Lillian held it protectively to her chest.

"Why? I only stretched my hands out and it appeared. Quite a surprise if I do say so myself. A dress appearing out of nowhere just as a woman suddenly appeared out of nowhere. I simply connected two and two together and came looking for the owner. I only intended to give it back to you." He smiled.

"Then why the fu*k you gotta be so creepy, man?" Lillian whined.

"Pardon?" Geno was taken aback by Lillian's response.

"You come in here with all this feeling of dread, dampening the atmosphere around us only to return a dress? You could have had a friendlier aura, you know?" Lillian was now full-on scolding him.

Jasmine and Rose shook their heads as fervently as they could but she didn't notice them.

"If you're coming in here with good intentions, don't be all brooding and mysterious. With your 'I'm better than all of you' attitude. No! Women may say they like those type of men but what they like is the face. Put that same face on another man who is kinder and sweeter and they'll still grovel at his feet, even more so for the kind, good-looking man than the tsundere. Damnit! The fu*k am I saying?!"

Rose and Jasmine stared at her contemplating every decision they ever made in their life that lead up to this moment. Wondering where they went wrong and why they were being punished like this.

Geno burst into laughter, clearing the heavy air.

Just as soon as he stopped laughing though, the air became heavier than before, almost suffocating the three of them as they staggered in their stance. Something came out of him like smoke that shrouded the shop in darkness.

"I don't believe it. I was actually threatened by you." His eyes glowed as he pointed at Lillian. "Now I just want to make your death quick for the sake of every else."

He walked closer to her, gripping her face in his hand, tightening it.

Lillian couldn't move nor could she see Rose or Jasmine.

What is this?

The smoke licked at her skin, leaving a burning sensation on her face. Lillian shut her eyes, not knowing what else to do.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked.

She heard laughter coming from him as she felt him back away. Slowly opening one eye, she saw that his back was to her.

"I said I want to kill you but my beloved would be very angry at me if I did so I'll leave you alive, for now."

He disappeared and appeared in a cloud of smoke, right in front of Lillian, again. "Do try not to make my darling Margaret this worried again. She is pregnant after all. I can do whatever I wish after she gives birth, so I do believe I have to be patient. Bye-bye for now, I'll be keeping my eyes on you."

Snapping his fingers again, he disappeared and Lillian crumpled onto the chair. Everything in the room settled down, sunlight streamed in again, brightening the room.

"Lillian! Are you alright?" Jasmine and Rose ran to Lillian, retracting their magic.

"Yeah, I am fine." She furrowed her brows as her thoughts took over. "I just have one question."

"What is it?"

"How the hell is everyone able to use their magic and I am not?" Lillian stood up only to fall back down on the chair, black spots clouded her vision.

"That's the beauty of Magic Holders, Lillian. We don't need to rely on the environment to cast magic." Rose smirked at her.

"I'm a Magic Wielder then?"

"Not necessarily. We don't really know which one you are, Lillian. Want to try experimenting? We have a room in the back."

Before she could answer, Lillian's phone rang.

It's Elizabeth.

"Sh*t! What time is it?"

"A quarter to eleven."

"I need to go." Lillian jumped up and ran to the door, the phone still ringing in her hand and the dress in the other.

"Wait! Lillian! Could you leave the dress here? Jasmine and I want to examine it a bit."

"Oh sure." She gave the dress to them and ran out of the door. One thing Elizabeth can't tolerate is being late, not even from Lillian. She is known to cancel deals and endorsements if the client is even a minute late.

She picked up the call as she ran.

"Hello? Elizabeth?" She tried her best to not sound like she was running but that's clearly impossible. Especially with someone with stamina like hers.

"Where the hell are you, Lillian?"

"Right at the door. I'll be entering it in a few seconds." Lillian lied, turning the corner.

"Really? Coz it sounds like you're running to me."

"No. Pfft. I'm just there. I'll be entering the door in five seconds."

She was nowhere near the restaurant, nothing but open road in front of her. It's at the calmest time of the day so there were not much people or vehicles and she took alleyway shortcuts.

"If you are lying to me, Lillian."

"I'm not! My hand's at the doorknob. I'm entering!"

Reaching her hand out to the air instinctively, she felt her hands touch something. Pulling at it, a door opened and she entered the restaurant with a gust of wind.

"Lillian!" Elizabeth waved from a table in the corner.

Lillian looked around her, confused as to how she got there. The people didn't seem to notice her entrance nor did they care.

The smell of food and drinks filled her nostrils, making her stomach growl in hunger.

She couldn't be bothered with the fancy interior design of the room or the beautifully decorated tables. Her mind was somewhere else. Not only on her stomach.

Making her way to Elizabeth, she almost bumped into three waiters and crashed onto several tables. When she finally reached the table, she buried her face in her hands.

"You just love making a scene, don't you?" Elizabeth teased, holding the menu out to her. "Here. Order something. Then we'll talk about the party."

Reluctantly Lillian took the menu, still hiding her face. She didn't wish to be seen by anyone.

"I'll have the shrimp."

--------------------------

"I'll wait to hear from you about the progress in about five days, alright?"

Lillian and Elizabeth just finished their meals and were packing up their things. Pens, papers and nick-nacks filled the table along with the empty plates and cups.

"Sure." Lillian shoved whatever she could into her pockets, forgetting to bring anything important except her purse.

"Hey, Lil. You ok? I wasn't thinking of asking this but I just have to."

"I'm fine, what makes you think otherwise?"

"Let me think. Your entrance earlier, you looked like you saw a ghost. Not just that, you never eat shrimp. Not once in the fifteen years that I've known you, have you ever eaten shrimp. And . . . You haven't ogled once at that waiter! He's the model you liked so much!"

Lillian looked at the waiter conversing with some of the customers, most of them were girls, laughing and blushing. He oozed charisma.

She only shrugged her shoulders and looked away. "He's not bad."

"So?"

"But I've seen better."

Not one man in the restaurant could hold a light to Roman. Even the scary Duke Geno has looks better than all of them combined.

Elizabeth stared at her in shock, dropping her bag on the table.

"Y-you're not sick, are you? Is this project too stressful?"

"Naa. It's relaxing, in a way. What's the big deal, Liz?"

"You've been eyeing him for years and now you hardly blinked in his direction."

"I've fallen out of crushes every now and then, Liz. Don't worry about me. Take care of yourself." She took her belongings and patted her in the back, making her way out of the restaurant.

She stopped at the counter and paid for their meals, giving a stunned Elizabeth a wave, she walked out.

The loud noise of the city greeted her. Air heavy with pollution and streets crowded with people. It's early evening, the busiest time of the day.

Children were being picked up from their schools and many office workers are on their way home at this time. She was really lucky that Elizabeth chose a restaurant tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the city, otherwise, if anyone had seen her, it would have been a problem.

I wonder how Rose and Jasmine are going about. I should go visit them. What time is it?

Checking the time on her phone, she got a call from Jasmine.

Speak of the devil.

"Hey, Jasmine. I was just about to call you."

"Yeah. The meeting is over. You won't believe what happened today. I think my powers a-

"You want to meet? Now? Ok. I'll come to the boutique. What's this about anyway?

A car honked loudly at Lillian as she jumped to the side.

"Sorry!" She waved at the car, apologetically. "Need to get used to that again. Hello? Jasmine? What was that about the dress?"

Lillian stopped in her tracks, a frown over her face.

"I'll be there in a second."