8 Acquainted

For the rest of the afternoon, Darius shows me around the house, giving me a rundown of the basic rules that must be followed. With him leading the way, we quietly walk towards the kitchen with me glaring at the back of his head -wishing for a thousand ways for him to die. I was embarrassed, scratch that mortified by how he spoke to me early, wasn't he supposed to be my bodyguard?-I wonder. He suddenly halts and I bump into him, he slightly turns his head back to look down at me, I felt my heart pound and my body shiver as I look at him.

His eyes were a fathomless onyx, bottomless like burning pits of coal-cold and merciless.

"Can't you watch where you are going, cretin?" he says with a low voice which sends chills down my spine.

"Cretin?"I ask but he simply ignores me and enters the kitchen. I clench my teeth and punch the wall in frustration, I really hate that guy no matter how attractive he looks.

As I enter the kitchen I am met by two dark, piercing eyes that make you feel cold when the person stares at you; eyes that darken when the person is angry, giving the impression that they're devoid of emotion or capable of doing great harm; eyes that appear flat and don't seem to connect to the soul. Is everyone in this house like this?

"This is Phine and Luke "Darius says, the one on the left was black and seemed to be around 5,10ft but really bulky, while the other slender with what seemed to be a height around 6,1ft but he was really pale.

I swallow my fear and head up to both of them to shake their hands, "Im Elena, it's nice to meet you" I say with the bravest smile I can put on my face. Both look at me with a look at me as if they were expecting a different reaction.

The black guy approaches me and stands right in front of me, starring me down- I gulp. "Im Phine" he simply says while clenching his jaw which looked quite frightening considering he had quite a craggy face- strong and has deep lines in it. Is this man trying to intimidate me? Instead of cowering in fear as every cell in my body is telling me to do, I swallow it, stand my ground, look him straight I the eye and offer my hand to shake. He simply ignores it and takes a seat by the kitchen table.

"You are not afraid?" one of them asks which I assume is Luke the tall slender guy. As he moves up close I notice how thin he actually is, but hatched-faced- having a long, thin, and unpleasant looking face with a pointed nose and chin.

"no...The most terrifying people you meet in your life often look average. Also, the serial killers and other criminals don't always look like Captain Hook, they don't carry a neon sign that says "I'm evil". Nor do they have a hook instead of a hand."

Their facial expressions looked more surprised, they don't say anything so I decide to add on.

"In m-y opinion, the scary things in scary men are their actions, their presence, and the fact that they can hide their true nature. Sure, they can look rugged and ominous, but there has to be something more there too."I ramble on while slightly stuttering. Utter silence for a whole minute until Luke burst out laughing while holding stomach." Well, Darius, this one is a live one-pay up!" he exclaims while extending his hands to Darius. Darius only snickers and tossed some money to Luke.

Confused I ask, "What do you mean pay up?" folding my arms.

" We bet on your reaction when you met us- were you going to cower in fear or stand your ground. I won " Luke says.

I turn to Darius with an annoyed expression and say, "Im not as weak as you think"

Darius only gives me a devious smile and says "We will see about that." With that, he exits the room leaving me only with Luke and Phine.

"Do you guys want some tea?" a creaky feminine voice says. An old lady walks into the kitchen and she seems to be part of the maid staff judging from her uniform. As I looked upon the perennial woman, I saw that she was much older than I originally thought. Her brown, wrinkly skin looked like a discarded, wrinkled, paper bag left to itself. Her eyes, over the years, had grown dull and cloudy as though she had seen too much suffering but full of wisdom. Her back was stooped over as if she carried invisible weights upon them. Her silver hair was thinning, and her smile showed that her teeth were rather yellow. Along with this, it could be seen that the lips, once beautiful, were dry and cracked. She stood slowly to greet me and hobbled towards me with her cane.

"Hi, mam, Im Elena-its nice to meet you," I say politely.

"Oh sweety no need for formalities, you can call me Nana, do you want some tea?" she says as she starts boiling the water in the kettle.

"Yes please"

She boils water in the kettle and dishes out cups for the three of us. "Tea is good for the soul," she says with a bright smile as she pours the water in each cup. As Phine and Luke sip the tea, intrigued by the colour I ask,"What kind of tea is this?"

"You're looking at the rare white dragon bush. Its leaves make a tea so delicious, it's heartbreaking! That, or it's the white jade bush, which is poisonous. Delectable tea or deadly poison." she nonchalantly explains as Phine and Luke spit out and I lightly chuckle.

"Nana!" they exclaim, and she just laughs.

"Im just kidding boys," she says, we spend a while just drinking in silence while nana is tidying up the kitchen. After five minutes I finish my cup and as I am getting up to excuse myself nana interrupts," oh Elena dear your father is back and he wants to see you in the library, I will bring up dinner for both of you soon."

"Alright thank you, " I say and I excuse myself out of the room.