Lesson 1
"Hello Roxanne" The green eyed beauty was stumped when she opened the door of her apartment.
Serena had flown all the way to Brazil because of her cousin's wedding thus the entire well furnished floor was left all to Roxanne who had no idea that someone was going to visit her. Living all these years alone apart from her best friend she had not contacts with many people and the ones who remembered her were even lesser. Her aunt lived outside the country while her grandparents who had disowned her mother had long passed away.
(A/n; Serena has gone to attend Ares' wedding!)
She was a fleeting reflection that was invisible in this world of fast pace, only through her paintings she had an identity and that was her solace but there were numerous who had never done good to her anxiety......those that she wished to had no remembrance of.
What was left of the relations came upon her life as her abusive father, a stepmother who maintained her distance so not to attract the eye of her deranged sperm donor and her stepsister Melissa.
The cerulean irises of the woman looked at the homey decorations that Roxanne made with all her heart and joy and a small flash of disdain lurked beneath her irises before disappearing.
The twisted black strands with exotic tan skin had her look like a dark female aristocrat while she looked down at the girl standing infront full of warmth and affection making the girl feel uncomfortable, when living with people who have worn masks of all different colours, hiding innumerable ulterior motives one learns to recognize fake from reality.
Behind that care was envy, jealousy and some dislike.
"Melissa...What are you doing here?"
"Just came to see how my dear sister lives like now....won't you invite me in?" Roxanne nodded unsurely paving way for Melissa to enter, she was currently talking on phone to Tiffany who had send her a list of assignments and the topics of the upcoming exams, in addition to that she had an exhibition next Sunday which would include the richest of the city and neighboring places thus the quality can not be compromised but the last touch to the art pieces was still left.
When every single aspect of her life was drowning in mayhem and she was on the verge of hyperventilating then her stepsister came.
It seemed as if the universe was taking out its rage on her, she had worked for the past one week non-stop and now she had to deal with this relation of entanglement.
"Please sit."
The conversation began with lighter subjects of school and home but then it spiraled to the deeper, much more significant part.
"I am here to talk about something important." Melissa sat down on the comfortable couch looking around casually.
"What is it?" The green eyed angel twiddled with her fingers not wanting to come off as rude, maybe she was wrong and there were no conspiracies or anything, she felt a bad feeling blossoming in her heart when she again looked up at her stepsister, her own heart sprouting apologies for judging her.
" I visited father today and he has asked me to inform you that he is displeased since you have not visited him even once for all these months that he is in prison..." she sighed before continuing.
".....I did not wished to play games with you Roxanne, I thought father has always treated us like outsiders while you have been given whatever you liked but now that I realize it, he has been but very harsh to you while me and my mother were better off.
I just came to tell you that yes I did disliked you, even my intention of coming here was not to talk to you much but I don't like being so insensitive...please don't go to prison for seeing him or he will again do something to harm you."
The words echoed as genuine concern making the ginger haired beauty nod in affirmation feeling thankful to Melissa beyond belief. Even though they started off with a wrong foot she would not hold grudges, everyone did mistakes.
"Melissa.....I, I am so so sorry that I misunderstood you."
"Its alright, I also have to apologize for everything, lets try to be friends from now on alright?"
"Ofcouse!"
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"Please, listen to me-" Darius carried out the stack of books with white papers having colourful handwriting and diagrams peaking out in between them, the notes stuffed in a folder on the top of the thick copies was decorated with butterfly stickers, but the man cared for none as he dumped them into the backseat of the car.
"Where on earth are you taking my paintings?! You have to just tell me and all of it is yours.....why steal them?" The soft melodies of exclamation and a furiously running little bird was ignored as she chirped all around Darius, seeking for answers yet the cries of surprise fell onto deaf ears.
The federal judge took out four paintings that were yet to be coloured completely and placed them in the backseat as well, while Roxanne tried peeking above his shoulder, standing on her tiptoes to see there was her favorite watermelon plastic bag too, in which she usually placed her paint boxes and a scented cherry lipbalm just in case of pampering herself while enjoying art thoroughly.
Even though the idea sounded weird but the girl was obsessed with cherries and a bunch of them was enough to bribe her to do anything, its calming aroma wafting through her soul made her feel as if in a valley full of fresh ripe cherry trees, filled with flowers.
Roxanne was completely lost in her thoughts standing by the car and blinking when she saw Darius locking the door of her apartment before throwing the keys in his pocket.
"You have tested my patience enough angel." saying that he chased the girl that ran around the car with honey bunny pjs to get away from his arms stretching to take hold of her.
"Daddy! You are kidnapping me!" She squealed, beautiful giggles falling from her lips as Darius snatched Roxanne back, pulling her flushed to his chest before holding her like a baby.
"You started giving all your time to these. I hate them" he complained grumpily.
Roxanne had both of her palms on her mouth in surprise.....was he jealous of her precious books?
The drive to Darius' home was smooth with him buying her a bowl of ice-cream to make her happy and as soon as they got home he went to cook dinner while leaving her in midst of the spacious room that undeniably belonged to him and was now getting filled with her belongings by the housekeeper.
After sometime she had her fingers dipped in colours of the nature as her brush glided across the canvas creating a visage of a woman lonely in a majestic night.
There were flowers and a scenic view, even the moon light seemed to bathe the woman with its soft illuminating light, yet the female appeared dejected. There was sorrow and a feeling of deep melancholy as if a person has concentrated all their hopes and loves to someone's heart but the other had brutally told them that their love was fake and abandoned the woman to survive on her own.
As if a funeral pyre of hopes and dreams was burning in almighty flames.
"Enough! Come here little girl." Darius had been watching Roxanne for half an hour straight, if he did not found her to be ethereal in every single way possible and acknowledged that he could not keep his eyes astray from her for prolonged periods and had known that she liked his attention he might have taken himself as some creep.
This painting were almost done and ready to be displayed, the only problem was her assignment now which Darius had hidden somewhere in his house.
"Daddy the paintings-"
"Looks like someone is in need of a lesson or two to listen to my command."
