CHAPTER 6 - EVADING TROUBLE

SCARLET’S POV

As I walked to the back of the mansion, I met Lara washing some clothes. I don’t need to be told but I know that there were the clothes of my sibling, and of course, mine too.

“Hey, Lara” I greeted and she looked up at me and replied with a smile.

Lara always insisted on adding my clothes with those of my siblings who made sure that she washed their clothes every other day.

When I tried to dissuade her from doing that, she refused on the excuse that I am feeble and would not properly wash my clothes. This of course was the reason they had given the duty of washing their clothes to Lara since they would not want me to ruin their pretty and expensive clothes with bad washing.

I have expensive clothing too just like my siblings. It had always been this way since I was little and had not changed.

My father never bothered to instruct the family seamstress to exclude me from the family wardrobe and so, she had always been bringing my clothes too whenever she brings in new orders for my family.

This was part of the reason why Lara refused that I washed by myself. She was a few weeks older than me and was or was supposed to be my personal omega if I had not turned out this way.

My mother assigned her to me when she discovered that I was going to be a girl and she was yet to re-assign her to someone else since then. And she on her part has tried her best to be a good and dutiful omega even though no one was expecting her to.

Mama Ruth had once called the both of us and informed us that Lara would be by my side wherever life takes me and should I get married, Lara was going to accompany me.

When I heard the announcement, I had asked about my sister, Dawn, and who would be her omega but mama Ruth had told me that such an issue was for my mother to decide.

I had always thought that my mother was going to take Lara from me when the time was right and hand her over to Dawn but it seems that would never happen.

Lara and I grew up sharing every single thing except for clothes and school. But Mama Ruth had stopped Lara from starting school when she was supposed to and made her wait until I was ready to.

“I can see you are busy here,” I said as I made to sit on an empty chair opposite her.

“Don’t worry, I will soon be through” she responded.

I knew that was a lie. It was just a more polite way of asking me to stay away from assisting her and I got her point.

“You added my clothing again? But why do you keep doing this? You could have waited and washed mine at night when everyone must have gone to bed” I whispered.

“And what is going to happen if I wash it now? See, your clothes also need the sun to dry and this is the best time to wash them” she replied.

“What if you are caught, what do you think they would do to you for such a degrading act?” I whispered again even though I was very much aware that no one would hear me even if I decided to scream.

She laughed and looked at me in disbelief and I wondered what I had said or done wrong.

“And what is the problem?” I asked.

“See, if they tried to get at me, I would stand up to them and I would make sure that I dealt them a great blow before Sir Tim or Ma Patricia would come for their rescue.

Hearing these utterances from her, fear gripped me and I started to have a panic attack. I held my chest and was finding it difficult to breathe.

I could not confidently say the reason for the attack. Was it because she was saying what she could not do or because she was talking about dealing with my siblings?

In fear, she rushed to me and held me. She tried to make me calm down and relax and so she pressed her hand on my bare chest.

“Nothing is happening, Scarlet, you have to calm down now” she pleaded.

“But… but y…you just say…” I made to speak but the words were finding it difficult to form in the right way.

“Yes I know what I said, but you know I can do none of that” she responded.

Her confession made me instantly relax and I stared at her without blinking.

“Come off it, Scarlet, who am I to dare to raise my hands against any of your siblings?” she asked.

“But then, you must have to remove my clothes from theirs, I don’t want to be the cause of any problems” I ordered.

“You answered it yourself, Scarlet,” she said.

“What answer?” I asked in confusion.

“Your siblings. You just said it now. See, you and I know just how much you long to share things with them and if washing your clothes with theirs is part of the way to achieve that, I would not stop it no matter what” she replied.

“Thanks for this, but I still don’t want any trouble,” I said.

“No one is bringing any trouble” she replied.

“How can you say so, Lara? What if they discover my clothes with theirs?” I whispered.

“And the only way that they can do that is if you want them to. See, your clothes and those of Dawn are the same and so it would not be easy to tell which is which” she responded.

Her reply relieved my tension and gave me some inner peace. Now I would not have to bother about getting caught as I would never forgive myself if Lara was to suffer any punishment because of me.

We talked about other things as I sat with her. She made up some funny jokes which saw me fall to the floor and erupt in laughter. She was my peace in this life of thorns and I wondered how empty this mansion would be without her in it to cheer me up.

“Hey you, what are you doing here being up to no good? Or are you the one in charge of the clothes or maybe she needed you to tell her what to do?”

We were not expecting anyone and we both lifted our faces to look at the supposed intruder, and it turned out to be my brother, Sam.

“Answer me already, or have you both suddenly gone deaf?” he sparked.

I shuddered and tried to rise on my feet but he grabbed me instead and raised me high above the ground.

“You, maybe we should get a dog to carry you around because I still wonder how your tiny legs are able to carry you about” he mocked. “Hmm, I would have suggested a donkey, but it would fling you off its back without even realizing that you are not even there”

“So tell me, what are you doing here without being up to no good?” he growled.

I was visibly trembling as a result of him and my wolf had left me and gone into hiding. I covered my face with my hands and started to weep uncontrollably.

“Please let her be, punish me instead. She cannot take so much, please have mercy on her” I heard Lara plead.

He left me and I fell to the floor. It was not a heavy fall and so I got up but before I could finish getting up, I heard the sound of a heavy slap. I turned to look at where it had come from and I realize that Sam had just slapped Lara and she was already on her knees with her hands covering her face.

He held her by the hair and tilted her face himself. “I see you don’t know your place in this mansion anymore, you bloody omega” he cursed.

“I am sorry, Sam, please have mercy on me” she begged.

“Please what do you want from me? I am ready to do just all you need” I tried to intervene between them.

I rushed over to him and tried to pull him by the cloth. Even though they would never expressly admit it, I knew they would try not to let any hurt come to me but I cannot say the same for Lara.

He looked at me and grimaced. “And what have I gotten myself into today?” he mumbled.

He turned to Lara and said. “You fool, get up immediately and finish these clothes right away” he paused and took a look at the size of the clothes, and asked. “And why are there this much?”

My heart started to beat fast as I watch him attempting to inspect the clothes. I feared that my worst nightmare was about to manifest.

He went on to touch one of the clothes before changing his mind and getting up. “I don’t want to get inside my room before you, Scarlet” he ordered and walked out.

I ran to Lara and tried to lift her but she stopped me by saying. “You better get to his room before something terrible happens to you”

Lara's words made me come back to my senses and not wanting any more trouble, I immediately rushed off.