Chapter 26 Family Dinner

The dining room looked like those you see on Victorian tv shows. It was long, covered in huge white table cloth with chairs carved to perfection on each side. There were paintings decorating each wall and there was the butler that I knew along with the blue maid earlier, standing near the doorway.

The food displayed on the table was beyond my expectation too. It almost looked not real. A whole chicken roasted with vegetable sides, mashed potatoes, a plate of lasagna, pizza, and a cream soup. There was also steamed fish, spaghetti and meatballs, lamb chops, and many more.

“Are there more people coming to have dinner?” she asked.

The men looked at each other. “No,” Alexander said while sitting on one end of the table. The head of the table for the head of the family. The other three men stood still, looking at me. It was only when Tony gestured for me to sit on Alexander’s right seat that I realized they were waiting for me –which was weird. But I sat anyway.

I did not want to seat near Alexander, to be honest.

When I sat down, the other three sat down too. Tony sat next to me. And across me, sat Michael and Renald.

Alexander gestured to Xavier with his fingers. The butler immediately poured black coffee into his cup. “Do you want coffee?” he asked me.

“No, thanks.”

After Xavier retreated, Alexander grabbed the cup of coffee and sipped the content. The situation was hella awkward. I stared at the other three hoping that they would do something or say anything. But they only stared at the food. Renald especially looked really hungry. His saliva was already running down his chin.

“D– do you guys not want coffee?” I asked just to be polite. Because Xavier did not even bother to ask the other three.

“They don’t drink coffee,” Alexander answered for them.

“So… why aren’t you eating?”

The men looked at me then which made me very confused. Did I do something wrong? What is it this time, I thought. Why were they looking at me?

“They’re waiting for you to eat or drink first,” again Alexander answered for her.

What?? What nonsense is that?, I asked myself.

“Why…?”

“Because you are the Lady,” my former sugar daddy said in a matter-of-fact voice, “And because I have marked you too, which declares your status as my woman in this house.”

He continued, “And their Mother.”

I blinked.

This was madness. I was only twenty-one years old and I had already become a mother of three adults –no, immortal men?

“No, I am not,” I protested.

“Whatever you say will not matter,” Alexander said again, “The Underworld works differently than your world. And in this mansion, things work according to what I say.” His eyes stared straight at me, pinning me on the spot. He knew he would always have that effect on me, making me unable to argue against him.

I looked at the other men. They all stared at me, and I knew then that what Alexander said was true. So, I grabbed a bowl and poured soup on it. I put a spoonful of soup to my mouth. Instantly after that, I saw Tony and Renald moved quickly. Renald was the fastest though, he grabbed whatever food he could grab and started munching the food like he had not eaten for a weak. Tony piled the food on his plate. While Michael still acted like the elegant and cool man he was.

For a moment, I only stared at them. Until Alexander asked me, “Let me ask you, Arianna. How are you going to research our cells?”

My eyes went back to him. I was about to answer but he cut me off.

“Eat your soup,” he ordered.

I ended up putting another spoonful of soup in my mouth. “I’d like for Tony to take me to a lab and pick up some equipment.”

“You mean you want to steal?” Alexander quirked his eyebrow, interested in the flow of conversation.

“No,” I answered fast, “I meant I want to buy from the lab. They have an equipment store downstairs.”

“Oh.”

“Of course, it will be your money that I use to buy it,” I said.

Alexander smirked at me. “Didn’t you say you’re not a gold digger?”

“Didn’t you say that I’m an opportunist?”

His smirk turned to a smile. “Fine,” he said, “So that means we should make a lab for you in this mansion, right?”

The thought of building a lab in the mansion had not crossed my mind. But I decided it was not such a bad idea. So, I nodded.

“Alright,” he said. He flicked his fingers. Instantly, I felt the air shifted. It was like a wave of air was just created, and it centered on Alexander’s fingers. I could almost see the transparent wave extending and filling the room.

“It’s done,” he said.

I blinked. “What?”

“The lab has been set. It’s next to your room. And the equipment you need is already there.”

I blinked for the second time. “H– how…?”

“Shut your jaw,” he said, “Are you trying to arouse me with that sexy mouth of yours?”

I shut my jaw quickly. Right. He was an immortal sorcerer. I should have known better. It would be easy for him to make things appear and disappear. He had magic. Ha! Magic! A word I did not think I would ever use… or even believe.

“How did you even know what equipment I need?” I asked. To study cells, the basic equipment I would need is a microscope, a tube rack with the tubes obviously, pipette, object-glass, and cover glass, beaker glass, any weird shape glasses, a PCR machine would be nice too. Hmm… what else? Oh, of course, the lab coat, goggles, and head cap for protection.

“No, I don’t,” he answered, “I just put in every piece of equipment I could find in the store you mentioned. If you need something else, just ask.”

“W– what?” I could not help but not to gape again, “You stole the equipment?”

He sipped his coffee calmly, “No. I copied the equipment.”

I let out a relieved sigh. I would not have my conscience ruined because Alexander was stealing equipment from a store owned by good hardworking people.

“Eat your soup again,” he ordered.

What is up with him and soup?, I thought. Nonetheless, I took another spoonful of soup.

“Now that we have done our end of the bargain,” he said, “You must do yours.”

Suddenly the soup became very hard to swallow.

“What should I do?”

“Finish your soup first,” he said. I found it weird that he kept asking me to eat my soup. But I did it anyway. Finished the goddamn soup in three spoonfuls. I even showed the empty bowl to Alexander.

He nodded at me. But then he used his fork to put a steak on my plate. When I was about to protest, he glared at me. I knew really well that look. It was his ‘Don’t you dare disobey me’ look. So, I fell silent as he cut through the meat on my plate to smaller pieces. What was he doing anyway? This guy really confused me.

Once he was done, gestured for me to eat the steak. I used my fork to stab harshly on one piece and put it to my mouth.

“You look skinnier after you quit becoming my sugar baby,” he murmured.

“What?”

Alexander cleared his throat instead of repeating his words. Then he said, “From tomorrow, you will take a turn to date each of us.”

“What?” I raised my voice.

“Was I not clear?”

I quickly chewed on the meat and gulped hard. The meat felt rough on my throat. “Have a date with each of you?”

“Yep.” Alexander pointed to Michael. “You’ll start with Michael. Since you have done it with me. Then Renald had taken his chance. Tony too. Now it’s Michael’s turn.”

I snorted to laughter. “Are you kidding me? Am I like a prostitute you can toss around?”

Apparently, Alexander was serious. I tried looking at the other three men for support. But Renald was busy eating, while Tony and Michael avoided my gaze.

“You are the Lady, Arianna,” Alexander explained again, “You have to pick one of us as the Dark Lord.”

“So… What? You’ll just take turns dating me until I point one of you as the Dark Lord?” My voice rose again, higher than I expected.

To my annoyance, Alexander jabbed a slice of meat with his fork and forced it to my mouth instead of answering my question. Since my mouth was opened, I had to accept the meat. So, I chewed and swallowed quickly. I still had so many questions burning inside me.

“How am I supposed to crown one of you, anyway?”

This time, Alexander shrugged. “Only you would know.”

“Well, I don’t!”

“Then you’ll know once it is time.” He forked another piece of meat. But before he could force it on my mouth again, I had grabbed the fork. He glared at my rude behavior yet I did not care.

“Until it is time, just date each of us,” he said, “You’ll spend a day with one man only. You can eat with them, dance, have sex–“

“What?”

“Sex, Arianna,” he said, “You know, that thing we usually did every day when you were still my sugar baby?”

I felt the heat rising to my cheeks.

“You can even make babies with each man. And you can be pregnant multiple times until you crown one of us,” he said in a condescending tone. As if I was a real slut and a sex craze.

“Enough,” I muttered. I did not like it one bit. To date each man? Well, they were hot. But they were strangers to me. Plus, they were supernatural beings!

“Why are you pretending to be innocent?” Alexander sneered at her, “You used to suck my cock every day with that unique technique of yours.”

“Stop it.” It was embarrassing to hear that straight from Alexander’s mouth. Especially in the presence of three other men. It was personal and it should stay between us. And yet he talked about it like it was nothing.

“What was the name of the technique? Ah, Arianna’s Magic?”

“I said stop it, Alexander!”

“Are you for real?” he asked, “Because you usually said that for our roleplay and that is our code that you wanted it rougher–“

My hand moved on its own. A moment before, I saw Alexander blabber about my personal experience. The next, I saw my hand had poured a glass of water into his face. The head of the family was drenched. At least, it stopped his foul mouth.

I could hear Michael and Javier gasped. Even Renald and Tony stopped their eating.

We only stared at each other for the next several seconds. He looked at me angrily, while I tried to make sense of what I had just done.

“You’ll start dating each of us by tomorrow,” he said. His lip line went straight. “You must attend family dinner every day. And you can start working on your… project whenever.”

He threw a napkin to his plate that had not been touched at all. Then he stood up. I felt the panic sinking into me once his body leaned on my chair. He put one hand on the top of my chair and the other on the table in front of me. His face was so close that I could not breathe. I kept thinking that I just made an immortal sorcerer mad and it would not end well.

“Behave, Ann,” he hissed in a deep tone. I knew so well that he was threatening me. “Or else.”

I did not dare to ask what he meant. My breathing became laborious as I nodded. He suddenly turned his body and walked out of the door of the dining room, closing the door with a loud bang.

I exhaled a breath once I saw his figure gone. The maid approached me after several minutes and asked me if I want to be escorted to my room. As I felt really drained, I nodded at her. Then I saw the fallen gazes of Renald and Tony. I picked up the message that the dinner would have to be over once both the ‘Father’ and ‘Mother’ were finished.

“I’ll be going first,” I said, “But please continue your meal to your content.” Renald’s eyes lit up at my permission. Tony nodded at me as if to say thanks. While Michael… well, he was still the cold and expressionless Michael.

It was weird for me seeing that three supernatural men relied on my permission. But I did not ponder on the thought much longer. I quickly followed the maid to my assumed room.

I really just wanted to sleep it out for once. I would think more about what just happened once I got up.

But things seemed to only get worse after that. Worse. And Steamy. But still... worse.