Daisy listened to Aunty Lu’s explanation very patiently till the end and realized that the woman probably just caught Ryle in a bad mood. The people around Ryle were accustod to his intimidating side but for this woman who had watched him growing up and thought the the man has grown up to be a "gentle and kind gentleman’’, it was a bit unsettling.
When Aunty Lu was presenting Ryle as a soft and sweet person last night, Daisy knew that it was not long before her illusion would shatter. Because staying under one roof was different from one’s accumulated first impression of a person. However, she did not expect the ti to co so soon.
Daisy changed the topic, to not the woman be bothered about it any further, ’’I think it has to do with the fact that I am staying in the Master Bedroom.’’
Such a huge mansion and there were no extra bedrooms. Even the bedroom downstairs used to be a store room. When Diana had ran from Beijing with Angel, she had looked for places up for rent and got a studio apartnt option, which was the house next door. However due to so misunderstanding, Diana ended up at Ryle’s mansion.
At that ti, Ryle was out on a business trip and the house and his parrot were left in Maxim’s care. It was Maxim, who got people to modify half of Ryle’s house to suit Diana’s taste while Ryle was away. Even the garden in front of the mansion that was filled with blooming roses were arranged and adjusted according to Diana’s aesthetics.
Diana used to think the place belonged to Maxim hence she did not find it abnormal but now every ti she ntioned that ti, she would end up laughing till the point of tears realizing how Maxim had no inhibitions in treating Ryle’s place as his own.
’’You look much more beautiful when you smile.’’
Aunty Lu’s voice woke Daisy up from her trance. She scratched her neck slightly.
Realizing that the girl seed to have gotten awkward, Aunty Lu burst out in a peal of laughter, ’’What a silly child...’’ The woman paused suddenly when her eyes caught glimpse of sothing, ’’Oh dear, what injured you so brutally?’’ Daisy’s skin on her neck had turned purple and the woman caught a glimpse of it when Daisy moved her neck.
’’What?" As Daisy touched her neck, her thoughts flew back to the events that transpired in the kitchen last night. She did not even realize when the man’s teeth had applied enough pressure on her skin to mark her but now that she touched those places, they seed rather tender and sore.
Feeling Aunty Lu’s inquisitive gaze, Daisy imdiately pulled the shirt’s collar to hide it, ’’Just so mosquito bites.’’
Aunty Lu hadn’t seen those marks properly because of Daisy’s shirt but she knew they were anything but mosquito bites. She connected it to yesterday’s events.
When she was brought to this place, Angel was left in her care while Daisy was in the room, unconscious, that she deduced when she heard the doctor’s words in passing. Daisy had so wound on her forehead and when Aunty Lu was cleaning the bedroom, she gathered chunks of long hair wrapped in tissue from the dustbin.
The place where she worked all those years ago had exposed her to the dangers outside. And she had seen enough to know that Daisy had her own secrets.
Sigh, the pitiful child.
Hence, Daisy did not know that in the eyes of Aunty Lu, Ryle’s ’’activities’’ and her ’’exchanges’’ with his were labelled as the ’’brutality of the world’’.
She could not understand why the woman was looking at her with what seed like... a gaze of pity.
’’Don’t worry about this. When Ryle cos back today, I’ll talk to him about the arrangent of the rooms,’’ Daisy changed the topic.
It would be inconvenient for him if she stayed in the Master Bedroom and since she was staying over for so ti, it was better to have so proper arrangents. Although Ryle did not seem to be in a good mood last night, but she believed that they had a mature conversation and he would understand her implications.
’’Co back today?"
Daisy looked at the woman in confusion.
’’Master has left for a business trip. We don’t know when he will co back. You were sleeping so probably that’s why you are unaware about it.
Daisy’s hand slowly moved away from her neck, settling on her lap.
...
"Yes, there... there...’’
Daisy sat by Angel’s side on the bed, stroking the little girl as she watched people moving shelves and shelves of clothes inside the Master bedroom. Then, there were boxes that two ladies carried to the bathroom.
’’Arrange little miss’s stuff around there. Yes, yes, those toys too...’’ Aunty Lu continued with her commands.
The scene was familiar to Daisy. Hasn’t this happened in Shanghai before? Just one stay at the hotel and the amount of things that Ryle had arranged was extravagant enough to give her a headache.
As it turned out, the main purpose of Aunty Lu’s conversation was not the small gossips, but this. She ca to tell that before Ryle left, he had made all arrangents so that both Daisy and Angel would not have any discomfort around the place.
Even the dark coloured curtains were changed to lighter ones and blinds were installed.
During the whole process, Daisy stood on the bed blankly with the blanket draped over her legs. A mont ago, she did not even have a decent dress to cover herself so she was sitting in Ryle’s shirt that was slipping from every side of her body. And now that she saw, various dresses being carried around in a row, all designer, her worldview had changed.
She glanced at her phone that was lying by her side. She picked it up and started typing before she eventually sent a text.
’What are these?’
The text was not seen so Daisy let out a soft sigh and placed her phone down.
Seeing that the elaborate arrangents showed no signs of slowing down, Daisy recovered from her initial shock and tried to wake Angel up.
But the little girl nestled in her arms, looked at her from her half opened eyes, ’’Mommy..mommy... no wakey...’’
"_"
Mommy was more awake now than she was earlier. Daisy wanted to say but again, she found herself speechless when two more people stepped inside and started changing the paintings on the walls to softer ones.
It did not look like they were guests but instead...
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