Rachel stormed down through the hallway, up the steps and to the west wing where her grandmother's office was. She had finished the meal before leaving, but it did nothing to calm her nerves. It was clear what grandmother was doing. Putting them into close proximity in order to get them closer, that was her plan.
Although there was no point. Had Isla not reminded him of the man, she would have completely forgotten him.
"Rachel, wait!" Isla called out from behind.
Rachel slowed down just enough for her to catch up. Calming down just a tiny bit, she caught a glance of Isla's worried face, which made it hard to keep her head hot.
"You at least wanna tell me what you're thinking?"
"Don't you think grandma let him visit for some other purpose?" Rachel asked.
"Well, yeah, but it's not that harmful if there's actually nothing happening, right?" Isla said.
Isla was right, but what if... But no. Rachel didn't want to just let grandmother do what she wanted, and she'd follow her words to the beat.
As they reached the door to the office, Isla sprinted ahead, and the door swung open before Rachel's foot could plant itself onto it.
"Isla!" Rachel shouted, more due to the danger if she accidentally hit her.
"You're really going to do that to these expensive doors? Look at how expensive it looks. It's mahogany, Rachel!" Isla said.
Rachel grumbled. "But I wanted to kick it!"
"And ruin a perfectly good expensive door that looks expensive? No, thank you. Gerard will thank me for this one." Isla smirked.
Rachel grumbled even more. The satisfaction of kicking down the door was stolen from her. It'd only be the second time she ever did that to grandmother's office.
Entering the room, she saw grandmother sitting behind her desk. Her dark red hair was pinned up into a bun with a single black needle. She didn't even look up at the commotion and continued facing her monitor before even giving them attention.
"Grandmother." Rachel walked up to the desk, slamming her palms onto the desk. "Send William Elisworth home."
"Good evening to you too, Rachel." Esther continued scrolling. "How was your snack?"
"The snack was good," Rachel gritted her teeth. "Just send him home!"
"It's just a visit." Esther finally glanced up, her expression mild. "A quick thirty-minute visit and he'd be gone from your view. What's the harm?"
"The harm is you didn't ask me. What's the point of this visit anyways?! We're not even that close!"
"I didn't realize I needed your permission to invite guests into my own home."
"When the guest is here to see ME, yes, you do!"
Esther leaned back in her chair. "The Elisworth family has been expanding their business operations into Africa. They've acquired quite a few distribution lanes for rift materials that heads back to Britain. A friendly meeting creates goodwill between our families, especially when the Elisworth boy has requested it himself."
"So what? Why can't you send someone like Abigail or Ezra or maybe even Aunt Leah?!"
"And leave you out of the political world? I think your future self would find it inconvenient if you had not started earlier."
"This isn't about politics. This is about you making decisions about MY life without telling me. I could do what I need to do without your meddling."
"It's been 5 years, Rachel. You're still young, but you still dabble in mundane university courses, and I tolerate that. In return, you will do as I say for the good of the family."
"That doesn't give you the right to choose who can be around me! The last time I saw this guy was like what, two years ago or something?"
"16 months ago."
"So what, I'm just a chess piece you can use so that you can get access to those supply lines that I'm not even involved in?!"
"No. Definitely not." A slight unnoticeable smile appeared on Esther's lips that only Rachel could recognize. "He's just really here to have a 'talk' with you. That's all it is. Abigail is already in talks with the Elisworth family."
"Then send him back!"
"He's already here, Rachel. You wouldn't want to be rude and send him back after coming all the way from Britain, would you?"
Rachel took a step back. It's true, it was rude. But that wasn't her fault. The man came here on his own without notifying her whether she was busy or not. And clearly, Isla was more important than him.
"You are an Ann, Rachel. All the things you and those around you enjoy in your life are because you are an Ann," Esther said.
Gritting her teeth, now she was bringing in her friends. She possibly also had her eyes on Gale, not to mention Ollie, who's already very well in touch with Abigail. Basically, it was a threat. But she couldn't take it lying down.
"And you'd threaten your own granddaughter just to have your way?" Rachel said.
"Clearly not. What I'm saying is, you may enjoy the benefits as long as you meet the bare minimum of what I ask you to do. Should we be rude to the heir of the Elisworth, it would hinder Abigail's progress. Do you want that instead?"
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Clenching her hands into a fist and holding her breath, Rachel was caught. This was one thing that her grandmother was always good at. She twisted the scenarios in order to make her do the things she wanted. Always making her feel as if she were doing what she wanted, always controlling the situation to her tune.
"Hey," Isla said softly. "Take a breath."
"No. No breathing for me because of her!"
"Ok, you're actually sounding stupid now." Isla squeezed her shoulder. "But think about it for a second. Wouldn't it be way more fun to let Will know you're absolutely not interested? Look at me."
Rachel looked into her eyes.
"Last time, 2 years ago, you were too polite to him."
"That's because of..."
Isla put her hand on Rachel's mouth, then said, "Yeah, I know. My point is, why not have some fun and see his reaction? Imagine the look on his face. Right?"
Rachel paused, taking deep, slow breaths, glancing back and forth between Esther and Isla.
"And more importantly," Isla's voice turned serious, expression serious, eyes serious, "don't you want to know what's going on between him and that Mo girl? Aurian times a year and a half ago. Will and the Mo girl escaped Class 4 rift in Romania hand in hand and now he's coming to meet you. Think about it, Rachel. Think."
That did happen. Rachel completely forgot, and she did search up all Neomie and Will's social media to find out the tea. It was also the time she had just come back from a rift raid. A much needed decompression that took around 7 hours of online stalking that Isla completely knew she did.
A weird smile appeared on Rachel's face. Then, the chuckling began at the thought of seeing the face of the arrogant jerk at her rejection.
"That's it, Rachel. Let's drink the tea. Drink the tea." Isla whispered into her ear, making her chuckle even more.
"How do you know me so well?" Rachel held onto Isla's hand with both hands. "Let's go."
"That's the spirit."
Before leaving the office, Rachel looked back at her grandmother and casually said, "Hmph!"
Both of them walked out of the office side by side.
"So how are we going to start talking to him?" Isla asked, walking side by side with Rachel.
"I haven't figured that out yet."
"I thought you knew how to handle etiquette and manners? Being from a family and all!"
"Do you remember french?"
"No."
"I thought so."
"But manners are more like 'Hello, my dear friend William Elisworth. How do you do today?'" Isla said in a fake British accent.
"That sounds ridiculous."
"I know. Better than nothing."
They were halfway through the hallway when Isla grabbed her arm, looking further down the corridor.
"Hold on, Rachel. Why is that woman floating and why is she blue?"
Rachel saw the annoying blue one coming towards them, probably heading to her grandmother's office. Her legs were moving in a walking motion, completely not normal distance between each step as she floated instead of actually stepping onto the carpet.
"And why is she faking her walk? Am I tripping right now? She's not walking right! She's floating!" Isla whispered loudly.
"Because she's as stupid as grandmother!" Rachel yelled as they kept walking, crossing paths with Erin.
"The woman of fire's petty insults do not faze me," Erin said monotonously. "Begone, woman of fire and her friend that has more sense."
"Nice to meet you too," Isla forced a smile, then whispered into Rachel's ear. "Why is she calling you woman of fire and why is she calling me friend that has more sense?"
"Ignore her! She's just weird like that," Rachel said.
"Weirdness is but a subjective perspective on what is logical, woman of fire," Erin said as she continued walking down the corridor, finally disappearing.
Rachel grumbled. The old women in the house were really getting on her nerves.
"Okay, now that she's gone, what's up with her?"Isla asked.
"That's Erin. She's an alien in the most literal way."
"That doesn't explain anything!"
"Think of a computer that has emotions, understands social norms, but completely rejects both," Rachel sighed. "You get that floating bluey."
"Floating bluey. I like it," Isla smiled.
Passing through the central lobby, both of them walked into the east wing hallway. Portraits of the Ann Family women lined both walls. By now, both of them didn't bother looking at each portrait.
Isla yawned as they walked. "Why did Gerard reject my idea? Golf carts in these hallways would be so convenient."
"I asked for them too. But grandma just told me no..."
"That sucks. What about scooters?"
"Scooters might work. Let me ask Gerard."
Before they reached Rachel's room, they stopped just a door before. On their left was the reception room of the east wing, specifically for those who wanted to meet with her. Last time she used it was with Gale. Pouring in wine for him and him thinking that it was grape juice was quite adorable.
Yet all Rachel and Isla did was stare at the reception room's door. Turning to Isla, she said, "What the hell was I supposed to say again?"
Isla paused for a second. "I don't even know."
"Wasn't this your plan?"
"Yeah, but I thought you had something in mind to start up the conversation!" Isla sighed. "I don't know how rich people introduce themselves. Maybe offer him chamomile tea or something. Or green tea."
"But he's a guy. Do guys even drink tea? Chamomile tea?"
"Why do you keep asking me things about guys? I'm also single, so who the hell knows?" Isla said. "Does Gale even like tea?"
Rachel flushed. "Don't bring him into this."
"I'm just asking!"
"And I don't know if he likes tea. He likes coffee with a lot of sugar."
"How much sugar?"
"Eight to ten teaspoons."
"That's basically dessert."
"I know."
"So does that mean he's not going to like tea?"
"Probably not." Rachel thought about it. "Actually, I don't know."
"Maybe he'd like milk tea or bubble tea. Have you tried giving him that?" Isla asked.
"Shoot. I forgot about that. He liked coffee with milk and lots of sugar... that makes sense. I guess."
"You guess? Just go get bubble tea when you shop with him next week."
"Which one though?"
"You airhead. Any of them! It's not like he'd care about the quality."
"But I care about the quality."
"Didn't you say he was fine off beast jerky for months?"
"But that was in the rift."
"That means his taste is already broken. Who cares!"
"I care!"
"Airhead! Just take him to any! Watch him while he drinks and see his adorkable face when he likes it."
"I will! Calm down!" Rachel said, then her eyes narrowed at Isla. "Why are you so invested in this?"
"It's tea for me too!"
"Fine, but you owe me milk tea this Saturday if you want me to tell you later."
"Like you'd gatekeep that info for yourself."
The door to the reception lobby suddenly opened. William stepped out, looking at both of them. He had dirty blond hair in a clean messy style that looked to be on purpose, as if he was going to go out on a date. Square glasses that fit his soft but sharp features. He wore casual clothes, a black button up shirt that was unbuttoned over a white t-shirt and straight blue jeans.
Isla leaned close to Rachel's ear and whispered, "He doesn't look very noble. Last time we saw him, didn't he wear a suit?"
"That was a formal meeting, obviously he'd wear a suit. And there's no such thing as nobles," Rachel whispered back.
"The Aurian families might as well be nobles."
"There's a difference."
"What's the difference?"
"Why are you asking? Just trust me."
"This 'trust me, bro' isn't going to cut it with me. How am I going to get employed by your family?"
"You're crazy if you wanna work under my family."
"Are you dumb? I'm already best friends with one!"
"Shut up. That's different."
"How's that any different?!"
William cleared his throat, catching the two girls' attention. "Hello, young lady Ann. How are you this evening? And her friend, Isla, from last time, if I recall correctly."
For a couple of seconds, no one talked. Then, Isla nudged Rachel, who then cleared her throat.
"Hello my..." Rachel paused. "Hello, friend William Elisworth, how do you do today?"
William's single eyebrow raised, giving her a weird look.
"Pfft." Isla laughed.
"I'm doing... well. Do you wanna come in?" William asked.
"Sure!" Isla said, entering the room first, dragging Rachel by the hand.
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