☘︎ Jᴇɴɴɪғᴇʀ Rʏsᴏɴ ☘︎

My father had always been an art enthusiast.

It was evident in every millions worth paintings hanging in display on the off-white walls of the endless hallways of his villa and the artifacts Samuel Davidson had collected in his prime years.

The Davidson Villa itself is a marvelous architecture of ivory stone and floor-to-ceiling windows situated in the very center of a hundred-acres land. Golf club, swimming pools, gym, flower gardens and greenhouse, theater and hunting grounds, you name it and everything housed within this land.

I hated this place.

It was a fucked up image of a dreamland, and yet these lands burried more secrets than a graveyard.

Standing here at the doorstep of the Davidson Villa, my father's villa, after twelve years of not stepping foot here, sent equal parts displeasure and deja vu into my system.

The old housekeeper Samantha, one of the few staffs my father hadn't changed after the incident, takes one look at me upon opening the front door and raw recognition shines in her features.

I don't know how I felt about that.

Thankfully, whatever shock she felt, Samantha seals it in, addressing me as Miss Ryson instead of Davidson and politely leads me towards Mia's room when I tell I'm her I'm here to visit Mia.

"This place is like a freaking museum!" Viviane sighs dreamily, her eyes turning googly at the sight of a Monet painting, "If only I could be good at painting more than stick figurines, I'd have been a self-made millionaire who sells paintings worth millions."

Viviane is my newly appointed personal secretary by Sayeed since he decided to take an out-of-nowhere one year leave to attend to his pregnant wife. Ayesha is barely two months in, but Sayeed wanted to spend his days with her in her maternity duration until the birth of their baby. I understood him, really.

But the problem is, Viviane is a chattering creature who wouldn't shut up for the love of heaven. I had a major headache building with the amount she'd talked from our eight hours journey in the jet from London to New York.

Samantha halts in front of a beautifully designed wooden door with Mia's name carved in studs over it, "Miss Mia is resting here. Mrs Davidson is with her."

I turn to Viviane, "Could you stay with them here?" I gesture towards the four stoic as a robot bodyguards.

Viviane nods her head like a bobblehead, "Sure." She answers cheerfully, going as far as raising both her thumbs up in my direction.

Her enthusiasm was a bit. . .unsettling. But who was I to have a say.

Taking a deep breath, I push open the carved door and step into Mia's room.

Even in the loose blue hospital gown and the fatigue lining her features, my step-sister is beautiful as ever. With the IV jutted in her hand, Mia is sitting with her back against the headboard of the bed, a royally bored look plastered all over her face as the doctor droned on about some diet plan to keep her condition stable.

We had found out about Mia's Artial Septal defect a few years ago when she'd fainted from a sudden loss of oxygen in the middle of a gala event. It was a heart condition where a person had a hole in the upper part of their heart. The hole caused increased blood to flow to the blood vessels of the lungs which might result in high blood pressure, shortage of oxygen or even heart failure.

Technically it's a birth defect but Mia had been diagnosed with it later on in her adulthood. The doctors claimed that the hole would usually close up on its own with adequate medication and time but in extreme cases, she might need a surgery. We'd stalled it up until today because Mia had seemed perfectly fine.

I knew the doctors were the best of surgeons in the globe and they'd have taken care of it but I couldn't help worrying. Mia had always been my constant since childhood. Even back when she wasn't my sister yet, she'd been my best friend.

"Jennifer?" A feminine voice snaps me out of my reverie, making me divert my eyes to the woman who spoke.

Moon, my step-mother, is seated on the couch at a corner of the room, dressed in her branded clothes and smelling of limited edition perfume. Mia is a spitting image of her mother, both of them adorning doll-like vietnamese facial features and glossy brown hair that never lost their allure.

"It's a surprise to see you here." Moon went on, the general guardedness filling her chocolate eyes whenever she's around me, "You haven't visited Davidson Villa in years."

It was true. Even in the past when I'd visited New York, I'd never stepped foot in here. Mia had always gotten out of her way to show up wherever I stay just so she could meet me.

While Mia and I were like two peas in a pod, Moon and I had always had a neutral ground. We didn't hate, neither like each other. It was just acknowledging the other's presence when we had to while not caring whatever happened to one another when we weren't around.

Maybe that was why even when Moon had married my father because of the scandal years ago, I hadn't cared much. But she'd been vary of me ever since 'the incident' and it was understandable, considering Moon was one of the few who knew my real identity and the truth of that night.

Her mother addressing my name has Mia's attention snapping to me.

"JENNA!" I see my sister's chocolate eyes light up and she almost jumps out of the bed in excitement if it weren't for the doctor holding her back.

Not bothering to answer Moon's words, I rush towards Mia's outstretched arms.

With a light chuckle, I hug her, careful not to put pressure near her chest. Mia huffs as if I'm being bothersome and nearly chokes my neck with her bone-crushing hug, completely unbothered about her fresh surgery patch.

"Miss, you need to be careful-" The doctor looks close to fainting from worry but Mia waves him off. She'd always been a little reckless.

When Mia finally lets me go, her eyes twinkle up at me, "You're here to stay?"

My throat clogs up, "Mia. . ."

"Pleaseeee." Mia imitates those obscenely big, weird eyes that looked as if there were stars in her eyes, "You can't ignore my puppy eyes now. Stay here in the villa, for me." She prodded with a pout, notching up the voltage of her 'puppy eyes'.

Moon walks upto us, her face pinched, "Mia, sweety, you know Jennifer and her father don't-"

Mia's face falls drastically and Moon looks conflicted whether to disrupt her daughter's mood. Heart patients are advised to remain in a happy environment and Mia had just gotten out of a surgery. . .

"I'll stay." I assert, albeit hesitantly.

Mia smiles wider than the sun, "Hell yeah!"

Atleast enduring the discomfort and ugly memories are worth something.

Mia is about to pull me into another bone-crushing embrace when I hear the gentle knock before the door opens.

Mia pauses midway, her eyes filling with pure confusion as she looks behind me at someone.

"Lykas." She whispers, the surprise evident in her voice.

My entire body freezes and I tell myself it's not the same person I think it is.

Yet when I turn around to take a look at the visitor, Lykas Vitallis is leaning against the doorframe in all his glory, wearing a sage green wool sweater underneath a denim jacket paired with washed jeans. There's a large bouquet of roses in his hands and a clear look of absolute disbelief on his face.

But when my narrowed eyes meet his champagne coloured irises, a mocking smirk pulls up on his lips, "Well well, if it isn't Jennifer Ryson."

--------᪥♔︎᪥-------

Don't ask me why a character is named Viviane after me💀
My sister is the one who helped me decide the characters' personalities so I let her chose most of their names except Jennifer and ofcourse, she choose the most annoying character to name after me💀✋️😭

Anyways, my dilemma aside, what do you make of the chapter? Any theories?👀

Your thoughts on Mia and Moon?