4. Worse

GENESIS

She found it strange that the people of this house rarely interacted with one other. Everybody just went about their tasks and only spoke to one another when it was absolutely necessary. There was no sense of togetherness in the household at all.

Today in particular, it was even stranger, almost eerie. The silence in the house rang in her head and she could feel goosebumps sprout on her skin. If one looked at her close enough, they would see the hairs on her skin standing upright, that was how strange it felt to be in that house at that moment.

She would have asked someone what was going on, but she was sure that nobody would respond to her. Since she arrived, nobody had spared her anything more than a glance, even her greetings had fallen to the floor and gotten trampled on.

She did not knock when before she went in Elon's room and she soon realized that that was a huge mistake. A pair of bloodshot eyes had met hers as soon as she stepped foot in the room; that gaze had her rooted in that spot, unable to do anything but blink. In her chest, her heart beat erratically, almost like it was going to crack her ribcage and jump out of her body.

His hands were hanging limply by his sides, and he looked at her almost as if he could see through her, that scared her even more. For a moment, she thought that Dante was just staring into space, but he proved otherwise when he let out just one word.

"Leave."

She, for the life of her, could not figure out why she could not move from there. Perhaps, the terror she was feeling at that moment had rendered her stiff and dumbfounded. She saw one of his brows rise, whether in threat or in question, she did not know. But that was the little push that she needed to spin and dash out of the room as fast as she was able to.

In all the years of her career, never had she come across such strange situations. She needed a strong drink. It was very unlike her to crave such things, but what she had just seen was enough to justify her longing. That man had looked like everything dangerous and scary, like something one would see in a nightmare or a horror movie.

She had just pulled out her phone to call Sara when someone asked her, "you're still here?"

She looked up from her phone and was faced with wide eyes, filled with nothing but fear. The woman was even panting like she had been running.

"Nobody stays here on this day." The middle aged woman continued. Her eyes reduced to slits, causing the corner of her eyes to crinkle even more. "Oh, you don't know that, do you?"

At that moment, Genesis was sure that there was nobody on earth that could have been more confused than she was. She asked, "I don't know what? What are you talking about?"

"Our boss and his son spend this day alone every year, all staff must be away." The woman stepped closer and, in a little over a whisper, she said, "Today is his wife's death anniversary."

With that, not even wasting another second, the woman turned around and walked away as fast as she could. Still, all Genesis could do was stand there with her lips gaped. At that moment, her mind was a whirlwind, spiraling uncontrollably. The way Dante had looked at her, the chillness of his voice, the fear in that woman's eyes, everything jumbled in her head. She was stunned, and it was not in a good way.

With feet as heavy as lead, she dragged herself down the stairs and out the mansion. She needed to see Sara and pour everything out to her immediately.

•°•°•

"Girl, I don't think it's that serious." Sara flicked her wrist, waving off everything that Genesis had just told her.

"I know what I saw, Sara." Genesis insisted, everything that happened was still fresh in her head. "His eyes are the scariest things I have seen in my life." Just the mere remembrance sent shivers down her spine. She hugged herself, caressing her arms as a form of comfort.

"The man wants to spend the day alone with his son to remember his dead wife, what is the big deal in that?" Sara asked, unable to understand why her friend was so worked up about the whole thing.

Genesis gave up, realizing that, no matter how much she explained, Sara would never see reasons with her. With a sigh, she lifted the bottle of whiskey between them and refilled her glass. It was a little more than she usually took, but she felt like she needed it.

"We both know that you cannot handle that much alcohol." Sara reminded her. But Genesis did not care, this was the only way she knew to forget events, even though it was going to be temporary.

"If you're getting wasted over a simple look, what would you do if worse should happen?" Sara threw that question and Genesis paused with her glass between her lips. That simple question caused even more to roam in her head.

Could worse happen?

Was he capable of doing worse?

Did it feel like he could do worse?

Genesis was already afraid as it was, but what scared her even more was the fact that her answer to all those questions was yes. It was possible that even worse could happen and she would have no way to escape it.

She looked at her friend, she did not know how to respond, so she ignored her. And with one swig of the glass, she flushed the whiskey down her throat, concentrating on burn. She did not want to think of that scary man at the moment. But at the back of her mind, she knew that she was eventually going to quit caring for his son.