Kofi—leaving the two of them alone In the living room, Cecilia could hear the sound of her nervous palpitating heartbeat play into her ears.
This was the last worst situation she would have wished to have never found herself in.
"Tell me, what's this stupid game yourself and my mother are trying to pull off?" He didn't waste time to ask, his voice soaked in a bitter tone.
Ceceila took some steps back as she could see the fury in his eyes as usual.
"If I knew, I wouldn't have been here today don't you think?" She looked up to meet his gaze but she regrets it instantly as his eyes bore deep into her.
"Why do you even think I have a hand in this? Obviously your mother is the main reason behind all this. And besides, you agreed to this didn't you? Why would you even agree to marry a stranger in the first place?"
Cecelia didn't know when but she had begun talking too much and too lousy at that. But she was also frustrated just like he was. Getting married to him was like a curse that she would try so hard not to bear.
"It's funny how you think because you no longer work for me, you can talk as carelessly as you please." His voice was rough and cold, as if he was circling and threatening a prey he had just fetched.
Ceceila didn't make eye contact with him. Neither did she say anything more to him. They were both obviously too confused and tensed to have a normal discussion.
Not that there was anything normal about the person she was conversing with. She thought.
"What are you guys doing?" Their attention was pulled back to Agnes voice sounding from behind. "Lunch is….,"
The sound of the doorbell cut her off. While she silently approached us, her focus remained on the door, as a maid had rushed over to open, as well as Cecelia's gaze. She didn't want to be taken off guard again.
The moment the door opened, a guy stepped in— a smile on his face.
"Bryan hunny, you made it." Agnes immediately made her way towards the guy who had just arrived.
"It's nice to see you mother. Although I was surprised when you…." His voice paused as his eyes locked with that of Cecelia, "... called me over." His voice trailed off but his gaze remained on her.
Ceceila felt weird with the way he was staring at her, but more weird because she felt like she knew the man from somewhere. His face, presence, it all appeared familiar to her.
But where exactly had she met.
"Come, let me introduce you to someone quickly so we can all go have lunch." Agnes said, leading the man towards Cecilia and Vincent who had been quiet since the moment the man showed up.
"Aren't you boys going to greet yourselves?"
Cecelia looked back and saw absolutely nothing on Vincent's face. It was blank and emotionless, as if he had no care or interest with what was happening what so ever.
"We both know how Vincent can be whenever I try to greet him." The man said but Vince didn't shake one bit.
Agnes turned to Ceceila who was still in the middle of everything. "Darling, this is my oldest son and Vince's older brother Bryan. And Bryan, meet Cecilia, your Brother's fiancee."
"Fiancee? I was suspecting no girl would end up with my brother with this attitude of his." Bryan said, his gaze scrutinizing his brother's new pet
"You really do have ways with things mum." Vince said in a not so amused tone. "Is this supposed to be a family get together event or something?"
"Can you just try to be nice just this once Vincent." Agnes complained while Cecilia stared silently at the awkward family dynamics going on before her.
"That should be the last thing you should be telling me now mum." His didn't even batter an eyelash at Agnes'plea and it only made Cecilia come to a conclusion on her boss. He wasn't rude to just her or his workers;
It was literally everyone around him.
While the tension continued between the mother and son, Cecilia didn't know when her gaze moved and landed on the other Quinn son. He seemed to have been staring at her for a while and there was a glint of something in his eyes that she couldn't quite understand.
But it indeed made her uncomfortable. That and the fact that she still couldn't decipher where exactly she had seen his face before.
All of a sudden, silence formed in their midst. Cecelia watched Agnes take long exhausting breaths before finally pulling another smile on her lips effortlessly as if she hadn't been sulking a few seconds ago.
"Let's go to the dining room shall we."
Finally the two brothers looked at themselves and Ceceila could feel the weight both men's stare carried.
Hopefully, dinner would not be as eventful as the last couple of hours. Cecelia thought.
At the dinner table, no soul said a word to each other. Cecilia sat in-between her father and brother; Kofi. While both Agnes and Vince sat at either ends of the table and the other two Quinn Children sat opposite Cecilia them.
Cecelia found the three Younger Quinns strange. Vincent, as she already knew, had serious rude, bossy and nonchalant issues that he really needed to revisit. Channel, the only Quin heiress hasn't stopped taking pictures of herself and her food since the table dishes were served. She obviously looked like she hadn't even worked one day in her lifetime.
And then there was him, the oldest one—Bryan. She could notice the subtle glances he passed at her every now and then. His stare, it burned into her skin and she felt her throat run dry each time she looked up and their eyes clashed.
Why did he keep staring at her like that?, Cecilia thought as she tried to brush away the uncomfortable feeling rising in her.
"I must say, you sure did very well with your kids George. Even if it was all by yourself." Agnes finally spoke, turning to look at George
"Oh well, as you can see, I'm not the only one. You also did excellent work with these three from the looks of it." Agnes laughed lightly. Her gaze finally turned to settle on Ceceila who's attention remained stuck on the food.
"Are you alright darling?" There was no response. "Ceceila?"
"Huh?" She finally rose up her head. "I'm sorry ma'am, what did you say?"
"Everything alright pumpkin?" Her father asked and Ceceila just forced a smile on her face
"I'm fine dad."
"Is the food not to your liking? I could ask Mariam to bring something different if you'd…." Agnes asked, concern painting her face but Chanel cut her off
"Oh mum please, if she's not interested in eating, she can always leave it." Chanel's voice finally sounded in the room and her mother turned to give her a sharp glare
"Watch your mouth young lady." Agnes warned but Chanel's expression was indifferent to her mother's warning, passing a silent death glare towards Ceceila.
"Anyways, moving over to something much more interesting, you…" Channel called out and I trace her line of sight towards the person besides me.
Kofi.
Kofi on the other hand doesn't realize he's the one being addressed.
"Hello, Vincent's employee's brother.." she called out again and Cecelia felt uncomfortable with the words she had been described with.
Kofi looked up, annoyance already written on his face as he stared at the last Quinn heiress.
"So tell me, what do you do? Where do you stay? You look like the type of guy who…." Kofi cut off her excited trail of questions
"I don't think any of those things are of your concern in any way." His voice came out curt and cold in a sense which was supposed to wipe away Chanel's smile. But she brushed it off
"I'm just curious about you. You seem to be the only interesting thing on this table." She spoke out and before Kofi could talk, Cecilia beat him to it
"My brother is not a thing." She said blankly. "If you're looking for something to play with, you have your phone don't you?"
The table went into another ball of silence. Channel gave her a death glare as if she would willingly kill her on the spot if she could.
"Who do you think…." Before Chanel could speak further, Cecilia rose from her sit.
"Um, please where can I find the restroom?"
"Oh, it's on the left wing, the last door down the hall." Agnes said and Cecilia gave her a small smile before walking out of the room, hoping to get a break from Channel's problematic mouth, Bryan's creepy and unexplained stares, and her ex boss's silent ass.
Few minutes Later, Cecilia exited the bathroom only to catch presence of Bryan outside the door.
"You can go in if you'd like." She tried to leave but he immediately blocked her path.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm more interested in you than the toilet right now." His voice was low as a smile danced on his lips
"What crazy thing are you saying? Can you please let me through" She said, getting annoyed by his unexplained behavior.
"Do you really not know who I am?"
"Do I look like I do? So now can I go now?" She tried going again but he blocked her.
His gaze on her was deep and hard, finding their way as if they were forcing themselves to read through her.
A wider smile came to form on his lips.
"You're pretty."