HONEYMOON

"How possible? I was told differently." Roderick felt that this wasn't possible. His men wouldn't lie to him even if it depended on their lives.

"You would not have been told correctly even if the best linguist had been there. We have our own special way of communicating and it can't be understood easily. I'm sure that's why he used it. He first threatened me with money. Ha! Can you believe it? Money!", at first she said in a calm and low voice but as she continued her voice became louder and mocking.

"I hate myself", Elena breathed out so lowly that it was barely a whisper however because of Roderick's sharp ears, he heard what she said. His heart thumped hard, fast, painfully in his chest. She shouldn't, she should never ever hate herself.

Roderick's thought drifted to that day. That day had been deeply craved deep down in his cold-stoned heart without him even knowing. That day he had heard some interesting news about his brother's girlfriend. They had fought and due to Cameron's offensive words,[which I prefer not to write] Elena had slapped him. A slap hard enough to leave the red print of her small hand. Each of her slender fingers had drawn perfectly and his delicate cheek that had swollen from the hard impact.

That was about half a month ago and it had been three years after...well, after Camilla. He had been broken but after hearing the tale, Roderick couldn't help but burst into a fit of laughter. The laughter went on and on for a few minutes. It was the first time he had smiled genuinely after such a long period of darkness and heartache.

After doing a background check, he found that she had lost her parents and her best friend, about three years ago. Then after going through her social media accounts, he found a few pictures of her. That was when he found out about her incredible beauty. But there was this one picture that caught his attention.

In that photo, she wore a wide grin with her eyes sparkling brightly. That was one picture that showed her inner beauty along with the already mesmerizing outer one. He wanted to see her smile like that again. No matter what!

He snapped out of his trance. Elena once again had her head bowed miserably. But suddenly something jolted her from her misery. She had been feeling so cold from the very minute she entered this house. But the moment the warmth engulfed her, surrounding her in a tight embrace, she felt that she might live again.

No, she would live. Because he was right there to provide her with the warmth she desperately needed and that was enough for her. She would live. She would live for him!

Roderick knew he was far beyond salvation but it doesn't mean it should be the same for Elena. He had long fallen very willingly into this endless abyss and he was fine with that but he wouldn't let Elena fall with him. Never!

"Live, Elena. Live", Roderick whispered gently into Elena's ears as he tightened his hold on her. Elena pulled away to look at his face. Her sapphire blue eyes bore into his grey eyes. She teared up and her lips lifted up into a smile. Not the one he longed to see however, the smile was a strong one. One that showed her courage, her strength. One that contained something inexplicable that had Roderick's heart palpating wildly in his ribcage.

Then unexpectedly, she buried her face in his hard chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. Roderick froze for a moment before he started to stroke her hair ever so gently. Both finding comfort in each other's arms, they stayed there in that position for a while.

"Elena?" Roderick started slowly.

"Huh?" Elena responded casually.

"How about we take some time to just relax?" He asked gently. "Maybe we should go on a honeymoon?" His voice was still slow and low.

Elena stiffened and Roderick of course felt it nevertheless, he continued to caress her black locks gently.

"Elena?" Roderick wanted an answer. This was her choice so if she doesn't want to, they wouldn't go. If she wanted to though, he would make the preparations.

"Yeah, let's go", Elena said, her voice breaking along the way. Roderick held her closer.

"If you don't want to you—", he got cut off by her.

"I want to." she said, determination lacing her voice.

She buried her head even deeper into his chest after saying this. She wrapped her arms tighter around him and he reciprocated. They remained silent thereafter, just basking in each other's warmth. Soon Elena felt asleep in his arms.

He had already guessed that she hadn't been sleeping well looking at her worrying eyebags. He put her into bed and left the room. But the moment he gently closed the door to the room, a horrindously angry aura blazed out off him.

All the maids passing by shrank and shivered due to the ominous aura thier master was giving off.

"Perry!", Roderick yelled loudly and the sound bounced off the walls creating echoes through the halls of the mansion. In a matter of seconds, an man who looked to be a little over sixty came running.

"Sire", the old man bowed as he panted heavily.

"What did she do?" Roderick asked. He didn't know why but his gut was telling him something had happened. Something bad, something he wouldn't like. Something he would hate nonetheless he wanted—no needed to know. Whatever happened, he could already feel his blood boiling because of it.

The old man called Perry who was the head butler broke out in cold sweat. He wasn't blind. He could see that his master wasn't in a good mood. Now how was he even going to tell this already furious man that his wife was turning into a masochist.

"Perry", Roderick said, starting to sound impatient.

"She inflicted pain on herself, Sire." Perry said quickly not daring to raise his head.

Roderick blanked out, his mind at first not being able properly process his word but the moment those words sank into his consciousness, he felt his heart bleed with worry.