The sun peers through the windows, almost blinding Mirabelle before she could wake up. As she peels her eyes open with a slight squint, she notices the curtains are wide open with Derrek standing beside them.
She groans softly as she sits up, rubbing her tired eyes only to feel the nagging soreness between her thighs.
A reminder of her deciet.
"Oh, did I wake you?" Derrek pauses by the window as he finishes pining the curtains to the hooks. "Right, the light must be bothering you."
"... I need to get up anyway." Mirabelle says as she carefully slides her legs out of bed and stands up.
Her body feels odd, different.
Sore, yes, but something doesn't feel the same anymore. And she doesn't need to think too hard and ask why.
She's no longer a virgin.
"Will you have breakfast with me?" He asks as he stands where he is, the brightness of the room making it hard for him to tell where she currently is.
".... I should get going. After I shower." Mirabelle says as she looks over at him, a sick feeling falling in her stomach. "I'll have a lot to eat so I'm keeping space."
Derrek only frowns and reaches a hand up to the back of her neck as he nods.
"Right. The party." He sighs and shifts from his spot, slowly heading towards her, but Mirabelle steps back.
"I'll see you later. I'll go get ready at my place." She says before running out of the room before Derrek could stop her.
He sighs, sitting back on the bed. He runs a hand through his hair and bites his lip.
I wonder what face you were making just now... He thinks before reaching his hands down to the beddings and clenching the sheets. Or what face you made last night... I want to see it all...
Mirabelle steps out of the bedroom and almost crushes into the secretary who seems already dressed and wide awake.
"You're late." She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "We have to keep the records the same. Serena arrived at the party an hour ago."
"I know... I'm sorry." Mirabelle looks down immediately, too embarrassed to meet the secretary's gaze. "I'll go take a bath–."
Before she can turn to leave, the secretary grabs her shoulder and pins her to the wall. Mirabelle flinches and shoots her gaze up at the secretary in shock, only to notice she isn't looking at her at all.
More on her neck.
"Did something happen between you and the boss last night?" She secretary's asks as her wide eyes behind the glasses stare intently at a bruise mark on her collarbone.
Mirabelle's breath almost leaves her body completely and she shakes her head frantically.
"N-no, nothing happened." She panics and tries to snake around the secretary but she grabs her shoulders, keeping her in place.
"Did he hit you?... No that's not possible, he can't do that to Serena. Did he try to get physical?" She asks and Mirabelle almost faints at the mere pressure.
She doesn't know if she should answer or not.
She doesn't want to.
She can't.
"He tried but we didn't do anything." She says with composure, but her hands behind her are shaking from nervousness. "Don't worry..."
"Ok, good." She leans away from Mirabelle and sighs in relief. "You can hurry up and get changed so you can resume your role as his nurse. And be quick."
Mirabelle nods before running away, running towards her room while the secretary watches for a brief moment before knocking on his door.
"Come in." She hears Derek reply and walks in, finding him still seated on the bed.
"Sir, you should probably shower and get dressed, you have some work you need to complete before the day is done." She says and Derrek only sighs and nods.
"Inform the maids to clean the room and change the sheets." He says as he gets up from the bed before glancing towards there door, seeing his secretary's silhouette there. "Has Serena left already?"
"Yes." She nods and walks over to his bed to fold the blankets so that the maids find it easier to put away.
It's not in her job to take care of his surroundings, but she wasn't hired by his parents just to be a secretary in office alone. She's been hired to look after every aspect of his life and be his eyes.
"So the doctor informed me that the surgery can happen as early as next month." She says before looking up at Derrek who's standing by the window again. "How are your visuals at the moment?"
"I can make out objects. Not the exact shape but a silhouette of it. It's blurred. But at least that's something, right?" He asks as he looks over at her again. "I can tell where you stand, though not exactly, but once I see the blurred color move I simply assume it's human."
"Right, that's progress." She nods as she manages to fold up the heavy blanket and pauses when she notices a stain on the sheets. Not too much to cause alarm but it's still there.
She leans in more as she wonders if it's his eyes bleeding again, but then again, the spot she can see it from isn't really making any sense.
"Sir..." The secretary starts as a nasty feeling of unease settles within her.
"Yes?" He asks, not really looking at her right now but down at his feet as he shifts the position of his foot to see if he can tell whether it's movingnof not.
"... What happened between you and Mi– Serena last night?" She asks as she observes him, hoping... No praying she's suspecting the wrong thing.
Derek is silent for a while, but a smile creeps onto his face that she can't see from where she is.
"It's private. But I'll tell you anyway." He says as he looks up towards her now. "Serena and I grew closer. We made love."
She almost falls back at the mere mention of it. She just can't believe it...
Mirabelle.
"... Is that so?" She clears her throat as her hands shake from the fear of what has just happened.
The fear of what will happen to her and Mirabelle once he finds out.
I need to find a way to tell Serena to play along... She says as her hands tremble while removing the bedsheet, not wanting the maids to find out. But how...? Without Serena confronting Mirabelle...? What was that girl thinking!?
"I thought you'd be glad to hear it. You've been trying to help Serena and I get close." Derrek says and she looks up, only to see his gaze zeroed down on her.
This scares her more than anything. Wondering if he can really see and is just toying with them.
"I... I'm glad, of course. Why wouldn't I be? It's good news." She says, almost through gritted teeth. "... Did Serena consent?"
"I wouldn't force her." Derrek sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. "... She was of course a little caged off at first. But she didn't stop me, she willingly let me continue."
"What if that was pressuring her?"
"What are you on about? Why are you so concerned about that anyway? You keep wanting me not to be intimate with her and it's strange." Derek clenches his jaw as he frowns deeply.
Visibly annoyed now.
"You encourage me to be close to her, yet you're so overprotective of her when I get intimate. It makes no sense. What are you not telling me? Did she confide in you about something? Does she not want me?" He asks, fists clenched tight. He desperately wants to glare her in the eyes, but he can't.
That's what makes him feel pathetic. Powerless.
The secretary freezes in panic and looks around the room hastily before looking down at her shaking hands.
"She said nothing of that sort, sir. I'm just a woman concerned for another."
"Then remember this. She is my woman, if she has a problem with my pacing of things she can freely tell me." He sighs and turns to head to the bathroom. "I would like if you also stop interfering when I'm alone with her. Tell the others that too. I want to get as close as I can with her. She's finally willing to overlook my blindness so I'm not wasting a second in building my relationship with her. But the wedding can wait for until I can see her."