Return of The Betrayed Luna

Chapter 7 : Vanilla

Marvin's room was similar to her own except the colors were in different shades of green. Mostly darker shades. Upon entering, Naomi felt cold and a feeling of detachment. She wanted to flee. It was the same feeling as going to a relative's place you were not close with. Discomfort at it's peak.

Eric laid Marvin on the large bed. He still wasn't awake.

"It shouldn't be that serious. Why is he still unconscious?" Naomi asked Eric doubtfully. Eric was only pretending, so he made up a casual reason that Naomi did not believe.

"Why don't you stay with him here? I have to take care of something," Eric suggested. The suggestion wasn't accepted by Naomi yet but he was already out the door. She did not have a choice. She sat in the nearby spot watching Marvin.

It was awkward staring at an unconscious person. Especially when that person is someone you hold a milk grudge against. But since he saved her life and got injured while doing so, she brought her grudge level lower by one point. Now she only disliked him 70%.

She sat still like a statue. Not daring to move a single muscle in fear of touching something she wasn't supposed to touch. His room looked expensive. While her own room was her domain, she could do anything in there. This was Marvin's lair. It was a danger zone.

Naomi imagined this place like a den with booby traps and Marvin being the sleeping dragon. Who knew when she'd suffer an unexpected attack?

She fell into her waterfall of thoughts. Marvin, who was pretending to be unconscious, peeked at her with one eye. In his view, Juliette was zoning out and agitated. His injury must have affected her somehow, right?

"Ah," he held his head and deliberately made a sound to grab her attention. Naomi's head snapped up and her body moved before her brain registered what had happened. She was already next to Marvin's bed, leaning over him to check if something was wrong.

"Where does it hurt?" Naomi's soft voice wasn't intentional. It was the default setting in Juliette's system. When Naomi wasn't thinking, her body acted like it had done for the past twenty years. The shadow of Juliette was still there and today it appeared in front of Marvin.

The softness took him by surprise because Marvin thought she was mad at him about something. She yelled at him last time.

It must have been a mistake last time. She had a rough day. Marvin thought she was fine now. He couldn't stop his act midway through. He rubbed his forehead lightly and groaned.

"My head hurts," Marvin said and tried to sit up. Naomi, who finally managed to catch herself, moved away from him. She only helped him sit up and poured water from the jug.

Marvin placed the glass on the table and looked at Naomi, who had a detached appearance once again. He truly couldn't understand how she worked. Weren't they just fine a couple of days ago?

Juliette never complained, nor did she ask for anything. She was always content with him and the way she lived. Then why was she behaving like that now? Marvin always made it clear that she would get whatever she wanted, nothing was expensive for him. As the person responsible for taking care of her, he would like to know what was missing.

"Eric has called the doctor."

As Naomi never had a proper conversation with Marvin before, it took every atom in her body to act as if she wasn't uncomfortable. She smiled stiffly and stopped talking altogether.

The room was enveloped in silence. It wasn't a peaceful silence either. It was a roaring silence that set Naomi's mind in a jumble. She wanted to leave this dragon's lair solely because of how uncomfortable it was to be around him.

What if he asks something?

Those concerns were all in Naomi's head because Marvin wasn't thinking like that at all. He wasn't there to interview her. All he wanted was to know if something happened that caused her behaviour to change so drastically. But everything looked good now and she wasn't angry at him.

"Be careful on the stairs next time," Marvin reminded him. He was on his way down at the right time, otherwise she would have taken the fall today. Naomi shuddered in fright. She did not want to be hurt.

She nodded in understanding. The two spend the rest of their time in silence, with Marvin occasionally closing and opening his eyes.

"You don't have to play the piano if you dislike it," Marvin said out of the blue. Naomi stumbled over the words in her mouth. She had a reply right on the tip of her tongue but it was not the one she should speak right now. She swallowed then and spoke the right ones.

"I don't dislike it. I want to get better at it," Naomi said. This time she made sure to control her facial expressions. She purposely did not mention the birthday party. It was to subtly tell him that she was doing something solely for herself and not because of him. That delusion had to be broken.

Marvin had an entire conversation playing in his head until she spoke. He imagined her to reply something along the lines that she had been practicing for the birthday party. And then he'd tell her it wasn't necessary, saving the effort. But he had nothing to say after she flipped the script into his head.

"Y-Yes," Marvin played it off, "Did you like the cake?"

"What cake?" Naomi asked.

"I brought a cake yesterday. Didn't you like it?" Marvin emphasized the last part. Juliette always remembered things he did for her and cherished those things and memories.

Although it was previously uncomfortable how she put too much emotion in them, today he was a bit disappointed that she didn't know the cake was brought by him. His cold attitude towards her faltered for a moment.

"Oh, that cake?" Naomi gave her honest review of it, "I don't like vanilla. But it was okay."

"But you get vanilla whenever you get a cake for any occasion...."

Marvin actually did not remember this until now, because he needed something to prove a point. He didn't want to make it look like he did not know anything about her. That would be embarrassing now.

Naomi smirked, "I don't like vanilla. Actually, I don't like cakes that much. That's what you prefer over most desserts. That's why I used to order it. If you remember, I never had a slice of cake that is brought for any occasion."

Upon deep reflection, Marvin realised it was true. He did like the mellow vanilla over overpowering flavours and the texture of cake over dense desserts. He never asked Juliette what she preferred and assumed she liked it. Now, he felt thoroughly embarrassed.

His brown eyes shifted in a direction where he couldn't see her. Naomi was more than happy to be out of his sight. In her heart was a sliver of satisfaction that came from making him realise how he treated Juliette. She looked down, her smile gone. It was replaced with a disappointed look.

She had a massage appointment. Will she make it in time for that?

Eric arrived with the doctor a while later. The doctor did some basic health checks and concluded that he was fine. Naomi was relieved. If he had broken a bone or two, she'd have to take on the job of a full-time nurse for him.

"You should rest some more. I have appointments to go to. So I might be back a little late," Naomi informed him and left the room. Eric could only stare after her back and Marvin wasn't even able to look at her. He just made a hum of acknowledgement but she was already gone out the door.

"Alpha," Eric slowly turned to Marvin and asked, "She used to find reasons to be around you. Now she is running away from you. What did you do to make this happen?"

Marvin was just as puzzled as him.

On the other hand, Naomi went to find Vienna. She wanted to know when she had the massage appointment so she could be ready to leave.

Vienna was chatting with the cook in the kitchen when Naomi came in gracefully and scared the crap out of them. In the faces of shocked Vienna and the cook, Naomi was a bit too happy.

"Hello," Naomi greeted the cook in a friendly way. Juliette and Naomi shared this habit. They were polite to most people. So this part was not hard at all.

The cook, whose name in Juliette's memory, was Ricky, was not at all flustered to see Juliette in the kitchen. The initial shock wore off and the friendly smile took over his face again.

"Good morning, miss," Ricky stirred the soup in the pot, "Breakfast is almost ready. Would you like to deliver breakfast to Master?"

Like Vienna, Ricky was the one who was aware of her desperate pining over Marvin. It was because she came to him almost every day with the request to make his favourite food or that she'd be delivering his food from the kitchen.

Ricky wasn't enlightened like Vienna so he thought she was going to take advantage of the fact that Marvin was injured and spend a lot of time taking care of him. However, Juliette's response took him by surprise.

"No thanks," Naomi smiled slightly, "I will have a light breakfast since I have an appointment. Vienna, did you get the afternoon slot?"

Vienna nodded like a pecking chicken, "Yes, I got you an appointment for noon!"

Naomi gave a thumbs up, "Great. Get me some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. I am not too hungry. Oh, and Marvin is feeling alright. Give him the leftover cake from yesterday. He likes vanilla, doesn't he?"

Naomi ended her sentence with an eye roll. Ricky dropped the spatula in shock. That was a complete 360 change in personality!

Until now, everyone in the manor, especially the ones close to Juliette, thought that her entire being was due to Marvin. Her personality, her habits, everything was for and because of him. She never did anything for herself. Today she booked a massage appointment and it shook the people who heard it.

News travelled to Marvin, who was reading a document in his bed. He was pretending to be hurt, but this was a secret that couldn't be known by others. He had to pretend a bit more to make it believable. So he was lying in bed with an iPad in his hand and focused on the document when someone brought a bowl of soup for him.

"Where is Juliette?" He asked without thinking. That girl was running in his mind so much that he couldn't help but be curious about what she was doing all the time.

Many things have changed during the last two days. Not only with Juliette, but with him too. These days he found himself entangled in her matters more than often. The amount of times they spoke to each other was a lot less than before, but the roles were now reversed.

Marvin had become the one to initiate the conversation and Juliette was the one to end it.

The maid stopped and answered, "I don't have the specific details. But Vienna said that Miss Juliette had a spa appointment at noon. She must have left already."

Marvin took a look at the clock on the wall and pointed out,"It's only nine."

The news of a spa appointment wasn't as impactful on Marvin than it was on the other people in the manor. Because they knew how rare it was for Juliette to pamper herself. But Marvin thought Juliette always did those things to maintain her softness. He simply wasn't aware when she did it. Other than that, he believed it was a common thing.

"Miss also made plans to shop before the appointment and watch a movie after it."

"Is it her birthday?" Marvin asked. It shouldn't be. He had a reminder set on his phone. It rang a day before and he always told someone to get a gift for her. Then it was delivered to her.

"No," the girl was agitated in front of the Alpha, so she spilled everything she knew, "I heard Vienna saying that Miss had a bad nightmare last night. She also suffers from sleep paralysis. It was a difficult night for Miss. So today she has gone out to have a good time, to forget everything."