Chapter 20 – Dramarama Oh Baby!

His steps echoed through the hallways due to the hardwood floors. Bags under his eyes graced his unkempt features. He had not slept a wink since last night and it clearly showed. He skipped his morning shave, did not have the energy to do his morning ritual. He had other pressing matters that needed sorting, like having the guts to look Serena in the eye ever again.

His growling stomach diverted his attention from Serena. He had not eaten since his quick lunch from yesterday. Last night's fiasco annoyingly disrupted his dinner and he really did not have the appetite afterwards. He entered his dining room for his long awaited breakfast. He massaged his temples as his vision came face to face with Rei.

'Just Perfect, Absolutely Fucken Perfect. I can't have a decent meal without it being interrupted by the deranged Crescent sisters,' Darien thought to himself as he mentally slapped himself.

"Why hello Darien," her voice was filled with pure venom as her eyes sent daggers towards him but it clearly had no affect on him. He was a man made of steel.

"Good morning Rei, What a pleasant surprise," he said keeping a polite front.

"I assume you haven't slept well," Rei said matching his fake courtesy. Her knuckles had completely turned white from gripping onto the cutlery too hard but she kept her face neutral, clearly a mastered skill. She noticed his disheveled appearance and the bloodshot eyes but he seemed to be clearly oblivious to it.

"Quite the contrary really, I think I never slept this good in ages. The burden of securing my assets has clearly lifted off my shoulders, even the switching of brides were not enough to damper my mood. Or, the fact the women I have to announce to the public as my wife cannot speak a single word without having to use her hand signals. No Rei, I think I have slept my share, more than enough, thank you." Darien said keeping his face neutral.

"You think I wanted it to be like this," Rei said, it seemed like a vein was ready to pop from her forehead.

"I don't know what you want Rei. It was clear that you were still in love with somebody else," Darien said looking her dead on, leaving her speechless.

"You don't have to justify to me Rei. I do not really care why you were not there. I care less if it was you or your sister at the altar. I mean it was not as if it was a love marriage, it was a pure business deal. Securing my assets seemed like a better option to me than see who was a better match for me," he plainly stated.

'LIAR, LIAR BIG FAT LIAR! If you didn't care then why had you reacted so aggressively towards Serena last night' his mind seemed to scream at him. He waved away his conscious and focused his attention on the matter at hand.

"I'm sorry for a second there I forgot who I was talking to, the oh-so-great business mogul who completely bases his relationships on business deals. How could I forget that his public appearance was everything to him," she snapped at him.

"Before you go all snippety on me there maybe you should ask yourself the question, I mean I was at the altar. I do not understand why BOTH of you think that I am the bad guy when it was you who didn't reach her own altar and your sister well you know how she is, overly dramatic. Personally, I think you and your sister need to go see a psychiatrist to resolve your issues. If you can just please leave me to my breakfast I would really appreciate it," Darien said rolling his eyes. He was about to reach for his breakfast, an omelet with two pieces of toast along with his life force, black coffee. Her deep growl halted him to his place, forcing him to look up towards her direction.

"For your information I wasn't at the altar because I was drugged and locked away in a room by my own sister. You think I wanted her to marry a man that is as heartless as you," Rei said standing up from her position.

"Enough, I would not have insults thrown at me in my own home just because you sisters have a knack for self-sacrificing," he said as taking a bite of his omelet.

'Food,' his stomach purred.

"Where is my sister?" she asked clearly knew it was pointless fighting with Darien.

"Taking a long hot shower," he winked at her insinuating a sexual innuendo.

"Darien if you hurt her, I swear I would literally rip you to shreds," Rei growled.

"Oh please, she has her own problems that keep her occupied from reality. It isn't me who she should be worried about but it's her past," he said taking a sip of his coffee.

"You are a monster Darien," Rei whispered to herself.

He chewed on his food clearly ignoring her, he was about to take his last sip of his refreshing coffee when they both heard a knock.

It was Serena standing there in her pink cardigan and skinny jeans with a nervous look upon her face. The cardigan hid the bandages they were completely hidden from anybodies viewing. Guilt ran through Darien's veins. She had no attention of making eye contact with either of them. A blade could have cut through the uncomfortable silence but none of them spoke a word.

Atlas, Darien broke the silence:

"I think you both have a bit of catching up to do. I leave you two to do some sister bonding. It seems like you need it," Darien said standing up. He glanced over at Serena, her skin did not have the usual glow but it was pasty white. His stare caught her eye. When their eyes met, her eyes were devoid of any emotion, the sparkle in them were lost. He had never been a man lost for words but looking at her it left him speechless.

His eyes travelled to her wrists and his stare only made her pull down the cardigan nervously. Should he smile at her? For what? For making her bleed endlessly or the fact that she is acting like a robot and he's the cause of it. He bit his lip and just quickly rushed out of the room without another word.

'A man of steel, yea right' his conscious smirked.

'Hi Rei,' Serena signaled. Rei said nothing but look at her sister. Serena was married now, a self-sacrifice somehow that rubbed Rei the wrong way. Rei pressed her lips together refraining herself from saying anything hurtful. She could not see anything in Serena's eyes. She used to read her like a book but over the years, it was getting hard to tell what her sister was thinking.

Rei's mind transported back to their younger years when they used to tell everything in their hearts to each other. There were no secrets between them. All the secrecy was one of the side effects of the accident after that it seemed both the sisters kept it to themselves. Rei immersed herself into the family business and Serena struggled to learn sign language. She shook herself out of those memories and stuck to the situation at hand. Her sister, a married women, standing there nervously waiting for her to say something.

"Hi," was all Rei could muster. Serena was rooted to her place contemplating what to do next.

"Why?"She asked. Her question echoed in the room. Serena could only offer her sister was her silence.

"WHY? TELL ME WHY SERENA!" Rei shouted banging her fists on the oak table making the cutlery jump. "What possessed you to do something like this? You never even consulted me about your decision but rather drugged me and locked me in a room. I never expected this from you Serena, I knew you were childish in your antics but this just takes the icing on the cake. So tell me why, why you did do this?" Rei's eyes blazed with dark fury along with a sense of helplessness.

'Chad' was all she signaled. Rei's facial features instantaneously changed from anger to astonishment.

"I…" Rei was speechless.

'You don't have to explain it to me Rei. I knew you loved Chad and I could not let you be married to a man that you did not love. I know you wanted to save Daddy's business but I could not let you sacrifice your love for me and our business. I'm not heartless Rei, to just see you make the biggest mistake of your life.' Serena signaled as tears formed in her eyes.

Tears started to form in Rei's eyes as well. She ran over to where Serena stood and engulfed her in a bear hug. Tears streamed down on both of their faces. The atmosphere was cleared of any bad air. d

The animosity between them was completely wiped out in the atmosphere. Both of them hugged the other harder afraid of losing one another. Finally, after a long period they broke the embrace.

"When did you get so old?" Rei smirked.

'When I got married,' Serena signaled, joking laughingly. She ran her hand to through her hair making her bandages visible to Rei's viewing.

"What's this?" Rei asked as she grabbed her wrist.

'Oh nothing, you know how I am so clumsy. I fell on broken glass nothing more,' Serena waved her hand away. Rei looked at her suspiciously but did not press any further.

"If you need anything Serena, I'm here for you, you know that don't you," Rei said to her by putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I know," she put on her comforting hand and smiled warmly at her sister.

"So what's your plan for today?"Rei asked.

'Well I think I am going to explore my new home, get familiar with my new home,' Serena signaled as she looked around her surroundings.

"It's big isn't it," Rei said looking around also at the enormous room.

'Yes, big is more like an understatement," Serena smirked at her sister. Right then her stomach let out a very loud rumble.

"How about we get something in that stomach of yours," Rei said laughingly. Serena did not have any other reason to object.

"YOU WHAT!" a very pregnant Lita screamed at Darien.

"Darien buddy, you really know how to impress a lady don't you," Nathan said in his sarcastic tone.

"I was drunk. I do not know but for some reason at the sight of that woman, I seem to lose my senses. She stirs a burning fire and I don't mean the good kind," Darien said rethinking the cause of his sudden mood swings. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration but they seemed to fall in the same place, as they were before, unruly and disheveled.

"Have you apologized to the poor women yet?" Lita asked. Her face was etched in a I'm-going-to-kill-somebody frown, her being pregnant didn't help the situation. Since she had gotten pregnant her hormones had gone all haywire, so everything seemed to be blown off the proportion in Lita's eyes. If Lita was told they were out of peanut butter her reaction would be the same:

"YOU WHAT!"

Darien took Lita's hormonal habits out of his mind and focused his attention on his problem, Serena. A name that seemed to be only trouble since day 1 when she bumped into him and spilt his coffee and after that, it has always been downhill from there.

"I said have YOU got off your high horse and apologized to Serena," Lita said looking with discerning eyes. His silence told her everything.

"You didn't do you. I knew it. You men think that you can just walk on women's heart and not think one time about their feelings and go on with your day doing your regular activities. However, let me tell you something get off your egotistical ass and apologize if you know what's better for you," Lita said in one breath. She felt a pain shoot out of her uterus. She was a week overdue and the growing contractions were making her even more emotional and more psychotic. "Oh it hurts," Lita said as she put her hands on her belly.

"You okay baby," Nathan said as he put a hand on the belly himself.

"The baby's kicking," Lita said with a warm smile. It amazed Darien how Lita's mood seemed to change from one minute to the next. Darien watched as her and Nathan having a moment, wondering if he ever would feel the same connection with a loved one.

"I'm going to take off now; I just remembered I needed to do something. I'll talk to you guys later okay," Darien said as he picked up his jacket.

"Hold on Darien, you should definitely apologize to Serena. She has to live in a strange surroundings and plus the better communication you have with her the faster the year will get by for both of you. You might as well start it with a good start. Be her friend rather than an unknown man that lives with her. I'm sure you guys can work out your differences if you tried." Lita said with a reassuring smile that seemed to relieve some of Darien's anxiety.

"I hope so," Darien said skeptically and turned around to leave. Before he exited, all he heard was Lita's hormonal voice screaming at Nathan,

"YOU WHAT!" Darien just shook her head smiling and left.

"Sere, these have arrived for you today," Luna sat down the bouquet of roses on Serena's bed interrupting Serena's train of thoughts. Rei and she had spent the whole afternoon reconnecting but had leave to go handle some unfinished business.

'Who are they from?' she signaled confusedly.

"I don't know but there seems to be a letter attached to the roses," Luna said excitedly.

'A letter?' now Serena was even more confused. Serena did not know anybody that would send her roses. The letter had Serena's name written in perfect cursive writing. It was quite the penmanship. She trailed her fingers at the corner of the letters deciding whether to open the letter. She was shook out of her reverie by Luna's voice.

"Well are you not a bit curious who the letter is from?" Luna said animatedly. She smelled the roses and sighed. She was terribly missing Artemis even though it had only been a couple of days but it felt like centuries since she last saw him.

Serena picked up the letter and opened the envelope carefully. She quickly scanned the letter.

Dear Serena,

I am not good at apologies or anything about talking about feelings but I just want to express my deepest apologies for last night's events. It had clearly gotten out of hand. I don't know what made me loose it like I did. I am terribly embarrassed of last night's events. Rather than welcoming you in to my new home, I had made a complete ass of myself. I rather spend this year like friends than sworn enemies. After whatever happened last night I was just wondering if you would like to have dinner with me, our first dinner as Mr. Darien Shields. I would be waiting for you tonight at 7 and I hope you had forgiven me for all that I've done.

Darien

Serena's eyes had gotten wide as golf balls and her pupils had completely dilated. She did not know what to feel but in the midst of it all, she let go of the letter and it seemed to have fallen on the floor.

"Now what the hell is written in that letter that made you go so cuckoo," Luna said as she picked up the fallen letter. She scanned the letter herself and her eyes seemed to grow bigger by every passing sentence.

"Oh boy" Serena heard Luna mutter.

'Oh boy indeed,' Serena thought to herself.

Hi guys I know its been nearly 3 months since I last updated! hehehhe I apologize. I was actually going to update on Christmas day as a little christmas present but you know lazy ass that i am didn't quite got around to it LOL...but i hope you all had a wonderful holiday and got many presents but plz REVIEW!! give me a present okay that sounds stupid but HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND NEW YEAR!! ill write soon......................twinkle eyes

(p.s. i know its going slow but hang in there for the angry reviewers that want some more action)