YO minna! ^_^ Since the joyful white season is coming up soon... and I
can't mail presents to you from halfway across the globe... all I've got is
a story to tell and some 85 cents in my pocket. I need the 85 cents for a
chocolate muffin *yummm* I'd been eyeing for, so that only leaves the
story. ^_^;;; Gomen for the lack of choice. Hehe...
BTW, chapter three of 'Ballade' had been edited so that now it improved in both style and flow. If anyone by any means read it again and found that it's better than before, credit should be given to Serenade for editing. ^.~
I'd always wanted to explore different writing styles, and did it with this story. Please tell me what you think. Your comments meant a _lot_! =) Remember, emails and reviews are good for the soul. ^.^ For now... enjoy reading!!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailormoon. I _AM_ Sailormoon. (There! I've said it! I know you always wanted to hear me admit that!! -_-;;)
_REAL_ Disclaimer: To those who don't believe me (*snorts*)... No own. No sue. No money... To any who *do*... E-MAIL ME!! I would love to know you!! :D
Christmas Rendezvous ~Love cures people.~
Rendezvous1: Queen of Ice. King of Jerks.
By, Fantasia (milkybluestar@yahoo.com)
"And what the heck am I doing here again?"
Darien questioned himself the millionth time on that night, and as always his common sense would answer him back. Because you'd so stupidly made a promise that you would attend the annual Christmas ball hosted by none other than the sweet sister of yours tonight.
Shaking his head at the fact that he was talking to himself yet again, he loosened the tight tie around his neck, which had been doing an extremely good job in strangling him to death.
It had been an overly hectic day... started with he himself, for reasons he had yet to figure out, being late for a meeting that morning, had an argument with one of the board advisors, causing him to be late again for yet another conference in the afternoon. One thing led to another, and the next thing he knew was he was late to his sister's ball.
Knowing very well of her infamous fiery temper, it could only caused him to shudder. He finally released a breath of relief when her large mansion came into view. It was glowing all over with multi-coloured lights like an enormous, looming and square-shape Christmas tree.
Many people had arrived already as the ball was supposed to start an hour ago. An hour ago. He shuddered again, Raye's furious face suddenly popping into his mind. Perhaps it's all right, he guessed. After all, it's only 60 minutes.
The car park outside was already full packed, but Darien knew earlier that he could use the large private garage inside. He maneuvered his silver Porsche into the garage area easily, only to discover that it was almost full. The key word here is almost.
Grinning, he saw the one and only empty space left in the so-called large garage of his 'beloved' sister. His gleaming car made its way to the vacant space, like a tiger going to pounce on a flesh of meat.
Out of all the sudden, another car whooshed in front of him.
What the hell. Shit. Damn. Fuck.
Before he could blink his eyes, a stylish black car now took the unfilled space he was eyeing just now. From what he could make out with his narrowed eyes, which was practically spitting fire of rage, the car was an Acura.
Soon, a slim black figure, which no doubt belonged to a female, stepped out of the Acura. Holding his temper in check, Darien tried to calm himself down and not grant himself the pleasure of throttling this bit-, he meant, woman's neck.
He watched with outstretched patient when she turned to look at either him or his car and gave a cold look before walking off regally, as if she owned the entire place.
Damn. Damn. Damn. Pounding his head on the steering wheel, he sooooo deeply regretted not strangling her earlier and probably give her a piece of his mind, as well as a few choices of words too. It was too late now as he watched the doorman greeted her and escorted her in with unbelievable politeness.
That... woman, he spat, had the arrogance he would no doubt take years to refine. And his sister dare said that his ego was worse than anyone she'd ever met. What about her giving exclusive parking permit to that woman (He knew no matter how haughty she was, she certainly was not stupid enough to park at the private garage if she wasn't someone close to Raye.), ignoring siblings' ties?
Talking about siblings' ties, Darien understood that he had better get a place to park soon, or else certainly all the remaining bond, if there's still any, would be broken.
~**~**~**~
A stunning vision in red immediately greeted him when Darien went through the front door. "Oh Darien! THERE you are!!" She never even bothered to hide the venom in her voice. "Where have you been, my dear brother?"
"In the supposedly 'large' compound of your mansion searching all over for a place to park my exquisite Porsche because a certain friend of yours deliberately stole a place I eyed for right in front of me, my darrrrrling sister." He finished all in one breath and a disdainful scowl was lingering on his features. No, today was definitely not his day.
"Now now... don't talk to your _elder_ sister in that tone, young man." Raye's thin eyebrows furrowed together, frowning at him. Despite the fact that he's by far taller than her and already a 25-year-old extremely successful young man now, technically she was still older than him by 2 years, hence no matter what, she was ALWAYS correct. "Come with me now. Wipe off that ugly scowl. I want to introduce you to some guest."
Darien rolled his eyes heavenward and blew a breath, but followed her nonetheless, allowing himself to be drag around the place so that he could be introduce to weird people. Ah, The things he did for love!
He took the chance to survey the hard work his sister put in to turn her mansion to a large ballroom. As always, her effort was nothing short of excellent. The whole place was exquisitely decorated with bright colours and red-and-green wreaths were hanging all around that place to create the cheerful Christmas atmosphere.
Everyone who was anyone knew that Raye's Christmas balls were always the best and superb, therefore usually the guests would feel very honoured indeed to be invited to her Christmas balls.
Unfortunately, he was not. He had stopped attending her parties ever since he was sixteen, because it would usually meant pasting a large fake smile on his face for several hours, meeting and mixing around with a whole bunch of ignorant stuck-up people who were most likely to backstab you if the chance came around. Not forgetting the fact that he was forced to meet people like them at work as well, because he was the CEO of his father's prominent company.
Yet again... groaning, he wondered how could he succumb to his sister's eerie power of persuasion and those puppy-dog-eyes to attend her ball this time.
"Come, let me introduce you to a good friend of mine whom I'd wanted you to meet for some time now." Raye, again, dragged a very reluctant Darien half across the room. He muttered under breath, "I'd met enough people tonight to last me for at least three entire lifetimes."
"I know you're not the most sociable person in the whole, Dare. But one day you just gotta get out of that aloof shell of yours to meet the world out there. And of course, I, being the ever so caring and considerate sister will lend you a hand."
He snorted and retorted sarcastically. "I like being in that... 'shell' of mine, thank you very much, my ever-so-caring-and-considerate sister. "
Either that she was tired of arguing with him or did not hear what he said, no reply came from her side. When he turned, she was already gone to God- knows-where. Groaning, he suddenly felt awkward in the mist of all those people he didn't and never bothered to know.
Moments later, Raye came back with a beautiful woman by her side. Beautiful, indeed, was an understatement.
She was one of the most stunning woman that he had ever seen, and of course he had met plenty. Wearing a simple but elegant dark gown that flowed to her ankles and clung in all the right places, beautifully structured and flawless face bare of any make-up, golden shimmering hair tied to a bun with diamond pins, she looked nothing but exquisitely striking. And of course, like any normal hot-blooded male, he found a deep desire stirring inside him.
But it hadn't been only her looks which caught the attention of many, it was also the style which she carried herself with. The air radiating around her was practically freezing with her obvious remoteness. Her perfect lips were in an exact straight line and looked as if they hadn't moved upward for years. It was her eyes that were quite chilling to look at, a colour of light frosty blue. She looked like an ice queen, or empress perhaps.
"Serena, meet my brother, Darien Shields." It was Raye's voice that shook him from his profound observation. "Darien, this is Serena Spencer."
That was when recognition suddenly hit him. She was undoubtedly the woman in black at the garage!! The one who made him search for a parking space for hours, causing him to be even later than he already was. He fought back all the urges to bit out, 'you...!', and forced a tight smile upon his face instead.
Her lips just tugged up slightly as she acknowledged him. For reasons he could never figure out, his sister suddenly excused herself from their side, leaving them to themselves.
"You...!!" Darien hissed, narrowing his eyes. To which, she merely raised an elegant eyebrow.
"That was indeed gracious of you to greet a stranger like that, Mr. Shields."
"I'm never gracious to _discourteous_ people who enjoys sneaking quietly to steal parking space others had obviously booked."
She frowned vaguely, though not the least bit angry at his accusations, just surprised and annoyed. It finally dawned to her what he was talking about. "I disagree with you on most parts of what you said. For one thing, I _did not_ sneak in quietly, I was driving quite openly if you'd paid enough attention. Secondly, I _did not_ steal your parking space. Forgive me if I was wrong, but I didn't see your large name printed on the floor of the space I'd so innocently parked. And to the last of your accusation, I couldn't see how you could 'obviously booked' your parking space. I just so happened to see a free space right in front of me, so I drove my car there. I didn't notice you at the corner, Mr. Shields."
He listened to her explanations, and embarrassed to find the logic behind them. But of course his face remained calm and collected. "I'm rather surprised you didn't notice my car so near, Ms. Spencer." My gorgeous gleaming silver Porsche.
"The truth remains that I didn't. Furthermore, if you were there earlier, as you said you were, why not drive your car into that space faster?" She challenged him while crossing her arms.
"I was _about_ too when an Acura suddenly whooshed by and there goes the place I had been vying for."
"There was nothing I could do about it. It's not my fault."
"So are you saying that it's mine?" He can't believe it! He was fighting with the most beautiful woman in the enormous mansion because of a blasted car park.
"That was certainly not what I was implying. You're twisting my words." Serena pointed with a dead glare.
"How could you accuse me of such actions? I was merely rephrasing your sentence." Darien knew he really should stop their childish argument now, but he simple couldn't. Especially the way her lips pouted slightly and her cheeks went faintly red because of their conflict, made his smile inwardly. At least those little adorable expressions were better than the frosty chilling look she possessed.
"Oh? If you really are, you did an incredibly lousy job at it." With that, she turned swiftly and walked away, her head high.
Oookay, now he's pissed. Fuming, he went after her and grabbed her wrist. It amazed him for a minute at how tiny her wrist were. The surprise look vanished as soon as she turned and shot him with a defiant icy stare. If looks could kill, he would have landed at the bottomless pit of hell now.
"What exactly do you want to blame me for now, Mr. Shields?" Serena questioned sardonically. Although she was shorter than him by at least 6 inches, but her attitude made him felt inferior.
Perhaps it had been the dreadful day he'd had, combined with this, that made him felt like bursting into flames. And perchance, even better, torching the woman in front of him. Gritting his teeth tightly, he bit out, "You're by far the most arrogant and cold person I'd ever met, Ms. Spencer." Too arrogant for her own good.
Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "Apparently, both of us have a totally different view of who is the arrogant and conceited one here, Darien Shields."
She left him with his mouth hung open and fist tightly balled at his side. Oh, he realllly wanted to wring off pale slim neck of hers this time.
Not knowing what else to do now because she had disappeared into the crowd, his anger leapt considerably when he saw his sister. It's all entirely her fault! Grr, another one to kill.
Raye was slightly surprised when she saw her brother storming to her. His temper was just as bad as hers sometimes, and he dared say she had bad humour. Raising a questioning eyebrow at him, she waited for his outburst.
Sure enough, Darien lashed out furiously, "Just WHAT were you thinking, Raye! Introducing me to that... that ice queen?!"
"Serena is not an ice queen. She's just... different." She explained steadily, not perturbed about his flare-up.
Rolling his eyes, he snorted. "Obviously!! Once she opens her mouth, the difference is clearly there!"
"Serena is not any social freak."
"She's a block of ice!" A sexily sculptured block of ice. He wanted to bash his betraying desires.
It was her turn to snigger. "Like _some_ certain people here I know. Serena's is compatible to you, Darien."
As much as he wanted to oppose that, a part of him found the truth in her words. Every time he disagreed with that ice queen, she would argue back, word by word, never allowing her stand to waver. Serena reminded him very much like the small rubber ball children liked to play with. Those which when you bounce it on the floor, it would bounce back just as high, sometimes higher.
Not knowing how else to say to support his stance against his sister, he finally gave up and said accusingly, "Raye, how could you?!"
The raven-haired beauty simply shook her head with a smile as she watched her only brother marched away in an agitated stride. Then she turned to her companion, who had been witnessing the exchange with an amused look.
"Do you really think it will ever work out, Mina? It doesn't seem as if they are getting along fine."
"Oh it takes time. I know my pretty cousin well. She is just cold on the exterior but is actually a rather soft person inside. Furthermore, the vibes are strong and I'm never wrong. See, it even rhymes." The attractive woman in a yellow gown winked and both of them shared a laugh.
~**~**~**~
Darien searched the room for Serena. When he found her, she was seated at the corner, alone, fitting the name of a dark and gloomy ice queen perfectly.
He observed her for a while, noticing the large number of men who approached her for a dance, but were all declined. Privately, he was intrigued and attracted to the way she reserved her aloofness and kept others away.
There was as if an ice wall built around her outer surface, preventing others from going anywhere near her, and undoubtedly there's an even thicker wall, possibly an ice forest perhaps, around her heart, that was if she had any. His heart whispered that she indeed had one, it's just too far and too small for others to touch.
Putting a small grin on his face, his anger faded now, he made his way towards her.
She saw him before he reached her, and turned her head away callously, refusing to acknowledge him.
"Ms. Spencer, can you please grant me the honour to have a dance with you?" Darien asked politely, the grin still lingering on his face, while he bowed.
For a moment, he thought he saw surprise flashed through her beautiful features, but it disappeared as soon as it came, instead she was now staring at him with chilling daggers in her azure eyes. "You truly must be dreaming or had turned utterly insane, Mr. Shields. My answer is a big fat _NO_. Go away."
Instead of getting angry as she thought he would, he continued grinning and pulled her hands up gently but firmly. He led an extremely reluctant ice princess to the dance floor, ignoring the gazes around them and the poisonous glare she directed at him.
Once on the dance floor, Darien held her tightly in his arms, disallowing her much movements. The terrifying killer look on her face was enough to scare any sane living beings scuttling away. He, however, was evidently not sane.
"Ms. Spencer...," He lifted her chin up so that he could look deep into her frosty eyes. "I'm sincerely _sorry_ for what had happened just now. Can we start all over again from the beginning? Friends?"
She smiled. It caused him to shudder inwardly, its huge resemblance to the evilllll grin on Dr. Strauss' 'the Grinch's' face was unnerving. "Why, Mr. Shields, thank you so much for your gracious offer. But _NO_, now let me go this once or I'll do something you'll truly regret later."
Stubbornly, he refused to let her go.
So she punched him. Real hard.
Shit. Damn. Fuck.
"OOWWW!!! OUCH!! OUCH!!!" His arms dropped immediately as his hands went up to his jaw. "That HURT dammit!!"
Everyone now had stopped dancing and was staring at the commotion.
He looked at his hands and found it coated with blood from his broken lips. He groaned painfully. That part of his once-perfect jaw would surely looked horrible later.
Staring incredulously at that woman who was nursing her seemingly pained fist now, he shook his head disbelievingly. She really could pack a punch. "You truly are EVILLLL."
"Too bad you didn't know that earlier." For a second, he could swear he saw her blew a raspberry at him.
"Darien!! Serena!" Raye immediately went to the scene "Are you both alright?! Oh my god, what happened to your jaw, Dare?" She rushed to her brother.
Serena silently flinched, guilt immediately came creeping up on her. Cold as she was, but brutal she's not. "Raye, I'm s--."
Darien cut her off. "It was all my fault. I was rude, she defended herself." Her cold cerulean eyes laced with shock as she stared at him. He gazed back at her meaningfully.
"Um, so yeah, Serena, no worries here. Darien sometimes could be pretty rude. I'm sure he deserves what he'd got." Raye winked and smiled assuringly at Serena then led her brother away to a room to tend his wounds.
Mutters which sounded suspiciously like 'I'm fine!...', '...mom!' and 'you're embarrassing me...', came from Darien. Is it just him, or did his sister acted and sounded more like their late mother these days?
Serena simply stared at their retreating forms along with everyone else. Stares were shot at her, some disapproving, some admiring, some skeptical...
At first she had refused to attend this ball earlier, but after much pleading from her cousin, Mina, she halfheartedly came. But this evening had turned out to be worse than she thought.
She jumped slightly when a hand was placed on her shoulders. Turning, she was relieved to find that it was just Mina, who was smiling at her rather happily. "Yo! You go, girl! What a punch!! Did you secretly pick up some martial arts skills from somewhere or something?"
"Mina!"
"Okay okay, as Raye said, it's alright. Daijoubu. There's nothing to worry. Hey, trust me, kay?" Patting her on the shoulder, Mina flashed her charming grin again.
Serena muttered softly. "That's exactly what I'm worried about."
A few minutes later, a smiling Raye came back with a grinning Darien. Serena truly wondered was she the only one who felt uncomfortable there. Everyone seemed to be taking the incident casually.
Mina welcomed him cheerfully. "There you are, Darien! Good as new. Now we don't want to disturb the two of you, kay? Just continue what you were doing. Bye bye!" Grabbing a rather surprised Raye, they disappeared into the crowd in less a second.
Darien raised an eyebrow at their hasty exit and commented, "Well you know, if I'm any normal people, I would have thought this is a set up."
The bleeding on his lips had stopped now, his bruise jaw looked a bit blue, but other than that he looked just fine. "Unfortunately you are not."
"Charming as ever, Serena." At other times he would be furious at her. After all, not only she broke his lower lip which was healing itself now, she had also launched enough insult at him to last a few years. However, he just could not seem to get angry. He truly wondered what was happening to him now.
He surprised her yet again that night when he offered a hand and bowed. "Dance with me?"
At first he was afraid that she would refuse and deliver another blow again to knock him out cold, but after a few minutes of silence later, it was very refreshing indeed to see some of the ice in her eyes melted and her pink pouty lips tugged upwards slightly.
Darien took her response as a cue and led her to the dance floor. Most people who were dancing paused to look at the couple that had been fighting like cats and dogs just moments ago.
They waltzed on the dance floor, effortlessly in sync with each other. She was nothing short of an excellent dancer, it made him ponder why didn't she danced on the floor before. He was taken aback at how perfectly they fit together physically and yet, how easily combustions ensued between them.
All the while they were dancing, Darien kept his eyes directly upon hers, and she stared back steadily with the piercing gaze of her own. It was a challenge, he knew. Heck, everything about her was a challenge! Her pride, her attitude, her aloofness...
That was exactly why he felt such a strong attraction to her both physically and mentally. The desire she had stirred had hardly disappeared, instead it felt like pulsating strongly.
They made a couple of small talk as they waltzed; most of them were prompted by Darien. There was once he asked her where she graduated.
"Harvard medical school." Her answers were all short and straight to the point.
"Medicine? What kind of doctor are you working as?"
For the second time that night, she allowed a small sly smile to grace her face. "You don't want to know. Trust me."
"Try me." He grinned charmingly. Now this was interesting...
"No."
"Come on."
"No."
"Um, please?"
"No."
"You spoil all the fun." Groaning inwardly, he wanted to bash his head on the wall with frustration.
"That is my forte."
The mood was light and easy. Darien was relieved that at least they are not fighting. Surprisingly, he felt himself growing more and more comfortable and at ease to her indifference.
The song ended and they were going to continue with the next song when out of all the sudden Raye stepped on to the stage with her husband, Jadeite, beside her to declare that there was an announcement to make.
Darien's eyebrow furrowed, wondering what his sister was up to now. Truthfully, he deeply admired his brother-in-law, Jadeite, who seemed to possess the uncanny ability to control his sister's temper.
"To all who are present here... okay, I'll make this short and simple... I'm expecting! There will be a lovely addition to my small family here soon enough. So look out, ladies and gentlemen, next year's Christmas ball is going to be bigger and better than ever before because a little wonderful bundle of joy is joining us all!" She winked, then turned to hug her husband.
After Raye stepped down the small stage with Jadeite, while the guests applauded loudly, Darien's mouth was still hanging open. He couldn't believe he was going to be an uncle already in a few months time.
So that's why she insisted so fervently that he should attend her ball this year.
That sly imp of a sister who didn't informed him of this wonderful news first beforehand. He made a mental note to talk to her about her devious plan later.
He happened to glance at Serena's reaction, and what he saw stunned him as much as the news did. The ice queen was smiling radiantly and even some of her pearly white teeth were showing.
His breathe halted and gulped. If he had said that she looked stunning before, she looked absolutely breathtaking now. Serena's picture perfect look was gorgeous to say the least, but when she truly smiled her beauty was ethereal.
He could not resist himself from blurting out. "You really should show you teeth more, ice queen."
A delicate golden eyebrow rose. "Why thank you. And you are a rude, foul, self-centered, egoistic, inconsiderate, proud, overconfident, arrogant, conceited jerk. You really should change more."
"Thank you for being so blunt. I could say the same to you too."
She gave him that rare and glamorous smile of hers again. "Merry Christmas, King of Jerks."
He grinned back with equal charm. "Merry Christmas, Ice Queen."
And with that, Darien found himself caught in the mysterious web of the bleak and cold empress, whom others called Serena Spencer. He never knew how right he was.
BTW, chapter three of 'Ballade' had been edited so that now it improved in both style and flow. If anyone by any means read it again and found that it's better than before, credit should be given to Serenade for editing. ^.~
I'd always wanted to explore different writing styles, and did it with this story. Please tell me what you think. Your comments meant a _lot_! =) Remember, emails and reviews are good for the soul. ^.^ For now... enjoy reading!!!
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailormoon. I _AM_ Sailormoon. (There! I've said it! I know you always wanted to hear me admit that!! -_-;;)
_REAL_ Disclaimer: To those who don't believe me (*snorts*)... No own. No sue. No money... To any who *do*... E-MAIL ME!! I would love to know you!! :D
Christmas Rendezvous ~Love cures people.~
Rendezvous1: Queen of Ice. King of Jerks.
By, Fantasia (milkybluestar@yahoo.com)
"And what the heck am I doing here again?"
Darien questioned himself the millionth time on that night, and as always his common sense would answer him back. Because you'd so stupidly made a promise that you would attend the annual Christmas ball hosted by none other than the sweet sister of yours tonight.
Shaking his head at the fact that he was talking to himself yet again, he loosened the tight tie around his neck, which had been doing an extremely good job in strangling him to death.
It had been an overly hectic day... started with he himself, for reasons he had yet to figure out, being late for a meeting that morning, had an argument with one of the board advisors, causing him to be late again for yet another conference in the afternoon. One thing led to another, and the next thing he knew was he was late to his sister's ball.
Knowing very well of her infamous fiery temper, it could only caused him to shudder. He finally released a breath of relief when her large mansion came into view. It was glowing all over with multi-coloured lights like an enormous, looming and square-shape Christmas tree.
Many people had arrived already as the ball was supposed to start an hour ago. An hour ago. He shuddered again, Raye's furious face suddenly popping into his mind. Perhaps it's all right, he guessed. After all, it's only 60 minutes.
The car park outside was already full packed, but Darien knew earlier that he could use the large private garage inside. He maneuvered his silver Porsche into the garage area easily, only to discover that it was almost full. The key word here is almost.
Grinning, he saw the one and only empty space left in the so-called large garage of his 'beloved' sister. His gleaming car made its way to the vacant space, like a tiger going to pounce on a flesh of meat.
Out of all the sudden, another car whooshed in front of him.
What the hell. Shit. Damn. Fuck.
Before he could blink his eyes, a stylish black car now took the unfilled space he was eyeing just now. From what he could make out with his narrowed eyes, which was practically spitting fire of rage, the car was an Acura.
Soon, a slim black figure, which no doubt belonged to a female, stepped out of the Acura. Holding his temper in check, Darien tried to calm himself down and not grant himself the pleasure of throttling this bit-, he meant, woman's neck.
He watched with outstretched patient when she turned to look at either him or his car and gave a cold look before walking off regally, as if she owned the entire place.
Damn. Damn. Damn. Pounding his head on the steering wheel, he sooooo deeply regretted not strangling her earlier and probably give her a piece of his mind, as well as a few choices of words too. It was too late now as he watched the doorman greeted her and escorted her in with unbelievable politeness.
That... woman, he spat, had the arrogance he would no doubt take years to refine. And his sister dare said that his ego was worse than anyone she'd ever met. What about her giving exclusive parking permit to that woman (He knew no matter how haughty she was, she certainly was not stupid enough to park at the private garage if she wasn't someone close to Raye.), ignoring siblings' ties?
Talking about siblings' ties, Darien understood that he had better get a place to park soon, or else certainly all the remaining bond, if there's still any, would be broken.
~**~**~**~
A stunning vision in red immediately greeted him when Darien went through the front door. "Oh Darien! THERE you are!!" She never even bothered to hide the venom in her voice. "Where have you been, my dear brother?"
"In the supposedly 'large' compound of your mansion searching all over for a place to park my exquisite Porsche because a certain friend of yours deliberately stole a place I eyed for right in front of me, my darrrrrling sister." He finished all in one breath and a disdainful scowl was lingering on his features. No, today was definitely not his day.
"Now now... don't talk to your _elder_ sister in that tone, young man." Raye's thin eyebrows furrowed together, frowning at him. Despite the fact that he's by far taller than her and already a 25-year-old extremely successful young man now, technically she was still older than him by 2 years, hence no matter what, she was ALWAYS correct. "Come with me now. Wipe off that ugly scowl. I want to introduce you to some guest."
Darien rolled his eyes heavenward and blew a breath, but followed her nonetheless, allowing himself to be drag around the place so that he could be introduce to weird people. Ah, The things he did for love!
He took the chance to survey the hard work his sister put in to turn her mansion to a large ballroom. As always, her effort was nothing short of excellent. The whole place was exquisitely decorated with bright colours and red-and-green wreaths were hanging all around that place to create the cheerful Christmas atmosphere.
Everyone who was anyone knew that Raye's Christmas balls were always the best and superb, therefore usually the guests would feel very honoured indeed to be invited to her Christmas balls.
Unfortunately, he was not. He had stopped attending her parties ever since he was sixteen, because it would usually meant pasting a large fake smile on his face for several hours, meeting and mixing around with a whole bunch of ignorant stuck-up people who were most likely to backstab you if the chance came around. Not forgetting the fact that he was forced to meet people like them at work as well, because he was the CEO of his father's prominent company.
Yet again... groaning, he wondered how could he succumb to his sister's eerie power of persuasion and those puppy-dog-eyes to attend her ball this time.
"Come, let me introduce you to a good friend of mine whom I'd wanted you to meet for some time now." Raye, again, dragged a very reluctant Darien half across the room. He muttered under breath, "I'd met enough people tonight to last me for at least three entire lifetimes."
"I know you're not the most sociable person in the whole, Dare. But one day you just gotta get out of that aloof shell of yours to meet the world out there. And of course, I, being the ever so caring and considerate sister will lend you a hand."
He snorted and retorted sarcastically. "I like being in that... 'shell' of mine, thank you very much, my ever-so-caring-and-considerate sister. "
Either that she was tired of arguing with him or did not hear what he said, no reply came from her side. When he turned, she was already gone to God- knows-where. Groaning, he suddenly felt awkward in the mist of all those people he didn't and never bothered to know.
Moments later, Raye came back with a beautiful woman by her side. Beautiful, indeed, was an understatement.
She was one of the most stunning woman that he had ever seen, and of course he had met plenty. Wearing a simple but elegant dark gown that flowed to her ankles and clung in all the right places, beautifully structured and flawless face bare of any make-up, golden shimmering hair tied to a bun with diamond pins, she looked nothing but exquisitely striking. And of course, like any normal hot-blooded male, he found a deep desire stirring inside him.
But it hadn't been only her looks which caught the attention of many, it was also the style which she carried herself with. The air radiating around her was practically freezing with her obvious remoteness. Her perfect lips were in an exact straight line and looked as if they hadn't moved upward for years. It was her eyes that were quite chilling to look at, a colour of light frosty blue. She looked like an ice queen, or empress perhaps.
"Serena, meet my brother, Darien Shields." It was Raye's voice that shook him from his profound observation. "Darien, this is Serena Spencer."
That was when recognition suddenly hit him. She was undoubtedly the woman in black at the garage!! The one who made him search for a parking space for hours, causing him to be even later than he already was. He fought back all the urges to bit out, 'you...!', and forced a tight smile upon his face instead.
Her lips just tugged up slightly as she acknowledged him. For reasons he could never figure out, his sister suddenly excused herself from their side, leaving them to themselves.
"You...!!" Darien hissed, narrowing his eyes. To which, she merely raised an elegant eyebrow.
"That was indeed gracious of you to greet a stranger like that, Mr. Shields."
"I'm never gracious to _discourteous_ people who enjoys sneaking quietly to steal parking space others had obviously booked."
She frowned vaguely, though not the least bit angry at his accusations, just surprised and annoyed. It finally dawned to her what he was talking about. "I disagree with you on most parts of what you said. For one thing, I _did not_ sneak in quietly, I was driving quite openly if you'd paid enough attention. Secondly, I _did not_ steal your parking space. Forgive me if I was wrong, but I didn't see your large name printed on the floor of the space I'd so innocently parked. And to the last of your accusation, I couldn't see how you could 'obviously booked' your parking space. I just so happened to see a free space right in front of me, so I drove my car there. I didn't notice you at the corner, Mr. Shields."
He listened to her explanations, and embarrassed to find the logic behind them. But of course his face remained calm and collected. "I'm rather surprised you didn't notice my car so near, Ms. Spencer." My gorgeous gleaming silver Porsche.
"The truth remains that I didn't. Furthermore, if you were there earlier, as you said you were, why not drive your car into that space faster?" She challenged him while crossing her arms.
"I was _about_ too when an Acura suddenly whooshed by and there goes the place I had been vying for."
"There was nothing I could do about it. It's not my fault."
"So are you saying that it's mine?" He can't believe it! He was fighting with the most beautiful woman in the enormous mansion because of a blasted car park.
"That was certainly not what I was implying. You're twisting my words." Serena pointed with a dead glare.
"How could you accuse me of such actions? I was merely rephrasing your sentence." Darien knew he really should stop their childish argument now, but he simple couldn't. Especially the way her lips pouted slightly and her cheeks went faintly red because of their conflict, made his smile inwardly. At least those little adorable expressions were better than the frosty chilling look she possessed.
"Oh? If you really are, you did an incredibly lousy job at it." With that, she turned swiftly and walked away, her head high.
Oookay, now he's pissed. Fuming, he went after her and grabbed her wrist. It amazed him for a minute at how tiny her wrist were. The surprise look vanished as soon as she turned and shot him with a defiant icy stare. If looks could kill, he would have landed at the bottomless pit of hell now.
"What exactly do you want to blame me for now, Mr. Shields?" Serena questioned sardonically. Although she was shorter than him by at least 6 inches, but her attitude made him felt inferior.
Perhaps it had been the dreadful day he'd had, combined with this, that made him felt like bursting into flames. And perchance, even better, torching the woman in front of him. Gritting his teeth tightly, he bit out, "You're by far the most arrogant and cold person I'd ever met, Ms. Spencer." Too arrogant for her own good.
Her eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "Apparently, both of us have a totally different view of who is the arrogant and conceited one here, Darien Shields."
She left him with his mouth hung open and fist tightly balled at his side. Oh, he realllly wanted to wring off pale slim neck of hers this time.
Not knowing what else to do now because she had disappeared into the crowd, his anger leapt considerably when he saw his sister. It's all entirely her fault! Grr, another one to kill.
Raye was slightly surprised when she saw her brother storming to her. His temper was just as bad as hers sometimes, and he dared say she had bad humour. Raising a questioning eyebrow at him, she waited for his outburst.
Sure enough, Darien lashed out furiously, "Just WHAT were you thinking, Raye! Introducing me to that... that ice queen?!"
"Serena is not an ice queen. She's just... different." She explained steadily, not perturbed about his flare-up.
Rolling his eyes, he snorted. "Obviously!! Once she opens her mouth, the difference is clearly there!"
"Serena is not any social freak."
"She's a block of ice!" A sexily sculptured block of ice. He wanted to bash his betraying desires.
It was her turn to snigger. "Like _some_ certain people here I know. Serena's is compatible to you, Darien."
As much as he wanted to oppose that, a part of him found the truth in her words. Every time he disagreed with that ice queen, she would argue back, word by word, never allowing her stand to waver. Serena reminded him very much like the small rubber ball children liked to play with. Those which when you bounce it on the floor, it would bounce back just as high, sometimes higher.
Not knowing how else to say to support his stance against his sister, he finally gave up and said accusingly, "Raye, how could you?!"
The raven-haired beauty simply shook her head with a smile as she watched her only brother marched away in an agitated stride. Then she turned to her companion, who had been witnessing the exchange with an amused look.
"Do you really think it will ever work out, Mina? It doesn't seem as if they are getting along fine."
"Oh it takes time. I know my pretty cousin well. She is just cold on the exterior but is actually a rather soft person inside. Furthermore, the vibes are strong and I'm never wrong. See, it even rhymes." The attractive woman in a yellow gown winked and both of them shared a laugh.
~**~**~**~
Darien searched the room for Serena. When he found her, she was seated at the corner, alone, fitting the name of a dark and gloomy ice queen perfectly.
He observed her for a while, noticing the large number of men who approached her for a dance, but were all declined. Privately, he was intrigued and attracted to the way she reserved her aloofness and kept others away.
There was as if an ice wall built around her outer surface, preventing others from going anywhere near her, and undoubtedly there's an even thicker wall, possibly an ice forest perhaps, around her heart, that was if she had any. His heart whispered that she indeed had one, it's just too far and too small for others to touch.
Putting a small grin on his face, his anger faded now, he made his way towards her.
She saw him before he reached her, and turned her head away callously, refusing to acknowledge him.
"Ms. Spencer, can you please grant me the honour to have a dance with you?" Darien asked politely, the grin still lingering on his face, while he bowed.
For a moment, he thought he saw surprise flashed through her beautiful features, but it disappeared as soon as it came, instead she was now staring at him with chilling daggers in her azure eyes. "You truly must be dreaming or had turned utterly insane, Mr. Shields. My answer is a big fat _NO_. Go away."
Instead of getting angry as she thought he would, he continued grinning and pulled her hands up gently but firmly. He led an extremely reluctant ice princess to the dance floor, ignoring the gazes around them and the poisonous glare she directed at him.
Once on the dance floor, Darien held her tightly in his arms, disallowing her much movements. The terrifying killer look on her face was enough to scare any sane living beings scuttling away. He, however, was evidently not sane.
"Ms. Spencer...," He lifted her chin up so that he could look deep into her frosty eyes. "I'm sincerely _sorry_ for what had happened just now. Can we start all over again from the beginning? Friends?"
She smiled. It caused him to shudder inwardly, its huge resemblance to the evilllll grin on Dr. Strauss' 'the Grinch's' face was unnerving. "Why, Mr. Shields, thank you so much for your gracious offer. But _NO_, now let me go this once or I'll do something you'll truly regret later."
Stubbornly, he refused to let her go.
So she punched him. Real hard.
Shit. Damn. Fuck.
"OOWWW!!! OUCH!! OUCH!!!" His arms dropped immediately as his hands went up to his jaw. "That HURT dammit!!"
Everyone now had stopped dancing and was staring at the commotion.
He looked at his hands and found it coated with blood from his broken lips. He groaned painfully. That part of his once-perfect jaw would surely looked horrible later.
Staring incredulously at that woman who was nursing her seemingly pained fist now, he shook his head disbelievingly. She really could pack a punch. "You truly are EVILLLL."
"Too bad you didn't know that earlier." For a second, he could swear he saw her blew a raspberry at him.
"Darien!! Serena!" Raye immediately went to the scene "Are you both alright?! Oh my god, what happened to your jaw, Dare?" She rushed to her brother.
Serena silently flinched, guilt immediately came creeping up on her. Cold as she was, but brutal she's not. "Raye, I'm s--."
Darien cut her off. "It was all my fault. I was rude, she defended herself." Her cold cerulean eyes laced with shock as she stared at him. He gazed back at her meaningfully.
"Um, so yeah, Serena, no worries here. Darien sometimes could be pretty rude. I'm sure he deserves what he'd got." Raye winked and smiled assuringly at Serena then led her brother away to a room to tend his wounds.
Mutters which sounded suspiciously like 'I'm fine!...', '...mom!' and 'you're embarrassing me...', came from Darien. Is it just him, or did his sister acted and sounded more like their late mother these days?
Serena simply stared at their retreating forms along with everyone else. Stares were shot at her, some disapproving, some admiring, some skeptical...
At first she had refused to attend this ball earlier, but after much pleading from her cousin, Mina, she halfheartedly came. But this evening had turned out to be worse than she thought.
She jumped slightly when a hand was placed on her shoulders. Turning, she was relieved to find that it was just Mina, who was smiling at her rather happily. "Yo! You go, girl! What a punch!! Did you secretly pick up some martial arts skills from somewhere or something?"
"Mina!"
"Okay okay, as Raye said, it's alright. Daijoubu. There's nothing to worry. Hey, trust me, kay?" Patting her on the shoulder, Mina flashed her charming grin again.
Serena muttered softly. "That's exactly what I'm worried about."
A few minutes later, a smiling Raye came back with a grinning Darien. Serena truly wondered was she the only one who felt uncomfortable there. Everyone seemed to be taking the incident casually.
Mina welcomed him cheerfully. "There you are, Darien! Good as new. Now we don't want to disturb the two of you, kay? Just continue what you were doing. Bye bye!" Grabbing a rather surprised Raye, they disappeared into the crowd in less a second.
Darien raised an eyebrow at their hasty exit and commented, "Well you know, if I'm any normal people, I would have thought this is a set up."
The bleeding on his lips had stopped now, his bruise jaw looked a bit blue, but other than that he looked just fine. "Unfortunately you are not."
"Charming as ever, Serena." At other times he would be furious at her. After all, not only she broke his lower lip which was healing itself now, she had also launched enough insult at him to last a few years. However, he just could not seem to get angry. He truly wondered what was happening to him now.
He surprised her yet again that night when he offered a hand and bowed. "Dance with me?"
At first he was afraid that she would refuse and deliver another blow again to knock him out cold, but after a few minutes of silence later, it was very refreshing indeed to see some of the ice in her eyes melted and her pink pouty lips tugged upwards slightly.
Darien took her response as a cue and led her to the dance floor. Most people who were dancing paused to look at the couple that had been fighting like cats and dogs just moments ago.
They waltzed on the dance floor, effortlessly in sync with each other. She was nothing short of an excellent dancer, it made him ponder why didn't she danced on the floor before. He was taken aback at how perfectly they fit together physically and yet, how easily combustions ensued between them.
All the while they were dancing, Darien kept his eyes directly upon hers, and she stared back steadily with the piercing gaze of her own. It was a challenge, he knew. Heck, everything about her was a challenge! Her pride, her attitude, her aloofness...
That was exactly why he felt such a strong attraction to her both physically and mentally. The desire she had stirred had hardly disappeared, instead it felt like pulsating strongly.
They made a couple of small talk as they waltzed; most of them were prompted by Darien. There was once he asked her where she graduated.
"Harvard medical school." Her answers were all short and straight to the point.
"Medicine? What kind of doctor are you working as?"
For the second time that night, she allowed a small sly smile to grace her face. "You don't want to know. Trust me."
"Try me." He grinned charmingly. Now this was interesting...
"No."
"Come on."
"No."
"Um, please?"
"No."
"You spoil all the fun." Groaning inwardly, he wanted to bash his head on the wall with frustration.
"That is my forte."
The mood was light and easy. Darien was relieved that at least they are not fighting. Surprisingly, he felt himself growing more and more comfortable and at ease to her indifference.
The song ended and they were going to continue with the next song when out of all the sudden Raye stepped on to the stage with her husband, Jadeite, beside her to declare that there was an announcement to make.
Darien's eyebrow furrowed, wondering what his sister was up to now. Truthfully, he deeply admired his brother-in-law, Jadeite, who seemed to possess the uncanny ability to control his sister's temper.
"To all who are present here... okay, I'll make this short and simple... I'm expecting! There will be a lovely addition to my small family here soon enough. So look out, ladies and gentlemen, next year's Christmas ball is going to be bigger and better than ever before because a little wonderful bundle of joy is joining us all!" She winked, then turned to hug her husband.
After Raye stepped down the small stage with Jadeite, while the guests applauded loudly, Darien's mouth was still hanging open. He couldn't believe he was going to be an uncle already in a few months time.
So that's why she insisted so fervently that he should attend her ball this year.
That sly imp of a sister who didn't informed him of this wonderful news first beforehand. He made a mental note to talk to her about her devious plan later.
He happened to glance at Serena's reaction, and what he saw stunned him as much as the news did. The ice queen was smiling radiantly and even some of her pearly white teeth were showing.
His breathe halted and gulped. If he had said that she looked stunning before, she looked absolutely breathtaking now. Serena's picture perfect look was gorgeous to say the least, but when she truly smiled her beauty was ethereal.
He could not resist himself from blurting out. "You really should show you teeth more, ice queen."
A delicate golden eyebrow rose. "Why thank you. And you are a rude, foul, self-centered, egoistic, inconsiderate, proud, overconfident, arrogant, conceited jerk. You really should change more."
"Thank you for being so blunt. I could say the same to you too."
She gave him that rare and glamorous smile of hers again. "Merry Christmas, King of Jerks."
He grinned back with equal charm. "Merry Christmas, Ice Queen."
And with that, Darien found himself caught in the mysterious web of the bleak and cold empress, whom others called Serena Spencer. He never knew how right he was.