As I saw Claude, I quickly ran out of the hall to the laundry room to hide. I pressed my back against the wooden door as I slid down, panting heavily. I stared at the load of laundry that I will do since I'm not risking to go outside this room for a while. There was a big bucket filled with water and washboard. I grabbed the load of laundry and started to wet them as I pressed pressured on the clothing and the washboard. "Mhm…!" I grunted, feeling sweat coming from my forehead and back aching.
"Elena…!" The door slammed opened as it scared me, making me jump, spilling some water on me.
"Y-yes?!" I looked over at the door to see Sebastian huffing and puffing. "Oh, Sebastian...is there something wrong?" I put the wet clothes back in the big bucket and stood up.
"No- I… I just wanted to see if you were okay. Or going to be okay since Claude is here." He looked at me, then down to the laundry behind me. "Elena," Sebastian started to walk his way to me from the door to the back corner of the small room.
He was going to scold me about doing work. I tried to block him from getting to the washboard and bucket. "Sebastian, it's okay. I'm not hurting." I followed his movements as he really tried hard to get through me.
"Really?" He didn't look amused as he already knew something that was up. "Your finger is bleeding." He pointed out as I extended my arms to view my fingers.
I scanned over my finger to not see any bleeding. "Sebastian, why are you-" I was instantly pulled to Sebastian as I squealed from his sudden movement. One hand grabbed both of my wrists, the other behind my shoulder blades. We were close once again. His face was close enough that he could even kiss me. Both of our noses were touching that I turned my head to the side. "Sebastian-"
"Oh, I'm sorry to intrude your moment." I moved my head to the side to see that Claude was standing there, pushing up his glasses with a blank expression. So emotionless it was.
Sebastian removed his hands off of me and stood in front of me, being protective. "Sebastian, he won't harm me because we at our Manor. If it wasn't ours, then I'll make you protect me." I smiled weakly, patting his chest before walking out of the room.
It's not like Sebastian and I are on bad terms, we're on good terms but are uncomfortable and awkward-ish now since I confessed what I felt about our relationship to him. "Ah," I sighed, rubbing my eyes as I felt tired.
"Elena," my name was called by Claude.
"Oh. Claude, it's you again…" I bowed before walking off. I didn't want to be near his presence.
"Elena, I want to have tea with you this afternoon, if you don't mind." He abruptly said, stopping me in my tracks.
I slowly turned around. "I...I don't mind." I agreed because I don't think he's a bad person at all.
As I took a step to follow behind him, "Elena! You need to eat!" Sebastian stepped in the middle between me and the space apart from Claude.
"O-oh ok…?" I was instantly dragged off by Sebastian.
"Sebastian…" I grumbled at him like a stubborn child. "Why are you blocking the door?" I pouted, folding my arms in, narrowing my eyes as he was busy placing things in front of the door.
"Because I lov- care about your well being." He simply replied, thinking that what he said didn't affect me.
"Yes, you care for me because you fed me and gave me a home with all your heart's content. But can I not be friends with Claude? There's nothing wrong with that man unless I see it. You can't strip away friendships, because if you do, I'll be sad and isolate myself because of loneliness." I walked to get the items that were blocking the door. I placed it back to its proper place from the corner of the room, next to the bed, dresser, and the window.
"AH!" He sighed loudly, a bit too dramatic. "Don't do this to me..!" He stomped over to me and hugged me from behind. What a child he can be to me. It's not often for him to do that. He nuzzled his head at the back of my neck.
"I will be fine. You'll know when to get me when I'm in trouble." I rubbed his arms in small circles before stepping out from his hold. "I'll be alright." I assured him, then walked out the door, leaving him in the room as he didn't try to stop me.
Claude and I were having tea outside at the gardens this afternoon.
I grabbed my cup of tea and sipped the green tea, as my soft pink lips touched the warm liquid against the white porcelain side. The tension was awkward as Claude didn't try to start a conversation with me. "Umm… Claude, y-you're a demon like Sebastian right?" This is a rocky conversation but I had to say something. He seemed too stoic to answer simple questions.
"Yes." His answer was short and scary that I didn't know what to say next.
"H-how come you wanted to talk to me?" I lowered my head from feeling his in tensed aura, staring down at me.
"Head up, come forward." I did want he said immediately with my head up and leaning over the table, but eyes avoiding his. "Eyes looking at me. It's rude not to look at the person who's talking." I hesitated to look at him. "Come one," he waited and I shifted my eyes to look at his golden yellow eyes. "It wasn't that hard, was it?" He mumbled.
"It's hard when you're intimidating." I said to him. "You should at least show some emotion if we're going to have tea." I sat myself back to the chair. My heart was pounding as I was nervous to be with him. I kept on shaking my foot as I tried to calm down from my nervousness.
"First of all, I don't have emotions. I don't even know what is happiness or love, or just anything." He stated clearly with his voice gradually getting loud.
I stood up, not wanting to stay with him any longer. "I'm sorry, I need to go because I can't stay with you. Our personalities are not compatible a-and…" I didn't want to add more to my sentence, so I turned my back to him and walked off.
"Then why don't you show me." He flashed in front of me, starling my soul. I felt something off about him right now.
"No." I shook my head. "I want to go back inside the manor. Why do you care about emotions anyways? You didn't even try to start a conversation or show anything about how you're feeling right now. I don't want to waste my time on you if you're not going to use it to socialize." I brushed past him, back inside the manor.
"Please, you're the only woman who stood up with your courage to say things to me. Many women would just cry and run away." Claude was pleading now.
"F….fine, I'll do it." I agreed.