A/N: Thank you everyone for all the feedback provided so far! I'm honestly surprised. This chapter has been a bit of a nightmare to finish, I've been struggling since last Friday and this has gone through several rewrites. It's a lot shorter than I wanted it to be. Good news is I'm working on the next chapter already.
Almost every corner, every nook of the house is white except for some furniture and the kitchen; the latter, with the exception of the walls, is made of dark marble surfaces and stainless steel. Her fingertips graze over the metal, cold to the touch, as Jeanine explores the area in which she knows she'll spend enough time for the following fourteen days to become quite familiar with it.
A minute or two pass before she allows her legs to carry her to another room, thoughts ever swimming in her mind endlessly. She thinks of what little she knows of the owner of the house and the colour scheme chosen.
White. Usually associated with purity, faith, light, goodness, heaven, spirituality, protection, understanding, safety, protection. Mentally it promotes the idea of new beginnings and renewal.
Bingo. Exactly what Evelyn seeks. People can be so boringly predictable, if one has the knowledge to read them.
Jeanine herself while her home and offices have white in them, they are for other reasons: brilliance, possibility, perfection, sterility, illumination. A colour commonly use in laboratories to express safety. However, she's more of a blue person. In her closet one would find more blue items of clothing than any other colour combined. In fact, rare is the day she's not wearing at least one blue item throughout her day. It can be something as simple as a belt or a scarf, to be clad in blue from head to toe. Hence so many people assume she's a cold person. It also speaks, silently, of her importance and confidence.
The colour is also present in her home and all her offices. It has a positive effect on both body and mind, going as far as inducing chemicals that are calming - something Jeanine is in dire need to control her anxiety. Of course, one must choose their shades of blue carefully to obtain the desired effect.
Even her empire is associated with blue, all logos have it in some capacity. The colour represents trust, loyalty, intelligence, wisdom, sincerity, stability, freedom, intuition, imagination, inspiration and unity. While it can be linked to more definitions, those are the ones that Jeanine wants her empire to be associated with.
Her mind goes back to white as she takes the stairs to the upper floor, and it isn't until she comes across the master bedroom that she allows any emotion to register on her features. She's grinning at the king sized bed, the spacious room, the wide windows. There is no doubt Jeanine will have the rest she deserves, if the bed is as comfortable as it seems to be.
The sound of nearing footsteps make her school her features, no sign of a grin is present as she turns to find Tris standing by the doorway with her luggage beside her. Her lips part to speak, but Tris beats her to it.
"Evelyn's never mentioned she'd be gone for Christmas."
"Why would she?" A pause. "How do you know of her?" Her inquisitive nature can never be satisfied.
"Her son was my boyfriend." Tris shrugs her shoulders as she speaks, as if it were a nonchalant reaction.
"I assume you've been in this house before." Her words are met with a nod, somehow that makes Jeanine feel uneasy. Tris knows her way better around the house than she does, but she might find a way to use it to her advantage. "Do the two of you get along, or is there any resentment for hurting her son?"
Tris snorts. "Yeah, right, hurt her son. Whatever. Four can take care of himself. I don't like her, I don't trust her."
Is that bitterness she senses in her? "Did she name her son after a number?"
"His real name is Tobias, we just call him Four."
Young people and their lack of sense. Is that a thing they do nowadays in LA, nickname people after numbers? Assigning numbers to experiments, even when humans are involved she understands to keep order of everything. But give them to people just because? That she finds incredibly stupid.
"Tell me, is it true she's divorcing her husband?" Blue eyes widen as the words register, only making Jeanine smirk. My, my, someone is keeping secrets. "Maybe you should talk to your ex and find out. If, you're still in touch with him."
With a handful steps she is next to Tris, reaching for her suitcases to push them into the room, not truly caring if they impact together or fall. She'll unpack after she makes her driver leave.
Jeanine leaves the room, Tris trailing behind her, as she goes downstairs and wastes no time leading them to the front door. She dislikes, immensely, making small talk but for now the situation requires it. She never knows why people love to partake in it, it's meaningless and a complete waste of time.
"Beatrice…"
"Tris."
"Beatrice," Jeanine insists, "are you Andrew's daughter?"
Blue eyes are filled with shock and confusion. "You know my dad?!"
A polite smile spreads across her features, just as she thinks she'd find more joy in poking her eyes out with a blunt rusty knife than spending time with a Prior. "I do. We grew up together in Chicago. I know Caleb, too."
"How do you know my brother?"
"I'm his boss."
Jeanine observes her, how realisation begins to dawn on Tris. How the wheels in her mind move a thousand miles per hour, putting the information together and processing it. She almost wants to gloat. Almost.
"You're Jeanine Matthews. Founder, President and CEO of Erudite."
"As of today, your boss for the next fourteen days." Now she's gloating. "Not everything you've heard is true, don't believe it. It can be much worse." She has a reputation to keep.
Her right hand reaches for the front door's handle, quickly making work of it to open it. A gust of wind makes her hiss, letting go of the handle to cover her eye. Something got in her eye. She should be wearing her glasses, this would've been avoided if she had; instead she had picked contact lenses, terrible mistake.
She feels a hand wrap around her wrist, pulling down her own hand gently to reveal her closed eye. Even if both of them were shut, Jeanine would feel Tris' presence invading her personal space easily. There's barely room between them, her heels giving her an advantage to look down on Tris with a look of superiority, one she can't help herself not even with just one eye.
"May I?"
There isn't much of a chance for denial, especially if it means regaining the sight of her eye. She nods curtly, giving her silent permission as Tris gently opens her eye and takes a look until she finds the offending dust that got in her eye. Her personal space is returned to her as she blinks once, twice, and against her better judgement she smiles, genuinely, at Tris.
"Better?"
"Yes, thank you." Two words that ever leave Jeanine's lips. At least sincerely.
"Yeah, Santa Anas will get you every time."
"What?"
"It's the wind, it's what makes it so warm this time of the year. Local lore says anything can happen." Tris grins.
Jeanine is sceptical about any local lore meanings and myths. There's no real proven fact behind such old tales that simply become popular because of one event happening during said weather conditions. To her unless science can explain the phenomenon, any other reasoning is a fallacy.
"Of course." She tries to hide the sarcasm. "We're done for now, you can leave. Have your cell with you at all times, I'll text you when your services are required."
She watches as the young woman steps out of the house and walks away, leaving her sight for the time being.
"Don't blow away!" Tris says as she reaches the gate.
Jeanine merely scoffs and rolls her eyes, slamming the door shut. It appears that promise of no idiots in the area has been broken, and less than three hours have passed since her private jet touched down at the airport.