Chapter 223 The battle of silence
When Scarlet returned to the real world, she went to the kitchen with every intention of finally starting on that pizza. It was late however, coming to nine o'clock and she was quite hungry. By this time, Justin too had probably had dinner with her parents. Did she still have to cook the pizza, she wondered.
She found Cecily in her kitchen with Gertrude and Anna. On the counter was a replacement of the ingredients that had been hurled during the fight.
What was she doing here, again? She had already stormed off after saying such harsh words.
"Leave us." Cecily told the maids.
"Yes my lady." Gertrude and Anna bowed before leaving.
Since the ingredients were already prepared, Scarlet washed her hands and set out to prepare the pizza. For a good ten minutes, she ignored the woman whose presence was causing her discomfort. If she had nothing to say, then she too would not be opening her mouth as well.
She mixed the dough aggressively, ignoring the fact that she could use a mixer. She went through all the necessary steps of preparing a chicken pizza and finally two pizzas went into the oven, and she started working on a third.
Cecily maintained the same position on at the dining table, showing no intention to abandon it anytime soon.
"Aren't you going to say anything to me?" Cecily finally said, for some reason exasperated.
Scarlet felt a satisfaction in her belly from this small victory in the battle of silence. She had not caved first, she would never cave first.
"Like what? She responded.
Cecily rubbed her face, and sighed, seemingly exhausted from the events which occurred or Scarlet's attitude toward them. "Won't you tell me that I was wrong for shouting at you and saying such unpleasant things?"
"Why should I? Scarlet asked her, "You have this preconceived misconception about me, who I am and what I should be. Why should it fall on me to change that, why not you? Haven't I proven myself for months now as a good wife and great mother to your grandson and great grandson? I feel like you are testing me all the time, even when you are good to me, it feels artificial. Like you are only doing it for Justin's sake. You wanted me to stand, raise my voice and defend Esong but how can I defend something I don't know? If I had the smallest inkling about what was going on I would have defended him. I went to captain Vangar twice to inquire about Esong's well being and all I was told was that he was okay. Going a third time would have been humiliating because it was plain to see, it was me he did not want to talk to."
"Then you should have come to me." Cecily said in a low but firm voice.
"Did you come to me?" Scarlet reiterated. "You knew that he could go silent for a few weeks but I didn't. He said nothing about it and mind you before the total silence we were in constant daily communication. Of course I thought something was wrong but when I found out that he was fine and simply ignoring us I was furious." She clenched her fist and punched the round ball of dough. "You are always telling me that I am part of your family but I do not feel it here." Scarlet pointed at her heart.
"Until you accept me as I am flaws and all, do not play the family card with me Cecily. Also, unless it's really important please keep your opinions about my marriage to Esong to yourself. I am tired of hearing you say that I want out of this marriage all the time when you have no proof of such a thing. I am tired of being accused of such a thing and yet I have been working my ass off to make the marriage work." She was very sincere about it, making things work for their small family of three was a big priority for her.
She pushed another pizza into an oven and removed the first two which were now ready. The sweet smell of pizza, which her memory was so familiar with wafted to her noise, seducing her senses and damped down some of the bitterness she was experiencing. Her stomach rumbled like an old engine, begging her to take a bite immediately.
Cecily licked her lips, almost drooling and close to forgetting the real reason why she had come.
"I am sorry, " she blurted out loud, " I was waiting for you out here so that I could apologize for my words earlier. I should not have been too harsh on you, and you are right, I can be quite mechanical with you because I expect perfection and devotion to Esong from you. I pride myself on my nobility, elegance and big heart but with you, I have been none of those things. I will strive to be better, and make you feel more like a part of our family."
Whether she was genuinely apologizing from the bottom of her heart or simply because she wanted pizza die to the way her eyes were glued to it, Scarlet took her words as a win. Continuing the fight would not benefit anyone so it was better to let it go for now and take things slowly.
"Has Justin eaten?" She asked Cecily.
"I checked in on him one hour ago and he is already sleeping with your brother, Adler. I guess he was worn out from playing and training." Cecily, then looked down and frowned for a few seconds before asking Scarlet, " Do you think I should apologize to Lora as well, she is your guest after all. And she was right in saying that Esong should have shut those rumors down immediately. It's not right, what you have had to endure for months now."
Scarlet thought about it for a while, thinking back to all the times Lora had deliberately been rude, loud, and mean to her.
"No." She said and then she chuckled as she handed Cecily a fork, knife and a glass of juice before inviting her to enjoy the pizza together. "She needed to be taken down a peg, she can be quite annoying at times."
Cecily nodded as she stuffed her mouth with pizza, she abandoned the knife and fork, choosing to use her hands the same was Scarlet was doing it. Between bites she said, "Not just annoying, she is so freaking rude to everyone and she is always glaring. She has a stick up her butt, a big one."
Scarlet giggled because Cecily was behaving in a manner completely opposite to her normal self. She had not even bothered to wipe the sauce on the side of her cheeks, normally the woman took one bite of food and wiped her lips.
"This is so good." Cecily picked up her third slice of pizza. "What's her story anyway? Why is she so angry at the world?"
"Life dealt her an unfair blow." Was all Scarlet said.
Cecily shrugged and thought, she is not the only one, life was unfair to many others but they did not walk around acting as if they were owed something.
They managed to polish off one and a half pizzas before Tion made his way to the kitchen and switched on the television which was reporting Esong's accident.
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