FIRE AND ICE 🔥~~~~~~EPISODE 22
"Yoo, wait for me." Rex's voice sounded from the sitting room and his hurried steps could be heard a while later.
"Ah, the family is gathered and you all were about to exclude me? What a– Jeslyn, good morning." He beamed at her.
"Good morning," Jeslyn answered.
"Your night must have been good, right?" Rex walked to the dining and took the only vacant seat while a maid wearing a black gown and a white napkin tied around her waist hurried to start serving him.
"Hmm, that can also be said," Jeslyn answered ambiguously.
While Rex and Jeslyn were talking, Mulan's head was aching. From what she knew, none of the Lu brothers had ever brought a woman home before, so who is this Jeslyn? and what position does she hold to be at the table with the Lu family, and also able to hold a smooth conversation with Rex?
"Father, I just asked you a question." Valen interrupted the conversation between Rex and Jeslyn, prompting them to shut up and look at him.
Looking at what was placed in front of Valen, Rex sighed. He doesn't need to be told of what was going on.
"Darling Valen, it was prescribed by Matt, so you can only take that," Rex intervened.
"Uncle Rex, if I recall correctly, I wasn't talking to you, right?" He glared at Rex who immediately shut his mouth and turned to focus on his food.
Jeslyn knitted her brows but said nothing.
"Valen, don't say that, he's your uncle," Mulan said in a soft voice.
Too soft for Jeslyn's liking which made her frown grow deeper. She narrowed her eyes at the child and scrutinized him all over one more time.
'Cute but rude, huh?' She snorted.
Jeslyn's reaction pulled everyone's attention to her. Like she wasn't being looked at, she continued to eat her food without paying attention to anyone.
"Hey, you, get these Veggies out of my sight and get me something appetizing," Valen said to one of the maids who had her head down.
The maid raised her head and confusion laced her face.
What would she do? Disrespecting or disobeying Master Maverick was never an option, however, little master Valen can also not be disobeyed.
'What should I do?' The maid stood rooted there in trepidation.
"Did I not just talk to someone!" Valen roared with his small voice and slapped the table. His aura suddenly turned fierce and wicked.
"Valen!" Rex called. His voice sounded fearful and pleading.
Maverick raised his head and shot Mulan a glare.
Mulan hurriedly turned to Valen and tried to talk him out of his anger.
"Little master, calm down and take it easy. I'll immediately go and get you the meal you want, you'll hurt yourself, please don't be annoyed, daddy is sorry."
At Mulan's words, Valen tuned down his anger and glared at his father.
Jeslyn bit her lips trying to suppress the rage building up in her. One of the things she hates in her life is spoilt children. She's allergic to them and never wants them having anything to do with her.
Among all the spoilt kids she had seen, Valen seems to be holding the crown.
'Stay calm, Jeslyn, stay calm,' she told herself while breathing in and breathing out.
She watched as Mulan rushed off to get Valen different dishes while the maids hurried over to clean out the healthy food they had left on the table.
The table became quiet and Rex's naturally cheerful face was replaced with bitterness and sorrow.
Maverick had his usual deadpan look on his face. Only his mouth opening once in a few seconds to allow in food, distorted his facial expression.
Jeslyn suddenly lost her appetite when she saw the table had become a ghost house.
She looked at Valen, the cause of everyone's misery. The boy was on his phone with a serious look on his handsome face.
A while later, Mulan hurried in with a few servants holding dishes.
The new dish was arranged in front of Valen. Most of them were fried food and raw food like milk, cheese, eggs that were not properly cooked, and so on.
Rex's breath hitched in his throat when he saw Valen cutting the egg and having the yoke pouring out.
Maverick wasn't saying anything but the hand holding his cutlery was having veins popping out at how tightly he was pressing the spoon against his plate.
Mulan pursed her lips as she looked at Valen.
Watching the family looking so weird and awkward, Jeslyn seemed lost. What's wrong with the kind of food Valen was eating? She also eats oily and uncooked food too, especially the egg.
Just when Valen was about to put the egg in his mouth…
"Put it down."
It was Maverick. He didn't sound like he would be taking a 'no' for an answer.
Valen closed his open mouth and dropped his cutlery.
Rex breathed a sigh of relief and patted his chest like he just escaped death.
"Take the food away and bring back the veggies," Maverick ordered.
"No!" Valen yelled.
"Valen!" Maverick called with the same tone of voice.
The father and son started a stare-down contest. None wanting to back down for the other.
Those in the room except Jeslyn felt the world was ending.
"B– brother, please calm down. H– he's just a child." Rex immediately intervened.
"Y– yes master, Valen is just a child, please forgive him," Mulan added.
Jeslyn sighed and pushed away her plate of food to get up. Just when she did, everyone turned to look at her and Valen spoke up with so much anger.
He needed a place to vent and he finally got one.
"Don't you know how to do things without inducing a commotion? You are too noisy!"
"Eh?" Jeslyn looked around her, she was the only one standing and Valen was glaring at her. She knitted her brows, not believing it was her the little brat was talking to.
"If you are leaving, please hurry up and get lost! Furthermore, you can f*ck out of the house and never come back!" He scowled at Jeslyn.
Now Jeslyn was sure he was referring to her. She silently walked around the table and went to stand beside Valen after shoving Mulan out of the way.
She pulled the child up from his seat and sent him a loud 'smack' to his soft butt.
Valen's face changed and so were the people in the dining room. From the servants to Maverick.
A light flickered through Maverick's eyes before it disappeared into nothingness.
"How dare you!" Mulan roared.
"Shut the f*ck up!" Jeslyn thundered. Her anger could no longer be suppressed.
"You raised him." She pointed at Valen while her eyes spat fire at Mulan. "Only a person like you could raise such a rotten kid–"
"Y–you,"
"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking!... " Jeslyn shut Mulan up.
"Are you proud of a child like this? Do you call yourself a woman after inculcating such morals in him? A child who has no respect whatsoever. Are you happy that he only listens to you? Who are you to do that? Who gave you the right to ruin someone's child!"
Ever since Jeslyn was born, she had never been this angry, nor had she ever let her anger consume her to this extent. She also didn't know why she was feeling this way.
"Who the hell are you!" Valen screamed.
"Shut your little mouth and head to your room, right now!" Jeslyn roughly shoved the child to a maid who was staring at her like she had seen a demigod.
The maid wasn't the only one who was that way. Every single person in the dining room was not left out. They were shocked into dumbness by Jeslyn's outburst.
Maverick had his sharp eyes on Jeslyn all through and when he saw her shove his son, he almost flew out of his seat. But seeing where the child was pushed to, he relaxed.
"Send him to his room and take along his food too." She ordered the maid holding Valen.
The maid turned her head robotically to know what Maverick would say. Seeing him nod, she also nodded like a soulless puppet.
Jeslyn lowered her angry eyes at Valen. The child was still in stupefaction, he couldn't believe what was going on.
"You naughty little thing, I seriously don't care if you cause trouble later, but you see those veggies that your papa asked you to eat, you should quietly eat them all.
I have seen your ugly side and I tell you, mine is a lot worse than yours. You wouldn't want to taste it, now take him upstairs."
The maid cautiously held Valen's little hand and hurried out of the dining room with a few other maids carrying the dishes with veggies along with them.
Once Valen was gone, Jeslyn turned to look at Maverick who was also staring at her.
The silence in the dining room was enough to scare a ghost.
"How could you?" Jeslyn asked but Maverick remained silent but his eyes never left her.
Jeslyn turned to Rex who had his lips parted in amazement.
"And you too, why would you let your nephew be raised like that?"
"Eh… Ahem… Jeslyn, you see, there's a little, eh…" Rex stammered all through. How was he supposed to explain why Valen turned out to be like that? His brother wasn't saying a thing, so what can he say?
"You can't even explain," Jeslyn chuckled in rage.
She turned to look at Maverick and pointed a finger towards the entrance. "That was your child, Mr. Maverick. He's just 6 years old but already knows how to use the 'f' word. I understand that this country is not for the weak, but Mr. Maverick, raising a child to become that way is not healthy for him and the society.
I'm very sure the little display he demonstrated a while ago is just the tip of an iceberg of what he's capable of."
Jeslyn paused. She suddenly felt a sting in her eyes and a feeling she didn't know assaulted her heart. It was painful. It felt like she was betrayed.
"I'm wholly disappointed in you, Mr. Maverick," she whispered in an awkward voice. It was obvious that a little push would make her tear up.
"How dare you! Who do you think you are to butt into Mr. Maverick's–"
"Paah!"
Jeslyn turned around without a warning and sent a resounding slap across Mulan's face.
"You don't interfere when I'm talking to my husband!" She yelled, prompting her emotions to spiral out of control.
A tear slipped from her left eye and she wiped it furiously. She took a step to stand in front of Mulan who held her right cheek and was staring dazedly at Jeslyn.
Jeslyn lowered her voice, hoping it was threatening and domineering enough before she said;
"You listen and listen well. I don't care who you are and what you are to the Lu brothers. In as much as I'm the madam of this house, and Valen is my stepson, you have no right whatsoever to butt in when I discipline Valen or talk to my husband. You get that?"
Done talking, she patted Mulan on her left cheek before she shifted her gaze to Maverick who was equally looking at her. She glared at him before walking out of the dining room.
A long while later, Mulan came around from her reverie and pointed at the door. "M– Mr. Maverick, wh– what does she mean?"
What was the meaning of 'my husband, Valen is my stepson, madam of the house?' What does that mean? Mulan refuses to believe that those phrases have the same meaning as what she already knew. It cannot be possible!
Maverick pursed his sexy pink lips while staring at the entrance. Nobody knew what he was thinking.
A few seconds later, he got up and walked out.
Mulan was still in disbelief. Her clear and pretty eyes slowly turned sparkling with liquid gathering in them. A blink would make the salty water run down her smooth cheeks.
"Y– young master Rex, wh– what is going on?" She turned to look at Rex.
Rex sighed and got up from his seat. He walked up to Mulan and reluctantly patted her shoulder before saying;
"I know you have something brewing inside you for my brother. I don't know what it is nor do I care to know. However, it is your fault. My brother brought you here to be Valen's nanny and not to fall in love with him. He pays you a huge sum of money and makes sure your family is well protected.
He was kind enough to give you more than sufficient benefits as his son's nanny. Now my brother is married and I'll advise you to kill that thing growing inside you.
You can see that my sister-in-law is not a pushover like you had thought. She can be crazy when she's furious. She's mad at you for what you tried to do to her this morning, plus Valen's behavior ticked her off.
For now, I'll tell you to not push her. I know what you are capable of and I know what you have done and what you are planning to do to get my brother to notice you. I'll only warn you once, desist.
My brother is not a good guy like me that would give you a warning or a second chance. If he could treat his loyal subjects like he does, who are you that he cannot get rid of?
For the sake of Valen, I am willing to talk this much." He patted her shoulder again. "Good luck."
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 23
PLEASE LIKE OR COMMENT IF YOU ENJOYED THE STORY
"Ah, the family is gathered and you all were about to exclude me? What a– Jeslyn, good morning." He beamed at her.
"Good morning," Jeslyn answered.
"Your night must have been good, right?" Rex walked to the dining and took the only vacant seat while a maid wearing a black gown and a white napkin tied around her waist hurried to start serving him.
"Hmm, that can also be said," Jeslyn answered ambiguously.
While Rex and Jeslyn were talking, Mulan's head was aching. From what she knew, none of the Lu brothers had ever brought a woman home before, so who is this Jeslyn? and what position does she hold to be at the table with the Lu family, and also able to hold a smooth conversation with Rex?
"Father, I just asked you a question." Valen interrupted the conversation between Rex and Jeslyn, prompting them to shut up and look at him.
Looking at what was placed in front of Valen, Rex sighed. He doesn't need to be told of what was going on.
"Darling Valen, it was prescribed by Matt, so you can only take that," Rex intervened.
"Uncle Rex, if I recall correctly, I wasn't talking to you, right?" He glared at Rex who immediately shut his mouth and turned to focus on his food.
Jeslyn knitted her brows but said nothing.
"Valen, don't say that, he's your uncle," Mulan said in a soft voice.
Too soft for Jeslyn's liking which made her frown grow deeper. She narrowed her eyes at the child and scrutinized him all over one more time.
'Cute but rude, huh?' She snorted.
Jeslyn's reaction pulled everyone's attention to her. Like she wasn't being looked at, she continued to eat her food without paying attention to anyone.
"Hey, you, get these Veggies out of my sight and get me something appetizing," Valen said to one of the maids who had her head down.
The maid raised her head and confusion laced her face.
What would she do? Disrespecting or disobeying Master Maverick was never an option, however, little master Valen can also not be disobeyed.
'What should I do?' The maid stood rooted there in trepidation.
"Did I not just talk to someone!" Valen roared with his small voice and slapped the table. His aura suddenly turned fierce and wicked.
"Valen!" Rex called. His voice sounded fearful and pleading.
Maverick raised his head and shot Mulan a glare.
Mulan hurriedly turned to Valen and tried to talk him out of his anger.
"Little master, calm down and take it easy. I'll immediately go and get you the meal you want, you'll hurt yourself, please don't be annoyed, daddy is sorry."
At Mulan's words, Valen tuned down his anger and glared at his father.
Jeslyn bit her lips trying to suppress the rage building up in her. One of the things she hates in her life is spoilt children. She's allergic to them and never wants them having anything to do with her.
Among all the spoilt kids she had seen, Valen seems to be holding the crown.
'Stay calm, Jeslyn, stay calm,' she told herself while breathing in and breathing out.
She watched as Mulan rushed off to get Valen different dishes while the maids hurried over to clean out the healthy food they had left on the table.
The table became quiet and Rex's naturally cheerful face was replaced with bitterness and sorrow.
Maverick had his usual deadpan look on his face. Only his mouth opening once in a few seconds to allow in food, distorted his facial expression.
Jeslyn suddenly lost her appetite when she saw the table had become a ghost house.
She looked at Valen, the cause of everyone's misery. The boy was on his phone with a serious look on his handsome face.
A while later, Mulan hurried in with a few servants holding dishes.
The new dish was arranged in front of Valen. Most of them were fried food and raw food like milk, cheese, eggs that were not properly cooked, and so on.
Rex's breath hitched in his throat when he saw Valen cutting the egg and having the yoke pouring out.
Maverick wasn't saying anything but the hand holding his cutlery was having veins popping out at how tightly he was pressing the spoon against his plate.
Mulan pursed her lips as she looked at Valen.
Watching the family looking so weird and awkward, Jeslyn seemed lost. What's wrong with the kind of food Valen was eating? She also eats oily and uncooked food too, especially the egg.
Just when Valen was about to put the egg in his mouth…
"Put it down."
It was Maverick. He didn't sound like he would be taking a 'no' for an answer.
Valen closed his open mouth and dropped his cutlery.
Rex breathed a sigh of relief and patted his chest like he just escaped death.
"Take the food away and bring back the veggies," Maverick ordered.
"No!" Valen yelled.
"Valen!" Maverick called with the same tone of voice.
The father and son started a stare-down contest. None wanting to back down for the other.
Those in the room except Jeslyn felt the world was ending.
"B– brother, please calm down. H– he's just a child." Rex immediately intervened.
"Y– yes master, Valen is just a child, please forgive him," Mulan added.
Jeslyn sighed and pushed away her plate of food to get up. Just when she did, everyone turned to look at her and Valen spoke up with so much anger.
He needed a place to vent and he finally got one.
"Don't you know how to do things without inducing a commotion? You are too noisy!"
"Eh?" Jeslyn looked around her, she was the only one standing and Valen was glaring at her. She knitted her brows, not believing it was her the little brat was talking to.
"If you are leaving, please hurry up and get lost! Furthermore, you can f*ck out of the house and never come back!" He scowled at Jeslyn.
Now Jeslyn was sure he was referring to her. She silently walked around the table and went to stand beside Valen after shoving Mulan out of the way.
She pulled the child up from his seat and sent him a loud 'smack' to his soft butt.
Valen's face changed and so were the people in the dining room. From the servants to Maverick.
A light flickered through Maverick's eyes before it disappeared into nothingness.
"How dare you!" Mulan roared.
"Shut the f*ck up!" Jeslyn thundered. Her anger could no longer be suppressed.
"You raised him." She pointed at Valen while her eyes spat fire at Mulan. "Only a person like you could raise such a rotten kid–"
"Y–you,"
"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking!... " Jeslyn shut Mulan up.
"Are you proud of a child like this? Do you call yourself a woman after inculcating such morals in him? A child who has no respect whatsoever. Are you happy that he only listens to you? Who are you to do that? Who gave you the right to ruin someone's child!"
Ever since Jeslyn was born, she had never been this angry, nor had she ever let her anger consume her to this extent. She also didn't know why she was feeling this way.
"Who the hell are you!" Valen screamed.
"Shut your little mouth and head to your room, right now!" Jeslyn roughly shoved the child to a maid who was staring at her like she had seen a demigod.
The maid wasn't the only one who was that way. Every single person in the dining room was not left out. They were shocked into dumbness by Jeslyn's outburst.
Maverick had his sharp eyes on Jeslyn all through and when he saw her shove his son, he almost flew out of his seat. But seeing where the child was pushed to, he relaxed.
"Send him to his room and take along his food too." She ordered the maid holding Valen.
The maid turned her head robotically to know what Maverick would say. Seeing him nod, she also nodded like a soulless puppet.
Jeslyn lowered her angry eyes at Valen. The child was still in stupefaction, he couldn't believe what was going on.
"You naughty little thing, I seriously don't care if you cause trouble later, but you see those veggies that your papa asked you to eat, you should quietly eat them all.
I have seen your ugly side and I tell you, mine is a lot worse than yours. You wouldn't want to taste it, now take him upstairs."
The maid cautiously held Valen's little hand and hurried out of the dining room with a few other maids carrying the dishes with veggies along with them.
Once Valen was gone, Jeslyn turned to look at Maverick who was also staring at her.
The silence in the dining room was enough to scare a ghost.
"How could you?" Jeslyn asked but Maverick remained silent but his eyes never left her.
Jeslyn turned to Rex who had his lips parted in amazement.
"And you too, why would you let your nephew be raised like that?"
"Eh… Ahem… Jeslyn, you see, there's a little, eh…" Rex stammered all through. How was he supposed to explain why Valen turned out to be like that? His brother wasn't saying a thing, so what can he say?
"You can't even explain," Jeslyn chuckled in rage.
She turned to look at Maverick and pointed a finger towards the entrance. "That was your child, Mr. Maverick. He's just 6 years old but already knows how to use the 'f' word. I understand that this country is not for the weak, but Mr. Maverick, raising a child to become that way is not healthy for him and the society.
I'm very sure the little display he demonstrated a while ago is just the tip of an iceberg of what he's capable of."
Jeslyn paused. She suddenly felt a sting in her eyes and a feeling she didn't know assaulted her heart. It was painful. It felt like she was betrayed.
"I'm wholly disappointed in you, Mr. Maverick," she whispered in an awkward voice. It was obvious that a little push would make her tear up.
"How dare you! Who do you think you are to butt into Mr. Maverick's–"
"Paah!"
Jeslyn turned around without a warning and sent a resounding slap across Mulan's face.
"You don't interfere when I'm talking to my husband!" She yelled, prompting her emotions to spiral out of control.
A tear slipped from her left eye and she wiped it furiously. She took a step to stand in front of Mulan who held her right cheek and was staring dazedly at Jeslyn.
Jeslyn lowered her voice, hoping it was threatening and domineering enough before she said;
"You listen and listen well. I don't care who you are and what you are to the Lu brothers. In as much as I'm the madam of this house, and Valen is my stepson, you have no right whatsoever to butt in when I discipline Valen or talk to my husband. You get that?"
Done talking, she patted Mulan on her left cheek before she shifted her gaze to Maverick who was equally looking at her. She glared at him before walking out of the dining room.
A long while later, Mulan came around from her reverie and pointed at the door. "M– Mr. Maverick, wh– what does she mean?"
What was the meaning of 'my husband, Valen is my stepson, madam of the house?' What does that mean? Mulan refuses to believe that those phrases have the same meaning as what she already knew. It cannot be possible!
Maverick pursed his sexy pink lips while staring at the entrance. Nobody knew what he was thinking.
A few seconds later, he got up and walked out.
Mulan was still in disbelief. Her clear and pretty eyes slowly turned sparkling with liquid gathering in them. A blink would make the salty water run down her smooth cheeks.
"Y– young master Rex, wh– what is going on?" She turned to look at Rex.
Rex sighed and got up from his seat. He walked up to Mulan and reluctantly patted her shoulder before saying;
"I know you have something brewing inside you for my brother. I don't know what it is nor do I care to know. However, it is your fault. My brother brought you here to be Valen's nanny and not to fall in love with him. He pays you a huge sum of money and makes sure your family is well protected.
He was kind enough to give you more than sufficient benefits as his son's nanny. Now my brother is married and I'll advise you to kill that thing growing inside you.
You can see that my sister-in-law is not a pushover like you had thought. She can be crazy when she's furious. She's mad at you for what you tried to do to her this morning, plus Valen's behavior ticked her off.
For now, I'll tell you to not push her. I know what you are capable of and I know what you have done and what you are planning to do to get my brother to notice you. I'll only warn you once, desist.
My brother is not a good guy like me that would give you a warning or a second chance. If he could treat his loyal subjects like he does, who are you that he cannot get rid of?
For the sake of Valen, I am willing to talk this much." He patted her shoulder again. "Good luck."
WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 23
PLEASE LIKE OR COMMENT IF YOU ENJOYED THE STORY
