Red Rhythm: His Sweet Obsession

14

● AUTHOR'S POV

A polite knock followed by the maid's voice made its way upto Xanthos; who was sitting on the floor in his study.

"Come in." he replied, sluggishly shifting his head towards the door's direction.

Xanthos had quite a day, and somehow after his sister's visit, despite terribly wanting nothing but his exhaustion melting away in his bed, he wasn't able to fall asleep, his head would slowly hang low as his fatigue would take over, but with a sudden jolt he would wake right back up.

His sister's engagement was a huge news and he was wholeheartedly happy for her, but something bothered him, something picked at his peace, and he hated that he was still so vulnerable regarding the things he considered had no value in his life anymore.

"Miss was asking for you sir." the maid informed, as she entered the room and Ava followed up behind her.

Ava was looking like her normal self again, her face didn't have that gremlin grin plastered across it, or any of the makeup from earlier, she had her hair tied back into a braid, and had a change of clothes as well.

Xanthos nodded and gestured for the maid to leave.

Ava was wearing a frill trim tie-neck nightdress with contrast lace, the dress came below her knees and was most probably given to her by Mr. Gibbs.

Seeing this, Xanthos thought how competent Mr. Gibbs was for having a change of clothes for almost anyone and everyone, no matter their age or size. Sometimes he wondered if the man was even human, as he was way too good at his job.

After the maid left, Ava walked upto Xanthos; who had his legs stretched out infront of him, and his hands lazily resting on his lap, as he sat on the floor, resting his back against his high-back crimson-red leather arm chair.

Ava had woken up a little while ago and had asked what had happened, Mr. Gibbs offered her some water and to slip into something much more comfortable, before she strained herself with tonight's events.

Xanthos hadn't asked for the maids to change her clothes as he deemed it invasion of privacy, not every person is ready and comfortable with having to show themselves unclothed to others, even if it's women to women or men to men.

"Take a seat." Xanthos offered, as his eyes stayed glued to the wall mounted electric fireplace infront of him, the blue and yellow flames dancing on the screen along with the crackling sounds of burning wood felt calming, and were the very reason Xanthos had it installed in his study, the fireplace had no heating system, it was a mere decoration, but it was stress relieving for Xanthos and he had spent many anxiety-ridden nights infront of it, much like the one right now.

Ava, pulling up her nightdress a little, sat down beside Xanthos, at a little distance from him.

"You look exhausted." she pointed out the obvious; trying to start a conversation, as looking at how tired Xanthos was, it almost felt rude to directly jump at 'The hell happened to me?'

"Possibly because I am." Xanthos replied as he closed his eyes, and tried to breathe away his weariness.

"Spend the night here, and I'll drop you off at your quarters in the morning." he said picking up his cellphone from beside him, as it buzzed and lit up.

Xanthos unlocked his phone and seeing the contents displayed over its lit screen, he scoffed, "Some people just never learn." commenting, he placed his phone back down beside him.

"I do hate lack of communication and the subsequent misunderstandings, but all you need to know is that, whatever happened was nothing new to me and nothing you need to worry about, as nothing in it was necessarily targeted towards you, you were just at the right place at the wrong time." Xanthos spoke trying to ease Ava's discomfort.