A MAZE OF GREED

After an hour when Thea had composed herself by pouring her heart out to Ruth, she left but not before taking a promise from Ruth that she would join her and Rees over dinner the next day.

By that time it was already late in the afternoon. Ruth gave Mr and Mrs Payne's bag of groceries and returned to her room. She realised that she hadn't eaten anything for lunch when her stomach growled loudly in hunger.

She didn't feel like eating anything as her mind was clouded with the thoughts of Florence and Thea. But her stomach growled again demanding to be feed and after sighing, she dragged herself to the kitchen area.

She prepared some potatoes to eat with some bread and after serving it on a plate, she came to sit on her bed.

While deliberately chewing every morsel of food, her mind drifted again to the two problems at hand.

There was Florence who was running behind a man for his love and then there was Thea, on the other hand, who was afraid of her man's love.

'Fate is a twisted thing!' For a second she considered her lucky that she had not been in such a complicated situation yet. But then again, she had no experience in love.

'Does love do this to people? Change them into a whole new person?'

She couldn't imagine why the love had to be so complex. 'Why can't a man and a woman have it easy? Why fate have to be cruel to make them go through the pain?'

'Will I also need to go through pain if I ever fall in love with someone?' The very thought made her shudder. She knew that emotions were her weakness and them getting exploited by a man was something she didn't want for herself.

But this was not a time to think about all this. She needed to prepare what she wanted to say to Rees and how to convince him to continue with the wedding plan. She couldn't just go there and order him to do as she wished.

No matter how much she gave it a thought, all she could get in the end was a dead end. Sighing in defeat she decided to think about it the next day when her mind was not tired.

The day went by and came a cold night. Ruth was about to go to the bed when she heard a knock on her door.

'Who might be this late at the door?' She thought and opened it to reveal Florence.

She looked well than in the morning.

"Were you asleep?" Florence asked calmly.

"No. I was about to. But what are you doing here at this hour of night?" Ruth asked while rubbing her arms when she was attacked with a gust of cold wind.

"You only told me to tell you if I need something." Florence had an eccentric calm on her face that made Ruth shudder.

Gulping her saliva down her throat, Ruth eyed Florence for a second. "Y-Yes. How can I help you?" She asked warily.

"You need to come with me somewhere in the morning. Will you do that for me?"

Though Florence questioned, her eyes and tone had put an exclamation mark at the end and Ruth understood that she had no choice but to agree. She couldn't say NO to her for she was indebted to her.

"Where?" She asked in a hope of getting at least a clue of what was going inside Florence's head but her attempt turned out to be fruitless.

A cold grin stretched on Florence's face. "You will get to know it in the morning. Get ready by 9 o'clock. Good night!"

Without waiting for Ruth's answer she descended the stairs and Ruth could only watch her retreating figure disappearing in the shadows.

'What is she up to?'

*

*

*

The next morning, Florence was already at Ruth's door before the given time of 9 o'clock. Ruth was unsure if she should go with Florence to an unknown place or not.

"At least have something for breakfast." Ruth insisted but little did she knew that the quench that Florence had discovered couldn't be satisfied with anything else but Edwin O'Dell.

After a couple of failed attempts, Ruth gave up. She also didn't eat anything as she thought it would look rude if she ate alone.

"Hurry up, Ruth! I have no time." Florence said impatiently.

Ruth sighed dejectedly and prayed to God that she would not land in any trouble. Half-heartedly she followed Florence, who looked like her mind was set on a mission.

While walking on the streets of Vincardine, they received many curious glances and Ruth couldn't help but cower under their judgemental stares. She deliberately let her toffee brown hair loose around her shoulder with the front half pinned securely to not let the fringes fell on her face.

Whenever she felt people's hot gazes on her, she covered her face with her loose hair as much as possible.

If not before this day, then now Ruth was cognizant of Florence's status in society. People were in utter shock seeing an innocent woman like Ruth walking beside a hussy woman like Florence.

Ruth felt the heat of chagrin creeping on her features and she wished she would have not agreed to go with Florence. But it was too late for now as they left behind the Eastern part of Vincardine and marched towards the western part.

Ruth's mind was too occupied to be aware of her changing surroundings and her head hung low to avoid people's scorching gazes that she failed to notice that they were in front of a huge manor in a matter of a few minutes.

"Miss, who- oh Florence?" The guard standing beside the entrance was surprised to see her.

"Hello! I need to go inside." Florence said calmly.

By this time, Ruth had dared to lift her head to see who was the person who talked to Florence. She blinked puzzled looking at his uniform and slowly her eyes registered her surroundings.

For some reason, the various trees, less crowded place and the vibe of it felt familiar to her.

Slowly her confused eyes faced to her front and her jaw hit the floor, her eyes went saucer-shaped when her brain recognized the place.

It was the same place that she had been at a couple of months ago. It was nighttime and she used the secret way to enter the property but still, she was cent per cent sure of where she was.

Her heart started beating frantically against her chest that she thought that, it would tear her chest open and came out running screaming for help.

Unaware of her state, Florence asked for permission to enter 'the great manor' from the guard.

"What business you might have in the great manor?" The guard was too obvious when his lustful gaze lingered on Florence's square face.

Proud of her womanly assets, Florence puffed up her chest a little and her already fitted corset looked like it would be ripped if she inhaled even a single breath more.

The man ran his tongue over his lips as his eyes widened in excitement.

"What business do you think I have?" Her voice came sultry as she peered at him through her sweeping eyelashes.

"I-I don't know."

Florence gave her best smile that every man in the Vincardine was obsessed with.

"What if I tell you it when you are not on a duty, hmm? Will you then let me go inside?" She asked in a sugar-coated voice, batting her eyelashes innocently and that did the trick.

The man's face illuminated like tens of bulbs were lit up at the same time. "Don't turn on your words, Florence. It's been a while that we got a time for ourselves."

"Of course, I will keep my word! Don't you trust me?" She again batted her eyelashes innocently.

"Fine, you can go. I will see you soon!" The guard winked suggestively.

Florence smiled again and took a step ahead.

"Who is she?"

She glanced at the pale face of Ruth who was lost in her own thoughts and didn't pay attention to the conversation that was happening around her.

"She is friend!"

With that said, she dragged Ruth along with her through the grand entrance of the property of 'the great manor'. That action snapped Ruth from her worried thoughts and she heard Florence mutter, "Such a flapdoodle!"

Ruth chose to not comment on it as she had a more persisting matter in her mind. She wanted to scream at Florence and freed herself from her hold and run to her home but she couldn't.

The events of the night of celebrations started flooding her mind and the particular one haunted her till this date.

She cursed her stars and herself that she agreed to accompany Florence. But then a thought crossed her mind.

'Is this secret lover of Florence belonged to the O'Dell family?' But she discarded that idea thinking how could it be possible for the family had only two men. And there was no way that they would associate with Florence in that way.

Her legs shook and her insides churned with every step she took towards the superstructure that stood smugly to witness her helplessness.