I am the Queen

"The sky is so pristine blue with soft white clouds. The weather feels like a gentle caress of summer without the fiery heat. The Lake mirrors the sky above. A soft breeze rippled her long wavy hair. Eyes close, she smells the fresh dew of the morning droplets. She opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings. Meters from her stood a log cabin, inviting her with its homey vibe and the comfort it provides under its roof . . . and she thought . . . maybe she could live here . . . it\'s not so bad . . . or maybe––ouch!"

Lilybella rubbed her reddened forehead. Her cheeks puffed as she looked at Daniel, who just flicked her forehead.

"What are you mumbling there like an idiot? Hurry up and help clean the house. We have a lot of work to do. Stop daydreaming," Daniel said and fixed the firewood in his hands.

Lilybella grinned. "Ehehehe. I\'m just narrating what teacher feels at the moment."

Not far, Evangeline stretched an eyebrow and carried the basket packed with washed plates in her arms. "I\'m thinking of how to murder you and get away with it," she said and walked past Lilybella into the cabin.

"Just pushed her in the lake, and you won\'t hear anything from me," Daniel chimed and followed Evangeline inside.

As usual, Lilybella\'s optimism reflected Evangeline and Daniel\'s foul mood. She followed behind them, skipping as she went.

Inside the house, Eric was swiping the clouds of dust and changing the fabrics of the furniture. Satele was cleaning the appliances while Asher was very busy bossing them around.

"You keep at it. Continue what you\'re doing. Move like a turtle, and we\'ll probably finish by tomorrow," Asher said, munching on a chili barbecue chicken leg as he made himself comfortable on the couch, raising his feet on the table.

Satele rolled her eyes. "Try helping, and we might be able to finish much early."

Asher sneered, "I\'ve been helping you since the very beginning."

"By being annoying?" Satele countered.

Asher frowned and got up on his chair. "By directing you all what to do. Honestly, if I weren\'t here, you guys wouldn\'t be able to finish one-fourth of the things that need to be done."

Satele huffed an exhausted sigh. Her eyes rolled to the ceiling. Her irritation was reaching its peak. Since morning, the laborious cleaning made her skin itch, and the summer weather and bags of dust in the house caused her patience to thin.

And the thin line holding her emotions together broke when Evangeline came in, holding the basket full of plates in her hands.

"Here," she said, voice and face blank.

And like her brain had disappeared, she just dropped the basket on the floor. The plates bounced and shattered to pieces.

"What are you doing?!" Satele shouted, voice loud than the shattering of broken plates. She went on her knees and inspected the dishes before she glared at Evangeline.

"Are you an idiot?!" she almost screamed.

Everyone\'s eyes zeroed on Evangeline and Satele while the latter barraged insults at the former.

"Why did you just dropped it on the floor? Don\'t you know that it\'s breakable?" Satele stood on her feet and faced Evangeline. At first, she didn\'t care about her, but everything changed since the park incident.

"Since this morning, you\'re nothing but trouble," Satele continued, pointing at Evangeline, "you broke the plates. The TV. The door in the toilet and you even misplaced our food, and you\'re not even sorry."

Satele shifted to one foot and crossed her arms. "You know what, you\'ll give everybody a favor if you\'ll just step out and come back after we finished setting everything up."

. . .

. . .

Everybody expected that Evangeline would retaliate. Eric and Daniel even hurried to break them apart. But instead of Evangeline\'s retaliation, audible gasps pierced the stillness as Evangeline retreated into the forest without saying a single word.

. . .

. . .

Everyone blinked before Eric was quick on his feet and went after Evangeline.

Asher faced Satele and looked her in the eyes. "You don\'t have to be so rude to her."

Satele recovered from being shocked that Evangeline didn\'t fire at her, but Asher taking Evangeline\'s side made her temper flared ever than before.

"Says the guy who drags me here against my will," Satele spat and bumped Asher\'s shoulder as she went away.

"What?! You\'re my woman, so it\'s only natural that you\'re here because I am here," Asher defended and went after Satele.

  . . .

. . .

Lilybella clasped her hands and looked at Daniel, breaming with smiles. "Everyone is getting along well."

"Are you blind?" Daniel scoffed and placed the wood in the fireplace.

"Well, without argument, there could be no reconciliation. And without reconciliation, there could be no progress. And Lilybella thinks that arguing is a good thing. It proves that relationship is not stagnant and is moving forward."

Daniel looked at Lilybella for a second before he scoffed. "What are you now? An expert in human relationship?"

Lilybella beamed. "Actually, Lilybella is––"

"I\'m not interested," Daniel cut in and arranged the firewood.

Lilybella shifted her gaze at Daniel and the door for a whole minute before she decided to chase after Evangeline. She was near the door when Daniel snatched her collar, halting her from moving forward.

"Where are you going?" Daniel asked.

"Lilybella will just check up on teacher and see how she\'s doing."

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "No. There\'s still so much to be done here, and you don\'t get to roam around spying on other\'s people lives." And besides, you might see something R-rated. Daniel muttered under his breath.

"So come here and continue cleaning," Daniel said and pushed Lilybella along.

Inside one of the rooms, Asher was arguing with Satele while the latter was trying her best to ignore him.

"You don\'t have to be so bitchy towards her. I know she made a lot of mistakes but can you please just ignore it and move on? Is that so hard to do?"

Satele took in an intake of air before she faced Asher. "If you\'re not happy with me, then maybe you just have left me alone in my house and leave me there," she spat and bat an eyelid at him. "Then maybe you don\'t have to be so bitchy with me now, and maybe I won\'t be this pissed in cleaning somebody\'s house and babysitting some spoiled princess who is nothing but a pain in the ass since we arrived here."

". . ." Asher caught his tongue. This was a first that Satele was this angry. Well, she was always angry whenever he was around, but this time, it was intense. He felt it from the repressed shaking of her shoulders and the trembling in her voice.

He scratched his head and wondered his eyes around the room while he gathered his thoughts.

Minutes passed in silence, and the emotion of the two cooled down a bit. Sensing this, Asher approached her and held her shoulders, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Look, I know that I brought you here without consulting you first, but I just thought that with all that\'s happening, you could need a break. I mean, you have a lot of things going on with exams––"

"Yes, exams," Satele cut in, "that\'s what we should be doing. Studying for exams. But instead, we\'re cooped up in here with people we don\'t even like––"

"Could you let me finish?" Asher said and added when Satele\'s mouth clamped shut. "Thank you."

Satele rolled her eyes, and Asher wanted to kiss her senseless as punishment but restrained himself. Forcing a kiss on her would only make her angrier.

"I know that you have a lot of things going on, like exams—your family. Work," Asher said and forced a smile. "But I think that\'s exactly why you need a break. You\'re burned out and easily angered."

Asher ignored Satele\'s scoffed and continued, "Come on, think about the lake. This cozy house. The lush greeneries out there. The stars at night and the peace from being away from the chaotic city. Tell me if it doesn\'t lift your mood when you think about it."

". . ."

Satele\'s mouth remained shut. But the downward curved from the corner of her lips loosened a bit.

"Well?" Asher urged.

Satele released a big sigh before her tight muscles loosened. "Okay. But don\'t force me to be nice with her."

"You don\'t have to be nice to her. Heck! You don\'t have to be nice at anyone except me, of course."

Satele raised an eyebrow.

Asher grinned before his face became serious. "But you do owe her an apology."

Satele\'s frown came back on her forehead deeper than before. "No."

"Come on. Look me in the eye and tell me that you didn\'t go overboard just now."

". . ." Satele looked Asher in the eyes for a second before she shifted her gaze on the floor.

"Fine," she said under her breathe, "But that\'s it. After that, I won\'t have any interaction with her."

"Deal."

----

A/N

Hey Guys,

This is the final book of ITQ. Hope ya\' all enjoy it as much as I wrote it. XD