The car pulled up in front of the towering metal panel gate, manned by a quartet of security guards sitting inside the cubicle, and many more as per Joseph's correct information. Joseph cast a glimpse at Ruby fleetingly who had her eyes shut closed and lips set on an ecclesiastical chant as she sat next to the driver's seat.

Before one of the security guards could walk any further and open his mouth to question his identity, Joseph revealed his face by rolling down the mirror. From a distance, he gave a nod to the other guard and the gate slid open with a rattling sound.

"Ruby, open your eyes. It's time we'd run up to the event," he reminded her while driving through the straight road: moving slowly along the yards of tropical-looking plants and trees spread across the sixty acres of land.

He lifted his hand from the gear as he jerked her arm slightly, and soon enough Ruby yelled, totally off guard, "Who the hell is this Elizabeth?" She cautiously lowered her voice, "Oh, I mean Ruby? Don't call me by my real name now."

Joseph pressed the brakes abruptly, her body moved in the forward direction and hit the seat afterward. She looked at his face which was covered with specks of worth-addressing horror. "What's cooking up in your head Ruby!? We have entered the lion's den and you are asking who the den belongs to. You are not sane."

"Did you hear me say something absurd?" Ruby questioned, unbeknownst to what trouble she would cause next. "I don't know why I just feel like puking."

Joseph growled, "Ruby if you really want to puke then do it on my face, in this car, but not when you appear in front of them." He laid back his head and rubbed his temples as his eyes widened frantically. "How am I supposed to answer Mrs Warner if she questions your abnormality?"

"Joseph, I'm all good, just a little nervous but that will eventually go away. I'm fully sane. Don't ruin your plan," she assured him, massaging his temples. "Let me-" He pried her hands away slightly and looked astray.

The mansion loomed proudly flanked by skeleton trees. At its threshold stood the delicate marble fountain, the soft gurgling of the clear water melodic as it resonated in the surrounding silence.

Her wavering eyes swept across the serene beauty culled from a sumptuous magazine, wanting to capture the tiniest detail that filled her vision. "Holy shit! This place looks so cool. Looks like a shooting set of some grand movie," she acknowledged, plastering her hands on the window.

Joseph objected with a small scoff and found her head sticking out of the window by the time he could confirm his take on love, sentiments, and emotions. "Look, you've to clamp down your excitement. Act as if you have seen much bigger and more luxurious places than this. It should look like nothing would tempt you . . . okay?"

"I believe her electricity bill might stretch to a mile," Ruby drawled, staring at the glitz that poured out of every corner of the edifice.

"Ruby! Are you even listening!?" Joseph spoke out of agitation that made him throw both of his hands off in mid-air.

"Gosh, if she lets me in, it will be so much fun. I have never imagined a paradise to be like this even in my dreams." She breathed, without looking at him. After a moment of savoring the lit-up landscape, she turned to look at him. She felt the heat approaching from his side as his unsparing eye detached from her face slowly. "Oh, you were saying something I guess?"

"Never mind," he muttered.

"Okay," she resumed in her breathy voice, shrugging off her shoulders and peeking outside.

"Y-Your . . . hairstyle. It will ruin your hairstyle if you put your head out of the window like that." He pointed a finger hesitantly, not wanting to show his concern for her by any means, but couldn't help it at the same time.

"Eek! My hairstylist has applied that sticky thing, what you call it? Yes ─ glue. She glued my hair, so it will stay in place."

"It's not glue, that liquid substance is called gel." He looked away and smiled. Enough of joking now, he thought. The time had come where whatever he had made her learn and whatever she would contribute should ultimately help his plan to shine or die.

She was able to catch his genuine reaction and smiled to herself. Yes, she did make him laugh.

"Joseph, I'll talk to you about something really important," she said and was answered with a frown from Joseph. "Later--not now."

Joseph got out of the car and a bouncer ran to open the door for Ruby. She paid him a smile and saw Joseph giving the car keys to another man, suited in all-black. He hopped inside and drove the car straight until it disappeared into the impenetrable darkness.

"Don't panic. Just remember the face of the person closest to your heart. That's the recipe for success. Got it!" Joseph scooted closer to her before entering the avenue of the grand building. He squeezed her shoulders for one last time. His obsidian eyes dilated at the sight of a shiny diamond pendant resting on the first button of the black silk shirt she had on. He wanted to know where she got it from; it looked valuable. But after contemplating the delicacy of the moment he reserved the question for another time.

***

"Good Evening Joseph Sir and Elizabeth Ma'am! We welcome you to The Warners Residency," said one of the Vietnamese-looking maids. "Please come this way."

Facing the main entrance was a small open shrine, consisting of a cornice and dome upheld by four pillars. The place was not quiet though, the highest degree of silence was maintained by people walking in and out of the mansion, who were clad in their Sunday bests.

Walking behind Joseph, she seized every source of enchantment within her journey. The showstopper was the 5400 feet of rustic cursive letters on the wall. "This place can be both a powerful tourist draw and a major source of employment," she wondered.

The maid guided their way through the frontage to the palatial hallway and Mrs Warner's office. Her heels clicked against the marble floor with erratic beats pumping behind her ear. Where the hell was her office? She had been jogging in those punishable heels for the last fifteen minutes. Shucks.

After casting a worm's eye view, she swiftly took off her heels and carried the pair in her hands. It turned out to be an error, when another maid, wearing the same uniform popped up from somewhere. "Ma'am, do you need any help?"

Ruby cocked her eyebrows and lifted her shoulders. "Don't really need one."
Then she left, smiling.

However, Joseph didn't skip their conversation and threw words out of agitation, "Wear. Them. Now."

"My legs are hurting. I don't know for long she is going to make her slog. You work here, then you should know the shortcut to her office," Ruby whispered back, as her face twisted in displeasure.

In the meantime, the maid's ears perked up and she impeded hesitantly, "You are almost there, just a fifteen-meter distance away."

Ruby rolled her eyes before sliding her feet into her heels. "Fifteen minutes, fifteen meters . . . oh, gosh this would take fucking fifteen years."

Upon entering she saw wood and smelt wood. She could see the ancient parchments hanging onto the walls about their great-great-grandparents' history. There was a large, 18th-century French table made out of sandalwood, leaving a fragrance that promised to last for decades. The heavier fringed sofas with lots of demi-sized pillows.

Another fifteen minutes passed away. Ruby didn't mind wandering in the rich thoughts and wood smell that hung in the air. But, somewhere started to descend into boredom. She spread her legs to the extent her tight skirt allowed and yawned in the presence of the maid who was setting Mario Luca's crystal glasses on the table. Ruby admired the custom-made rug which was woven for the large room with trelliswork.

"Ruby, cross your legs while sitting," he reminded her while covering his mouth with his hand. Although the words were inaudible, his expressions were quite visible.

"I know, I know the labor and expense you have spent on me," she mouthed back and clipped her legs together.

Then her desperate eyes averted on the maid, who looked young; or more to the point of her age. Ruby felt delighted and began with, "So, I didn't get to know your name?"

Joseph kicked up his brows, meaning:
she was here only for business. Whereas, weaving webs of friendship and undertaking other emotionally influenced actions didn't fall in the parameter. What was she doing?

"I'm Lucy." She emerged herself in her work again.

Meanwhile, Joseph couldn't take his eyes off Ruby. His eyes popped when she began touching things around, and she would stop teasing him after sending him halfway to a coma and back.

After brooding and staring at her for the entire time, he noticed her excessively gelled tresses stuck messily behind her synthetic white shirt. He got up and strode toward her secretly.

He would have barely fixed them properly, while Ruby stood like a schoolgirl getting her hair done by her elder brother than Lucy's head turned at them.

Ruby blinked, arms crossed against her chest.

Joseph shot up, pretending to look at the door, "I guess Mrs Warner will be here in any second." He intelligently deported himself away from Ruby.

Lucy grew panicky at Mrs Warner's name. At the same moment, the glass slipped from her hand and smashed to smithereens. She dropped to her knees to pick the pieces up, acting quickly.

Ruby helped the maid without thinking twice. Joseph came next.

Accidently a shard jabbed in her knees and a perturbing amount of blood started to stream out. Ruby instantly secured a firm grip of her fingers around her knees. "Your skin is super sensitive and soft. Joseph! Give me some tissues."

Joseph's face went blank. "W-What?"

She gave a forced half-smile that couldn't hide her pain. "Ma'am please don't do this. I'm completely fine. It will get vanished in a few minutes."

"Joseph! Why are you looking at me like that? Just get me a box of tissue, it's bleeding nonstop!" Ruby yelled; her expression hardened as she whipped her face and assessed the presence of a whole comrade marching inside one by one. "Who are these people?"

The smell of woods was once replaced by a metallic smell of blood and ultimately by a reminiscent of an old Brooklyn jazz club perfume.

Mrs Warner walked up to Ruby and stated, looking over her shoulder, "Mary, please take care of Sofia, and guide Miss Elizabeth to one of the restrooms please."

Ruby stared at her with an open mouth, practically visualizing stars in the opulent lighting. Now she knew why Joseph acted in that way.

She was busted.

And that was Katherine Warner.

Word count-1582

a/n; I rewrote this chapter cuz dear WP forgot to save my draft. Ekkk.... can't complain.