"Keith did not lie to me when he said that you are breath-takingly beautiful!" Venessa gently cupped the cheek of Qingyue and commented, which made the girl burn in a furious blush and avert her eyes.
"Of course, she's beautiful! I am her mother!" Celine smugly smiled and added, which earned her a snort from Venessa.
"She's more beautiful than you, Celine." She commented and then left the two young ones alone to go chat with her old friend.
Keith amusedly looked at Qingyue, who was trying her best to get a hold of her composure. The silly girl was absolutely starstruck when she met his mother.
As a aspiring businesswoman, she had always admired Venessa, and had always wanted to become just like her when she grew up. However, nothing could have prepared her for how charismatic and beautiful his mother was in person.
It was so much so that Qingyue even hesitated calling her as Aunty, because Venessa looked like she was in her mid twenties.
"She's overwhelmingly beautiful..." The girl commented when she finally managed to gain back her bearings.
"Of course, she is! She's my mother, after all." He replied in the same manner Celine had done earlier, which earned him a snort from Qingyue, just like that of his mother.
"She's more beautiful than you." She commented, but then burst out in giggles at her own words.
Keith too chuckled at her words.
"Grandfather is resting in his room now. Had you come a few minutes earlier, you could have met him." He told her. "Now, you will see him at the dinner table in couple of hours."
"He won't mind, would he?" She worriedly asked.
"No." Keith assured her. "Let's go somewhere else. The two of them need to catch up on a lot." He suggested and after Qingyue looked at her mother chatting happily with Venessa, she nodded her head and followed Keith out of the drawing room.
Qingyue silently followed Keith, who deliberately walked leisurely, giving her time to look around the Manor.
"This place is so big. Do you not feel a sense of desolation living here?" She curiously asked.
"No." Keith shook his head. "I was born here, raised here. It just feels like home to me." He looked around the long hallway and smiled. "Perhaps, if I had not been raised here, I would have thought that this place was too big for a small family like ours."
She understandably nodded her head to his words and then gasped when she caught sight of a Mountain Lion who was talking side by side of Minami, occasionally brushing against her, which made her giggle.
"Is that..."
"A Mountain Lion." Keith nodded his head. "His name is Milo, and he has grown up with me. Come, I will introduce you to him."
The grey-eyed girl hesitated a little, but then followed right after him.
If someone as meek as Minami could be so close to the beast, she would be fine too. And her thoughts proved right.
Qingyue soon realized that Milo was just another cat, and unlike most cats, it loved the affection people showered on it.
There was not even a hint of apprehension in her heart when she hugged it and let it nuzzle its face in her neck, softly brushing her hand on its beautiful brown coat.
Keith just stayed there, leaning against the wall for minutes, watching the two girls play with Milo. It was such a peaceful thing to look at that a fond smile crept on his lips.
When Qingyue finally had enough of Milo, she remembered that Keith was still there. And when she turned around and saw the smile on his face, her cheeks warmed up in a beautiful blush.
"He's beautiful!" She said as she stood up.
"That he is." He nodded to her and then slowly walked past her.
Keith petted the head of Milo, and then gently caressed Minami's head before heading to his room.
The girl that followed him curiously looked all around, trying to learn something about him from how his room looked.
One thing she had to admit was that it was too tidy, and secondly, it was too extravagant.
The King sized bed was too big for just one person, but Qingyue did not comment on it, as her heart was a little uncomfortable at what Keith might answer her with.
She knew that he was always surrounded by girls, and it was likely that he was not sleeping alone here. And soon, his wife might be staying in this very room with him.
"Up for a game of Chess?" Keith called out to her, already sitting at the small table with the Chessboard on it.
"I am not that good at it." She lightly smiled at him.
"Neither am I." He chuckled at her.
And only a few minutes later, Qingyue realized that he had lied to her.
"Checkmate!"
"You lied!" She aggrievedly said.
Yes, she was pretending too when she said that she was not that good at it. But she had never thought that Keith would simply toy around with her on the board.
There was no way he was not good at it. And she had a hunch that he was even better at it than her grandfather.
"I did not lie to you." He feigned. "I really am not good at it when compared to my Mother and Grandfather. In fact, I stand at only 5 wins against my mother's 197 wins."
That made her giggle and then she started putting the pieces back in their spots for another game.
"And what's your score against your Grandfather?"
"0 to 21." Keith answered. "But I am 2 to 2 Wins against my Grandmother."
"You really keep a score?" She surpisedly asked.
"Yup." He nodded to her and then pointed to the logbook what was resting on the side table with the clock.
Keith opened it and started showing her all the Logs and the key notes he had penned in it after every match. And then he opened a new page and logged in the result of their match.
"And now I am going to keep our score on it too." He smirked at her, and saw the girl competitively narrow her eyes at him.
"You are on!"
And thus began a new game, which ended in the same result as the last one.
"Checkmate!" Keith took his hand off the Bishop after placing it on the spot and then smiled at the girl who was frowning, still staring at the board.
He did not point out where she had made the mistake and stayed quite for the next two minutes.
"It was the seventh move that gave you the game, right?" She finally looked at him and asked.
"Yes." He nodded to her. "If you planned on only countering, you were simply not cautious enough."
"Thanks!" She sarcastically said and then picked up the log book to register Keith's win on it.
"Now it's 2-0. Up for another game?" He mischievously asked and chuckled when Qingyue resolutely shook her head.
"We will play some other day." She said, and then looked at the board one last time before picking up the pieces and resetting the board.
Keith helped her out with it and then they both stood up from their place.
Qingyue did not mind looking around his room, and Keith silently followed her.
She looked through the few pieces of Calligraphy that were resting on his study table, and appreciatively nodded to herself.
"You are quite decent at it, but I am better than you." She smirked at him.
"Are you?" He smirked back at her. "But can you write the Arabic Script?"
"Can you write the Chinese Script?" She shot back at him, and to her shock, she saw him nod his head.
Keith ruffled through a few works of his Calligraphy and then showed him the Chinese Script that he had practiced.
"You are still not as good as me at it." She said again.
"I will take a look at your works first and then decide if that is true or not." He smirked at her words and and smiled in his heart when he saw a brilliant smile bloom on her face.
"I will show you when I get home!" She nodded to him.
Of course, Keith knew that Qingyue was better than him in Calligraphy. She might not know more languages than him, but her talent was top-notch and her Chinese Script was a work of art to look at.
"I will be waiting." He said and then stored his Calligraphy works back in their place.
Qingyue was just about to look at a painting of a black stallion when a knock came on the door, and before Keith answered it. The door opened and in came a girl wearing a long-pink-floral skirt.
"Keith!"
The young Demiliore smiled brightly and opened his arms for the girl who jumped into his embrace.
"I missed you!"
"I missed you too, Nana." He gently said to her and then planted a kiss on her forehead.
The girl tip-toed, and Keith leaned in, understanding her intention, kissing her on the lips.
Nana blushed a little and right after the kiss ended, she buried her face in his chest, inhaling his scent and hugging him tightly.
"Ahem!" Qingyue could not look at it anymore and interrupted, which scared the girl in Keith's arms. "I am still here!"
Nana immediately let go of Keith and then looked towards the source of the sound. Her heart thumped hard against her chest in anxiety when she found a girl, whose beauty transcended hers, standing at the other end of the room.
A frowned marred her face, and her heart started racing anxiously when Qingyue approached her.
"I am Qingyue, Keith's classmate and friend." She offered her hand to thr girl with a light smile.
"Hi.." Nana timidly took her hand. "I am Nana. Keith's..."
"She's my lover, and my personal assistant." Keith stepped forward and hugged the girl by her waist, introducing her to Qingyue.
His action yielded different reactions from the two girls.
Nana's heart calmed down, and a sweet smile adorned her face. And now, it was Qingyue, who was wearing a stiff smile, frowning in her heart.
