Arcane ~ ONGOING

~Chapter Thirty-Four~

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“Not that Dorian,” I whisper shouted at the young man before me as he tried to put molasses in the egg whites, “Molasses will not go in this cake. Leave it alone and just whisk the eggs whites,”

“Why are we doing this at ten at night? Like I just got back from a long long day at work and now I have bust my ass in the kitchen,” Zane grumbled, pouring the dry ingredients in the wet ones.

“Remember why you’re doing this and who you’re doing this for,” I muttered as I folded the dry ingredients that Zane was pouring in the wet ones.

“Also, no one is forcing you to do this dude, just walk off instead of complaining all the time,” Zion muttered, dusting the cake pan. 

“We’re almost done guys, well, you’re almost done you can go rest, I’ll complete this before Octavian gets home and I will wake you up once it’s like fifteen minutes before twelve. Dorian can you please take out one-fourth of that whipped cream and add the cocoa powder to the bigger portion?” I asked as I poured the batter into the pan. 

“Are you sure?” Zion asked, “Because there is sill a lot of work left and we don’t want to pile it on you.”

“Eh, i’ll be fine. You guys forget that I have experience working in the kitchen for like six hours straight. This is nothing,” I muttered. Everybody quietened down at my words, pausing in their actions. I sighed but wordlessly put the pan in the oven before speaking up again, “Guys, I don’t have a problem talking about such incidents of my past, I actually quite enjoyed working at the cafe and the studio. They made me into who I am and I am proud of my abilities. So please don’t be sad every time I mention my past,” I muttered. 

It always felt wrong to be complaining about my past when there were many happy moments sprinkled over the pitch darkness of my childhood. It made me feel guilty when these guys fret over my past whereas whenever I look back I mostly see fun times at the studio and cafe. Just because mum was so neglectful, I spent more than half of my day outside the house rather than inside which was a blessing and always calming and a fun time with my friends and coworkers.

Every time the silence filled the room after I even so much as mentioned my past or the sad heavy sighs escaped them, an overwhelming feeling of guilt and sadness drowned my disturbed mind. They had enough on their plate as it is and then adding the knowledge of a little girl’s trauma that they had every chance to stop doesn’t make a pleasant feeling. But I don’t want them to have that.

All they know are the lows of my past. They empathize with what happened and I appreciate that but they also need to know that the entirety of the ten years wasn’t spent in suffering. There are great moments that I can look back and smile at. And even though it could have been better in many other ways, I don’t hate my life back at mum’s house. 

“Okay, this was supposed to be fun bonding time and it was. Now the work is almost done. Thank you for helping me. Now you three can go take a nap while I clean and finish the job,” I said, pushing the three out of the kitchen. With their reluctance and my adamance, I managed to push the three giants towards the living room, where they left, grumbling amongst themselves.

***

“Ugh, last night was a lot” Zane muttered, his words coming out muffled as he pressed his face against the table. Two maids, Gwen and Linda, walked in with plates of our requested breakfast and set them down in front of us before exiting. In a couple of minutes Gwen returned with a blue liquid in a cup, setting it in front of Zane.

“This should help with tiredness and drowsiness,” She said before disappearing again. My head snapped to Zion when I heard some tapping and I saw him wiggling his eyebrows at me. My eyes scrunched in confusion as Zion rolled his, exasperated.