Dear Bodyguard

Chapter 1

(Arabelle as Scarlett Rose Leithold, picture above)

'Hm' sighing I sat at the dining table, between Michael and Isaac. I looked at the food in front of me and started poking the aubergine. I don't even like aubergines, they're so squishy and just.... bah. I  pushed the aubergine to the side of the plate and ate the rice instead. I loved rice, especially with sugar, but I like anything with sugar. I heard sugar is a drug, if that's true, I will call myself a drug addict from now on.

While enjoying my food I started observing Isaac who stared at the wall behind the table.

"Isaac, do you like aubergines?" I asked him. I know,  odd question but I was so bored and wanted to start a conversation.

I patiently waited for an answer but never received one. He just looked at me for a second before focusing on the wall again. It was a try.

After finishing my food I stood up, grabbed my plate , my cutlery and made my way to the kitchen. I put everything into the dishwasher and went to my room, with Michael and Isaac following my every step.

I threw myself onto my bed and waited for Michael to close my door.

Michael was the oldest bodyguard in the house, he is 38 years old and 6'2 tall, the others are around 25 and about the same height or taller. One could think that Michael lacked in strenght or speed, but whoever thought that, was wrong. He worked out a lot in the training room, which was especially made for the bodyguards. He had more experience than the others and was the second best fighter in the whole house. He started working for my brothers about 5 years ago, so i've known him since I was 12. But he never really talked to me.

Actually no one here really talks to me, not that I am angry at them for not talking to me, I mean they must have their reasons. Sometimes when I get really bored I go to the room next to the bodyguard's lounge and listen to their conversations through the wall. I don't know why, but it calms me down whenever I am upset.

Suddenly my door opened and  the loud bang noise interrupted my thoughts. Isaac and Michael positioned themselves in front of me and immediatly relaxed when they saw it was Xander.

"Stand up Arabella."  I guess I missed someone out when I said no one talks to me, because Xander does, but not in a friendly way.

I slowly stood up, I was confused. What did he want? Could I maybe ask him if we could go to the garden? The strongest fighter always has to accompany me whenever I wanted to go outside. If things were a little easier, I would go outside everyday. I love hearing the birds chirp and looking at the flowers. But Xander just won't allow me to go outside more often, he doesn't even give me an explanation, but I'm ok with it. It's his job, he would know what's best for me.

Again deep in my thoughts, I didn't notice that Xander snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Look at me Arabella" He said in a stern voice and I looked up.

"Hello Xander" I greeted him in a cheery voice and gently smiled at him. He just glared at me and gave Isaac and Michael a sign to get out.

"Your brothers are coming tomorrow and are staying for 3 days, you are not allowed to distract them from their work and don't bother them with your presence." He spat in my face harshly, I ignored his tone and a huge grin made it's way to my face. My brothers are coming home,yay!

"Thanks for the information Xander, do you think I can go out and buy myself a nice dress befor they arrive?" I asked him, waiting for his answer. I never asked him If we can go shopping before, this is the very first time. I never really asked him anything, except if we can go to the garden. I have to admit that I'm a little scared of Xander, he was so tall and strong and his eyes are so strict and hard.

"Okay, if you are not ready in 5 minutes you won't see the outside for the next 5 weeks." He said and left my room.

I threw on a pastel summer dress ,grapped my heart shaped purse  and  put a flower crown into my hair. Maybe I overdressed a little, but as I mentioned before, I barely get out and I wanted to look pretty for this special occasion.

I checked myself in the mirror and  contently smiled at myself. I then put on my ballerinas as fast as I could and ran down the stairs.

I spotted Xander in the hallway and smiled at him. He looked at my outfit and grunted.

"Couldn't have been uglier." He said, but I tried to ignore it. It hurt, but maybe he had a bad day and now he has to accompany a 17 years old girl to a shopping tour, I wouldn't like that either if I were in his position. The more I thought about it, the guiltier I felt. But i quickly shook the guilt off, I was too selfish right now, i still needed a new dress, because I didn't want my brothers to be ashamed of their younger sister.

A couple more bodyguards accompanied us to the mall, so we were 8 in total.

When the 3 black S.U.V.s pulled up to the car park and found a nice spot, we got out of the car. I squealed in happiness when I saw the big shopping paradise in front of me. Like every other girl my age, I loved shopping and couldn't wait to get in. When Xander saw me sqealing he just grunted at my childish behaviour and I instantly felt bad, the others didn't even pay attention.

I shook off the bad feeling and walked towards the big entrance. I won't let anyone ruin my mood, not like that's even possible, because I'm always happy :D

We entered and I stared at all the people in awe. There were girls and boys my age hanging out with their friends, young moms who had to take care of their young children, the elderly who just sat there and watched people go by and then there was us. 7 muscular tall men and one rather short girl, that must have been a funny sight.

I cheerfully walked in front of the guys, but was pulled back by Xander who painfully grabbed my wrist and I winced from the pain which flushed through my body, he looked me dead in the eye and growled "You will stay in the back Arabella." Spitting my name out like it was some kind of desease and then he let my wrist go. I held my wrist up to check whether there were any kind of bruises and saw that it  was extremely red. I touched it but instantly pulled my finger back because of the pain. I sighed, angry at myself that I made Xander mad. I should have stayed in the back from the beginning.

Because I was too scared to ask Xander if we can go to Zara, I decided to ask James who walked right beside me instead.  His face hold a stern and cold expression and I wasn't sure wether I should really ask him or just let it be. I decided to just go for it and ask him ,he actually seems like a nice person, at least when he wasn't on shift. I poked his arm with my right index finger.

"Uh J-j-jack could you please ask Xander whether we can go to Zara?"

He just stared at me like I was some kind of unicorn, he was surprised. But then his expression quickly changed in to an angry one.

"I'm not your fucking babysitter, ask him yourself for fucking god's sake." I cringed at hearing him cuss.

I figured that I would not be going to Zara today if I weren' t to bring myself up to ask Xander. He would be even angrier if I would'n buy anything at all, because he would label our shopping trip as a waste of time and get mad at me again. I walked up to him, careful not to touch him or any of the men and cleared my throat to make him notice me.

"Um Xander could we maybe go to Zara? We can go home directly afterwards, but please." I pleaded and did the best puppy face I could do.

"We go to Zara and then we go home, and stop with that stupid look, it makes you just uglier." He said, my heart hurt a little at his words, but my head just ignored my heart. It's not that I like him, I guess it just hurts to be talked to so harshly.

"Ok" I said with my usual cheerful voice and smiled brightly.

We quickly went to Zara and a beautiful dark blue dress caught my attention. Dark blue is my brother's favourite colour.

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Your author Laura