Vesper felt a light breeze drift over her and she yawned and stretched out her arms and legs, knowing that her wings pushed up a bit from her position on her stomach and she felt the sheets from her bed slide down to uncover her from the waist up. Burying her face in the pillow beneath her head, she kept her eyes closed for a few more moments before she finally forced herself to get up. First, she rose to her hands and knees, letting the blankets fall completely from her body, and then she sat down with her legs folded under her, her arms rising to her chest when she heard a shifting sound from the right side of her bed.
Looking over, she frowned a little when she realized that Mr. Hughes was sitting on a chair near her dresser, a pin-striped black suit, this one American made, expertly shaped over his nicely muscled form. He didn't look angry today, and he wasn't even looking at her, really, his eyes were focused on the book he held in one hand. Once he finished reading the page he was one, he dog-eared the upper edge and then set it down on his thigh, keeping one hand over it as he lifted his head to look over at her.
"I put your robe on the bed for you." He said gently and she looked to where he had moved his eyes and saw the light pink robe and pulled it over her shoulders, effectively removing his gaze from her body, she'd only worn panties to bed.
"How long have you been here?" She asked, sliding off of the bed and walking slowly towards the bathroom.
"Not long, I brought you up a breakfast tray. I stayed because I wanted to talk to you. But you do what you need to do. I'll wait." He nodded towards the bathroom and lifted his mouth in a tilted smile.
Vesper nodded, confused that he was being nice to her, and disappeared through the bathroom door. She only stayed in the room long enough to use the toilet, brush her teeth, and wipe her face with a warm, wet, wash cloth, and then she walked back out into her bedroom. Mr. Hughes was still seated, his eyes once again on the book he had been reading while she slept, but this time, he immediately looked over at her.
"I've taken the liberty of sending Deandra shopping for some more clothing for you. I was told that you did not come with a lot of items, and that many of them are not designed to allow your wings to sit properly against your back." He spoke gently, as if he was worried that his tone, if he was more firm, would anger her. He was probably right, and she didn't want to be angry.
"I have some money, I can-."
"You should save your money. One day, one day we will figure out how to allow you to leave this place, and you should have that money for when you go." He rubbed the back of his head with a hand as he spoke.
"I don't like the idea of you paying for my things." Vesper frowned as she walked over to the table with the breakfast tray on it. There were several pieces of toast, but they were somewhat cold to the touch. She frowned and picked up an orange instead.
"Zheng has insisted on doing so, Vesper. He feels responsible for you getting stuck here, despite the fact that it was Sergei, I believe, who suggested that you come here. He has asked to be responsible for your needs for the time being." Mr. Hughes said as he pulled out his cell phone and focused on punching something into it while she rolled her orange along the top of the desk beside the tray.
"They only meant to help me." She muttered as she worked on getting the peel off of the orange, knowing it was easier to do after she rolled it around, it was a trick her mother had taught her.
"I would like to apologize for how I've treated you since you came here. I do not normally treat guests in my home with disrespect, and I feel that I have done so, a great deal, with you." His quietly spoken words made her widen her eyes, and Vesper looked up at the angel surprised.
"Why the change of heart?" She whispered.
"Do you not accept my apology?"
"I do, but you were so...angry." Vesper shrugged and put a slice of orange in her mouth.
"I have been on earth for a very long time, Vesper. Not much surprises me anymore, not much can. You, my dear, were an unexpected surprise." He looked at her from her bare feet to the top of her messy white haired head and she felt heat rise within her, and her pussy reminded her that she was physically attracted to the man in the room with her, whether she wanted to be or not.
"I am not going to be your concubine." She moved back over to the bed and sat cross-legged on one corner of it.
"I will never ask that of you. Besides, we can't touch each other." He smirked gently and rose from his seat when there was a knock at her door.
Vesper watched as he opened the door, and a man was standing on the outside of it, a plate in his hands with a silver cover on it. Mr. Hughes nodded at him before taking the plate and sending him back on his way. As he closed the door and walked with the plate over to her tray of food, Vesper got up from her chair and walked over to the book he had been reading. picking it up, she looked at the spine to read the title and realized that it was in another language, something very similar to Russian. Opening it to the page he had been on, she gently unfolded the dog-eared bit and frowning, she looked at the dresser nearby and saw a basket of flowers with a bow wrapped around the decorative whicker. Pulling on the ribbon, she felt it loosen and then fall away from the basket and then she placed the long light green ribbon between the pages that he had been reading.
Closing the book and setting it back down where he had left it, she looked over to find Mr. Hughes watching her with a mildly curious look in his eyes. He was standing near her bathroom door. Without commenting on what she had done, he nodded towards the new plate on the tray.
"I had some warm toast brought up to you." He told her and Vesper felt her eyes widen with a bit of surprise.
Walking over to the tray, she ate the last bit of orange that she'd been slowly working through and removed the silver dome to find that he had, in fact, done just that. She couldn't keep the content smile off of her face as she buttered the triangles and then took the whole plate with her back to her bed. Sitting the way she'd been before, she watched as the angel made his way back to the seat he had been on, and he sat back down, picking up the book and resting it in his lap, both hands over it before he looked back at her.
"I will have one of my kitchen staff meet with you to go over your likes and dislikes. We prepare a variety of different meals for the residents and guest of this building, so it actually makes it easier for our chefs to have an idea what you would enjoy eating." He told her.
Vesper bit her lower lip and nodded, she wasn't sure how she felt being catered to, but if it made someone else's job easier...
"I do like my toast just a little bit on the burnt side." She said softly, then took another bite of the toasted bread, closing her eyes as she let her tastebuds focus on the crisp food, the warm, melted butter.
"If that is the look you make every time you eat toast, then I may well have to invest in wheat futures, Vesper." His soft chuckle made her look over at him and she felt herself blush a little.
"I was born in 1918, Mr. Hughes. I was a young teenager during the Depression. My mother was a single woman who was barely able to keep a roof over our heads, let alone buy food. A piece of toast was a luxury. It required not only bread, which back at that time was vastly less processed than it is now, though I can tell that this bread was made fresh," She nodded over at him, "but it also required electricity or flame, and butter. All of which were sometimes rather difficult to come by."
Mr. Hughes nodded, his eyes had clouded over a little as she'd spoken about her life, and she felt a warmth slowly fill her body, if he had acted like this when they'd first met, maybe she wouldn't want to scream in his face so much, if she could get close to his face, which she couldn't.
