496 Warmer Than Bed

Xhemin woke up sweating. Immediately, she was welcomed by the bright lights that managed to peek through the heavy curtains of her room. It was already morning and perhaps her intense dream got her subconscious through a hook that she slept through her alarm. She dragged her body out of the bed but even before she could do, she noticed something at the bottom of her bed. Confused, she examined the thing and found a child sleeping. Xhemin smiled and moved out of the bed carefully then went through the window to open the curtains.

"Oh mommy don't do that," Willow protested and covered her face with her hair. She was in her pajamas and was hugging a bear on her arms.

"Did you sneak out of bed again alone my dear?" Xhemin asked as she sat beside her.

"I'm not alone," She said groggily and turned to the other side of the bed expecting to see her brother but Wolfe wasn't there, "Wolfe?"

"I'm here," Another voice answered and Xhemin was shocked to see a little hand that rose through the bed. 

"What are you doing on the floor?" Willow asked yawning.

"I don't know, I just woke up here," Wolfe said without minding to climb into bed again. The last thing he knew was that he and his sister decided to sleep beside their mommy and they both laid on the bottom of the bed together, "But I like in here. The carpet is warmer than the bed"

"Really?" Willow asked and crawled to the other side of the bed to check her brother. He found Wolfe lying on the floor, eyes closed, and was looking very comfortable and so she decided to try her brother's preference. Without a word and to Xhemin's shock, Willow let herself fall from bed to be beside Wolfe.

"Willow!" Xhemin almost ran to the other side and found both of the children sleeping, "Wolfe!"

Both did not heed her call.

"Children, what are you both doing there? Wolfe you aren't supposed to sleep on the floor you'll get sick even more," Xhemin chided while tapping Wolfe's hair. Just then, the door in her bedroom opened revealing Ziggy with a not so pleasant expression.

"What's with the face, young sire? Did these children give you some fright?" Xhemin told as he assumed Ziggy was worried where the children went. 

"You gotta come out," Ziggy replied, ignoring her question which only gave Xhemin an idea that it wasn't the children he was concerned about. Xhemin stood from the bed immediately and grabbed her robe to cover her nightdress. The way Ziggy was acting, she knew there's something she needed to attend to early in the morning.

"Release my mother immediately," Collet approached her with a demand. "And don't ever deny that you have nothing to do with this. My lawyer told me it was you who initiated the investigation,"

"That's true, but whatever the result of the investigation had nothing to do with me. I just find CEO Martin's death really unusual so I had someone look at it." Xhemin explained, "I never thought your mother would come out as the culprit,"

"You have your ways," Collet retorted back, refusing to believe that Xhemin had no contribution whatsoever in throwing her mother to prison, "You can just call someone and have my mother released. She won't bother you if that's what you are worried about,"

"Collet if I have that power then I should have already sent all the people who wronged me to prison," Xhemin calmly responded. For Collet to storm out in the Golden Villa to make a scene, Xhemin knew she was desperate to have her mother be proven innocent.

"Liar! The least you can do for me as your sister is to taint my name," Collet started accusing Xhemin, and her voice was louder than previously. "I don't understand why do you despise me this much when I did nothing wrong to make you mad and besides, I was the one who was here to make father happy while you were somewhere I don't know,"

"And here I am thinking you come to beg me here for your mother, yet the only thing you are concerned about is your reputation," Xhemin commented. "But really Collet, the case is already in the hands of the prosecutor. There's nothing I can do about it anymore and besides...are you not concerned that your mother killed your own father?"

Collet was silenced with this as her eyes were shooting daggers at Xhemin. Her mother had just admitted killing her own father but at the same time she revealed, her father was not that admirable as she thought he was so any other way around, she basically didn't care about them both at the moment. What she cared about was her own self, her career, her reputation, her inheritance, and most of all her future as the madam of the Lagdameos.

"I know my mother has nothing to do with this," She lied, "Besides, I only have one parent left. I can't lose her anymore. So please be human and at least give me my mother back,"

Collet's words cut something inside Xhemin. Even as though Collet wasn't her sister, she somehow cared for her nevertheless as she had to endure growing up enduring the fact that she was her replacement. Even though she was the one growing up bountifully like a princess with everything that she wanted, she was somehow living behind her shadows all her life and for that, Xhemin pitied the girl.

"I'm sorry but I can't," Xhemin said plainly, although her insides were hurting.

"You are going to regret this," Collet warned, "And from now on, we aren't sisters anymore. You are nothing but a thorn in my roses and at some point, when the time comes that I'm at the top and you are at the bottom, I won't spare you mercy.

After that, Collet left immediately leaving Xhemin standing idly at the front door.