Chapter 181 - An Ordinary Life

When Claire and Scarlet got home, Alex was cooking dinner. Scarlet raised her brow. She knew that Alex had taken up cooking classes recently for some reason even though the artist wouldn't say why. Her sister had been going to Kiwi Cat Studio more frequently and Scarlet felt slightly bad for not doing the same. Jasper and Elfie must be working really hard but here she was, just hanging out with new friends.

"Oh, you're back. Dinner is almost ready. What took you so long?" Alex asked and Claire grinned.

Before even Scarlet could make an excuse, the head maid declared that she met the boy in question that Scarlet had a crush on.

"Oh my god! Really? You met Edward?! What's he like? Is he tall or handsome? I need DETAILS! I knew I should have cooked something better. We should be celebrating our dear Scarlet's romantic milestone. I assume they had a date in school, that's why it got so late?"

Claire had to give Alex credit when credit was due. The model wasn't wrong at all and Scarlet couldn't even get a word out to defend herself. The writer turned redder with every guess that Alex made, sounding wilder and wilder from an accidental meeting in between classes to a hot make-out session behind the tree.

"It's not like that..." Scarlet tried to reason but her sister wouldn't listen.

"Oh gosh! He's such a beast! You're not even ten- oh wait, you are. Sorry about that. A certain area of you is still undeveloped and you're not very tall. But still! how could he steal your first off-set kiss like that? It should have been at a hotel after a candlelight dinner with some c.o.c.kta-"

"Alexandra Germaine Wilde!" Scarlet shouted and huffed.

Claire wisely remained silent and watched as the fight between the sisters unfurled. Calling Scarlet short was a sore point. Calling her short, pre-pubescent and flat-chested was asking for death. On the other hand, while many things triggered the model, nothing made her madder than hearing her middle name.

Since Alex wasn't going to cook anymore, Claire decided to take over while the sisters quarrelled over it, the topic about Edward completely forgotten. In the background, Claire heard them sparring and smirked with pride. Scarlet still hasn't lost her touch with martial arts but Alex has gotten rusty. Clearly, someone had been slacking off from practising. Just because they weren't required to be in front of cameras now doesn't mean they should neglect basic training. Claire thought that after many years, this would have been ingrained in the blonde but she was wrong. Instead, it was Scarlet who remained hardworking who had the upper hand.

Alex quickly tapped when Scarlet locked her in an arm hold with a knee pressed into her sister's back while pinning the model to a nearby wall surface.

"I give! I give!" Alex cried and apologised.

Scarlet let Alex go and huffed. It wasn't the first time the sisters had taken their self-defence lessons to their fights and after the first time when both girls had swollen faces, Pamela set some fight rules. Anything except for the face and hair. The best would be to hit places that can be covered by clothes in case they bruise and could not be covered by the concealer.

Claire finished setting the table with the pasta dish and scalloped eggs that Alex made. "Dinner is ready, go wash up. And Alex? You're going to spend an extra hour with me after gym session this weekend for losing the fight so disgracefully. Don't give me that look, I know you haven't been practising. I'll be telling your mother to cancel that shopping trip in Soho so don't think about going anywhere else."

While rubbing her sore shoulder, the model gaped. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Did Claire just ground her again? She was a student, for crying out loud! Why did she have to put up with martial art classes? She was going to be a normal student, there was no need to practice anything! It wasn't as if there were going to be stalkers... right?

"Claire!"

The head maid gave the heiress a levelled look. "Don't start. You and I know how this will end. Wash up and eat. I believe you still have your sketching assignment that's due in two days that's half-completed."

After listening to the reminder, Alex no longer complained but she sulked. Scarlet who had come out of the toilet looked at her downcast sister. Being an art student was definitely not easy and Scarlet wondered what she could do to motivate her sister who was now also deprived of her shopping therapy this weekend. She gave Claire a glance when Alex slammed the bathroom door shut.

"Can Alex really not go to Soho this weekend?"

Claire blinked. "Why do you ask?"

The writer shuffled. "The stress has been piling up for her lately. I know shopping is a kind of therapy for Alex so I was wondering if it could be rearranged instead of cancelled."

The head maid smiled kindly. Leave it to Scarlet to be so thoughtful. Thankfully, she hasn't lost her touch as the head maid even though she hadn't been with Scarlet in person for the last two years.

"Don't worry about that, miss. I've made alternative arrangements for that. Leave your afternoons free, your mother has arranged for the spa masseurs to do a home visit. Full body treatment if I remember correctly. We invited the Thai specialist for you as well."

Scarlet beamed. She could really use some of that Thai bone-cracking art. Sitting at the desk for so long during lectures and sitting even more when she came back to work on her writing was killing her back and shoulders.

"You're a saviour, Claire!" Scarlet praised and sat down, waiting for her sister so that they could dig in.

The rest of the dinner proceeded with some lighter topics. Claire asked how school was for both girls and while Alex didn't say anything out of the ordinary, Scarlet admitted that she was late today because Alicia, Mandy and Edward arranged a study session for her at the library earlier.

"It's not a difficult project but I didn't know what citations were," the writer admitted and Alex nodded.

"They're a little complicated to get at first but once you know where to find the APA generator, it's going to be very simple."

Scarlet blinked. "There is a generator? Why do you know about it?"

The artist grinned. "I'm an art student. Of course, I have to know! There are so many things we need to quote and reference to or our art pitch before we commence on a work. The write up is also not easy. Drawing anything is the simplest part of any project. It's the entitlement of those who live in the age where the internet exists. If there is a name generator for couples who don't know what to name their babies, why can't there be a citation generator?"

Claire sighed. "I don't know whether to praise your laziness or chide you for it."

Scarlet giggled and Alex looked offended at Claire's sudden attack. "It's called working smart! Unlike somebody, I don't use another phone to take a picture of a screen on their phone to send it to their other phone. There's something called a screenshot function."

Irritated that Alex reminded her of her lack of awareness in technology and its uses, Claire dumped more peas into Alex's plate and told her to finish it. The poor artist protested but Claire's glare made her shut up immediately. Nothing was scarier than an enraged head maid. Scarlet mentally sighed. When will her sister ever learn not to pull the lion's whiskers?

She had to admit, sometimes Alex was brave even though she wasn't very smart for a genius. When Alex wasn't in front of the camera or coming up with new fashion designs or any designs in general, she was a blonde inside and out. Jasper often secretly referred to the shade of her hair as 'dumb blonde' with fondness and Scarlet felt bad that she didn't visit the busy young CEO enough.

"Alex, why don't we visit Kiwi Cat Studio after your assignment has been submitted? I'm sure the boys and the staff there would appreciate some pizza party."

The change in topic made Alex light up again and the model started listing off the types of pizza flavour everyone likes. Claire listened to the girls talking and was happy that they were finally acting like their age and talking about ordinary things. A few years before, the girls would only talk about album production, photoshoots and promotions. That made the head maid wonder if they would miss their childhood and teen memories pursuing the path of fame and an early career like the other Special Class students. Now, she was thankful that they were at least enjoying their youths and creating ordinary memories of school like the rest of the university students.