The Bitter Taste

Chapter 15: A Dead Gladiolus

Morning came and Jane had never been excited before than she is right now. Like lightning speed, she got out of bed, changed to her ragged clothing and walked passed the Earl's bedroom with nothing more than a determined look on her face. When Jane went down, she saw Mrs. Barnett waving at her with her left hand since her right hand seemed to be holding a couple of gardening materials.

"Good morning, Jane." She said with a warm smile, waving up her free hand at the young lady. "How was your sleep?"

"Very peaceful, thank you." She replied and returned a smile just as warm as Mrs.Barnett's "what are you going to do with those?"

The old lady beckoned Jane to follow her. "Come with me and I'll show you, darling."

As they walked out towards the garden, the young brunette breathed in the heavenly fragrance from daffodils, blue bells and many different types of roses. It certainly was a beautiful setting. No one could refuse drinking tea here for any kind of occasion because of how its aroma never failed to lighten your heart. Ever since Jane was a child, she was mostly exposed to the wild trees and forest plants instead of the tranquility of english gardens such as this. In a way, she thought that it also reflected her life in its own little resemblances.

"See here? This is called a Gladiolus." Jane turned her gaze over to the flower that Mrs. Barnett was pointing at and gawked at its unique beauty. She had never seen it before. The light pink shade that it gave depicted such fragility and the soft frill-like edges had a sense of faint innocence. Jane sighed happily and bent down so she could crouch closer to the small patch of Gladiolus flowers.

"It looks so sweet and relaxing to see..." She said and slightly rubbed at the frilly edges of the petals. "Is there a meaning?"

"Yes, there is actually." Mrs. Barnett cupped at one of the growing buds of the flower and smiled with half lidded eyes. "It symbolizes strength and moral integrity."

Jane was amazed at this and nodded with widened eyes. "That sounds really amazing." She said.

"Yes, it is really beautiful too. I decided yesterday that I would buy more of these seeds and plant them around the garden." The old woman said as she held the small shovel in her hand and began removing weeds from around the Gladiolus patch. "say, have you ever succumbed into immoral activity?" She said, giving side way glances to Jane. On the other hand, the younger lady blinked twice at her Aunt's question. It seemed rather strange to her. "Immoral activity?" She asked, slightly taken aback.

"Oh cmon dear, we're all humans. I am sure we have committed a few major mistakes in our lives." The old woman chuckled. "You can tell me."

Jane looked up at the sky for a pondering moment and thought about last night's events. She started to furrow her eyebrows in realization that she did, at least, almost succumbed to a dark side of her. Wanting to get back at the Earl was very tempting indeed, however a part of her knew that fighting back would only add oil to the fire in the end. It has always been like that. It was basic logic. It was then that she thought, maybe handling this the more proper way would be a whole lot easier. "I suppose I have..."

"Oh?"

"Yes"

"May I guess what it was about?" The old woman said, scooping out a very lengthy weed from the ground.

"What?"

"Could it have been perhaps... Regarding the Earl?"

Once Jane heard this, she froze still on her place and nearly fell to the ground. "W-what?" She asked, standing her arms firmly against the soil. "Mrs. Barnett, what are yo-"

"What happened last night, Jane?" Suddenly, Mrs.Barnett's hands were clasped around Jane's arms. Her breathing went slightly frantic and her eyes looked like it was quivering with worry. The young brunette fell from squatting and now, she could feel daps of dirt and moist soil staining her dress. Jane widened her eyes at the sudden movement and tried her best to escape her Aunt's grasp.

"Jane, tell me please." She said. "What did he do to you? Did he do anything? Are you hurt?" As of this moment, her Aunt had both arms in her grasp and it seemed as if she wasn't going to let go any time soon if Jane wasn't going to answer. "Please..." Mrs.Barnett pulled Jane closer to her and hugged the young lady as tight as she could. Jane softened at the sight of her Aunt stressing herself over her wellbeing and placed her hands on top of her shoulders soothingly. The young lady sighed and laid her forehead to rest on top of Mrs. Barnett's head.

"Nothing happened, Auntie." She whispered. "You do not need to worry."

"Something did happen Jane. Please don't lie." She said, raising her head up to look at Jane straight in the eye. "I heard."

Jane looked appalled and began averting her eyes to the left side - away from Mrs. Barnett's knowing gaze. This wasn't going well at all. But before she could say another word, her eyes had caught a figure standing in front of the Garden entrance; standing straight in posture yet terribly crooked in behavior.

"It's nearly 6AM and you're here mending dirt." The man said. "I'm not surprised though" he gave a low chuckle barely heard by the two women.

Jane widened her eyes again and panicked. "Nearly 6AM?!" She gave a brief apologetic glance towards her auntie and removed herself from the ground. It took her a few minutes to dap away all the dirt that had stained her dress and make herself look more presentable for today but it seems that even without doing such actions, the appearance of her attire would look more or less the same. As the young brunette passed by the Earl, they both gave each other equally agitated glances, and despite it lasting for less than a second, there was so much depth understood between them for doing so. It was a painful memory that remained in her mind through out the whole day of duty in which she, who did her very best to shake it off, couldn't seem to escape. It was so bothering in fact, that she thought of crying a few times during her hours of work in the bookstore because the exhaustion was too much to bare. Jane was helpless, hopeless and so so vulnerable that she wanted to vomit. The Earl ought to pay, the thought kept resonating in her head. It was then that her aforementioned thought about pushing aside immoral activity came to pass like a forgotten seed in which was replaced with a rather larger plant of growing hatred. Of course it wasn't something she wanted, but it was burning inside of her and she couldn't help but simply express it through her actions. She began to rethink about what the Earl had discussed to her about the night before. What he wants is a plan that will go his way, but what she wants is a plan that will fail miserably. And that is exactly what is going to happen.