Chapter 4 - Rose

For a few moments, she even thought that her attempts weren't working, but, just as one of the small paper airplanes she was throwing in the air ended up hitting the back of the boy's hands and landing in his lap, Rose hid a smile, as she continued to pretend she wasn't paying attention to him, continued to sit on the grass folding paper into origami figures and more and more paper airplanes and boats.

Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the little boy fearfully catch the little plane that had crashed into him, watching him in fascination, before shifting his gaze in her direction and looking closely at the way her hands were moving and folding the paper, until, as she imagined, he began to undo the folding that was in her little hands and try to imitate what she was doing, without much progress, of course. Again with a secret smile, remembering how she and Grace had done the same thing when they were his age and learned to make those paper toys, she started to make an even bigger plane out of a whole sheet, satisfied when the little boy's dark eyes gleamed as he saw the new plane flying high around, before crashing near the tree where he was.

"Oh, no, my plane crashed..." Rose pretended to be sorry, making him look at her "Could you give it back to me, please?"

Without saying anything, the boy just crawled between the tree roots again, although this time he quickly tilted his head away from the trunk, still paying attention to what she was doing.

“No problem, I can make another one.” she smiled at him, wanting to reassure him, and concentrated on making an origami swan, which was her favorite folding when she was a child herself. “Have you ever seen origami before? You know, I think they're really fun. I was taught how to make them by a governess that my family had when I was a child. Her name was Michiko and, as my younger sister and I didn't have many friends, we used to spend a lot of time in the library with her, reading stories, watching drawings and making lots of origami with colored paper...” her previously carefree conversation was becoming more and more melancholy, and before she knew it, Rose was surprised at how depressed she was feeling as she realized that that happy time was gone and she was now just a pawn in her parents' hands, being forced to give up. of her dreams and plans, as there was no way of knowing whether Michael and Elizabeth would want to use her and Grace to their advantage again when she finally divorced Aaron Vamcap...

Her thoughts were interrupted when the larger plane she had launched appeared before her eyes. Surprised, she looked up to find the little boy standing over there, holding the fold out to her, still looking scared as he gripped the fabric of his shorts tightly with his other hand.

“I'll give you your plane back...” he said hesitantly and blushing “So please don't be sad, okay?”

"Thanks. I really liked this plane a lot. Now I am feeling much better.” she smiled even wider at him, finding it adorable how the flush in her chubby cheeks intensified. "May I know the name of the gentleman who helped me?"

“I am Alec.” he nodded shyly, once again averting his eyes towards the swan she was about to finish, very interested.

“Hello, Alec. It's a pleasure to meet you. And thank you so much again for helping me. I'm Rose.” she introduced herself again, trying to look as non-intimidating as possible, although she still couldn't understand why he was so scared. “Do you like my origami? I can teach you how to make some if you like.”

“Uh...” his face lit up for a second, but then returned to hesitancy as he looked around, almost as if he was afraid someone was watching them, “My big brother told me it wasn't for me to stay close to you...”

"He did?" she asked, surprised "And why?"

“Because he told me you're mean.” Alec whispered, as if this were a very dangerous secret.

“Do I look mean to you?” Rose tilted her head to the side, laughing at that question, as she could be many things, but she certainly wasn't bad. After all, she'd already seen her parents set enough examples of what mean people they really were, and luckily, thanks to their many nannies and housekeepers who luckily were very good people, she and Grace had grown up to be very different people from them.

“Uh… No.” Alec replied, after thinking about it for several seconds, seeming to have actually taken the time to consider it carefully, "But..."

“Why don't we do it like this? You spend some time with me and if I do anything scary or mean, you can leave whenever you want.” she offered, placing some of the sheets of paper in front of her, before putting a little more space between the two “In the meantime, I can teach you how to make some origami. I promise I can go even further if you want.” Rose assured, being happy when Alec decided to sit in front of her and pull a sheet of paper closer. "Which animal do you like the most?"

“I think the lion…” he said, although he still didn't seem completely safe around her “Last week, at school, my teacher read a really cool book about a cowardly lion who needed the help of a mouse friend to become brave... Hey, does that mean you know how to make a paper lion?” Alec's eyes widened with pure admiration.

"Of course, all we need is to make a rhombus like this..." She started to teach him step by step and, in a few seconds, Alec already seemed to have forgotten what his older brother had said about not being able to trust at Rose and was fully focused on imitating the way she was folding the paper.

“I made a lion!” he handed the origami to her as soon as he was finished, proud of himself, and with a huge smile, Rose hurriedly tucked what she was doing under the remaining papers, to prevent him from noticing that the folds he had done were a little crooked.

"Very good!" she cheered, sincerely glad to have met Alec that day and to have gotten some truly delightful company to spend that morning with, as there was something innocent and enthusiastic about that little boy that reminded her so much of Grace when they were kids "Next time we play together, I'm going to ask Jullian for some colored pens, so we can make the animals' faces!”

“I have several in my room!” Alec said excitedly “I can bring crayons too! Can we make other animals besides the lion?” he asked, with hopeful eyes in such a cute way that, even if she didn't know it, Rose would certainly want to learn, just to make him happy.

"It is clear. Michiko taught me several animals. But, I would say that the origami that I know how to do best are the butterflies. They were my sister Grace's favorite. We used to make several to decorate her room when she was your age.” Rose chimed in, not realizing how much she needed to talk until she finally had someone to listen to how much she missed her sister and best friend.

“Is your sister here too? Does she like to play, like you?” Alec wanted to know, moving closer to her.

“Yes, she likes to play a lot. In fact, her favorite thing in her life is video games.” Rose shared, with a bittersweet feeling in her heart, “But, no, unfortunately she can't come with me. She and I are going to need to be apart for a while...”

“And that makes you sad?” Alec asked, and in his sad little eyes, Rose could see that he understood more about being apart from the one she loved than a child should.

"Yes. Very sad indeed…” she mumbled, but quickly tried to disguise her mood, not wanting to make Alec feel bad too, “But I'm sure the two of us will soon be able to see each other again. And while that doesn't happen, I can make these butterflies to remember her.” Rose counted and, quickly making a paper hat and placing one of the butterflies in it, she placed it gently on Alec's head, happy to see that he didn't flinch when she approached "And, of course, I can always make her favorite peach cobbler to sweeten my day a little bit when I'm down."

“Do you know how to make a pie?” Alec gasped, as if she'd just said that she knew how to do magic. "How do you do it?"

“Well, as soon as Jullian gets back, I'll ask him if we can use the kitchen sometime.” Rose promised, wondering if breakfast used to take this long at the Vamcap house or if his boss had asked for something, forcing him to leave her hungry “If he allows it, I promise I'll teach you how to do it. All we'll need are some ripe peaches, sugar, flour and..."

“Alec! What are you doing, talking to this woman?”

At the sound of the clearly scolding female voice, the terrified expression on Alec's face came back in a flash and he jumped to his feet. Rising to her feet as well, Rose followed him with her eyes as the boy ran to where Jullian was now standing, a few meters from the tables, now accompanied by a slender lady, probably well into her seventies, whose hair was a mixture of red, gray and pure white as snow. Even though the day was sunny and the weather mild, she was wearing a long dress and a scarf that wrapped around her entire upper body, all clearly made of fabrics that high quality and decorated ones with jewelry that would have made Elisabeth drool. But, quite unlike what her mother would have done, Rose remained where she was, knowing, just by the way this haughty, elegant lady was regarding her with a coolness and distrust that reminded her a lot of Aaron Vamcap, that she was not welcome to get close to them.

"I'm sorry, grandpa..." Alec stammered, as soon as he stopped in front of the old woman, huddled in himself "I know I shouldn't be talking to Rose, but she's not as bad as my brother said..."

“Quiet, Alec.” the woman cut him off, not screaming, but in such a dry voice that perhaps it would have sounded less threatening if she had, as Alec shuddered and lowered his head, almost as if he wanted to cry, “Aaron warned you about going near that woman and even so you disobeyed him. Now go to your room and stay there until I say you can leave.”

"Please don't be mad at him..." Rose tried to intervene, in the most diplomatic way possible "I was the one who invited him to play and..."

“I am not talking to you.” the woman narrowed her black eyes even more in her direction, full of contempt “You are as unbecoming and impolite as your parents, I realise. But however much they failed to teach you in etiquette, you are still old enough to know better than to meddle in matters that are not yours. And that he shouldn't be walking around the house freely, like that…” As she said that, she turned her judgment-filled gaze to Jullian, who quickly bowed in a subservient manner.

“My most sincere apologies, Mrs. Vamcap. It was I who sent Ms. Springs into the garden, not knowing that young master Alec would come this far. I will take responsibility for this oversight as you wish.”

"Please, grandma, don't fight with Jullian..." Alec asked, in a tearful voice "It's just that I finished my homework early, so I came for a walk in the garden and I saw Rose making a paper airplane very cool..."

“I will not repeat the order I already gave you, Alec Thomas Vamcap.” the woman Jullian had called Mrs. Vamcap spoke, without even looking in his grandson's direction, causing, with a last sad look in Rose's direction, Alec obeyed her, dragging his little feet away from there "Aren't you even polite to introduce yourself, girl?" she turned to face Rose, making her feel like she was facing Aaron again, such was the resemblance between the two.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, ma'am.” Rose forced herself to say, though that was a lie, after the way that woman had treated a boy as sweet as Alec, “My name is Rose Springs. But something tells me you already know that.”

“Allow me to introduce you to Adele Katherinne Louisa Rasmussen Vamcap.” it was Jullian who answered, while Adele didn't seem willing to do anything but stare at Rose in that sour "She's the grandmother of the current head of the family, Aaron Vamcap, and his younger brothers, Andrea and Alec, who you just met."

“It's a disgrace that my grandson was forced to surrender to such a low scheme...” Adele sighed, displeased and with her hands on her temples “Such a sensible and careful young man being forced to squander his first marriage like this. At least Aaron managed to be smart enough to make sure this lasts only as long as necessary...”

“Don't worry, Mrs. Vamcap.” Rose spoke, disguising her irritation with a calm tone, causing both to look at her again, Adele with revulsion and Jullian with alarm "Your grandson is not the only one who is anxious for all this to end as soon as possible."

“Of course you do.” Aaron's grandmother rolled her eyes, before turning her back on him, “Consider this a warning, girl. Know your place and stay away from my family, especially Alec. I won't be as merciful as Aaron, just ignoring your existence among us, if I catch you trying to mistreat my youngest grandson again.”

"I would never..." offended, Rose started to retort, but Jullian quickly puts her hand up to stop her, her expression making it more than clear that she should stop right there.

“Go back to your room, Ms. Springs, please.” the butler said, more coldly than he had treated her up until that moment, “I'll take your meal over there shortly. Now, if you'll excuse us.”

"Don't treat her so politely." Adele ordered, moving on without so much as a last glance in Rose's direction, and Jullian just followed close behind. “She's not a Vamcap, much less a guest, to be treated this way. Talk to her only what is necessary and no more.”

"Yes ma'am." Jullian replied, though he still turned to Rose one last time, with a clearly apologetic look.

And, with a bitter taste in her mouth as she watched them disappear over the horizon towards the mansion, Rose realized that not only was the situation as a whole awful, but so were the Vamcap’s would do their best to ruin any possibility of joy she found in the 364 days to come.