In fact, the tree was the largest and tallest tree that I had ever seen in my life. The tree truly stood out from the rest because of the color of its leaves. Because it wasn’t autumn, the other trees’ leaves were green; however, the leaves of this large tree were a mix of orange, brown, and red. The leaves scattered all over the ground where the tree stood gave me a very good hint of what she wanted me to do here. “Unfortunately, this tree takes a long time to shed all of its leaves. As you can see, even as we stand here its leaves are falling,” Sophie said before she turned to smile at me. “I see…” I murmured in understanding. If all I had to do was sweep up the fallen leaves then that wasn’t a hard task. There was quite a lot of it so it would probably take some time if I worked at it alone, but it wasn’t something that was unmanageable. “I want you to sweep up all the fallen leaves and then make sure to immediately pick up the leaves that have just fallen. As I just told you,
“No…umm…it’s fine. Thank you…” I managed to say while stuttering. The man chuckled lightly, and his voice sounded like music to my ears. The warmth of his hand around mine made my face feel hot. Without warning, he pulled me back up to my feet with ease. My heart raced madly in my chest, and I couldn’t tell if it was because he was close or because of my fall from earlier. His hand and his fingers are so beautiful…“What are you doing here?” he asked with interest. “I…I’m picking up the leaves that fell from this tree…” I replied while still confused about what was going on.Who is this man? “Why bother picking them up if more will just fall down?” he asked.Why indeed…?His face looked up at another leaf that was making its way down to the floor right to our side. My eyes followed where he was looking and rested on the falling leaf as well. When the leaf fluttered down close to us, his hand shot out and caught it. “For you…” he said as he handed me a leaf.The way he smiled so b
“Umm…can you…” I began asking.“Yes, I can carry you…” he replied as if he knew exactly what I was going to ask. My eyes widened in surprise before I collected myself and nodded at him in thanks. At least, that saved me from the embarrassment of asking him to carry me up. Instead of carrying me, the man turned his back to me and crouched down. “Climb on my back or you can sit on my shoulders, which ever you prefer,” he said casually. He waited as I hesitated on what to do. Frankly, I had never ridden on a man’s back or anyone’s back before. So, how do I climb up someone’s back exactly? On top of that, I might be heavy so…“What are you waiting for?” he asked with a hint of impatient in his voice. “Umm…I’m sorry but…I don’t really know how to get on someone’s back…” I admitted shyly as a blush crept up into my cheeks.The man turned his head around and stared up at my face before he burst out laughing quite loudly. His hand moved to cover his lips as he continued to laugh even loud
“I’m just doing my job…” the doctor said before her eyes glanced over at the man standing next to me. It looked like she was about to say something but then decided not to. I cocked my head slightly to the side questioningly, but she never said anything more. “You don’t have to worry about it. Just leave the cat here with me, I’ll take care of it until it can walk around like normal again,” the doctor promised me reassuringly. “Thank you so much. I was worrying how I could take care of it. Pets aren’t allowed in the maids’ quarters so…” I said apologetically before trailing off. “I completely understand. Don’t worry about it,” she said with a sweet smile. After leaving the cat with the kind doctor, we headed back outside. I felt immediately guilty on skipping out on my work to save a cat while my mind began wondering how many leaves have fallen all around the tree by now. Why did the tree have to shed so many leaves?I should get back to work now after handling so many distractio
“Huh?!” I exclaimed in pure surprise. “Why are you so shocked? We’re in a kitchen, there’s a bunch of ingredients and cooking tools, and you can cook. Cook us some lunch, little girl,” he said as if it was really the most obvious solution to our problem. “Can you not call me a little girl…” I said softly before I could stop myself. “You don’t like it? I think it’s rather cute. What about little maid instead?” he suggested before he grinned playfully at me. “Nevermind…” I whispered in resignation. “A cute name suits a cute girl, no? I’m hungry…can you start cooking already?” the man said before he chuckled in pure amusement. “Umm…sure…” I replied while still confused at this sudden turn of events. It seemed like our quest for food ended up with me cooking for the both of us. Honestly, I didn’t mind cooking. It was something that I enjoyed and did very often when I lived at the orphanage. Just standing in this kitchen reminded me of home, the orphanage, along with all the girls t
I was quite confident before in my cooking abilities but now that the time came for me to serve him food, I was so nervous that my hands shook. Endless worries filled my mind, and I doubted if the food I had made would be good enough for him or if it would suit his tastes. After placing the food in front of him, I took a few steps back and stood to the side. “What are you doing? Sit down and eat with me,” the man said invitingly. I hesitated for a brief moment before taking the seat opposite him from the table. He must have thought that my reaction was strange because even I didn’t know why I acted like that. Since he’s not one of the masters that I was supposed to serve, I had no idea why I was starting to treat him as if he was one. He lifted a spoonful of the soup that I made up to his lips as I stared at him from across the table. My stomach felt like it was tied up in a tight knot as I waited for him to appraise the food that I made. “It tastes wonderful,” he said before he s
What am I supposed to do now? Did I say or do something wrong? This is why women are so troublesome. They’re so hard to understand and figure out. Despite my firm vow to myself, my body moved on its own. Again. “If you don’t stop crying, I’m really going to kiss you…” I said in a low whisper.That was definitely the wolf in me speaking. Why else would I feel such a strong urge to kiss her pink and slightly swollen lips like this?I could still feel the warmth of her damp tears on my fingertips. Her eyes had started to swell red and the same applied to her cute little lips. I like it so much more when she smiled, although her smiles were always so reserved. “Umm…wait…” she protested softly. I found her confused expression while she tried to hold back her tears quite adorable. Just staring at her face puts me in a good mood without any good reason at all. Now if only I can figure out or make her tell me why she is crying…“This isn’t what our first kiss is supposed to be like…” I m
My heart skipped a beat again and I cursed myself silently in my head. He was quite stubborn, that was for sure. I nodded in resignation as I watched him sweep up the fallen leaves. I did my part in picking up some random leaves that had just fallen. It didn’t take long for him to finish sweeping up the leaves into neat piles while I admired his efficient movements. The leaves really just kept falling. I turned around and walked over to another that had just fallen before bending down to pick it up. “Thank…you…” I turned to thank him for his hard work before my words ended in a whisper. He was…gone. When did he leave? I looked around but couldn’t see him anywhere around anymore. Just as suddenly as he had appeared, the man seemed to have disappeared into thin air. “There you are…” a woman’s voice rang out loud and clear.I heard the sounds of soft footsteps approaching me and I turned around to see Lady Regina and Sophie walking towards me. They were probably here to see if I hav