“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 brightly as he handed that orange leaf to me made me feel like he was offering me a large bouquet of flowers. Of course, there was no way that something like that was going to happen. “Thank you…for helping me…” I thanked him both for the leaf and for helping to break my fall from earlier. His smile only widened when I took the leaf from him. He’s got very beautiful teeth and a very captivating smile that made my chest feel slightly tight. I stood there staring up at his face as my mind struggled to figure out what I should say or do next. Would it be rude if I asked him outright who he was? “Are you here to see Lady Regina?” I asked in a small voice. This is her palace after all so unless he works here then he must be here to see her, I guess… “Of course not. I work here in the palace and happen to be passing by,” he replied casually before smiling a little at me. “I see. That’s a relief, I just started working here for the Lady today, so I don’t really know the way around. If you are lost, I wouldn’t be much help to you…” I admitted before I returned his smile. “You have to sweep up the leaves, right? And what else? Catch the ones that are falling?” he asked enthusiastically. “Not catch them, exactly. More like…just pick them up…” I replied. “Sounds like fun. I’ll help you,” he said decisively. I think he’s getting the completely wrong idea about this. Firstly, there was nothing fun about this task. Secondly, I’m probably being made to do this task because I ran into Lady Regina on the day of the tea party. That incident hadn’t slipped my mind and I doubt that it had slipped hers either. I wasn’t sure if Madame Cassandra heard about the incident because she did not talk about it. This could have simply been a coincident, but it was probably unlikely. “No, sir. There is nothing fun about this. I’m sure that you have other things to do so there’s no need for you to help me with this,” I replied politely. “It might be fun if we work at it together. Aren’t you bored doing this all alone?” he asked before he flashed me another disarming smile. Maybe…but… “I’m fine. This is my job. It doesn’t matter what I think about it because it doesn’t change the fact that this is the task that I’ve been given. I’m going to perform my duty to the best of my ability,” I said firmly. “Hmm…is that so?” the man said as he cocked his head slightly to the side. Since he was wearing sunglasses that completely shielded his eyes, I couldn’t see his eyes, but I could tell that he was staring at my face. We stood there in silence as the leaves from the large tree above fell down around us. I should be picking up those leaves, so why can’t I seem to move from where I’m standing? **Meow Meow Meow** Suddenly, the sound of a cat meowing disturbed the silence around us. I wasn’t an expert at animals, but I could tell that the animal sounded like it was in pain or in trouble. The cat’s cry got louder as I looked around to try to locate the cat. “I think it’s coming from that tree over there,” the nameless man said as he pointed to a tree nearby. “Really?” I said questioningly. I followed him as we both quickly approached the tree. The tree was much smaller and shorter than the one that Lady Regina favorited; however, it was still too high for me to reach. After looking up, I quickly found out that the man was in fact right. The sound was coming from this tree. “Kitty…” I purred sweetly as I lifted a hand up towards the cat. There was an orange cat that seemed to be stuck on one of the tree’s branches. I wasn’t sure how the cat got stuck there but the poor animal couldn’t seem to move. “I don’t think that that’s a kitten. He’s a grown cat…” the man corrected as he stood next to me. “Oh…I see…” I murmured as I turned to stare up at his face. He grinned at me as if amused before he turned and reached out a hand towards the cat. My eyes returned to the cat when it started hissing aggressively. It seemed fine before, so I had no idea what brought about this sudden change in its attitude. “Cats don’t seem to like me…” the man explained as if he could hear my unvoiced question. “Oh…” I murmured. Regardless, it wasn’t like he could reach out and fetch the cat out of the tree with how high the animal was stuck. Maybe I should go find a ladder somewhere so I can climb up and fetch the cat. Just when I made a decision on that, the cat began crying out louder as if in pain. I started to panic when I realized that the poor thing needed help immediately. --To be continued…