“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 distractions since the man turned up unannounced. The man stood casually next to me as if it was natural for him to be there. Now that he was standing next to me, I was overwhelmed by how tall he really was and our difference in height. Now that I think of it, I still had no idea what he really did or who he is. I gasped when I realized that I haven’t even introduced myself to him. He probably thought that I was being rude; however, he never bothered to tell me his name either. “Umm…excuse me…” I began saying before a loud sound interrupted me midsentence. Why did my stomach have to growl this loudly now of all times? The man’s reaction told me that he had heard the sound of my complaining stomach loud and clear. My face burned from embarrassment, and I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide somewhere. “Hungry?” he asked as he bent down until his face was right in front of mine. “I’m so sorry…” I murmured as I tried to look away. He’s too close… “Come with me. Let’s have lunch,” he invited me before he flashed me a bright smile. It felt like the sun had just come out to play. That was how bright his smile seemed to me. “I have work to do so I better get back. Thank you so much for helping me and the cat,” I thanked him politely. “It is lunchtime. You should take a break and eat properly. It’ll be a trouble if you end up fainting,” he said quite sternly. “Well…” I whispered as I hesitated. The thing is, Sophie never told me that I could take a lunchbreak and where I could take my break now that I was working here at Lady Regina’s palace. “Just follow me…” the man said decisively as he made my decision for me.His hand reached out and grabbed mine tightly before he started dragging me after him. I tried to protest but he paid my words no mind as he continued to pull me after him. … After leading me into a large building and a long hallway, we reached out destination. For some reason, I got the feeling that we were sneaking around. Although, I wasn’t sure why exactly we were sneaking around as if we would get in big trouble if we got caught. The adrenaline in my bloodstream made my heartbeat fast and loudly in my chest. Strangely, I found the situation exciting. “Is this a kitchen?” I asked when he pulled me into a room after him. “Yup…” he replied before smiling at me. I have to somehow stop my heart from skipping a beat every time that he smiles at me or I’m going to be in big trouble soon… “Why are we here?” I asked cluelessly. The kitchen was very big. Actually, I have never seen a kitchen this big before and I had no idea why anyone would need a kitchen this big. Just how many people worked here and just how many people did they have to cook to feed? “To get some food obviously…” the man replied. “But there’s no one here…” I murmured. We were the only ones in the kitchen. On top of that, there was nothing that resembled food in the kitchen at all except for some baked bread. “Hmm…this is strange…” the man muttered. “What is strange?” I asked curiously. “There’s no food here. Usually, there’s tons of food here. Regina…what is she thinking?” the man muttered softly as if talking to himself. “Excuse me?” I said questioningly. “Oh, it’s nothing. You see this palace used to belong to another lady before Lady Regina moved in here recently. There used to be a lot of food here. The food was delicious too…I guess things have changed since the new Lady of the palace moved in,” the man said followed by a small laugh. “I see…” I mumbled as I looked around while I wondered where all the cooking staff had disappeared to. Lady Regina didn’t fire them, did she? “There seems to be a bunch of ingredients here…” he said as he opened up a very large metal fridge. He was right. There was practically every ingredient that I could think or dream of in that large fridge. If only we had that much ingredient back at the orphanage, our lives would have been so much better. “Little girl, can you cook?” the man asked. I turned to him in surprise. Did he just call me a little girl? Sure, I was younger than he is, but does he really see me as a little girl? I’m a young woman now…How old is he anyways? “So, can you cook?” he asked again when I failed to reply to his previous question. “Yes, I can cook…” I replied honestly. “Great. Cook something for me,” he ordered casually. --To be continued…