4.

Going through everything she had packed in her traveling suitcase for the millionth time in a single hour, she sighed and worryingly bit her lip since she was still not sure that she had taken everything she needed.

Truth to be told, she had no idea what she needed exactly. Did she really need that many clothes? Will she wear a uniform or something? She knew rich people usually made their staff wear a uniform so maybe she didn’t need to take so many clothes with her after all...Or maybe she did? Because miss Nancy, the nice old maid didn’t exactly tell her how often she will be allowed to go home...

“Oh god...” She soothingly placed a hand over her forehead in a futile attempt to calm her excessively fretting mind as she once again did a quick check-up around her room.

“Done packing?” She heard Dan say from somewhere close behind, finding him standing in the doorway as she spun around to face him.

“Yeah, I guess so...” She quickly nodded as she took one last glance into her neatly stacked suitcase, at last deciding that she will leave it at that and come to take whatever she would need later.

She blew out a sigh as her gaze found her friend’s once again, giving him a warm smile as she looked at him standing there so casually while holding a cup of steaming hot chocolate, and even with a pair of pink fuzzy slippers on.

“Thank you again for doing this for me,” She truthfully said, moving to give him a hug as she felt so grateful for having such an amazing friend.

He had accepted to move in and take care of her mom for as long as she would have to stay at the King Estate.

“No problem roomie. Just doing some money saving,” He said with a wink as she pulled back to look at him, earning himself a small chuckle.

“I love these slippers by the way. I’m so gonna steal them once you’re moving back in,” He stated with a wiggle of his toes, the girl lightly shaking her head at his antics before she turned back to zip up her suitcase and take it down from the bed.

“Here, let me help you,” The young male quickly moved to help her put it down and drag it all the way downstairs to the living area connected to the small entrance hallway.

Climbing down the last steps right after Dan, Diana’s gaze fell upon her mother who was just placing a steaming cup of tea over the coffee table before moving to take a seat on the couch.

Her chest filled with joy and a small amount of relief as she noticed the visible improvement in her mother’s condition, the sight of her finally roaming the house again making her feel somewhat less reluctant to leave to her new workplace.

She wholeheartedly smiled as her mother’s gaze found her own, quickly running to sit right next to her and engulf her into a bear hug.

The woman smiled back, giving her precious daughter a caring kiss over the top of her head, soothingly rubbing her back.

Diana sighed in contentment, taking a moment to relish into the comforting embrace of her mother and her calming familiar scent before she pulled back to look into her gentle brown eyes.

“It will be okay. We will be okay,” She promised, giving her mother yet another heart-warming smile.

“I will take care of all the bills and everything, Dan will do the shopping and help you out around the house,” She explained, earning a nod from the older female.

“I know baby,”

“This is all for a short period of time, I promise,” She rushed to reassure her mom, even though her words felt like more intended to give her own mind a sense of security and peace.

Checking the time on her phone, she then moved to sit up and get ready to go since it was almost noon and she didn’t want to waste any more time, knowing that she will have to get to King Estate and settle in as soon as possible, for she had her first day of work starting the next day.

“Okay, guess I’d better get going then,” She announced as she took her black leather jacket from a comfy chair nearby, the young male and her mother quickly moving to follow her as she then put on her black boots and started to drag her suitcase outside, to her awaiting vehicle.

“I will come home as often as I can,” She told them both, giving them a quick glance before she opened the trunk to put the suitcase inside.

Slamming it shut, she then walked back to the front porch to give her mom and her friend one last hug.

“Bye mom,” She kissed her mother’s forehead.

“Bye baby,”

“You take care, okay? I’ll be one call away if you need me,” Dan said as soon as she moved to hug him as well, earning a nod from her.

Giving them both one last glance and a loving smile, she then walked back to the car and climbed in the driver’s seat, rolling down the window.

“Call us once you’ve settled in, okay?” Dan called from the porch right before she turned on the engine, the girl giving him yet another smile and a nod before she reared off of their driveway and drove off to King Estate.

.•**•.

Drawing in a deep breath, she grabbed the handle and knocked, waiting for only a few moments before the door opened, revealing miss Nancy.

“Miss Diana, come in,” The maid kindly invited her in with a candid smile, the girl already starting to feel a little less anxious about this whole moving thing. This woman seemed nice for as far as she could tell.

Maybe we will get along very well,

She hopefully thought with a timid smile of her own as she stepped inside the foyer, dragging the heavy suitcase after her.

“Come, I will give you a quick tour of the house and show you where everything is,” Miss Nancy told her with a beckoning wave of her wrinkled hand as she begun to walk away, the girl awkwardly fumbling with herself as she did not know what to do first and where to leave her luggage.

“Oh, you can leave that there for now. I will show you to your room right after,” The woman said to her as she had turned back and noticed her fretting.

The girl quickly nodded, neatly placing her suitcase somewhere close to a small table by the wall and out of the way.

Hurrying to follow the old woman, they then did a swift walk around the ground floor, the maid mainly showing her where the important rooms were like the kitchen, storage room and the cleaning supply closet, right before she helped the girl carry her suitcase to the first floor where her room was supposed to be.

Taking a quick stop at the top of the stairs, the girl took a halt as well to wait for the maid to lead the way.

However, the lady seemed to have something else on her mind as she suddenly grabbed the girl’s hand in hers, giving her a serious look as she peered at her.

“Just one last thing before we go to show you to your room,”

“You are not allowed to go to the top floor, under any circumstances, do you understand?

No matter what happens, even if the whole house were to be on fire, you will not set foot upon the top floor, do you understand, girl?”

Diana only blinked a few times in response, momentarily stunned by the woman’s words, those same words also stirring few conflicting feelings within her.

Why would she be banned from going up there? Was there something she was not supposed to see? Or maybe someone?

But who? Perhaps the owner of the house?

And if so, why would she be not allowed to see him, or her?

Maybe there’s an old and sick person, hence that weird breathing over the phone...Her mind suggested as she absently gazed at the staircase leading to the next level.

“I said do you understand, girl?” The maid repeated herself as she noticed the lost look into the girl’s eyes, abruptly pulling her back to reality.

“Y-yes,” She quickly answered with a rapid nod.

“Good. Now follow me,” Miss Nancy instructed, the girl being quick to follow as they finally walked to her designated room.

---

Expelling a tired breath, she collapsed onto the queen-sized bed as she had finally finished setting her things into the wardrobe and the adjoining bathroom, the girl still finding it all so...unbelievable, since she had been set into the nicest room she had ever laid eyes upon. This was no chamber deemed for a cleaning maid. No way.

The room she was currently residing in was rather more fit for an important guest, at best.

The antique white-colored furnishing, the hardwooden floor under her feet and the silken sheets now caressing her bare arms seemed rather fit for someone of importance and not a simple girl like herself.

Yet the master -or mistress- of this house did not seem to care as he or she had instructed miss Nancy to place her here, since the house was fairly empty anyway, like the maid had said.

Letting out a small yawn, she decided it was time to go to bed since she was to have a full day tomorrow anyway.

So with a cat-like stretch of her limbs, she then rose from the bed and went to the wardrobe to retrieve a nighttime attire for herself before she walked to the adjoining bathroom to take a quick shower.

Once she had finished, she grabbed a towel to dry herself up, putting on her white lacy undergarments and the soft pink silken two-piece set, consisting in a tiny camisole and a matching pair of shorts.

Even if there was no one to see her, she loved wearing nice lingerie. It made her feel so comfortable in bed, even helping her sleep better.

Not even bothering to blow-dry her soft caramel curls, she turned off the light and went to bed, sighing in contentment once she’d slipped under the sheets, all tucked in and ready for sleep.

She did not know when she’d managed to fall asleep, but at some point during the night she suddenly woke up from her deep slumber, feeling so hot and completely parched as well.

Throwing the sheets off of her dampened body, she abruptly rose from the bed with a groan, barely seeing anything through the darkened chamber and the haziness still clouding her mind. But she did not care. All she knew was that she was thirsted like a man bathing into the burning desert sun and she needed a cool glass of water as quick as possible. So without even giving it a second thought she exited her room and stumbled through the darkened corridor, then down the marble staircase and all the way to the kitchen. It’d been relatively easy to remember where everything was, and the house was fairly empty anyway...there was no one who could see her roaming around dressed like that, especially at such late hour in the night... Was what her mind kept repeating to itself as she grabbed a glass and poured herself some fresh and cold water from the fridge’s water dispenser, quickly downing it in one big gulp right after.

She almost moaned in relief as the cold water soothed down her burning throat, even pouring herself another one as she couldn’t seem to get enough of it.

So after the second one, she proceeded to pour herself a third one, yet she didn’t drink it. Instead, she deemed it better if she had taken it with her back to her room, just in case she would need another one throughout the night.

And so she did.

Turning off the lights in the kitchen, she then started making her way back to her room.

Yet just as she was about to climb up the first step of the grand staircase, she casually noticed the dim light coming from the main living room.

Huh... Maybe Nancy had forgotten to turn the lights off...

Furrowing her eyebrows with curiosity, she hesitated for a few fleeting moments before finally deciding that it was best to check what was going on.

Only the moment she stumbled inside the said room a loud, shrill scream erupted from her previously dry throat, the glass of water quickly breaking into million pieces as it fell on the hardwooden floor with a sharp sound.

There, in the dim lighting of a floor lamp stood the tall silhouette of a male... If she could even call him that.

He was dressed into a neat black tuxedo that snugly fit his lean physique, the top hat adorning his head faintly shadowing his heavily painted face, making his appearance all the more frightening as she stared, completely frozen.

Black smokey shadows circled his dark eyes, starkly contrasting that pasty white smearing the rest of his features and that deep, burgundy red over his lips that continued to stretch into two fine lines across his cheeks, his general appearance scaling between The Joker and of a dia de los muertos character.

This is no old man...Her mind whispered as it immediately concluded that he, this absolutely terrifying man before her must definitely be the owner of this place...And the reason why no one wants to work here...

She thickly swallowed as she held a tightly closed fist over her wildly beating heart and around that small cross pendant resting atop her breasts, her breath coming out in short and laboured pants as his intense and dangerous gaze kept her pinned to her spot and shaking with fear. Until she lastly remembered of the state of her attire as that penetrating gaze of his ever so fleetingly trailed over her entire figure, making goosebumps raise all over her skin.

Oh my god.

She turned and ran away as fast as she could.