Chapter one

A young girl rushed into a house in joy with a white envelope, it was her acceptance letter. She has been accepted in a school, City University of New York (CUNY) plus, it would be affordable for her. She had worked really hard for it, had many sleepless nights because she was studying. As the only hope of the family, she didn’t want to disappoint her hardworking mother who is the caretaker of the family. As she shut the door forcefully behind her, she regretted it immediately for the door fell off its hinges. “Christ Lillian, when are you going to learn to be gentle with this door?” she muttered to herself before clasping the envelope under her armpit and gently —but with a enough force to lift up the door— she perfectly fixed it into its hinges again.

She looked at her work with satisfaction before taking the envelope from her armpit and ran towards the kitchen. The floorboards creaked under feet like in horror movies but she paid no mind to it, she was quite used to it. The house looked clean but empty. It has only two single sofas, an old looking coffee table, and the windows had little or no curtain on them. There was no television, no stereo or anything to make it look like a living room. As she ran into the kitchen, she paused, “oh, looks like mama isn’t back yet,” she whispered, tucking her wavy brunette hair behind her ear, her honey colored eyes scanned the whole kitchen before stopping on the vegetables on the kitchen counter.

She sighed then turned and left the kitchen, she entered the only door in the lobby, it’s a room she shares with her mother. Her father had died when she was eight, although she still missed him but she remembers little of him. Her mother has been her all in all, the reason she finished high school now is her mother who works tirelessly at the Lockwood’s mansion. Her father had worked there too and according to her mom, she said she had met her father there and they had fallen in love and gotten married.

She remembers little of the big house, she often visits there when she was little, she still remembers the kind man that often plays with her, he would carry her on his shoulder and run around the garden. He is the only one that plays with her, her parents were often busy that they only bring her to work and forget all about her. This kind man will often give her lollipops then play with her. She can still remember his face, his black hair, his blue eyes and his very soft beards that she often twists when they will be laying down on the soft grass. Although she was a little child but she never forgot the face of the man who showed her kindness and loved her like a father.

There was also a boy in the house then but he was in high school and very much older than her, he always gifts her cupcakes and chocolates when he returns from school, and do play with her too. So many times she had heard him say he wished she was his sister. Lilly smiled at the distant happy memories as she knelt down and brought out a safe box from under the bed, she gently opened the lid then place her envelope inside it with such gentleness like it was a delicate child that can’t afford to be hurt. She knew there was a reason she stopped going to the mansion, she can’t remember it vividly but she can still recall that she was playing hide and seek with the older boy in his room when they heard shouting, she had been scared and rushed out from her hiding place under the bed immediately. The boy had picked her up in his arms and left his room.

There was a woman shouting at the man who often plays with her, she had seen the man held the woman’s hand and say something but the woman had slapped him causing the boy carrying her to take a sharp intake of breath, thereby making her wail. The woman had looked at her in disgust and had said something that made the boy’s hold on her tighten but her mother had rushed out of somewhere and took her from the boy’s arms. When she was being carried out, she looked back at the boy and had seen him fighting to hold back his tears, his very beautiful gray eyes that always looked at her in complete gentleness and tenderness were red and the tears were threatening to fall down.

She had smiled and said sorry to him but he had only smiled painfully and waved at her, she waved back, promising to see him the next day. But after leaving through the door that day, she never went back. She was often left alone at home every day when her parents will go to work. She would stay hungry till when they will return late at night. Many times she had fallen asleep on the cold floor only to wake up with a cold the next day and for her to discover that her parents had left her alone again.

Many times she had wished for the arms of the young boy and for the lollipop of the man. Many times she had wished she was his sister too, and as a five year old child, the only warmth she had received where not from her parents but from a strange father and son who treated her like their own. Her lonely days ended when her parents came home one day and told her she would be going to school. She had been so happy for she thought she would see the boy, after all, he was the one that told her then that he often goes to school.

She had left for school happily the next day to see her handsome Prince, but all she saw where children like her and a big aunty they called teacher, she had searched everywhere that day but couldn’t find him and had gone home and stayed up till midnight when her parents arrived and asked them about him. They told her she hadn’t gotten to his stage in school yet and need to study hard in other to get to his school. That was where her zeal for education came from; she took school work seriously so that she can get to the stage of her Prince.

But the older she got, the more she understood, the man was Eric Lockwood, and the boy was Shane Lockwood. And through the help of a so called friend, she came to realize that her parents are servants for the Lockwood’s. No wonder they were always busy whenever they went there. Her father was already dead, leaving only her and her mother. With time, she forgot about studying to meet her Prince but rather to grow big and have money so that her mother won’t be a maid anymore. But sometimes, just like today, she would often remember far back, the father and son duo who treated her kindly. 

From the very day she left that house at five years old, she had not seen nor heard from them till now at eighteen. Although her mother slips bits and bits of information when she asks but she knows her mother doesn’t like talking about them, they are her boss after all.

The sound of the thunderclap forced her out of her thoughts; she knew storm was coming but not so soon. She hurriedly shoved her safe box under the bed and left the room. Reentering the kitchen, she put the vegetables inside a bowl and fetched water from a bigger bowl; she washed the vegetables then chopped them. Like that, she quickly made dinner.

Two hours later, she got up from the sofa she was sitting on and rushed into the kitchen for an umbrella, her mother was supposed to be back an hour ago but she wasn’t, so she decided to go look for her. She knows her way to the Lockwood’s mansion like the back of her hand, although she had not stepped into the house in thirteen years now but she often meets her mother outside the gate, especially days like these when she would be too bored and will go waiting for her for them to come home together. Sometimes, it was to ask her for some money to do one or two things. The securities know her and often call her mother for her whenever she arrives.

She shuddered as she stepped outside into the cold air, it was still drizzling and she didn’t know if it’s going to start pouring down again, which was the reason for the umbrella. Besides, if she was to walk to the mansion under the drizzle, she would be drenched by the time she got there. She walked silently in the mudded streets, her legs getting dirtier which each step she took but she already knew that’s how it would be because of the rain. And it’s going to be like that till she got to the main road.

As if she knew, the drizzle turned into another set of rain, she hugged herself tightly, the umbrella being her only source of protection from the rain. Her breathing turned cold but she urged on, she was almost there anyway. She finally sighted the lights coming from the heavily lighted house, the gigantic gates stared coldly at her as she approached, she never knew what was behind those gates, if they had made some changes or if the inside is still like she remembered. She reached out her hand to press the bell on the icy cold gate, the camera shifted to her face and she knew one of the securities have seen her, she forced a smile from her cold face to the camera and waved. A few seconds later, the slide on the gate opened, revealing a pair of black eyes, “Lillian, what are you going here?” The person asked.

From the voice, she recognized the person immediately, “hi Greg, I just want to pick up my mom. It’s quite late and it’s raining cat and dog out here.”

“I have told you to stop coming at this time, if Mrs. Lockwood sees you, I don’t think she would be happy, she hates people standing at the gate and she won’t take it lightly with you whether your mom is working here or not.”

“I know and I’m sorry, I’m just worried and she is prone to sickness regularly now, I don’t want her walking under the rain.”

“I understand. Wait here, I will call her for you.”

“Thank you,” she smiled as the opening was slid shut, she hugged herself, creating friction on her arms to warm up a little. The rain doesn’t look like it would be stopping soon and there was nowhere for her to take shelter except her umbrella.

A car’s headlamps flashed on her and she blocked the lights with her hand, her eyes dimming as she watched the approaching car. The car slowed in front of her and the back door window slid down to reveal a very striking beautiful blonde haired woman. Lilly recognized her as the famous Mrs. Lockwood that she often reads about in the magazine and also, as the woman in her memories. Her light gray eyes stared strictly at her and she gulped, she didn’t know when she bowed her head, the woman’s aura was too much. Even in the car and her standing under the rain, she could still feel her frightening aura. 

“Who are you?” She heard the woman ask, her voice was soft to the ear but it sent chills down her back.

She trembled slightly and didn’t know if it was from the cold or the woman’s voice. “I-I-I-I’m Lillian,” she added, “ma’am,” after a second breath.

The woman narrowed her eyes at her, “what are you doing in front of my house?”

“I-um-I’m waiting for my mother.”

“Who is your mother?”

“Abigail. Abigail Foster.”

The woman said nothing, having known the person she spoke of, “do you know what the time is girl? It’s quite late for a girl like you to be stranding outside here.”

“I know ma’am, it’s just,” she gulped, “it’s raining quite heavily and my mom is often quick at catching a cold so I decided to come pick her...”

“I asked if you know the time not for you to start telling me some fairytale. Didn’t your mother tell you I hate uninvited guests in my house?” The woman interrupted, her short blonde hair dangling softly on her shoulders as she speaks.

“No-no-yes ma’am.”

“Which am I to take then, no or yes?”

“Ma’am I...”

“Don’t stand here again, I’m letting you go just for today. I wouldn’t want you blocking my gate with your soaked body next time.”

The gate opened and a poorly dressed woman rushed out, she froze when she saw the car and the woman’s gaze which has landed on her, “welcome ma’am,” she curtsied under the rain.

“Abigail, didn’t you tell your daughter about the rules in the house?”

“I’m sorry ma’am, it won’t repeat itself, I will caution her when we get home,” she curtsied once more, tucking her disheveled deep brown hair behind her ear.

The woman looked from her then to the girl before looking at the security behind Abigail, “don’t just stand there Greg, open the gates for me.”

“Yes ma’am,” he bowed before closing the little gate, after some seconds, the bigger gates slid open. The woman closed her window, paying no mind again to the mother and daughter duo who stood aside for her car to enter.

The big gates slowly closed after the car entered, only then did Abigail and her daughter let out the breaths they didn’t know they were holding. She turned to her daughter then, “I have told you to stop coming here Lilly, you are lucky Margaret is in a happy mood today, if not, I’m not sure she would have taken it lightly.”

That’s happy mood? Lillian thought, “I was just worried about you, mama, it’s raining heavily and you were supposed to be back more than an hour ago.”

“I was waiting for the rain to stop dear and when it did, I got busy again and before I know it, it’s raining once more.”

“It’s okay mama, we can go home together now,” she smiled.

Abigail returned the smile before caressing her face, “don’t come here again please, I wouldn’t want you getting into the bad book of Margaret Lockwood, it won’t be easy escaping her claws.”

“I know mama,” Lily nodded, “sometimes I use to wonder why a woman like her married a man as gentle as daddy Eric.”

“You still call him daddy?” Abigail was surprised.

“He was like a father to me mama,” she wanted to talk about the son too but she didn’t want her mother thinking she was in love with him like she did when she frequently asked about him then. She is not a baby; she knows a girl like her can never dream about the son of the Lockwood’s, who is the Lockwood?

Unfortunately, her mother had thought she fell in love with him but she didn’t. He was like a big brother to her, besides, he was fifteen years then while she was five. She can remember he told her he has a girlfriend then. They both stuffed themselves under the umbrella as they walked home, chatting gently.