His Little Maid

Chapter 1

-Seven years later-

Little rays of light filtered through the small gaps of the blinders and some of them have positioned themselves in front of her closed eyelids. Her face scrunched in irritation, pulling a pillow to cover her eyes with it. She gave out a sigh as she stood up and checked the dainty watch beside her bed.

7:00 am it says and she forcefully let her worn out body to go through the bathroom to freshen herself up and to get ready for her job. She gave a yawn as she entered the bathroom. She looked at the small mirror situated at the entrance then quickly looked away, eyes naerowed in an annoyed fashion.

She had long forgotten to give time for herself as she was responsible to look out for her family. She took a peek again but a frown was then etched on her face. Her long raven black hair had already lost its silky texture and her once beautiful intense purple eyes now laden with exhaustion.

She quickly took a bath, brushed her teeth and somehow fixed her hair in a decent looking way. She wore a simple faded jeans and black shirt then she went out of her room to prepare breakfast and to start her way to her job.

She carefully walked down the hallway trying to lessen the rickety sounds it created as to not wake up her dear mother.

As she passed through her mother's room, she quietly took a peek at her from outside. A sad smile crossed through her features as she saw her mother on her bed looking completely worn-out.

Ever since her father disappeared, life had been hard. The house was full of sadness and her mother was near insane but she was a strong woman and she regained her composure again. She worked hard for their family, but still the loss of her husband had given her a lot of sadness and pain that made her body weak every single day.

Licht tiptoed out of her room and continued her trek to the kitchen, mulling over what happened that faithful day. She blames herself for all of these but Misa always kept saying that she's not the cause of her father's death. She always said that if ever Saber was still alive today, he's going to lecture Licht for putting the burden on her shoulder.

Licht smiled as she recalled her father. Her promise to him was that she will take care of this family and make him proud wherever he is now. Not really taking notice of her steps as she wallowed on her thought about their current life, she accidentally stepped on a worn down part of the floorboards and it gave away from her weight.

Her feet was stuck on the hole and she pulled it out earning a small gash on her feet. Licht looked down and stress began to accumulate again as she computed for the needed repairs. "Now I needed to put this on our budget." She groaned.

"Hmm, another hole was created, you should be more careful next time, Sis." Came a small but matured voice from behind her. She looked around and saw her little sister standing there looking at the hole with a bored look.

Azaiah was born a few months after the death of their father. They didn't know that her mom was already pregnant when they went to that picnic. Her arrival made life a bit harder but her presence gave some joy and laughter back to their family.

Azaiah had their father's blond hair and mother's black eyes. Though their circumstances made her more mature than her age suggest.

"I'll try to ask for a wood from our neighbor so don't worry too much about it." She said and Licht hugged her close to her as she stroked her hair, she was small but very reliable.

Licht stood up after hugging Azaiah and she took her little hands on her own. "What do you want for breakfast?" she asked her. "Pancake, please." Was her immediate response and Licht chuckled at that. After making pancakes enough for the three of them, Misa walked in the kitchen and she flashed them a smile which they returned.

"Mom let's eat," she beckoned her. They ate their food silently. After that Licht stood up and wore her sneakers to get ready for her job.

"Oh mom before I forget, please don't exert yourself too much. Okay?" she told her but Misa just gave her a glare. "I'm your mother and I wanted to help you too. I can't just let you take every responsibility." She put her hands on her hips to give more emphasis.

"Besides, you should be in school not working so hard for us." her mother's face fell. The pain of being a failure showing clearly on her eyes.

Licht sighed, showing a small smile to her mother. "It's fine. I chose this. I'm not doing so well on school either." she replied while shrugging.

The constant teasing and her short fuse had often gave her mother stress. So as to not burden her more, she simply stoped coming to school and start working. She just learn things on her own, she was a quick study afterall.

"Okay, but I'm also the head od tgis house and should be the one to support this family. Just allow me to help you dear." her mother stated, squeezing her shoulder before hugging her.

Licht smiled at her embrace. "Okay, okay I give up, but mom really, please don't over exert yourself." Licht sternly told her and Misa only smiled. Satisfied, she kissed them both on the cheeks before waving goodbye at them.

--

Licht reached her working place which is a small grocery store. She took her uniform which is only a dark green apron and started to work. The pay is not that good but this is the only place that hired an underage like her with not much experience since she's only 17.

"Licht can you put these boxes on the top shelf?" one of her co-workers asked and she obliged. She lifted the boxes with ease and climbed the stairs to place the boxes on the shelf. She descended the stairs and her co-worker gave her a pat on the back. "Hai, good thing you're here because of your strength you really made the work easy." Licht just smiled at her compliment.

The shift ended in a flash and she was putting back the apron on the cabinet. As she was waving good bye to her co-workers, two thug-like men entered the store. They were casually taking and looking at the products then they proceeded to the register.

After a while she heard a shriek and followed by a small sob. She turned around and saw the two men glaring dangerously at the cashier girl. A hand was gripping the collar of the poor girl.

"What do you mean we need to pay this much huh?" blabbered by one of them and Licht saw tears running down the girls cheeks as she explained in fear.

"But...but uhm, you see sir that's the total amount." She explained but they just held her up higher, she can see fear from her face. Licht looked around and saw no one helping the poor girl making her more pissed off. She dragged herself to the two men and landed one solid punch on the jaw of one of the guys and a hard kick on his crotch of the other.

They winced in pain on the floor throwing bountiful cuss words at her. She just glared at them with a smirk but was soon being dragged by the collar into the manager's office. "What do you think did you're doing, huh?" the manager asked fuming. "Helping the girl obviously" Licht replied in a sarcastic tone still pissed at the earlier event.

"I don't need a stupid girl like you attacking my customers, you're fired!" he raged and she just looked at him in shock. "What?" she shrieked in shock, "Are you deaf? I said I don't need you here so go!" he swatted his hands at her. Not holding her anger any longer, she landed a huge blow on his face before storming away.

When she got out of the place, she let out a long defeated sigh. She didn't regret what she did but she also needed money for her mother's medicine and Azaiah's schooling. She groaned before heading home. Her mother was suprised when she came home early and quickly saw her depressed state and pried.

"Are you alright?" Misa asked and she nodded. "But I got fired." she confessed dejectedly. Misa's brows raised in question. "I punched and kicked two guys that's harassing the cashier girl. They fired me for that and I also punched the manager for being a jerk." She told her honestly, Misa crossed her arms and looked at Licht with complete disapproval.

"I don't like violence and I definitely hate seeing my daughters engage in such activity. I do think that what you did was right but I don't think punching your manager is." She sternly told her. "Well what are you going to do now?" she asked Licht, her tone softer now. "I'm going to look for another job" was her response.

--

After weeks of looking for a job, Licht got fired three times. Two for beating a pervert that touched her butt and the other for punching a guy that tried to flirt with her. Misa just shook her head at her and she apologize for being too violent. But it seems that she have a very short fuse making her snap easily at others.

Licht slumped herself at a nearby bench and looked above. It was cloudless, making the sky appear like the vast blue sea. She extended her arm trying to reach it but it was too far away. She sighed again, closing her eyes. She laid her head down in exhaustion and stress. When she opened her eyes she saw a paper stuck at her feet.

She grabbed it and was going to throw it away when she suddenly caught what's inside and read it. She smiled broadly to herself. This could help her bring in some money! The pay was huge and there was even free lodging and food!

The ad was a bit suspicious but she needed the money. Quickly, she went to a nearby phone booth and dialed the number on the paper.

It rang a few times before a melodic voice of an older woman answered. They talked for a while, asking her of some private questions, but she answered them nonetheless. She was praying to God that she can be accepted and was shocked to hear that she was hired that easily but she wasn't about to complain.

She haven't thought that getting that job would change her life forever.