Meeting You
1632 Words
“Hey! Why are you so quiet?” Henry asked, his mouth full of food as he chewed noisily.
“Swallow it first before you talk,” Mateo said, cringing a little. “It’s spilling everywhere. Seriously, what are you, five?”
The three of them were now sitting in the grand dining hall, enjoying dinner. Henry and Mateo had just come back from swimming and messing around at the beach earlier.
“It’s nothing,” Theron replied calmly, poking his food with his fork.
I’ll probably tell them later… he thought, still unsure.
Mateo gave him a side glance. “Why didn’t you come back with us after talking to that maid?”
“It slipped my mind,” Theron answered casually.
“Yeah, right. Lies,” Henry said, pointing his fork at him.
Then, as if remembering something, Henry suddenly said, “Oh, right! Theron, Sara called me earlier. She said she couldn’t reach you. She even said you might’ve blocked her number.”
“There’s no way. Maybe Theron’s phone was just off—” Mateo started.
“Yeah. I did block her,” Theron said flatly.
“You what?!” Mateo and Henry shouted at the same time, causing several servants in the room to glance over at them.
“Oops. Sorry!” Henry quickly apologized to the staff with a sheepish grin.
“Why would you block her like that?” Mateo asked, still shocked.
Theron sighed. “She was getting on my nerves. Always calling, always texting, begging me to make things official. She acts like she’s already my girlfriend. If a girl even talks to me, she flips out. She stalks me. Shows up uninvited. And don’t even get me started on the message floods.”
Henry raised an eyebrow. “Still kind of rude, though.”
“I did try to turn her down politely—more than once. But she still stuck around, acting like my girlfriend. She shows up randomly, stalks me, gets mad when I talk to other girls… Even checks in to see where I am all the time.”
“Seriously?” Mateo asked, frowning. “She’s been messaging me too. Asking where we are.”
“What did you say to her?” Theron raised an eyebrow.
“I didn’t say anything,” Mateo smirked. “Why would I? I blocked her too.”
Theron turned toward him with exaggerated affection and hugged him tightly. “That’s a true bro right there.”
“Me too!” Henry chimed in and wrapped his arms around Theron.
“Hm?” Theron blinked.
“I blocked her too, man! My phone wouldn’t stop ringing because of her!” Henry laughed.
From the corner of the room, a few servants watched and giggled.
“Aren’t they… kind of weird?” Amelia whispered.
“Weird, but hot,” Beth said with a grin, eyes locked on them.
“I like the one with white hair,” Tina said, gazing dreamily. “He gives off fictional husband energy.”
“Yeah? Well, I like that quiet one,” Emma added, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“You two would make a perfect match,” Beth teased. “Classic loud x quiet couple trope.”
“You guys have weird tastes,” Sophia chimed in. “For me, I like the funny one. I want someone who can make me laugh and brighten my day.”
Nearby, a younger maid named Skye leaned over to Ivy with uncertainty in her voice. “Um… Mr. Lim didn’t make a mistake hiring them as bodyguards, right?”
Ivy, who had been standing nearby, watching the three boys with a gentle expression, smiled and shook her head. “Don’t worry. He didn’t.”
Then she clapped her hands. “Alright, back to work!”
“Aww…”
After dinner, the three of them went to Theron’s room to bathe together in the hot tub built into the large bathroom.
“Why are we even bathing together again?” Theron asked as they undressed.
“What’s wrong? Feeling shy about showing us your naked body?” Henry teased, poking Theron in the chest.
“Yeah, right. As if,” Theron scoffed.
The three of them stepped into the steaming water. The hot tub was big enough for all of them to sit comfortably, with warm water bubbling around them.
Henry and Mateo were busy talking and laughing again, but Theron stayed quiet, his thoughts still stuck on the conversation with Ivy.
“Hey, guys…” he finally spoke.
“I knew it! Something is up!” Henry shouted and splashed water into Theron’s face.
“Ugh—” Theron sighed, taking off his glasses and wiping them dry. “You guys could tell?”
“Of course we could,” Mateo said, leaning back against the tub wall. “We’ve known each other since high school. You’ve been acting weird since that talk with the maid.”
“Her name’s Ivy,” Theron corrected.
“Yeah, that maid,” Mateo shrugged.
Theron chuckled quietly, then took a deep breath. “Earlier, I heard some strange noises coming from the young lady’s room. That’s what I asked Ivy about.”
Both Henry and Mateo fell quiet, listening carefully now.
“She told me that the young lady has depression and trauma. She barely eats, refuses to bathe, and never leaves her room.”
“What the hell?” Mateo said, surprised.
“Wait, seriously?” Henry added, frowning.
Theron nodded. “She can’t sleep properly. And when she does, it’s always nightmares. She screams and throws things within her reach.”
“She barely even talks to Ivy. That’s how far gone she is.”
Theron paused before continuing.
“And when I was about to come back to you guys… Ivy told me a secret.”
“A secret?” Henry asked, leaning forward. Mateo looked just as curious.
“She said we weren’t sent here to protect the young lady,” Theron said slowly. “And honestly, she has a point. This place is in the middle of nowhere. No one even knows it exists. If there’s anyone in danger, it’s Mr. Lim—he’s the one in the city, surrounded by people who might want to harm him.”
“Wait…” Mateo rubbed his temples. “Give me a second to process all that.”
“s**t… Creepy as f**k,” Henry muttered. “Should we pack up and leave?”
“I knew something was fishy,” Mateo said, nodding. “They offered us four times our usual salary. That was the first red flag.”
“You based that on money?” Henry deadpanned.
“Anyway,” Theron cut in, “Don’t let your guard down, alright? We’re still here for a job. But Mateo, I’ll assign you to be the one to send a report to Team Leader tonight. Leave out what Ivy told me for now.”
“Got it,” Mateo nodded.
Once they were done bathing, Henry and Mateo returned to their own rooms. Theron stayed behind and waved them off from his doorway. As he was about to go back inside, his eyes landed on the young lady’s room.
He paused. It felt like no one had entered or left that room since they arrived.
Curious, he walked over and leaned his ear against the door. He waited. No sound. Not even the slightest movement.
He sighed and shrugged it off, turning back to head into his room— when he noticed something move out of the corner of his eye.
A shadow?
He whipped his head toward it, instincts sharp. Without thinking twice, he ran after it.
He chased it through the long hallways of the mansion, down the stairs, and through a few turns. Finally, it led him outside—to the garden.
When he reached the garden, he looked around, trying to catch sight of it again.
Then he heard a meow.
A cat brushed against his leg, purring as it rubbed against him.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Theron muttered. “So all that running… just because of you?”
He crouched down and scratched its head gently.
“What’s your name, huh? You scared me. I thought you were a burglar or something... Aren’t you cute?”
He picked it up and held it high above his head.
But just then, the cat hissed, its body stiffening, eyes locked on something above.
Startled, Theron followed its gaze—and froze.
Standing on the balustrade of the second floor, directly above him, was a girl.
Her long, black hair fluttered in the wind. Her pale arms were stretched out toward the moon, as if she wanted to grab it. The nightgown she wore clung to her thin frame, and the moonlight made her look almost ghostlike.
Her face slowly turned in his direction. That’s when he noticed the eyepatch covering her right eye.
Wait… Second floor? Mateo, Henry, and I each have small balconies… But this one… Could it be—
Don’t tell me this is the young lady’s balcony! Theron realized, heart suddenly pounding.
Then he saw her foot slip.
She tilted forward. Her eyes closed, as if she had accepted her fall.
“f**k!” Theron yelled, tossing the cat aside and sprinting forward.
He threw his arms out, bracing himself.
Meanwhile, Maeve opened her eyes mid-fall, surprised by the voice.
“…Huh?”
For the first time in her life, she felt like the world had stopped spinning. Like everything had slowed down around her.
And for Theron, this was the most ridiculous, terrifying, and surreal moment of his entire life.
A falling girl from the sky.
- Writer
