A Safe Place to Fall

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It's Babysitting

Happiness comes with a price. That's what I realized. Ma and Pa gave us all the love they could give to us until their last breaths. Lance and I continued our lives living in the house that Ma and Pa left us but as I expected, their sons and daughters came to claim Ma and Pa's riches that were supposed to be left for us.

We were kids. We didn't know what to do but watch them take everything away from us little by little. I didn't know what happened next because my memory was a bit blurry in that part. All I remember was after graduating from high school, I and Lance left that neighborhood and looked for a cheap apartment to rent.

I started looking for a job and I realized it wasn't as easy as it seems. Lance found a job first and it was a construction job. While several weeks later, I found a job in a convenience store near our apartment.

Although it felt like our life downgraded, we were still happy. This was Lance's plan before and who would have thought that it will play out.

"Sam, what are we?" Lance suddenly asked while we were having dinner.

My forehead creased. "Human? What else?"

He laughed. My heart suddenly skipped a bit when he looked fondly at me. "That's not what I mean, Sam." He put down the spoon he was holding. "I don't see you as my sister. More like, I've never seen you as one."

I swallowed. "What do you mean?"

I could even hear my heart beating so loud. I have a clue where this is going but I didn't expect that this will happen. I like him. I really do. I never saw him as a brother too. I've always loved him and I was just too scared to tell him because I don't want to ruin everything between us.

"I love you, Sam. Not as a sister. Not as a friend. But I love you as a person who I want to spend my life with." He reached out his hand and took mine. "Please go out with me."

I slowly nodded my head. "What choice do I have?" I smirked.

He rolled his eyes. "Just admit that you love me too!" He whined. "You don't know how nervous I was! What if you rejected me? What will I do? I couldn't act like nothing happened!"

I threw my head back laughing because of his whining. "You're not the only one who's nervous here, you know!" I said. "I love you," I suddenly said so I could see how taken aback he will be and I was really satisfied.

His face turned red and his lips trembling.

"Why do you have to attack me like that?" He covered his face using his hands.

I laughed even louder. "Oh, God, look at you!" I stood up and hugged him. He buried his face on my stomach and circled his arms around my waist. "I don't know what will change from now on but I'm happy to be with you, Lance."

"Nothing much will change. I will just kiss you and cuddle you more and more."

I smiled. "I'll look forward to it then."

I stared at the huge mansion in front of me. The cold wind sent shivers down my whole body and slowly, the snow began to fall again. I walked towards the door and counted from one to three before decided to knock. I waited for a response but it seemed like there was no one home. Looking around the garden, it seemed like nobody was tending it. The bushes were already high and the roses were drying up. There were vines crawling up the exterior of the house. This really looked like a haunted house. Good thing I don't get scared easily.

I knocked for the second time and heard something moved from the inside. I patiently waited until the door opened and a young man smiled fondly at me making it lessen my anxiety. He looked mature in a suit he was wearing but his face made him look really young.

"I'm assuming you're Samantha Wales?" The man asked.

I’m a bit surprised by the man’s deep voice. It doesn’t match his baby face at all. He could be younger than me but I couldn’t tell because he was too tall and he was dressed maturely. There was an air in him that he was a refined man. I remembered the movies with butlers in it. He looked like one.

“Y-yes,” I stuttered as the cold wind made me shiver. Winter is coming soon.

The man noticed it and immediately opened the door wider for me. When I stepped inside, my eyes roamed around and as expected, the house has a lot of space.

The owner of this mansion lives here alone? It must be lonely.

The mansion looked old and the furniture was covered with white linens. Every corner has spider webs that it made it looked more like a haunted house. When was the last time they cleaned this house? It looked like it has been abandoned.

He took me to the living room. I sat at one of the long couches and the man sat in front of me.

The man smiled. "I'm Craig Wilson." He offered his hand and I gladly took it. It was surprisingly rough like he did a lot of physical work before. "You already know what will be your work here, right? And because of that, I'll just leave the credit card here and the contract you'll sign."

Mr. Wilson put down an envelope on top of the table. I took out the contract, scanned it, and signed it.

"Are you sure you won't read the contract thoroughly? I'll give you time to read it and if you don't want the rules and conditions, we can negotiate or you can back out." He smiled politely.

"It's ok. Whatever the rules and conditions are, I don't care as long as I'll be paid."

I was planning to stay here for a long time. If I want to save up a lot of money, this was the only thing I could think of.

He nodded and watched me carefully. "Your bedroom will be on the second floor. You can pick any rooms in there except the one with the black door."

"How about the person I'll be serving? Can I know what kind of person he is?"

"He's Jace Faraday. I'm not trying to scare you but no one can handle his personality. All the housekeeper quit their job because of him. I was about to lose hope of finding someone who will accept this job. I'm lucky to have you here. Please try to understand him."

I smiled at him. “Don’t worry. I’ll do my best”

Mr. Wilson let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear that," he said. "If you want to redecorate the house, move the furniture and such, feel free to do so. You can use the credit card as much as you want if it is for the mansion and for Jace. If you need anything, you can use it too."

I looked at the card. It's a gold card that screamed wealth.

Mr. Wilson stood up. "Stay strong, Samantha. I hope you'll last long." He gave me a slight smile.

He shook hands with me again and left the mansion. I was left standing on the doorway. I couldn't help but be bothered by Mr. Wilson's word. Is Jace a disabled person? A person with mental issues? A person with a terminal illness? I shook my head to remove all the thoughts about who might be Jace Faraday. Lifting my bag, I headed for my bedroom.

After throwing the bag on the bed, I walked towards the chair near the window. I watched the snow slowly falling and filling the ground. I exhaled and it immediately fogged up the glass window.

The loan sharks will probably hunt me down but before they could reach me, I probably have enough money to pay them. It was a good thing I didn't have to bring the money to them. All I have to do is to deposit the money to their account.

This is better than living in that run-down apartment with gangsters banging your door every morning.

When night came, I decided to go to the kitchen and cooked for Jace. This will be our first meeting so I have to make a good impression. It was a good thing that I know how to cook and it was one of the things I was confident about.

After an hour of preparing, I put all the food on the tray. I also prepared one glass of water and one glass of fresh milk since I don’t know what he wants to drink.

Standing in front of Jace's room, I started to get nervous. I was standing for 10 minutes already because I was so nervous that Jace might not like the food I prepared.

"Calm down, Sam. You can do this." I repeatedly murmured this mantra until I finally gathered myself up. But as I was about to grab the doorknob, the door suddenly opened.

My eyes widened when a man towered over me. I couldn't see his face clearly because the hood on his jacket was covering his head. The room behind was pitch-black.

He must be Jace Faraday...

I swallowed the lump on my throat. I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. My palm was starting to sweat in nervousness. I can even hear my own heartbeat.

“Who are you?” Jace said, almost a whisper. His voice was husky as if it was his first time talking in ages.

"I-I'm Samantha Wales. I'll be the new housekeeper," I answered. "And I brought you food. I guess you haven't eaten anything yet?"

Jace looked down at me with bored eyes. He reached out his hand and grabbed the glass of milk.

I thought he will drink it but I was surprised when he let go of the glass. It shattered on the floor.

What the f**k?

"I don't drink milk..."—he reached out for the plate and did the same—"...I'm not hungry."

Jace turned around and slammed the door shut.

I was left outside, staring at the door dumbfounded. My mouth was hanging open in disbelief.

Now, what?! Am I here to take care of a brat?!