Mr Night

𝟐𝟎| 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐭 𝟒 𝐚.𝐦.

-𝐇𝐄𝐑-

I missed breakfast the next morning.

Not deliberately.

I swear.

I woke up slightly late but I still made sure to get ready quickly before descending downstairs only to find the whole house empty. Both the men were nowhere to be seen in the house at first.

Though I found Filth in the kitchen. He sent me a cold glare before quietly setting the table for me. I sat down and looked at the head of the table. It was empty.

"Where's Mr. Night?" I asked him. I was sure that Mr. Night had told me last night that he wished to see me at the breakfast. Did he forget about it? I think not.

"Why? He has eaten," Filth replied crisply, making me frown.

"Eaten? He told me he was going to have breakfast with me," I told him.

"That he said but he didn't have all day to wait for you so he finished quickly and left for work,"

"All day? When does he have breakfast?" I asked him.

"Why? At four in the morning,"

"Bloody-" I was about to curse out loud but I stopped when Filth turned a shade paler. "He eats breakfast four in the morning? Is he alright in the head?" I asked.

"Miss Maynard!" Filth hissed instantly, "Mr. Night is a very busy man. He likes to start his day early,"

"I couldn't believe he was expecting me to show up for breakfast at four in the morning! I wonder what does he do so early in the morning? Awake the roosters?"

"Only a naive girl like you would say such a thing," He told me and I shrugged.

"I couldn't think of any reason why a person would have to wake up at four in the morning and have breakfast,"

"Of course, you couldn't," He shot back. We glared at each other for a long moment before I ate my breakfast. The rest of the day I spent making Filth's life hell. Quite literally.

I followed him everywhere— the kitchen, the stable, the garden, everywhere. He was severely annoyed but he couldn't say anything to me.

While I was bothering him, I noticed one thing— how things around the house seemed to get done seamlessly. It was either Filth was really good at managing everything or there was something that I didn't know of.

Nonetheless, I was happy to be out of my room and see Maxim. I spent some time with him wandering around the small patch of woods where he would break off in a run after a small animal. It was so refreshing to be out in nature after so many days.

In the evening, I returned to the boredom adjacent to mine to fiddle with that strange instrument again before going downstairs for dinner. Mr. Night was missing from dinner as well. His absence wasn't anything unusual.

A couple of days passed in the same manner. Things were getting back to normal. Only for me. For Filth, it got worse. Well, I personally made sure about this.

I made him bicker with me until he would err in his work, making him furious.

On the other hand, Mr. Night was nowhere to be seen, and neither did I hear from him but I knew that he was in the house, especially in the basement because I would often see Filth bringing empty plates back from the basement.

"Why doesn't he come upstairs to eat?" I asked him that afternoon while having lunch.

"He's a very busy man. He doesn't have time for that," Filth responded coldly.

"What does he do?" I wondered out loud once in front of Filth.

"You wouldn't understand his work," He told me sharply.

"Why?" I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Because you're a girl,"

"And?"

"That makes you naive,"

"At the end of the day if a naive girl has to bring those keys then be it," I shrugged. I could see that my words were nothing less than a slap on his face. He glared at me. "What happened, pale boy?" I teased.

He didn't say anything. He only turned around and walked into the kitchen before I heard something breaking there. He must be taking it out on the cutlery.

"Was that your pride?" I asked out loud and heard one more plate shatter. I threw my head back and laughed in victory but I froze as soon as I felt a presence behind me.

I felt a pair of intense eyes burning on my back. I knew it was him right away because there were only the three of us in the house (Unless you count Edward who might be locked away somewhere in the basement but how was I supposed to know, right?)

I felt like I was caught in the act but hey! What did I do? I was just bullying his butler. That's all!

"Frith," He called out, his eyes still burning on me. Slowly, I turned around to find him standing by the stairs, brooding.

"Hello, Mr. Night," I chirped awkwardly, not knowing what to do. His eyes burned on my face for a few seconds before he nodded.

Filth was out of the kitchen by now and as soon as he approached Mr. Night, both of them started talking in hushed voices.

I watched them as I finished eating. I wasn't able to hear them but I could tell that they were talking about something important. After a while, the two of them stopped talking and glanced at me.

I froze, bewildered. They must be talking about me. Did Filth complain to Mr. Night about me? If he did so then he'd be going to his grave early.

Mr. Night's eyes remained on me while Filth continued to speak to him, most probably telling him about my shenanigans.

"Is something the matter?" I asked after a while when I couldn't stand Mr. Night's intense gaze burning on me. At this, Mr. Night stalked towards me.

"Miss Maynard," He addressed me with a strange expression. His eyes gleamed. Something seemed terribly wrong, "I've been informed by my butler that you are starting to feel bored here. Is that so?" The way he asked that, with a small cunning smile playing on his lips, I knew something was wrong.

Something had to be wrong!

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair and glanced at Frith who was standing by the stairs, looking at me slyly. Did he set me up for this? If so then he'd be sleeping in an unmarked grave tonight.

"I do sometimes. Why?" I asked him.

"I have some work for you which would keep you entertained," He offered warmly. For a moment, it felt like I was selling my soul to the devil.

"Oh, you do?" I asked, not knowing how to react to this.

"Indeed but first, tell me how good are you with numbers," He enquired.

"Well, I know two plus two equals four," I shrugged.

"Perfect," He flashed me a dangerous smile.

_

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