Maid For You 3

Chapter 1

I carefully adjusted my frilly white headband as I looked at myself in the mirror. Rich brown eyes stared back at me, determined to take on the daunting day.

Monday.

They say that Mondays are daunting, but this one seemed the most frightening yet. It was the Monday after the Autumn Festival, the Monday after Prince Coleman and I confessed that we liked each other, the Monday after he told me that he would never date me.

Monday.

At least I had Luke on my side. Last night we'd agreed to go out on Saturday night after Luke finished work, but that was a whole six days away. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it Saturday, what with facing the uncomfortable atmosphere with Prince Coleman and dealing with the aftermath of becoming Queen Maiden when it came to my fellow servants. Oh well, at least I had Luke. Not that he knew of what transpired between Coleman and I, nor was I keen to tell him about that whole shebang, but at least I wouldn't be alone at most mealtimes.

However, I first had to face the kitchen in order to collect Prince Coleman's breakfast platter. Chef Jonathan would be there, and after his cold treatment towards me, I wasn't exactly thrilled to run into my old pal. I took a deep breath as I stared into that bathroom mirror.

Alright, no more dilly dallying. I marched out of my room, walked tall and proudly down the hall, and unapologetically entered the kitchen. Chef Jonathan glanced my way.

"Ah, Cassie," he said with a friendly tone as he walked up to me. "It's good to see you again."

I could only presume that his soft greeting generated from the fact that I'd chosen Nikolas over Coleman. As much as everyone hated Nikoto, maybe they hated a climber even more.

"Jonathan," my tone lacked his friendliness. "I'm here to collect the Prince's breakfast."

"Yes, let me get that for you," he said, acting as though nothing had changed. Of course, that only irritated me more. "Here you are," he told me with a smile, placing the platter in my hands. "And I must say, you look quite nice today."

I levelled a serious glare on him and said nothing, turning out of the kitchen and entering the elevator up to Prince Coleman's floor.

I took several deep breaths, unsuccessfully trying to kill the obnoxious butterflies dancing in my stomach and to soften the erratic heartbeat pounding against my chest. It's just Coleman. I thought. I needed to get in and get out. Act like normal.

No, not like normal. Because our normal wasn't normal. I'd have to carve out a new normal; maybe I would model our new relationship like how mine had been with Prince Nikolas before the Autumn Festival. Professional, simple, boring. Boring wasn't the worst thing in the world, and I needed it with Coleman. Even when I had hated him, he always excited me, always got my blood pumping. He challenged me and didn't cower from my snarky quips—he fought back with an impressive verbal repertoire of his own.

I finally came to Prince Coleman's door, and I stopped and stared at the daunting thing. It had been awhile since I had actually served him—almost three weeks. Sure, I had visited his room once to help Prince Duarte find the room, but I hadn't gone inside. I closed my eyes and tried to go back and remember a simpler time. It had only been a month and a half, yet everything felt so different. I remembered walking through the door for the first time only to be met with shock that Prince Coleman was the jerk from my store. I remembered each day coming through the door mentally preparing for battle with him, using words as bullets. When did our war turn into romance? When did our lashing insults transform into exhilarating flirtations? They say that all is fair in love and war, but when did we combine those two separate ideas?

Of course, the whole situation didn't feel fair. I hated it, I didn't want to face the bloody aftermath, but what else was there to do?

Also in my memories of those simpler times was Luke. His darling smile, our glances that united us in comradery against our employer, the way he would step in and help me when Coleman was acting stupid. I'd always liked him from the moment I met him, and now we were...well, actually, I wasn't quite sure what we were. We didn't really specifically say, but we were something. He liked me, and I liked him. However, when I first came I hadn't expected all the deviations and twists and turns to get to that point. I hadn't expected this entire Prince Coleman subplot to take over only to blow up in my face.

But that's over now, I thought. I told Prince Coleman that I wasn't going to wait around for him, and I had meant. It might take a little bit of time, but I'll get over him completely. I would focus on the many many frustrating aspects of him. His disregard for women, his selfishness, his temper, his refusal to commit, his hot-and-cold personality.

Never mind his rare and breathtakingly genuine smiles. Never mind the way his quips made me laugh, the way that he stood up to me and embraced our verbal tango, the way his emerald eyes softened when they looked at me. Never mind the way he made me feel.    

I opened my eyes and stared at that ornate door to his room, carefully tracing the swirls and insignia sketched into the gold plating with my eyes. But I couldn't push off the inevitable much longer—I drew in one last deep breath and opened the door to his room.