Lady March - (L.L.)

Chapter 20

━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━

Early Night

━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━

Maxwell's room was just like how Annie had expected it to be; orderly with things tucked away neatly, much like his personality. There were dozens of different medals and stamps plastered across the beige walls, many of which symbolized a first place winner.

As the elderly people in the house made themselves comfortable on the main floor, she wandered over to examine the cluster of parchment on the walls. From rewards to diplomas, it seemed like Maxwell had the whole bundle. 

"Mother told me that lunch will be ready soon."

Annie shivered inwardly as she felt his deep voice right behind her, his cold breath against the nape of her neck. She hadn't realized he was behind her the entire time, and their proximity had her feeling slight nervousness. She didn't step away, but she didn't dare look him in the eyes either. "Can't wait."

"She's making your favorite, I reckon."

She could practically hear the smirk in his voice. She finally turned around and faced him, raising her eyebrows. "Oh, yeah? And what would you say my favorite meal is?"

"Well, for one thing, you seem like more of a pasta kind of woman." He paused, shrugging as his gaze momentarily flickered to the floor. "I don't really have to explain the rest, do I?"

Annie didn't know what to say, so she chose to not say anything at all. The look on his face. . . she didn't know what to feel - or if it was right to even think at that moment. 

His voice startled her out of her thoughts. "It's quite funny," he said suddenly. 

"What is?"

"I didn't. . . well, ah! Forget it."

"No," Annie said. Her eyebrows raised further in anticipation. "What's so funny?"

"Well, it's just that. . . I didn't think I'd ever see the day where you're in my home."

She shook her head, an amused smile flitting across her lips. "The good kind of unbelievable, or the bad kind?"

Folding his arms, Maxwell leaned against the wall to survey her for a moment. "What do you think?"

Without waiting for a response, he continued on with another question. "Anyways, do you want me to show you where your room is now?" He gestured to the wide open door. "It's just down the hall, next to your aunt's. After that, we can head downstairs to prepare for lunch."

Annie nodded, taking one last fleeting look around before following him out of the room. She had a feeling the next few days would be very interesting, to say the least.

***

Annie couldn't fall asleep. Her chest heaved calmly as she stared blankly at the ceiling. It had to be nearly late into the night, considering that it seemed absolutely quiet in the halls. Screwing her eyes shut, she tried - hoped that sleep would fall upon her, so she wouldn't wake up in the morning drowsy. As usual, it didn't work; the darkness just clouding her eyes as if she'd have to wait a while longer.