𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺.

♥️

"Are the fuck!ng plates clean?" Sir asked me and I nodded in reply but a second later, I felt a stinging sensation on my cheeks.

"Don't just nod your head, use your damn mouth" Sir shouted louder this time. I shivered "Y-Yes sir, I understand."

Sir then looked around the house for any mess but there was none, I cleaned it all up.

Sir was looking around, he was basically hunting for anything that could get me in trouble, he was looking for an excuse.

I internally sighed, it had been a long hard working day.

Mary was not here today, she was not well and the servants had all gone back because it was late.

12:15 to be precise.

I looked down at my shoes blankly.

DO NOT CRY!

HOLD IT IN SIERRA.

Crying is not something I like to do in front of others, it shows weakness and I like to believe I am strong.

Very strong.

This has now become a daily routine.

"Where is Sara?" sir asked me, and I immediately answered, "in her room sir, she is sleeping."

Sir nodded and walked up the stair but just when he was about to disappear from my view he stopped "make Sara's favorite breakfast tomorrow, it is my princess's birthday and ask Mary to order a cake from the best bakery in around here." I nodded before replying "yes, sir." The moment sir was in his room I went to mine.

I checked the time and saw it was 12:45am, I smiled.

Happy Birthday, to me!

With that thought, I went to sleep only to wake up the next morning with doctors around me.

Malnutrition, my foot!

I woke up with tears streaming down my face only to realize that Sir was not around me and nor were there any doctors, but it was still my birthday.

Today.

"Happy birthday Darling, you make me so proud of yourself. You're growing up so fast but always remember I love you. There is someone here that love's you, Sierra."

I closed my eyes for a moment and tried to calm down, reminding myself of what Mary would always tell me on my birthdays.

I'm fine.

I am strong.

I murmured, repeatedly to myself, and looked out to the alarm clock.

It's 8 am!

I quickly got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to freshen up. After brushing my teeth I took a bath and washed my face putting on my contacts.

Looking up at the mirror again, I smiled.

If I would have been in the Vega house, Sir would try and keep away from me on my birthdays.

No one ever wished me other than Mary, but a day without any scoldings and beatings seemed like a gift good enough.

Not like he's around anymore.

I changed into a plain black t-shirt and put on a slip-in dress over it.

Where did I get these clothes from?

Well, my exams finished a week ago, and the day after my exam Alex sent some women home and she took my measurements and stocked up my closet, now my closet is like Sara's!

The only problem is that most of the dresses are not wearable.

Not because they are bad or too revealing.

But because they're either strapless or have cutouts.

I don't think my bruises are going to go away anytime soon, sure the recent ones have almost disappeared but the ones which have been pressed on are still there, and let's never talk about the scars.

I don't like my scars, they are anything but tolerable. The one thing I cannot stand is the cigarette mark.

Those marks define me and disgust me.

The only thing good about them was they were not the ones left by sir, after all.

Taking a deep breath, I tried to distract myself.

I haven't talked to Alex in the past week, the Different Alex disappeared as soon as the next morning came, and He didn't even teach me how to swim!

I really did want to swim like the emperor penguin, though.

I combed my hair and ran out of my room to see Maya cutting some fruit.

I should help.

I walked up to her and took the knife from her "Good Morning, Maya!"

I greeted her and started cutting the fruits "Good Morning, Sara!" Maya greeted back while I cringed, internally, at the name but nothen less smiled.

Maya was always so good to me.

After five minutes the strawberries, kiwis, and oranges were all cut so I passed them down to Maya.

Looking at Maya cook was pretty magical.

Living with Maya, I've learned how to make the simplest dish fancy.

Maya took a glass and put chocolate syrup in the bottom and then layered the fruits with whipped cream in between each layer.

It looked amazing!

Just then, Alex walked out of his room dressed in his usual suit.

His appearance never gets old.

Maya took out two plates and served the fruit glass along with toasted bread, nowadays I have breakfast with Alex, every day and he never scolds me, forget slapping me.

But I don't necessarily like it, let me rephrase.

He doesn't talk at all.

AT ALL!

We had our breakfast in silence, and like always Alex was done before me, Maya teases me and says that I am a slow eater.

Which I think, is true.

Lately, Maya has been a little concerned, after Alex's comment sometime back, she has started taking note of how much I eat.

She honestly believes that I will drop dead anytime, I laughed at the thought internally.

Imagine if Maya knew what I've been eating for the past twenty-two years.

Just when Alex was about to leave he turned to me "I'll be sending in a car today, for you, the driver will come and pick you up around two. He'll get you to my office, just ask the receptionist to direct you to my room."

Office, OFFICE?

I've hardly been around ten people at a time, imagine being around thousands of people.

The thought itself makes me want to have a breakdown.

"O-Office?" I stuttered, unintentionally while Alex looked confused, "Yes my office, just ask the receptionists there to show you the way to my office." I nodded, still nervous.

With that, Alex left me alone with Maya and since my semester is over I've had nothing to do so me and Maya mostly just sit together and worked the day away, baking, or seeing movies.

I sat down on the couch and stared at Maya's phone which was kept on the table for fifteen long minutes and it finally rang making me smile like a maniac "please pick up the phone!" Maya shouted, from the kitchen "okay!"

I picked up the phone and just as I thought it was Mary.

Mary is the only person along with the servant's in the Vega house to wish me 'Happy Birthday.'

"Happy birthday bub, you make me so proud of yourself. You're growing up so fast but always remember, I love you. There is someone here that love's you, Sierra." Mary wished me while a chorus of happy birthday, came from the phone almost making me deaf, almost.

I almost teared up with happiness.

"Thank you, Maya, Darry, James, Daisy, Carol, Penny. All of you are so special to me you have no idea" I replied, with a big goofy smile on my face.

After that, I talked to them all separately for about twenty minutes and when I put off the phone I had a content smile on my face.

A great start to a great day!

YAAAAAA!

I walked to the kitchen and saw Maya clean the last dish, "Sorry, Mary called" I explained as Maya washed the last plate and then cleaned her hands and came to me "it's okay dear, this is after all my work" she said and kissed my forehead.

I wanted to tell her, she had become so close to me so soon.

"It's my birthday" I blurted out and Maya's eyes went big.

"Wha-oh my god, Happy birthday, darling!" I thanked her and smiled "Oh my god, Sara, it's your birthday! go to your room right now and let me bake you a magical cake for tonight and no you cannot see it or help me make it."

I smiled, "Maybe I should have kept it to myself" Maya shook her head and pushed me lightly to my room.

I still have five hours still left before I go to Alex's office, so I took out my diary and started reading about stars and constellations.

After one hour, I got out of my room and wandered around the house, somehow I ended up in front of Alex's room.

Maya went out to get some things for baking the cake so no one was home.

I went inside the room and looked around; the drawer beside Alex's bed was slightly open because something was blocking it.

I bent down and opened the drawer to see what was hanging out of the drawer and saw the tip of an album, I took out the album and opened it, there were various pictures in it.

One of the pictures seemed to be of Alex at the age of somewhere near twelve, Alex stood in front of various trophies and most of them had his name.

One of the awards was in the shape of a painting palette, so I think it's for painting?

I flipped through some more pages and saw a picture of Alex and a girl, the girl was hugging Alex and had a painting in her hand which said 'World's best sister'.

Alex has a sister?

He never really talks about himself in fact, we both hardly talk so I should not be this surprised.

I saw a few more pictures of Alex with his Mom and dad as well, he seemed happy in the pictures but now he looks.....stressed?

There were hardly any pictures of his parent after he seemed to be five or six but Mary did tell me he was in the orphanage when he was very young.

What happened to his parent?

I signed and put the Album down when I heard the door open.

Maya is back.

I walked out of the room and saw Maya lay everything on the kitchen table. She saw me and smiled walking up to me.

"This is for you darling!" she handed me a small box and I gasped "yo-you did not need to...." I tried saying but Maya cut me off "nonsense, open the gift, Sweety, tell me what you think?"

Carefully I opened up the box and saw two pendants lying inside it, they were circular in shape but inside the circle, there seemed to be glass work with sticking work on it?

It was beautiful!

"I know it is not very expensive but, I made it myself. The left one is made by Alex, he made it last year when he saw me making the jewelry but I thought you'd like a touch of Alex to my gift" Maya winked at me and I pulled her into a hug "thank you so much, it is very precious." I expressed my gratitude and Maya hugged me back.

"It's okay sweety, now go get ready, you have to go to Alex's office as well. I'll pack lunch for you so that both of you can enjoy it. Wait! Does Alex know it is your birthday today? " I shook my head "nope, he does not and doesn't tell him," I said and headed to my room to get ready.

I put on my new sandals and the necklace Maya gave me then finally headed to the hall, just then the doorbell ringed, I opened the door and the driver stood there.

After a short ten minute ride, we finally reached Alex's office the building was a huge fifty story building, it was surrounded by greenery.

The building was simply beautiful it seemed to be made out of glass!

I got out of the car with the bag witch had lunch in it and looked at the main entrance, ignoring my sweaty hands I went to the reception "how may I help you, ma'am?" the receptionist asked me giving me a smile, I smiled back nervously "I-I am here to meet Alex, Alex Taylor."

The receptionist looked at me all over again, with judging eyes this time the polite smile vanishing.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked, "umm no, I don't" I said.

"Well then I am sorry you cannot meet Mr. Taylor, he is a very busy man."

I took in a deep breath, "can you please check?" I tried again, "your name Miss?" the receptionist asked again "Si-Sara Vega" the reception checked something on her computer "I am sorry ma'am, you are on the important guest list, you can go up to the top floor on the left-hand side is Mr. Taylor's cabin" I nodded and went to the list but I herd the receptionist whisper 'I have seen her somewhere.'

Time to go and have lunch with Alex!

♥️

𝓥𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓒𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓐𝓷𝓭𝓕𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀

𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮- 𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪.𝘩𝘢𝘩𝘢