I'm so tired and hungry, I could collapse on the bathroom tiles right now. A week has gone by and I can't handle this anymore. Dimitri's been giving me so much work to do, I can't keep up. It's like he's trying to slowly kill me with the workload. It's like he enjoys watching me in pain. There have been so many nights where I have missed dinner. Dimitri says I'm not allowed to eat dinner until I'm done all the tasks for that day. So I never get the chance because it takes me until midnight to complete everything and by then I'm so tired, I can't do anything but collapse on to the bedroom floor, which is my permanent bed now since I don't have it in me to argue with Shauna anymore.

The floor is always so cold and hard that I have trouble falling asleep, even though I'm really tired and should be able to fall asleep right away. And then in the morning I wake up at 5 AM usually only getting about four hours of sleep at night.

It's annoying how Dimitri's so lenient with Shauna. She literally only has one or two tasks to do everyday. And she gets to eat all the meals, sleep when she wants to and wake up when she wants to. She even gets better clothes to wear than I do. And then on top of that, she taunts me about how she gets to do pretty much anything she wants.

I'm always so tired and busy that I can never say anything back to her. So she basically stays by me, watching me and makes fun of everything I have to do. And if I so much as glare at her, she'll go to Dimitri complaining about me and then I'd get a nice scolding from him, and threats. Lots of threats.

It was annoying how I didn't even get the chance to see Thomas and chat with him for a bit. Everytime I see him, it's at night when he's already asleep.

This was so much torture. I wanted my family. I wanted my mom. I wanted her to hug me and tell me that everything would turn out alright and that I just needed to stay strong for a little while longer. I missed her so much. I missed everyone so much.

I knew I wasn't going to see my family probably ever again. I'm most likely going to die here. I shouldn't waste my time thinking about them because I was never getting them back.

I finished cleaning Dimitri's bathroom and checked the time to see that it was 1:30 AM. Today's work took even longer than it usually does. It's almost like everyday Dimitri adds one more thing to the list. He really is trying to kill me. I hate him. I absolutely hate him. Even more than Shauna. I didn't think it was possible to hate someone more than Shauna. But Dimitri proved me wrong.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror in Dimitri's bathroom and grimaced. I looked horrible. My hair was a complete frizzy mess. My eyes had dark circles and bags underneath them. And my skin just looked so dull and tired. I had also lost some weight.

I decided to retire to my room now since I was finally done everything on the list. I quietly walked out of Dimitri's bathroom into his bedroom being careful not to wake him up. It was very dark in his room so I couldn't see anything. I had to blindly find my way out which was going to be hard because of how quiet I had to be. I know Dimitri will be very pissed if I wake him up.

As I was walking, I bumped into something hard.

More like someone hard.

It was Dimitri.

Dimitri's arms immediately went around my waist, steadying me. "What are you doing so late in my room Shauna? I don't want to see your face. I see enough of you throughout the day." He said, his voice showing hints of anger. I couldn't believe he thought I was Shauna. I would never want to be that rat. And why was he so angry at her being here. I thought he liked her and enjoyed her company. He was probably very tired and because of that he's probably very cranky and not in a good mood.

I was debating whether to pretend I was Shauna or just tell him who I actually was. I decided to go with who I actually am since he does seem pissed that Shauna's in his room and I'd rather not have him yell at me. "I'm actually Isabella." I say, my voice shaking. I guess it was shaking because of the tears that were threatening to come pouring.

"Isabella." He quietly says to himself, the anger leaving his voice. I was surprised that he didn't remove his arms from around my waist yet.

"I was finishing up the tasks for today. I just finished actually, and I was retiring to my room now." I quickly say, my voice shaking even more than before.

"Are you cold?" He asks in his sleepy voice, bringing his hands up to rub them against my arms. "Wow, you have a lot of goosebumps."

"Yeah." I respond, not sure what to say. I yawn feeling so tired. I try not to collapse into Dimitri's arms. That would be very awkward. But unfortunately, I couldn't keep myself standing any longer.

"Woah, Isabella!" Dimitri exclaims as he catches me before I fall.

"Sorry, I'm just so tired and hungry and my body hurts and I just want to go to sleep and never wake up again." I'm very well crying now but I can't seem to stop.

Dimitri doesn't say anything except pick me up bridal style in his arms. I gasp, grabbing onto his broad shoulders immediately, hoping he wouldn't drop me. I then rest my face against his warm, bare chest, closing my eyes as I felt so tired. He then starts walking, carrying me somewhere but I could care less where we were going. I was just too comfortable at the moment. But I knew it was my room he was taking me to.

After a few minutes went by, I opened my eyes confused. He should have reached my room by now. But for some reason he didn't. I tried to look around to see where we were but my eyes were too blurry from more of my tears. I felt Dimitri staring down at me causing me to look up at him. I could see his red eyes shining brightly, standing out in the dark. It was frightening yet cool at the same time. He kept his gaze on me the whole way down the stairs. Stairs? Why were we going down?

"Dimitri." I say, finding my voice. It was still shaky but what could I do? "Why are we downstairs?"

"To get you something to eat. You said you were hungry. And it seems you've lost a lot of weight, too. You haven't been eating dinner, right?" He asked and I shrugged. Before I could say something he continued on. "Isabella, when I said you weren't allowed to eat dinner until you finished all your tasks, I didn't mean to not eat at all. And honestly, I was expecting you to disobey me and eat dinner anyways. I really was expecting that. I didn't think you were actually going to listen to me." He said. "I don't get you, Isabella. When I want you to obey me, you don't. When I'm hoping or expecting you to disobey me, you go ahead and obey me."

"You're the one I don't get!" I yell. Well more like a yell mixed with a sob. "If you didn't want me to listen to you or if you were expecting me not to listen to you, maybe you shouldn't have ordered me not to eat in the first place. And besides, I don't know why you brought me down here. I don't want to eat."

"Why not?" He asks with a stern look on his face as he sets me down onto a soft couch.

"Because I'm tired and I want to go to sleep." I say and he shakes his head.

"Sorry but that's a stupid excuse. You're eating dinner." He says, pushing my hair away from my face before turning around towards the kitchen. I lay on the couch, closing my eyes. He can't make me eat if I fall asleep, right?

But before I could fall asleep, he shows up with a bowl of warm food and a glass full of water. He sets everything on the table, before leaving the room again. The food smelled so good but I just couldn't bring myself to sit up and eat, and so I closed my eyes again. The food can stay here all night. I don't want to eat.

Dimitri returns again with a blanket in his hands. He drapes the warm blanket over me, before sitting on the same couch I was laying down on. "Isabella, get up and eat. Your food is getting cold." He demands, pointing at the bowl of rice and chicken.

"I'm too sleepy." I mumble out, causing him to sigh.

"Get up Isabella. Right now." He says, sounding impatient. Once he sees I'm not going to get up, he grabs me by my shoulders and pulls me up causing me to moan in annoyance. He positions me in a way so that I'm leaning against him. He then fixes the blanket around me, making sure I'm nice and warm.

He then gently grabs my face with his left hand, making me look towards him. "I'm going to feed you myself, okay?" He says and I shake my head, starting to protest, when he sends me an angry glare causing me to shut up. He pushes my frizzy mess of hair away from my face again before grabbing a spoon of rice and bringing it to my lips. I reluctantly open my mouth and take the spoon of rice into my mouth.

I moan at how good the food tastes, causing a very small smile to grace Dimitri's lips. It's almost as if he's not smiling at all but I know its there. I eat in silence, enjoying the quiet. It wasn't awkward at all which I was glad for.

Once I'm done eating, I feel a whole lot better. My stomach is nicely full and I don't feel that tired anymore. I feel pretty good now. "Do you want ice cream? Because I'm really in the mood for some." He says and I nod smiling at him.

He then gets up and brings back two bowls of ice cream. He sets one on the table and holds one in his hand. He scoops some ice cream onto the spoon and brings it to my lips. "Oh no, Dimi-uh Your Highness." I say, noticing my slip-up. I had to remember to not say his name as it wasn't polite. "You don't have to feed me the ice cream too. I can eat it myself. You eat your own ice cream."

"First of all, call me Dimitri. I don't really want to feel like a King at the moment. And second, it's okay. I can feed you." He says, bringing the spoon close to my mouth again.

"No, Dimitri. I'll eat myself. If you feed me, your ice cream will melt." I say, protesting.

"I don't care if it melts. You said you were too tired to eat yourself." He said causing me to sigh.

"I don't feel that tired anymore. I can eat it myself." I say, grabbing the other bowl from the table and eating from that one.

"Fine." He says looking angry now. Was he serious? I can't believe he was angry just because I said I wanted to eat myself. I decided to ignore him and eat my ice cream. After the ice cream, it was 2:15 AM and I was so sleepy now.

Dimitri set our empty bowls in the kitchen sink before coming back to pick me up bridal style again. I rest my head against his chest as he carries me upstairs. I end up falling asleep in his arms before he could reach my room.

* * * * * * * *