3 High Maintenance

"Say, Belle. Have you eaten?" He wrapped his arms around her shoulder and immediately, Audrey felt intimidated.

He may have told her that she is a guest in his house but he never specifically mentioned he would not harm her. She responded no to his question with a hunched back and allowed him to lead her.

Audrey was expecting a simple congee meal in a corner of a miserable room as what she had been accustomed to. Instead, there was a generous spread on the dining table for two! In a fancy dining area where one of the seats was for her!

When the housemaid in uniform pulled her chair, she could not contain her disbelief. Her body flat out refused to sit down even when Frederick invited her and she beat herself for it.

"Hey, Princess. Are you waiting for me to feed you?" Her captor remarked sarcastically.

"I- I- It's not that," she replied while internally battling with herself to sit down.

The man stared at her as he put down his spoon, sighed out loud and strode across the table. Audrey had her eyes closed and her body flinched with every footstep closer.

He placed both of his arms on her shoulder, causing Audrey to grimace and he whined, "Missy, you sure are high maintenance. How many times must I tell you that you're a guest of my house? Now sit!"

Audrey was shocked by the difference in treatment she received between being a guest in her captor's place and being the youngest daughter in her own house. She looked at the man trudging back to his seat and could not believe that this was the same man who murdered her entire family last night!

The way he eats with poise. The gentle words he used to command his staff. The reasonable treatment he chose to deal with her. Every bit of him was a huge contrast with the murderous villain she witnessed last night. If she was to erase what she saw last night, she would never imagine the man in front of her to have a single evil bone in him.

She had been observing him for quite some time that Frederick could no longer ignore it and looked at her, dead in the eyes, "Eat."

It had only been a couple of hours and she knew this was completely lunatic of her but she could not help it. Audrey found an ounce of admiration towards her captor!

"Yes, thank you," was all she could muster as she began to have her first proper fancy meal.

* * * * *

"I know I've been saying you're a guest in my place but hmm...," he placed fingers on his chin as he contemplated with his words, "You know what? Let's just go to the room first," said Frederick.

He led her inside and opened up one of his wardrobes filled with winter clothes in the dressing room. Weirdly, he suggested she follow him and disappeared behind them. Audrey was freaking out. She was afraid of what will happen to her or what he planned to do to her once they were both inside the wardrobe.

Nevertheless, she walked inwards only to find there was another bedroom inside. Her heart began to beat erratically in fear she would be done for that very day. She stuck herself to the wall, keeping her distance from the villainous man.

"This will be your space for now," stated Frederick and he made a beeline to the door before she heard the door being bolted.

It took a whole minute for Audrey to snap back to reality and registered what had happened. She looked around and noticed the lack of windows. The same could be said about the bathroom. Despite having no natural lights, the room, however, was rather bright and comforting.

'This must be the reason why he hesitated,' she pondered as she sat at the edge of the bed. The harsh reality begins to sink in and unfolded when the quietness of the room keeps her company.

She realised she is the last surviving family of the Bloodsworth family and there is no one left to carry the name. The more she thought about it, the deeper she was lost. Was she glad that the cruelty she was subjected to, ends? Why, yes! But did her happiness trump the eradication of her entire family and the townspeople? Well, she herself could not answer it.

Because technically, evil existed everywhere and all she had been doing was hopping from one evil person to another. Even so, this strange rogue man showed her mercy more than her own family. Despite being locked up in a room, it was a room full of amenities and snacks, complete with good electricity and water. Unlike how it was back at her place.

She slowly undressed herself in front of the full-body mirror, exposing scars and wounds all over her body. And she compared it to the band-aid on her neck. An injury she inflicted upon herself the previous night and not he, who only scraped her neck.

Perhaps she is broken. Shattered to the point she is confused about her emotional state. Probably this was the starting point of her mistake, confusing his kindness for affection?

Then her eyes laid on her flat tummy. Or is it because of that?