Umi's Past

*SZZZNNNN!...*

"Wow, you really did me a makeover," Viktor sighed in admiration as Umi switched off the trimmer, and he continued to check out his clean shaved face and hair that had been trimmed till his neck.

He had told Umi not to cut his hair short, so she cut him a medium-length hairstyle which would also allow him to give himself a slicked-back look.

However, his role required him to have a boy cut, but Viktor suggested that he could just use some gel to make sure that his hair can be styled into a neat boy cut as well.

"Thank you, Umi. You did a fine job. No wonder Taya likes you so much. You are a super maid," Viktor laughed as he looked at Umi, trying to hide her abashed expression.

She then looked at his dreamy smile, his captivating eyes, and his refined features that seemed to not belong to this world, making her eyes glued to his flawlessly handsome face.

"You look so handsome...Master…" She uttered in a daze, thinking that she had never seen anyone as mesmerizingly handsome as him.

But she then suddenly covered her mouth, realizing that she embarrassed herself, "I-I am sorry…"

"Haha, what's there to feel sorry about? You know it has been a long time since I heard such a lovely compliment from a beauty like you," Viktor said as he gazed at her exotic green eyes through the mirror, making her hide her face even more.

"So, I take it you know a lot of things, huh? You mind telling how Taya found a skilled woman like you?" Viktor curiously asked.

Umi raised her head and had a hesitant expression, because of which Viktor said in a soft tone, "You don't have to tell if you don't want to. I can understand."

Hearing his words, she immediately shook her head and said, "No, it's...nothing like that. I have nothing to hide from Master. I just felt that there was no need to bore you with my past."

"Bore me? You have no idea what it takes to bore someone like me, and I am sure that your past is way more interesting to me than you think. Otherwise, I will let you crop my hair. How about taking on this bet?" Viktor knew that Taya had told Umi to give him a crop cut to suit him more.

But he told Umi not to give him such a dumb cut, because of which she didn't. So he decided to simply put out this bet to encourage her.

Umi saw through his reasoning and smiled as she said, "Okay, uh....actually, I am from the country Ustal located in the Uchen continent. And fourteen years ago, when my Sayana was just four years old, a terrible war was going on in our country between a weak government and a rebel group. The only reason we were able to survive was with the help of a kind family but they ended up getting killed while trying to help us. Still, I somehow managed to escape to the border and seek asylum in the neighboring country."

"But the people from that country put us in a detainment center, promising us visas and all. But they continued to drag out things even after a year, and they had other refugees and me doing menial jobs and other jobs we never were experienced in to earn ourselves some food and clothing. They treated us very badly, and even the food was so horrible that not even animals would eat them and even the rooms we stayed in were so poorly maintained that we found it hard to sleep for at least five minutes."

Viktor felt a bit surprised that such a reserved woman like her had gone through such terrible experiences, especially when she had a child to look after.

Umi continued, "But I somehow held on for the sake of my daughter, who was just a small child, and it took all my efforts just to make sure that she had enough to eat. Finally, some of us couldn't just take it anymore and managed to escape from the facility."

"But we had no choice but to run back to our own country. And that made things hard since I wasn't able to get any job due to having a child with me, and we were on the roads starving. It was only because I knew my own place that I was able to avoid the dangerous places."

Umi's lips arched into a soft smile, "And that's when I met Madam, who got stranded in my place, which was quite a safe location away from the bombings. She had no food or money with her and only had a cell phone which didn't have a range. So she asked for my help to show a place where she could get range. And so I chose to help her since I could see that she was a foreigner who had no idea about the place and might die if she continued to wander around."

Viktor nodded, inwardly feeling respect and admiration for Umi since he knew it must have been no easy task to help a foreigner while she herself was starving and had a child to look after.

"No wonder Taya took you in. You are not only talented, but you are also a strong and kind woman. I bet not many would be able to do what you did after everything you experienced. You indeed deserve to lead a happy life after going through so much. So don't think that you are taking advantage of Taya's kindness. It would even be normal if she gave you a villa, haha," Viktor heartily laughed.

Umi gave a pure smile and said what was in her mind, "Thank you, Master. I really feel happy hearing you say that."

Viktor smiled, then he asked, "Well, what about Sayana's father?"