Chapter 22 : The year 1820 - Part one

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" Walking down the streets of Foreville , a young brown haired girl held her purse securely while she conversed with her maid who was holding up the flowery umbrella on her head , protecting her from the summery sun weather .

" My lady what are we going to do there again , it's... it's not appropriate for a lady to be roaming around these parts of the street ' the maid cautiously picked her words with a whisper for her young mistress to hear .

The street was bustling with people moving around buying , selling and others simply pickpocketing one another with extreme reflexes ever learned or inherited.

The newly opened shops and food stands where filled with middle and low classed people , pushing one another and throwing insults just to get the better and cheaper goods brought in the store .

' Look at them ! fighting just to get a five days worth loaf , what a pity ! come on let's hurry It's getting late ' the young mistress commented with pity and sadness but some who saw and heard her thought it was mockery due to her posture and cloths but they were wrong .

The young brown haired made her way to a local bookstore to get her awaited monthly book update , she gave her maid a velvet little purse from her larger defined purse . ' Go get yourself something nice and get me caramel apples and a blueberry pie from the inn across the street with the words ' Melanie's inn & bakery ' written at the entrance " the young lady with eye catching green eyes ordered before stepping inside the bookstore that had the bell at the door ring when she opened it .

The owner was an old man in his mid fifties with kind and warming features on his aging face , came out of the back room as soon as he had heard the bell ring . His smiled widened when he saw the brown haired girl stepping in ' Miss Dela Cruz long time no see , how have you been and I see you've grown even prettier than the last time you were here ' The old man complimented truthfully .

" Mr . Smith always a charmer but still thank you for your fond words , is....is the book here yet , I've run out of patience ' the brown haired girl confessed . " In deed you have but there's only one copy left at the back , hope no one's taken it yet ' Mr . Smith stated with a concerned look on his face .

Going to the back to look for her favorite book ' Love bound by a rose ' she went through the polished shelves running her fingers on every book reading the titles she stopped when she spotted the book she so desperately wanted .

Just when she was about to take it out of the shelf , someone else took it who stood behind her towering over her . Gritting her teeth in annoyance she turned around her green eyes met the person who had swiped the book before she could take it .

" You_ give it back to me , I saw it first" The brown haired girl demanded with slight frustration in her voice . The tall dark haired young man stared down at her with an evil glint sided with mischief , " You snooze you lose sweetheart " the young man uttered with the same emotions .

" Excuse me ? " she asked with a frown and he just gave her a smile that made her skin crawl for some reason . " Apologie accepted" he replied and patted her head , " Apologie ? are you deaf or something and get your dirty hands off me , give it back to me , give me the book " she demanded .

" My lady I took it first so it means you only saw the book but didn't take it . So henceforth I shall take my leave " the young man bowed slightly and was about to step away when the young mistress pulled him back by holding his sleeve tightly .

" Give me the book , please give it back to me . I waited for a whole month just to get the latest release please ! " she pleaded swallowing her pride as a lady from high class , tears threatening to fall out of hopelessness and frustration .

" Please give it to me I'll do anything you want as long as you give me that book ! " she added with her face staring at the old floor hiding her teary eyes from the stranger .

The young man's expression wavered a bit but turned back to mischief with a pinch of amusement , " you'll do anything ' he confirmed and when she nodded he took out his handkerchief and gave it to her . " Take it and wipe your tears away , what's your name beautiful ? " he asked when she had hesitantly taken the handkerchief from him to wipe her tears away .

She looked up at him with uncertain emotions and doubt , but still replied " Dela Cruz...I mean Janeatte Dela Cruz ' she corrected herself . " And you ! what's your name Mister...? " she then proceeded and asked him .

He stared at her curiously trying to gauge her expression for a second or maybe more before he replied calmly " Maximilian Rolfe " .

Janeatte tried to recall where she had heard the name before but her mind was just blank for the time being. " Okay Mister Rolfe ! are you going to give me the book? " she asked with impatience slipping through her core . " You're so impatient are you really a...." his words were cut short by her demanding words , " Yes or no Maximilian ? " .

Maximilian almost chuckled but covered it up with a cough " I'll give it to you but remember you promised to do anything I want but not today.....but it will be soon or maybe sooner than you expected to " .

Janeatte nodded her head slowly not really paying

attention to what he was going to ask her to do in the near future cause the only thing she really cared was getting her book back .

Maximilian smiled and held out his hand to seal the deal with a shake . Hesitantly she took it and shook hands with him but he did the unexpected . He pulled her close to his chest and inhaled her scent , with widened eyes she pushed him away and glared hard at his inappropriate behaviour .

" What are you glaring at , no one's here anyway so it's alright for us to... " once again the girl cut his words short by hurriedly replying " For us to what ? Mister Rolfe I am not one of those girls who do inappropriate things with strangers anywhere , I am a lady not that kind of girl " she angrily stated.

" Am not a stranger and if you want we can go somewhere else private and get to know each other and....more " he moved closer and whispered close to her ear his cold minty breath hitting her senses . " You !! how dare you utter such shameless words ! I will re..." now it was his turn to cut her words short with unsuppressed chuckle .

" You're so naive little girl ! what I meant to say before was that the deal was sealed with a hug but you went overboard " he smiled as he looked down at her embarrassed face .

Janeatte felt like opening the ground and getting in to hide away from the hard truth but still stood her ground . " It's your fault ! " she said sheepishly at him cheeks still red . " Here take it " he said handing the book to her .

Taking it from him she quickly whispered a thank you and left , after paying and bidding Mr . Smith goodbye she left the store to look for her maid . Reaching the carriage with her maid they rode away in it , inside the young mistress narrated half of the incident at the book store while munching her caramel apple gleefully .

Arriving at the Dela Cruz mansion in the mid evening they got out and sneakily went inside , jumping on her bed Janeatte ordered her maid to prepare her bath . After a few seconds the maid came in " My lady the bath is ready , would you like me to bathe you today ? " she asked . " That won't be necessary , I'll do it by myself but thank you anyway " she said as she got up from the bed and made her towards her luxurious and grand bathroom .

Taking all of her cloths off she stepped in the bath tub filled with roses and bubbles , sipping a glass of velvet rose and apple wine she relaxed her tensed muscles . After finishing the second glass of the tasty and soury wine she put the glass on the small stool near the tub , settling herself comfortably on the tub and she closed her eyes enjoying the warmth and the lovely scent of the soap .

Her thoughts wandered to the incident that had happened , she remembered the face of that troubling good looking young man slowly . Flawless clear skin , his long hair that was cut recently rested on his sparkling raven black hair a bit disheveled as if he had run his fingers there a couple of times before , deep blue eyes that could almost suck her soul away , heavy dark lashes , high cheekbones , sharp and strong jaw , his beard free chin flawless and drool worthy to others but not her .

And then his seductive deadly lips that had called her and whispered shameless words close to her ear looked nothing less than a one way ticket to addiction to others but not her ofcourse she thought in her mind but her face said otherwise cause she was blushing due to her trip down memory lane .

' We are not strangers but if you want we can go somewhere else private to get to know each other....and more ' his shamelessly seductive words remained imprinted in her mind . A part of her mind scolded for such memory recalled while the other wanted to remember more but still couldn't .

Getting out of the tub after cleaning and refreshing herself more than enough she put her creamy nightdress on before going to bed with her favourite book having devoured the last piece of the blueberry pie she skipped dinner .

She only read a few pages before falling a sleep traveling to dream world .

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