chapter 12

Lisa was working in the garden as she usually did, when Lucas came by and offered to lend a hand. Lisa said, " It's fine. I'm very nearly done anyway."

Lucas said," the garden looks beautiful. Are the guests going to see it?"

Lisa replied, "If they would like to."

Lisa was trying to be as short with Lucas as possible. She had earlier promised herself to burry her feelings for him, and that's what she was desperately trying to accomplish. But like they say, " An impossible love is always hardest to extricate oneself from". It has to do with the appeal of the forbidden and the fact that there was an unseen but very much felt distance between both parties, which let the one miss the other despite being in close procimity with them.

Lucas said,"Lisa, are you okay? I consider you my friend. If you ever need someone to talk to about anything, anything at all, I can always listen."

Lisa looked up at him then. " Why do you have to be so kind? I'm trying to put a stop to feelings here and that smile and kindness of yours isn't helping." she thought. But instead she said, "Thanks you sir". She'd decided to set the boundaries straight in speech. Maybe then her brain would take the hint, and stop secreting endorphins.

Whoever gave Lisa her life probably did so during a solar eclipse. How could her luck be so terrible. While Lisa was trying to curb feelings for Lucas, the watcher stood at that window overlooking the garden one more time watching her talk to Lucas.

Her blood began to boil. You could tell by how red her face became, and how she clenched her jaw and balled her fists. Something was cooking in her brain, and unlike last time this one was going to be a tiebreaker. She left the window frame positively fuming.

It was Thursday finally, and the party was just about to begin. Lisa and the other employees were dressed neatly in uniform, she took her place by the door, since she'll be actiing as butler for most if not the entire evening.

She was going to take all new arrivals to the hosts, Jacob and Elise. Usually, the hosts would welcome their guests at the door, but since the event was more for business than anything else, Jacob and Elise decided that mingling with those guests who had already arrived was better than welcoming their guests at the door.

Lisa had a sense of foreboding, her skin kept prickling, and that crawl up her spine just would not go away. She became so restless, moreso because she had to remain at the door.

The party was in full swing by this time. Most of the guests had arrived. Lisa was surprised by the vast variety of people present. There were a few ambassadors in the crowd, business partners of the Wards' from different countries, and many others she couldn't name.

It was getting harder and harder for Lisa to hold her poker face, Amy noticed this while serving drinks and came over to offer help. "I'll get Carie to fill in for you for about half an hour, I think you should go to the kitchen and take a seat. You've been working too hard, hardly eating anything. It is probably taking a toll on you."

Lisa went to the kitchen while Amy went to get Carie.

Mrs. Lee saw her come into the kitchen. She immediately rushed to her and took her to a seat. "Just rest there for a bit. Let me get something for you to drink." Amy came in then. "Are you okay Miss Lisa?" She asked. "I'm okay." Lisa said. Not two minutes after that, Carie walked into the kitchen. Lisa stood up despite the feeling of weakness in her knees.

"Don't worry." Carie said. "All those on the guest list have arrived." Mrs. Lee put her drink before her then. Carie came towards her and put a hand to her forehead. "You don't have a fever. That's a good sign" she said. "Go ahead have your drink. Amy and I have to head out and serve the guests now."

Lisa took a few sips of the drink. Her vision became slightly cloudy, and her head felt a little too heavy for her neck. She then rested her head on the work surface, for a little nap

Micheal did not want to draw attention to himself , so he came in through the back door. He had not known that there'd be a party. He'd wanted to surprise his Mom, but it seemed he'd have to wait a while to do that. He went into the servant's passageway to the bedrooms where he saw a man he didn't recognize carrying an unconscious girl in servant's garb. Whoever the guy was he obviously wasn't up to anything good.

"Excuse me, is there a problem?" Micheal called out to the man. The suspicious looking man stopped in his tracks. He started looking from side to side obviously looking for way out of this sticky situation. "Who are you?" Micheal asked. The man just moved towards him very slowly not responding once he was about a foot and a half away, he threw the girl up into the air toward Micheal, and made a dash for the nearest exit. Micheal caught the girl noticing too late that she was not quiet as weightless as he'd thought.

He'd normally be able to lift her weight, but since he had not been expecting her to weigh so much, he fell back with her falling on top of him.

When he regained his position on his feet, he noticed that the girl didn't even look disturbed by the fall they had taken. She was so soundly asleep. "Atleast one of us didn't feel much of that." He said aloud to himself. He carried her into the closest room and laid her in the bed. He then took out his phone and called Lucas.

"Come down to the servant's quarters, will you. It's urgent."

The girl lay there very much unaware of the harm that would have come to her had he not been in that corridor when he was.