Chapter 17

Emma had been working at the king's for about two months. She was missing Caroline terribly and was considering meeting her. She wasn't sure if Martha would let her take the day off to visit her.

She was having lunch along with all the other maids and Martha. All were gossiping and Martha was talking to one of the maids.

"So that's why I'm here working for this rich family!" She heard someone say. Emma was snapped out of her thought and looked at Venessa beside her who was telling her something but she was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear a single thing.

"Uh...I'm sorry but what did you say? D-do you mind r-repeating?" Venessa chuckled.

"Of course hun. Well, I was saying that my mom is sick and my dad is a drunkard, so I have to pay for my little sister's school fees and the other expenses that's why I'm working here," she stated, sadness was clear in her voice. Emma's heart clenched. She has parents but not the ones that a child would ask for.

"I'm sorry Venessa."

"Oh, silly don't apologize, it's not your fault," she said giving Emma a warm smile.

"And what about you?" She asked me.

"My godmother couldn't bear my expenses and she does not earn much that's why," Venessa nodded her head in response.

"I see. Let's go and put the plates in the sink, we're done eating anyway," Venessa said and walked away with Emma.

She was thinking to ask Venessa if Martha would allow her to meet Caroline, as Venessa was there for a long time she thought asking her would be best.

"V-Venessa," she called out her name.

"Hmm?"

"I was thinking...to have a day off so that I can meet my aunt, so do you think Martha will allow me?" She asked nervously.

Venessa sighed and looked down. That made Emma perturbed.

"Emm...the maids who work here...they stay here permanently and cannot go out and meet their families," Emma's eyes were replenished with tears.

Does that mean I can never see Caroline? Oh god! Why did I start working here in the first place!

Venessa bit her lip but eventually burst into laughter. Emma frowned and stared at her in confusion.

"Oh my god Emma...look at your face," she laughed more. Venessa dramatically clutched her stomach while laughing. But stopped when she saw Emma's serious look.

"Honey, of course, you can meet her! I was just teasing you don't cry," she chucked and wiped her tears. Emma's face was red as a tomato now.

"Ha! Do you think these kings can stop us from seeing our family. Don't worry, they might be rich and all, but they don't control our lives. So, don't worry, go and ask Martha, she'll do something about it," Emma nodded her head giving Venessa a soft smile. She felt stupid for crying over a stupid joke but she thought...she thought that she could never see Caroline again. It was even hard for her to imagine not seeing her again, after all, she was all Emma had.

She followed Venessa's instructions. She asked Martha if she could have the day off, and Martha gladly agreed. Martha advised her to get ready as quickly as possible. Emma had a huge smile on her face since she could finally see Caroline after so many days.

She just had a few bucks, her handbag, and her outdated flip phone, which she could only use for calls; texting was tough since it was so old, but she didn't mind because she never really had anybody to text. The issue was that it sometimes worked and sometimes didn't. She, like everyone else, desired a functional phone, but she realized she couldn't afford one at the time.

She put on a modest dress that reached her knees and a pair of white stockings and shoes. She then stuffed everything she needed into her handbag and was finally ready to depart. She left her hair open and combed her brown blocks properly. She had never felt particularly confident about her hair before, but one day Venessa informed her that her brown hair looked great on her. Although it didn't boost her confidence, she appreciated the compliment as it was the first time someone praised her.

She went out of her room and was stopped by Martha downstairs. "Oh, you all ready!" Emma nodded her head with a smile. "You look, beautiful honey," she blushed at the compliment.

"I-I'll leave now Martha, I'll see you soon," she smiled at Martha.

"Okay honey be safe" she smiled at her and nodded her head, leaving the house. She was hoping to catch a bus soon to reach on time.

Emma went outside the house and confronted the guards who opened the gate for her. She was excited to meet Caroline after so many days, she just had been so busy with work that she didn't even get a single chance to call her but thankfully she got a chance to call her for a few minutes to let her know that she was visiting.

"Hey, Emma!" Someone called her from behind, she turned around and came face to face with Ethan. He came towards her with his charming smile.

"Hey, where are you going?" He asked her. "Um...well I took the day off and going home," she replied.

"Oh, that's great. How are you planning to go there?"

"Well, I will just try to catch a bus," he shook his head. "Nope, nope, I'm here now, so I will drop you there wait here I will get my car," she wanted to refuse but Ethan already left. She sighed.

A few minutes later Emma saw a black car parked outside the house and Ethan was sitting inside, he called her there. She timidly went there not knowing what to do, even though it was nice of Ethan to offer her a ride but it was still odd for her as Ethan was also kind to her owner.

"Come inside Emma," she hesitated.

"I-it was fine you didn't have to do it, mister...."

"Cohen," he finished her sentence with a chuckle.

"Oh...yes, Mister Cohen, you didn't have to do it. I-I could have managed."

He sighed. "Come on Emma I wanna be your friend so the first rule in every friendship is 'always help each other so that's what I'm doing," he answered her with a grin. She could not help but feel surprised because no one ever told her something like this.

"Now, please get inside?" She did what he said but was still hesitant about everything. He asked her address before driving and she gave him, after that the journey started.

The drive was quite smooth and Emma must say that Ethan was a very funny person, he would say some jokes every minute that made her laugh.

On the other hand, Ethan was enjoying her company too. He couldn't help but get mesmerized by her beauty and sweet personality and of course, her beautiful laugh. He knew something was different about her. And that was why he wanted to be her friend, to get to know her well.

"So tell me about yourself, Emma," he asked out of nowhere.

"There's nothing really to talk about me," she said quietly. He laughed.

"I'm sure there is something, tell me about your likes and dislikes."

"Uh...I-I like to read I guess and I love flowers and every colorful thing," he looked at her with an amused expression that made her blush.

"W-What about you?" She got come courage and asked him back.

"Well I love traveling, I love to play guitar, I love sports and that's it I guess," she nodded her head.

"And tell me about your past life, Emma," she began to panic.

Why is he asking about it?

She was confused why he was asking about her past life. It was something that she always wanted to forget, it was something that she was eager to remove from her mind. Asking her this question...Ethan just made her recall everything.

She clutched her dress tightly as she could already feel herself getting sweaty. She inhaled deeply but it was slashed by a small whimper coming out of her mouth. Ethan noticed and stopped the car forthwith.

"Emma?! Are you okay? What happened?" He was outstaring at her worriedly.

"I-I'm f-fine."

"No of course you're not!" He took the water bottle from the back seat for her.

"Please drink this," she took it and drank the water, it did help as her throat was all dry all of a sudden.

"Are you feeling okay now?" He asked again. She weakly nodded her head. "I-I'm fine, please don't worry."

"I'm sorry if my question was too uncomfortable for you," he looked sorry genuinely.

"N-no, it's not like this. I-I'm just very tired," he nodded her head. "W-We should go now it's already late," he nodded again and started to drive again.

There was no way Emma could tell Ethan that he was right. She didn't want anyone to suspect anything about her past. It was past and that was where she wanted to leave it.

Nobody talked after that, the topic was too sensitive for Emma to talk about and Ethan was already feeling guilty for making her uncomfortable.

After half an hour, they reached Caroline's house. Emma's face brightened with a smile. She was too excited to meet her. She got out of the car and turned to Ethan.

"Thanks a lot for the ride, Mister Cohen."

"Ethan...call me Ethan Emma, I told you I want to be your friend, so friends call each other by their name. So...friends?" He extended his hand to her. She looked at him and then his hand again, she bit her bottom lip, confused about what to do next. It wouldn't be so bad having a friend...

She sighed and shook his hand with a small smile. "Y-yes," Ethan grinned like he had won something special. "Great! So see you later in Emma. And oh yes! Have my phone number, you can call me anytime you want," she looked hesitant.

She didn't answer anything but looked hesitant. Ethan raised his eyebrow and asked. "Do you have a phone with yourself, Emma?"

"Oh yes, I have. But, it's not a phone that you might want to see," she laughed nervously, she was embarrassed, nobody used flip phones in her generation and she felt outdated. "And it s-sometime doesn't even work so..."

"That's fine, hold on," he took out another cell phone from his pocket and handed it to Emma. Her eyes were wide in shock and she handed it back to him.

"Please Emma keep it, it's a gift from a friend!" He whined like a kid. She shook her head.

"No please Mister Co-I mean Ethan, your friendship is enough for me."

"But I want to give u this phone Emma, it's my other phone, I'm sorry I will buy you a new one later but for now to keep in contact, you can use it," she was beyond shocked. He is worried about giving me his used phone?! I am worried because I can't just accept an expensive gift like this.

"Please I-"

"For me? Please?" He looked at her with hope. She sighed and nodded.

"Amazing! I'll save my number on it so you can contact me anytime you want okay? And if you ever face any problem just call me," she nodded with a smile. She was happy actually, no one ever cared for her like that except for Caroline. Now she had a good friend, not good yet but he sounded like a really good person.

After Ethan's departure, she walked towards the house at the edge of the road and knocked.

The door was opened by Miss Garcia and within a few seconds, she received a bone-crushing hug from her receiver. She smiled and hugged her back.

"Oh, my baby I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," Caroline kissed her forehead. "Please honey come inside and have some rest, I prepared your favorite food and decorated your room with blue orchids!"

"Caroline...you know you didn't have to..."

"Nonsense! My baby came home after so long and I can't even do something for her?" Emma chuckled at her.

"Anyways go to your room and change your clothes I'll serve you food," she obeyed.

She went to her room and sat on her bed. Her room was beautifully decorated with orchids even though they were artificial but the flowers in her vase were real and they looked really beautiful.

Although her room was nothing special, she missed it anyway. Sighing deeply, she laid down for some time thinking of her good times only.

Not aware of the fact that the Satan who was eager to see her again, would go crazy when he would find out that he would not see her for the whole day.

AUTHOR NOTE

I wanna say something, English is not my first language so of course, you guys may find some silly mistakes and that's cause I didn't get time to correct the errors so please don't judge my book by my mistakes :) and about the tense problem, I agree I have but that's because I always try to write my story in hurry, resulting in more errors and all! So please I request to some people if you don't like my story then don't read but don't judge it by some mistakes.

Extremely sorry if any of you feel bad cause of what I said but I just had to say it...