Fall in love

Indirectly, Livy was kicked out of the room.

Livy had no defense to stay there, even to simply ask, she didn't have the courage. She was forced to just leave. She wasn't angry at all.

Arriving in her room, her chest felt a little tight, but she thought it was normal. She shouldn't have high expectations, right? They were only married by contract, why did she have to take care Arthur in his own room?

Even though she was very worried, she was also not worthy enough to be so close to Arthur. He was right to kick her out.

"Livy, just because he's nice to you, you can't cross the line!"

She buried her head in the pillow and let out a low scream.

After a while she calmed down, then rolled over to lie on her back hugging her pillow, her eyes wandering to the ceiling.

"Is he all right? Is someone taking care of him until the fever goes down?" she muttered.

Livy has lost her parents since she was ten. She best understood what it was like to suffer when she fell sick and had no one to take care of her. Since childhood, whenever she had a fever, she would not sleep well at night; sometimes waking up because of a bad dream or because of a headache and severe nausea.

Thinking of this made her even more worried.

She shook her head quickly to shake off her worries. There were a lot of maids here, there will be a lot of people taking care of him, right?

“But … would Arthur have no problem being cared for by the maids?” she muttered again. "Geez! Livy, just enough! Don't care too much! Don't. Care. Much! Know your limits, ok?"

...

.........

In less than half an hour later she got out of bed and walked like a robot to her own door. She opened the door and looked into Arthur's room, her feet slowly wandering there. Arthur's bedroom door wasn't tightly shut, she wanted to look inside for a bit.

"Ah," Livy immediately covered her mouth before she screamed loudly.

A maid who had just come out of Arthur's room was also shocked. "Young Lady, is there anything you need?"

"I-I ... I just wanted to close the door, I thought he forgot to close the door." Livy stammered.

"You don't have to worry. I just finished and will close it before I come back."

Livy bit her lip nervously.

"Is there anything else you need right now?" asked the maid.

"Th-That's … how is he?"

"Young Master is fine and asleep. Please Young Lady don't disturb him."

"Can I check on him for a second?"

The maid didn't hesitate as she replied, "I'm sorry, Young Lady, but it's best not to disturb him for now. Young Master doesn't like to be disturbed when he's sleeping."

Livy insisted, "I'm not going to make a sound. I ... I'll just check on him for a moment, yeah, just a moment."

The maid shook her head firmly. “Young Lady, please understand, this is Young Master's order.”

Young master's orders?

Livy felt bitterness in her heart when she heard this. It means the same as Arthur didn't want her to come at all. Was he really that mad that Livy barged into his room without permission?

With a heavy heart, she finally returned to her own room. She also didn't want to make things difficult for the maids if it meant getting them into trouble. Once again she tried to close her eyes to sleep. Several times she had rolled right and left, but she still couldn't find her composure.

"Gosh, I worried to death!" Livy pulled off the covers and sat down.

She turned her head to the left wall, as if her gaze pierced Arthur's room which was two rooms next to hers and grew increasingly restless.

After thinking for a while she thought, "Maybe it's okay to check from the door?"

She was lightning fast in front of Arthur's room again, her hand on the door and her gaze fixed on the bed. The room was dark, the only light coming from the nightstand. She could finally adjust her eyes to see the man lying warmly in his blanket.

But why did she feel his head bobbing restlessly?

Curious, she approached to take a look. And sure enough, Arthur seemed uncomfortable in his sleep. His forehead glistened with sweat that trickled down his neck, drenching his hair damp and his lips chapped.

This sight made her heart gripped hard, she stretched out a hand, before finally her hand just floated in the air. She hesitated for a moment, afraid that Arthur would be shocked and think she was an enemy and attack her again.

What should she do?

"Arthur?" she called softly, walking closer slowly. "Arthur?"

No answer.

She came to the edge of the bed to rub Arthur's forehead and still felt the same heat. Why did she feel that it was even hotter than before?

Shitt!

Livy panicked. She immediately took her hand away and was about to look for something, but suddenly her hand was held weakly.

"Mom ..."

Livy turned to see Arthur's hand holding hers. If she didn't know the fact about her mother-in-law who wasn't Arthur's biological mother, she probably wouldn't have thought about it, but after she found out, she felt a little pity. Does he miss his mother?

Nervously she sat on the edge of the bed again, grabbed Arthur's hand and squeezed it gently.

"It's okay. You're fine. I'm here."

Livy didn't stop saying the soothing words, as if she were lulling a baby. Her hand gently brushed Arthur's bangs that covered part of his eyes, wiped his sweat with her sleeve—looking at him gently. Slowly but surely, Arthur's breathing became calmer and he was no longer restless.

'He's really handsome. With an innocent sleeping face like this, he looks charming and adorable.'

Livy smiled a little.

There were many handsome people in this world that she had seen and admired, but this was the first time she never got tired of seeing someone's face. Arthur had eyebrows that were not too thick, his eyelashes curled so that they cast a butterfly-like shadow on his cheeks. The bridge of the nose was high, the lips were thin—

'Why did a man have pretty lips like this?'

As if under the influence of a powerful spell, Livy didn't even realize she had been swayed by those thin seductive lips. Suddenly, her lips were pressed against him.

But she quickly jolted in shock realizing what she was doing and ran out of the room.

***

"Young Lady, let us do it. You just need to give orders."

Livy waved nonchalantly in response. The spatula in her hand stirred the semi-finished porridge, she added onions, celery, shredded chicken, eggs—also ginger. She didn't waste much time making this before Arthur woke up.

The maids were desperately for prevented her since early morning, they were worried that if their young master saw this, they would be fired. In the end they pushed the chef to stop her.

"Is this the secret recipe for ginger porridge?" The chef asked with a chuckle.

The maids had already left when Livy replied, "I don't know if Arthur will like it, but I usually eat this when I'm sick. Ah, you taste it."

Chef took a small bowl to taste. "Hm, this is delicious!"

Livy, "Is something missing?"

"Nothing," the chef said honestly. "It's better than any famous porridge restaurant. Where did you learn to make it?"

Livy blushed at her compliment. The chef was a woman in her 40s and her name was Eva—she was one of the chefs who received special training from a service agency's house to be placed in a household, her cooking skills on par with a five-star chef. So Livy was a bit embarrassed.

"I studied it myself," Livy said.

"You are young and so talented!" praised Eva.

Livy smiled bitterly as she remembered that she had to be able to cook after living with her aunt. But on second thought, it wasn't too bad when she could make use of it now.

"Actually I want to cook for Arthur everyday, but I don't know what he likes or dislike and also ..."

She didn't continue.

After all if she suddenly cooked for Arthur, he would think that Livy had ulterior motives. Livy didn't want Arthur to think badly of her.

She looked at Eva. "Forget it. Can you tell him you made this porridge?"

Eva was confused. "Why? Are you afraid he won't like this porridge?"

Livy, "I'm afraid he won't eat it if I cook this."

Eva increasingly did not understand the young girl's thoughts. She wanted to ask more questions, but was afraid of being seen as too meddling, so she finally agreed.

At exactly eight o'clock, Arthur woke up and because he was sick, it was the maid who would deliver the food to his room. Since Eva had been specially requested by Livy, she was the one who went to hand over breakfast.

"Has Livy had breakfast?" Arthur didn't look at the food that was delivered to him at all.

"Yes, sir."

Arthur didn't answer, he sat leaning against the bedpost. After a while he still felt Eva's presence.

"Why are you still here?"

Eva was a little nervous with that cold tone, she replied, "Sir, you should start eating this porridge. It won't taste good when it's cold."

Arthur, "I'll eat it. Leave."

Eva had worked under Arthur for more than seven years, but she still wasn't used to Arthur's cold and didn't talk much character. The man didn't really like to be close, he seemed to put some distance between everyone. Many people were not too brave to be around him.

"There are more?" Arthur asked impatiently.

"Th-That ... Young Lady said that she went out today. She wanted to tell you before leaving, but at that time you weren't awake."

Arthur, "Who did she go with?"

Eva, "She went on the bus."

Arthur frowned, he looked at the calendar on the desk and found that it wasn't time for Livy to go to the scholarship test yet. Where was she going?

"Send someone to follow her. Keep an eye on her."

"Yes, sir."

As he looked at the calendar, his gaze fell on the bowl of steaming porridge on the table. He stopped Eva from walking. "You didn't make this food. Tell me who made it?"

In this house, even food was strictly kept under surveillance. Arthur usually wouldn't eat anything other than his trusted chef, Eva. It was because he was once unknowingly poisoned by his own maid and was almost paralyzed. Seeing how long Eva had worked here, Arthur had memorized how Eva served him food. And the method used this time, didn't seem like Eva's style at all.

Eva didn't try to cover it up, she said, "Sir, this porridge is specially made by Young Lady."

***

The next three days, it was the day on which the scholarship test at the university took place.

For three days, Livy blacked out her aunt and cousin's numbers, so she could focus on studying for the test. She didn't have many friends, so for those three days, she only communicated with Sarah over the phone. Everything needed in the test, she asked Sarah all. Luckily Sarah was very helpful.

On the other hand, not only Sarah, even Arthur also supported her by providing material books for the test. He was the type of guy who didn't ask a lot of questions, but prepared all of Livy's needs even down to the smallest things like her writing utensils. She didn't know why, but after Arthur recovered from his fever, it seemed his attitude towards her had changed somewhat. During these three days he had shown much more concern in unexpected ways.

It couldn't be because Arthur caught her secretly kissing him right?

But if he found out, wouldn't he be angry?

For heaven's sake, she was so embarrassed to remember that again and couldn't stop thinking what was she doing back then? Why did she kiss him? She had avoided Arthur as much as possible during these three days, but it was Arthur who took the initiative to get close to her.

Livy found it a bit funny. It was just that the closer she got to Arthur, the more she felt that her heart wasn't fine; it was as if she was feeling nervous and her blood rippled rapidly.

What happened to her? Was she sick or something?

"Livy!!!"

Livy had just come out of the test room, and she saw Sarah waiting for her at the door.

"You here? Aren't you off?" she asked, confused.

The two of them walked to an empty bench and sat there.

"Well. I came to support you to make you more excited."

Sarah was a bubbly and chatty person while Livy was a bit quiet, which was why they fit so well together. When it was the two of them, most of the conversation would be dominated by Sarah, while Livy responded curtly. But Sarah was never offended because she knew Livy's personality was like that.

"You know, I saw that everyone's faces inside were so tense. There were some who were confident when they answered the test. But you seem to be the calmest person." Sarah shook her hand. "Tell me, are you really sure about your answer? You'll get away with it, won't you?"

"So you peeked at the test guys? Good thing no one noticed and dragged you away!" Livy pouted.

"When you say it, it sounds pretty bad. As if peeking is the most unforgivable thing."

"Isn't what I said right?"

"I was just curious!" Sarah pinched her passionately. "What I said is also true, everyone is doing the test with a tense face, but you are so calm and confident."

"Arthur gave me a lot of good material. It helped me study," Livy answered honestly.

When Sarah heard this from her best friend's mouth, she didn't miss how a blush appeared on Livy's cheeks. Sarah also then realized, when the topic of 'Arthur' came up in the middle of their chat, Livy would talk more than usual and she was also more excited.

"... and you know, Arthur even got up early to remind me of the test! He was so kind!"

When Sarah first heard that Livy was going to be arranged, she was the first to oppose it. She remembered Livy desperately wanted to continue her education and she was angry for Livy.

But now … seeing Livy proudly telling stories about Arthur until her eyes sparkled like this, she found it funny.

She butted her best friend in the face, making Livy stop blabbering, she looked at Livy with narrowed eyes.

"W-What ... why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing! Just fcking stop about Arthur this and Arthur that! For God's sake, I wanna ask you something."

"What?"

"Livy, are you ... in love?"

Livy froze.

Huh?

In love?

Is she really in love?

... to be continued ...