The servant's daughter and the aristocrats' son engage in a prohibited bond.
Melanie moves in with her mother to work in the Kingstons' household, who have just had their son, Kai, come back from a mysterious absence.
After Kai walks in on her at...
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A kitchen was the last place someone expected to be held hostage.
However, the mansion’s kitchen was a different story. It was spacious —bigger than my room. It had a high ceiling embellished with various light lamps that illuminated the place like a ball hall, so maybe, in the end, it wasn’t a terrible place to be cornered in.
Kai was my kidnapper, and I felt Stockholm Syndrome infecting me. I was sure it wasn’t normal of me to think someone, who had just locked me in the kitchen out of all places, was attractive. He could grab a knife and stab me for all I knew. We were almost alone in the mansion anyway. He didn’t need any lock.
My heart rate accelerated. While I was trying to make boundaries, he broke them all carelessly. His behaviour was reckless, selfish to the well-being of my family. If his parents were to walk on us, Mum was going to be doomed.
“You’re avoiding me,” he started, not letting my wrists go. They were pinned behind my back as the guy practically rubbed his chest against mine, and I was trapped between his distracting biceps.
I hated how weak he made me feel in the gut. “So?”
Kai let my wrists go and frowned. “So, why? Because I asked you out?” He checked my wrists out and scowled deeper at the result of his force. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I rubbed the redness on my wrists, hissing. “You already did.”
He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “It seems as if this isn’t the only thing hurting you.”
Besides the awkwardness after rejection, I had another reason. “You didn’t tell me it was Massie’s family,” I said, not beating around the bush.
He sighed. “So what? I didn’t tell her anything about you.”
“You know that’s not what I mean, Kai. I know more than you think.”
“Look, this already pisses me enough.” He rubbed his face. “Why do you think I ought to tell you?”
I couldn’t deny I felt a little embarrassed. “Massie has hopes to be with you. But we… we are…” I trailed off.
“I don’t wanna be with Massie. See, this is what was pissing me that night; my parents trying to build strategic connections on my back. She is just my friend. I don’t see her any other way.”
“Are you guys gonna—”
He interfered, “I asked you out, for heaven’s sake! My parents can’t force me. I think they’re just introducing a possibility, but it’s as annoying. I’m happy with what I have now.”
His last sentence rang a bell in my head. “That… that all, are you going to go on with it for fun then, Kai?”
He slapped the counter. “Mellie, I wasn’t necessarily talking about our bond. Not everything’s about you.”
