Pearls and Roses

17. They Who Lie

LEILA

It must be a happenstance that he stared at me. If not, I was doomed. What business could he have in this part of town? And in a drapery at that?

  In my ears, my heart pounded, and my fingers were clammy. I swallowed. There was no way he recognised who I was.

  "Enough gawking at His Highness and arrange my items." A lady snapped in my face. I blinked a few times and turned to her, "yes ma'am."

  I walked to the counter to round up the draperies. He was why women were suddenly flooding the store, which must mean he had been here for a while now. How had I missed him?

He must have also witnessed the manner in which I was spoken to, but I took solace in my disguise.

   I spared him a brief glance. He had turned back to the materials, inspecting them as the lady beside him continued to speak. I let out a sigh of relief but my fear didn't leave. I had to be careful as long as he was here.

   I placed the neatly folded materials in the bag and handed it to the lady, "Have a good day."

  She nodded and smiled, as if she hadn't snapped at me earlier, "Thank you."

As she walked out, I wondered when the others would leave as well. They could at least pretend to purchase something.

The sight of Mr Burton and Sandy being busy was rare. They were always slacking, but, understandably, we never had this many buyers. Our regular customers were about thirty families and nearly half of them were on credit. The remaining few only ever bought from us once or twice.

I picked up the drapery Mr Burton had dropped on the floor and slowly retreated into the storeroom, walking steadily and careful not to draw any attention.

The items in the storeroom were already well arranged, I only needed to find space for the materials in my hands. Despite Mr Burton getting on my nerves almost every time, I was grateful to him for this job. I had already applied to different jobs for different positions but the lack of jobs on the market tightened my options. When I got this job, Sandy wasn't here and I pretty much did everything. I  couldn't even tell the difference with her here now.
 
   I dropped the materials on the small table and looked around. There was a small gap in the uppermost shelf. "If I push...." Taking the ladder, I removed the curtains from its spot and got down.

   I leisurely folded the materials and refolded the curtains into a smaller size. It would be nice to spend the entire afternoon here, "Or till his highness leaves." I muttered.

  "You must really want to avoid me."

  I inhaled sharply, widening my eyes as I fisted the material in my hands. My ears must be playing tricks on me. Maybe if I didn't turn back, it would go. It?

  "So...." he started, his voice a rich baritone. Confident and authoritative. The door was shut. "...... this is what you do for fun."

A tremor found its way into my hands, and I placed the cloth down to clasp them together. How did he find me? Maybe he doesn't know it's you...yet. Okay. Okay. But he said....

  "Miss Somers."

I closed my eyes and sighed, turned to him reluctantly. What excuse could I give? A sharp pain coursed through my lower abdomen, but I ignored it.

He said nothing, only watched me. I lowered my gaze, out of reverence or fear I didn't know.

   "How long have you been working here?" His highness said.

  I cleared my throat, "N....nearly eight months." I fidgeted, rubbing my hands and picking at my skin unconsciously. There was no reason I could find why he was here or how he had found me. No one ever did. No matter where I was or went.