Strings Of Time

XII

The young master woke up feeling a little bit sore. She groaned a little while massaging her lower back as she gets up. She had slept throughout the night on the couch, listening to the young lady's composition. She blew breaths as she rested her head back while brushing her messed up hair using her fingers. The young master was still indeed at Elise's studio. She suddenly heard echoes of her father's voice on the hall together with his assistant.

Mr. Mathews' attention was on his phone while talking to the young lady, "Also, could you please wake up Alex and send her to me. I need to discuss something important to her..."

Elise nodded and was about to fetch the young master when suddenly she caught a sight of Alex, standing outside of her studio's doorway. The young lady walked towards the young master with a smile, "Your father's asking for you."

Alex frowned and hissed at the young lady, "And so I heard..." The young master knew where the level of Elise's eyes is and so the young master turned her head as if to stare at the young lady. She smiled warmly and whispered, "You're not my father's messenger... and you're not his maid either. So I suggest, leave his commands to his pawns, okay?"

"Alex." called Mr. Mathews with a very displeasing look. "I'll see you in my office now. I need to discuss something with you... especially with boundaries."

The young master smirked as if to annoy her father even more.

Alex had a long discussion with her father with regards of disturbing Elise with her overnight compositions. She had been sleeping on the couch of the studio for four days now. The young master would have late night conversations with the young lady and would eventually fall asleep on the couch.

"Elise is my assistant and I'm paying her to do her work, not to have a late night talk show with my daughter. Do you understand? She's behind her schedule and the festival's in a week... which I know you'll never attend." Mr. Mathews stomped his hand on his office table and stood up. He started walking back and forth while massaging his temples. If only the young master could see her father's expression, she would have understood what he meant. "Alex," Henry bit his lip and looked at his daughter with sorrow, "I want you to stay away from Elise. She's my employee and I don't want her to be engage with my family. Do you understand? This is for your own good."

Alex slightly bowed her head while fiddling her hand, "Dad, I'm just making friends with her... It's what you wanted, right? Me... to have friends...? What's wrong with getting to know your assistant? I don't get it... I mean, she's just a girl, right?"

Henry shook his head and massaged his temples even more. He suddenly grabbed the arm rest of the chair that Alex was sitting on and pulled it closer to him, Henry looked down at his daughter and stared at her eye to eye, he was almost squinting but the young master's expression stayed blank, "She's not just any girl. You hear me? She's my assistant and I would be happy if you stayed away from her. No more late night talks, no more going behind my back locking yourselves in the lighthouse... That's right... I know you were there alone with her. Alex, I won't ask you again... just stay away from her and trust your dad, okay?"

The young master clenched her teeth as she nods to her father's uncanny request. She stood up and walked towards the door but before she goes, she turned her head back and said, "Don't worry about a thing and oh... about the festival, I'm still not going. I know you added Coreen's composition to your playlist. I heard your assistant rehearsing it once..." before her father could answer, the young master already went out of his office.

Henry stayed silent and was confused with what his daughter told him. He scrunched his eyebrows and played with his chin, "Coreen's composition?" he mumbled.