UNDERCOVER {Competed} 😌

chapter 7

Mercy.
I felt like a whirlwind,searching for a peaceful eye. Three days of slavering in the stables, searching for wedding secrets and not to forget Joshua's never ending sarcasm whenever we were alone. Its only the upcoming visit to the main house the next Sunday that kept me going.

I wanted so much to sleep at this very moment. But I had to prepare for the Sunday. With a weary sigh,I dug through the piles of clothes and dirty shoes and looked for the recorder. Great it was working. It was all I needed to be a star and prove to everyone I was capable.

I remembered the past. My brothers laughing as I straggled to climb a tree my teachers mistaking me for a grade one when I was in grade six and my former boss denying me a chance do do an interview saying no one would trust a reporter who looked like a teenager.
I'd be thirty soon and so far nothing had changed. Everyone still acted like I still had years to go before I grew up. And now I had a chance to prove what I'm made of.

Still with Joshua around it wasn't easy. Every kitchen staff had their spouses waiting for them each day and it would have been very odd if I didn't wait  for Joshua.

Sometimes I had to steal moments during lunches and dinner even when I was really hungry and I couldn't concentrate. I would do anything for this story.

Ignoring my growling stomach, I switched off the recorder and zipped it inside a small bag. Inside it there were small recorders that I'd plant in the main house on Sunday. Wireless small recorders that were powerful...

Pulling back my slipping mind, I put the bag in the empty suitcases then I shoved the suitcase in the closet. Just as I hovered between standing and standing, I heard the door open and saw a pair if boots.

"Joshua!"

"Richard sent me on an errand," he said referring to his boss. "So I decided to bring these home while I was at it." He jiggled a sack,from which poked a small pot, bananas and a lid of a can of coffee.
"Why are you crawling around down there?"

"Aaam oh crawling? Oh yes! Crawling. Was looking for my shoe, the one you know with black and white stripes," I said nervously.

Changing the subject I asked,"we aren't supposed to have food in the room, Joshua"

"Everyone does it. Let's see wouldn't you like coffee first thing in the morning?"

My stomach growled as I nodded. "Is that a muffin?"
"Several." He pulled one out."want some?"
"Thanks. I scrambled to my feet greedily taking it from his hand.
Joshua's eyes spined at the closet.
" what a mess! No wonder you can't find anything anything."
I continued eating the muffin fast. You can't blame me considering I was near starvation.
"Now where will I put the coffee pot?"
He swept his hands above the small table at the edge. Hair rollers,dozen of them  small mirror,a tube of mascara,a pair of socks and hair pins all over it. I grinned and continued chewing.

He looked up to me his green eyes suggestive.
I put down the muffin and hurried over to gather up all the rollers and staff off the table. Since we were seldom here at the same time during the day I had never looked at the room through his eyes. My gaze drifted to the cloths rank where his jeans and shirts hug neatly.

He eyed the unmade bed, its covers twisting around her forgotten pajamas and bathrobe,they moved to the bra I had rejected that morning and left it thrown to the half opened drawer.

"Reminds me of Eric," he said his voice clearly suggestive of annoyance.

"Who?" I said blankly,a flush creeping my cheeks.
"My younger brother. We shared a room for a while." He sounded like the memory pained him. He raised my blouse from the pile,"the stuff was different but the mess is similar. "
"Oh" what else could I have said? Deciding to clear things in a hurry I began scooping things into the basket it made. After filling them into a brim,I shuffled towards the bathroom.

"Dumping it all at the corner won't solve anything." Joshua informed me evenly. It hadn't taken me a long time to learn that that particular tone meant he was trying to control his temper.

I turned. Several rollers falling on to the floor and some landing on his feet.

"See what you have made me do?" I was very embarrassed and felt stupid. "You are treating me like a bothersome child."
"Well?" Again his eyes swept the cluttered room.
Without another words I walked and dropped the stuff at the corner. Then I finished clearing the table and repeated the same process. When the table was empty, u started in on my clothes,gathering them up and throwing them in the closet.
"Now you'll never find your other shoe,Pepper" appearing suddenly behind me Joshua picked the clothes
"Here let me show you."

"Lump all your whites together," he instructed. Letting fall of a pair of pale colored jeans. "Oops,this is a delicate,even though its white." He dangled my panty and deposited it in another spot with a grin. Turning to my shirt. "And this is obviously colored."
By now I was gasping in shock.

"If you sort everything as soon as its dirty,then you won't have to do it on laundry day."
He sounded like a lecturer.
Dear God. Now he is acting superior. And I wanted to just in rage. He was not my big brother.
But I kept calm and politely listened to Joshua's advice.
"How nice," I said just as I had planned.

The next line slipped out, "you'll make some one wonderful wife."
"Better than you, Pepper." His amused smiled spreading wider. "Better than you." Then he touched my arm.  "Come on let's go to dinner."

It was then that I saw he wasn't aware of my anger. One person that always denies me the respect  I deserved. I couldn't win.

Well, I thought, they'd all see soon enough. When the wedding story will hit the front page with a byline above it,they'll all show their respect.
I would succeed. Absolutely. Not even the hounds of hell could stop me.

A/n the chapter is unedited. I'll edit later.
Please vote and comment I'd you like my story.

😍😍 I like the bond that Joshua and mercy are creating unaware.
Can't wait for chapter 8.