The Landlord Next Door | A Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) fanfic

06 The Other Mask

It would have been a beautiful Saturday if she could sleep till the noon and not need to wake up at nine because somebody thought she looked like she was someone 'he picked off the streets'. Woken up by a call from Ciel fucking Phantomhive who she was surprised to know that he had cooped himself up in his office who knows how early in the morning.

"Get yourself downstairs now, Sebastian would be arriving to pick you up in three minutes."

All she could muster was "Why?" in a groggy drawl.

"Today's a big day and the last thing I need is someone who looked like I picked them off the streets."

So here she was, standing outside at the driveway of Westons Apartments with boogers still sitting at the edges of her eyes and her hair in frizzy mess. Hastily brushing her teeth, and throwing on worn ripped jeans she was planning to wash today and a black tee was the fastest way she could get ready.

The only thing she wanted now was to get away from the morning chilly air and back to her warm bed.

Erin stifled another yawn as she watched a grey Mercedes-Benz smoothly slip out of the busy traffic and into the driveway. 

When she made her way forward, she could see Sebastian looking over expectantly through the dark-tinted windows, the sight of his face instantly reminding her of yesterday evening's incident.

Of how he had suddenly appeared beside and when she realized his presence, her camera was in his hand. 

The last thing she remembered was him mulling over her device as he walked away unceremoniously, leaving her and the strange guy staring after him dumbfounded.

Erin felt a spark of irritation as the scene from yesterday played in her head once more.

What was with these people and her camera? Was it just her or are most of the people she had met so far in London so...unbearably rude and strange?

Immediately snapping out of her drowsy state, Erin slipped into the car and instantly glared at him the moment she closed its rear door beside her. "Hey, can I have my camera back already?" She stuck a hand out to the front.

"I apologize. I dislike having my pictures taken especially by Mr. Sutcliffe." She felt a familiar weight weigh down on her hand as she looked up at Sebastian who bore a smile on his handsome face, not looking a bit apologetic at all.

"And I really hate it when people touch or take my things without asking." Erin switched on her camera and screened through her storage to find the pictures the strange red man had taken of Sebastian gone.

She perked up curiously, "Mr. Sutcliffe, you say? Was that man yesterday really...the Grell Sutcliffe? Why would someone entirely different appear on the net under his name?"

An impassive glint appeared in Sebastian's eyes as he whisked the car through the traffic effortlessly. "Things that doesn't concern Mr. Phantomhive are not my business to know or care."

"...Oh okay."

....

Erin found herself at the doorstep of a luxurious two-storey store with a huge Highcut Avenue screaming from its entrance. A place she knew she could never afford to go with the money in her bank.

Where was she? She had no idea.

But from the name of store itself, she assumed a beauty salon.

Sebastian swept her through the grand glass double door before she could finish gaping at its exterior and her eyes immediately was drawn by equally exquisite design of the store. The stairs winding down from the second floor situated behind the reception counter was gorgeous with a modern edge to it, like the ones she had seen in one of IKEA's catalogues.