The next day Break was conspicuously absent throughout most of the morning and since Oz, Alice and Gilbert had been staying in Leverriu for the past couple of days Sharon's morning was strangely quiet. To pass the time she decided to head for the parlor where her mother's grand piano was on display, waiting for those occasional moments when she decided to make use of it. She was, after all, a rather accomplished piano player; nowhere near as skilled as her mother, but still capable enough so that it was actually something entertaining instead of a chore. She remembered how as a child her mother would teach her new melodies and she would then drag Break to the parlor and force him to listen to her as soon as each new piece was mastered. Today she did not feel like playing anything too complicated and so she stuck with the ones she found both simple and amusing. She decided to take the time to mull over what she would like to ask Break if, or rather, when she won their little bet.
When it was finally time for lunch she went to the dining room in hopes of finding him waiting for her at the table but was once again disappointed. She sighed as she took her place at the head of the table and proceeded to eat her lunch by herself. Once she had finished she thought about going back to the piano but thought better of it once she remembered that many of the manor's servants liked to take a quick break after all the preperations for lunch were finished. Feeling bored and restless she decided to search the manor and see if there were any matters she could attend to that would keep her occupied until someone came to keep her company. She spent the better part of an hour ambling through the manor and it wasn't until she had snuck into Break's room and caught sight of the large stack of paperwork on his desk that she finally found something worth doing. She was fairly certain that this mountain of papers was the reason why Reim had been chasing Break throughout the manor yesterday. After giving it a minimal amount of thought she picked up the papers and carried them to her own study to relieve her boredom as well as to help Break.
It wasn't until well into the afternoon that she heard the filing cabinet that had been placed in the far corner of the room open. She turned around and watched patiently as Break crawled out and straightened himself before closing the cabinet and dusting himself off.
"You are aware that my study has a door, aren't you Break?" she asked cooly while leafing through one of the files she had set aside for reference. He smiled and waved her comment away with one long sleeve as he walked over and leaned against the desk, picking up the paper she had been scanning before he interrupted.
"My, my, Ojou-sama. If Reim finds out that you've been handling my paperwork for me he'll scold me for sure." he teased. Sharon scoffed.
"He's just as likely to scold you for putting it off for as long as you have." she took the document back from him and continued scanning it. "Is it really so difficult to just get it over and done with?" she asked lowering it to the desk and scrawling a little sidenote in the margin before placing it at the top of one of the neat little piles strewn around her desk. It was immediately replaced by yet another document but before she could begin filling it out her pen was plucked from her hand. Break held it up and waved in front of her with an infuriating half-smile on his face. She sighed as she put the paper back in the file she had taken it from, knowing that if Break truly wanted her whole and undivided attention he wouldn't rest until he had it. She snapped the file shut and turned to face him fully to see that he now had a fullblown smile on his face.
He pushed himself off from the desk and placed the pen he had taken from her on its surface. His knuckles brushed her cheek lightly. "You need to rest, Sharon." His voice softened "The other servants told me that you've been here for hours."
"The other servants are exaggerating." She sighed and rubbed her tired eyes.
One silver eyebrow rose skeptically. "Are they?" She offered no answer. He sighed and smiled fondly at her. "Let's go, Ojou-Sama. I've had everything set so that we can have tea out on your favorite balcony." He offered his hand and escorted her out of the room.
"Have you given any thought to what you'd like to ask of me?" he asked after he had served her tea and allowed himself to slip into the seat beside hers with his own cup of tea and enough pastries for both of them.
"You mean our bet?" She questioned as she watched him slip a forkfull of cake in his mouth.
"Yes." he confirmed. "What would you like me to do in the, ah, unlikely case that you win our little bet?" He conveniantly brought his napkin up to dab at his lips; but they had been together long enough for her to be able to picture his upturned lips perfectly. She huffed, again. It was normal behaviour when in Break's often exasperating presence.
"I have given it some thought, yes." She sipped at her tea. "Would you like to hear what I've come up with?" she offered.
"No." he answered simply. She fixed her gaze on him curiously. He was watching her over the top of his teacup with his ever-present smile etched on his lips.
"No?" she echoed dumbly. His eye crinkled further in amusement before closing completely as he drank down the last of his tea.
"I thought it would be more fun if whichever one of us wins-" once again his stupid smirk flickered on his face for a moment before disappearing. "surprised the other with their request."
Break'ssuggestion actually made sense. It probably would be better if they didn't know what the other wanted from them, that way they wouldn't be able to prepare anything beforehand as they were both wont to do.
"If you're sure you want to be taken by surprise..." she trailed off as she graced him with a smirk of her own , watching as he materialized a colorfully wrapped lollipop instantly from one of his sleeves. The sideways glance he sent her way as he inspected the sweet was enough to let her know that her little taunt had not gone unnoticed.
"So, how do you plan to investigate this?" she asked once he deemed his sweet fit for consumption and popped it in his mouth.
"They're scheduled to come back tomorrow." he explained, his voice distorted by the candy. "So I thought we could start by observing them here."
"I see." she nodded. "But do you really think we'll find anything out so easily? All three of them are good at keeping secrets, Break."
He grinned at her then, the lollipop slipped from his mouth as he twirled it around between his fingers.
"Well, so are we, Ojou-sama."
He brought the lollipop back to his mouth.
"But you see, Sharon."
The lollipop's stick was jutting out from the left side corner of his mouth comically
"When it comes to finding out secrets..."
Now, he switched so that the stick popped out of the right side of his mouth.
"We're even better."
Crunch
AN:/ Aaaand we'll finally start to see more characters pop up now!
