Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent.


I close my eyes and sit down with my legs crossed and my head rested on the bark of the big, strong and tall oak tree. I feel comfortable under it. I feel.. protected.

Just to disturb my sanctuary, I hear someone sitting down right beside me. I open my eyes and look to my left to see a pair of green eyes looking at me. I jump up in surprise when he suddenly places a hand on my thigh. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Hush it now puppy-cakes. Don't have to be hard on me."

As I stare at him incredulously, I can't deny the fact that those mischievous green eyes are vaguely familiar. And when they squint and his eyebrows knit together in wonder, I am sure that he recognises me too.

"Have we met?" He asks after a few minutes of silence.

"Ye-I... I mean... no?" I answer, more like a question itself. Nobody should recognise me or Jeanine would have me killed.

After another few minutes of silence, his eyes went wide and he looks at me in disbelieve. "Beatrice?..."

I feel a sweat starting to trickle down my back. No way can this guy recognises me as Beatrice... Can he?

His shocked face suddenly morphs into a very, very mischievous one, his lips curl up to a smirk and his eyes gleams and glitters in cruel excitement. I unintentionally cower down.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"Have you forgotten me, Beatrice?"

"Maybe I have to introduce myself? I'm Al. Albert Peters."

Al...

No. It can't be him. I've ran a thousand miles away just to get away from him...

I get up and start to turn away.

"Ditching me already, Beatrice?"

"I need to prepare breakfast for the Eatons."

"Come on baby cakes, we had a great time the last time we met remember?"

He grabs my elbow but I quickly pull it off.

Then I run.


As I finished frying the last cheese toast, Marcus descends the stairs. He brings out his iPad and starts to go through it.

"Look. I am sorry for my rude and harsh words yesterday." He starts. "I was quite tired from work and I.. well.. let's just say that I don't have a very good experience from maids. And I kind of disregard any maids I meet." Marcus says while nodding his head. He seems like he is trying to assure himself more than me.

"It's okay really", I forgive him.

"Thank you." He turns his attention back to the tablet in his hands.

So that explains his hatred towards me yesterday. But one question still leaves unsolved in my head, if he hates maids, then why did he even hired me. I know how to get the answer, but I am not sure if I have the courage to ask. Deciding that I do, I contemplate on how do I approach the question as I set the plate of cheese toast on the table.

"Thank you", Marcus says.

I nod.

"Um... I'm sorry for asking, but I've just been wondering. If you do not really like maids, then why did you hire me?"

"I do not want Joanne to burden herself with the chores. Also I am actually helping out a friend. He retired from his job as a psychiatrist and decided to join this maid services agency. So I told him that I'll hire one." Marcus answers in a strong and sure voice.

"Oh." Jeanine didn't tell me that... Or is this her cover story?

"Good morning honey", Joanne greets as she enters the kitchen and sits on the high stool beside Marcus.

"Good morning dear", Marcus whispers lovingly as he plants a kiss on Joanne's forehead.

"Morning peoples!" Christina sings as she plops down on a stool and sets her eyes on the plate of Cheese Toast.

"Oh my god! Are these cheese toasts?" She asks.

I nod a reply.

"Oh my freaking god! I love cheese toast!"

"Language Christina." Marcus warns.

"Sorry."

I can't help but smile. I miss the feeling of being in a family, or even seeing a happy family. Jeanine and Nita had been this prim and proper family- and I lost mine.

"Where's Tobias?" Joanne asks.

Christina, with a cheese toast halfway in her mouth answers, "I don't know. Catching up some sleep maybe."

"He went up quite early last night. He shouldn't be that tired."

"Maywe shish shay-"

"Christina! Swallow your food before you talk." Joanne scolds Christina.

She gulps down a big swallow, "Maybe he stayed up last night. I did see him walk into his room late last night. He was at the balcony. You know how much he loves stargazing."

My nose is rather itchy all of a sudden...


"I'll need you to go to the grocery for me and get some vegetables and fruits. Here is the list", Joanne says as she hands me a long list of different names of fruits and vegetables. Her handwriting is quite hard to read, but very neat I notice. She writes in small, perfect cursive letters. I rarely see any of these writing style being used anymore.

"You know, you can use my bike." Christina offers.

"Really?" I ask.

"Really", she nods reassuringly. "I'm not going to let you walk in the summer heat. You are going to burn your beautiful fair skin. I'm not using it yet anyway."

I bite my the insides of my cheeks and contemplates what she said.

"Really, take it. It's the one with the zebraish look on it. Like zebra stripes and things like that. You'll find it leaning against the guardhouse by the gate."

I smile to Christina and thank her before hurrying out to the guardhouse.


I return to the Eaton's house and park the bicycle where Christina parked it. Just as I am about to lift up the paper bags of fruits and vegetables from the bicycle's basket, a hand reaches in front of me and attempts to take the paper bags away.

"Come. Let me help you."

I turn around to find myself facing with Tobias with a sincere look.

"I'm fine", I try to stop him.

"Please, let me help you", he pushes.

"I can do it really."

"Come on, just one bag."

"It's okay. Really, I can manage."

"Scold my dad for bringing me up to be a selfless brat because now, I can't stand the sight of a little girl carrying-"

"I AM NOT LITTLE! Can't you stop calling me cute and little and all that?"

"Fine. I can't stand the sight of a petite young lady who is stronger than she looks carrying bags that may add up to be heavier than herself and so now, allow me to help you. Happy?" Tobias rephrases with a sigh.

I nod.

He smiles at me and takes the paper bags from the bicycle's basket.

God his smile is so charming.

No wait.

I am supposed to insist on carrying those bags. And now he is already a few feet away from me.

"Hey! I said I can carry them", I call out. But my efforts to call him back are pointless because he is already halfway to the front door.


"You know what, before I met you, I thought that it is impossible for a 17 years old teenage girl to be less than 5 feet. And here I am, face to.. back with a 17 years old who is just 4 feet 8", Tobias says as he fidgets and, from time to time, nibbles on his cold cheese toast which the rest of the Eatons left for him. Apparently, he is not going to stop teasing me about my height anytime soon.

"Well then, I'm glad that I have opened your eyes to see that some humans are shorter than you think is possible", I reply exasperatedly.

He chuckles and stays silent.

Once I've finished putting away the groceries, I notice that Joanne have left a note on the fridge door, telling me to thaw the butter. Great, now Tobias is going to laugh at me because I will need to climb a chair just to reach the butter.

I take a peak and see that he is absorbed with his cheese toast. Quickly, I lift the wooden chair I used yesterday and climb it.

"You know, you can always ask for help."

I look at Tobias who is already right beside me. He is wearing a sincere look. Much like the one he used a couple of minutes ago.

"No please, I am not a helpless lady. I can, in fact climb a chair."

Tobias acts as if he didn't even hear me as he places a hand on my waist and grabs the block of butter. "Sometimes you do need help and you don't and shouldn't be shy to ask for it. Everyone needs help in something", Tobias says as he passes me the butter.

He exits the kitchen and leaves me speechless. Why? Not just because of what he said, but I can still feel the tingles of where his fingers were placed on my ridden-up-shirt waist.

And it feels good.


I feel confused and jittery, again; I am not so sure why. But I do know that I need to calm myself down. I usually stargaze at times like this, but the only star visible right at this moment is the sun. Does any sane person gazes at the sun when they need to clear their minds? And so I do the second thing which helps me calm my thoughts; rest with nature.

I feel a hard force colliding with my chest and I find myself lying on the ground.

I open my eyes and find Al looking at me with mischiefs in his eyes.

"Hey there, Beatrice." He smirks.

I feel large, cold hands pinning my legs. No, they are gripping it tightly, but prying it open.

I scream and cry out for help, but none seems to come.

"What's wrong Beatrice?" He asks mockingly.

The familiar smell of sage and lemon grass overwhelms me, suffocates me and I find myself petrified by it.

NO! I can't let this happen again. He's done this once, but not again, never again.

"STOP IT! LET ME GO!" I scream and I trash.

Hands are still holding me down.

"Tris! Stop it you have to calm down."

"No! Stop it!"

"Tris wake up you're just having a dream!"

Dream? Oh god. If this is a dream then I can make it so that the hands will disappear. I can will the smell to go away. And I can live a life where none of these nightmares ever existed.

But god no, this isn't a dream.

"Cut it off Tris!"

Warm calloused hands grip my waist.

They are warm.

Like Tobias's.

Tobias.

The voice, it's Tobias. Not Al.

I stop and look up. Two dark blue orbs are staring right into me. They look like the night sky; dark and alluring, mysterious yet beautiful.

"Tris. Are you okay?" He asks with concern.

I can't seem to find my voice, and so I nod.

"Thank god." He says as he held me in his chest. He rubs soothing circles on my back.

"Come on, calm down. Take a deep breathe in.."

I breathe in... Sage. Sage and lemon grass.

"He's here!" God, Al is here.

"Who's here?"

"Al."

"Al? You mean the gardener? Yes, he was here."

He was here. It wasn't a dream. He is back.

"God Tris!" Tobias screams. I can't really catch what is happening. I can't breathe, Al is here.

"Breathe Tris, please!"

I hug my chest and try to breathe and find one of Tobias's hand there, pressing onto my lungs. I breathe again, the smell is still here. "Throw it! Put it away!" I gasp out.

"What?!"

"The smell! Throw it!"

"You're having an asthma attack. For god's sake, calm down!"

Asthma attack? I haven't had one since.. since...

Al.

Sage.

Lemon grass.

I can't breathe.

"Come on breathe in with me. In-"

I breathe in. Instead of sage and lemon grass, I smell something more comforting... I can't name it, but it smells like... Dad?

"-out."

I breathe out. Then in again. Dad... He was always there to calm me down during my asthma attacks.

"Tris, I think you need a rest. Maybe the heats got you or something. Come on, go and rest in your room." Tobias urges as he helps me up.

For a moment, I imagine him as my father. The man who was always there for me. Until... That one time when no one was there. When he can't be there because he was dead. I feel my breaths getting short again. I need to stop thinking about all these things too much. I need to calm myself down. I need to... I need to... Help Joanne with lunch!

"I need to help Joanne with lunch." I hurry up.

"It's okay. Mum and dad won't be home till evening. There's something about a sudden change of plans and they cancelled lunch. Go and take a rest."

Rest means sleep. Sleep means dream. Dream means nightmare. No. I can't rest.

"Then I need to keep the butter back in the fridge." I try to push him away.

"I've done that. You should at least get a shower if you refuse to rest."

Figuring that there is no way out of his urges, I sigh out a "Fine.", push him away and march to my bedroom.

However, as I feel the cold water of the shower pour down on my head, Tobias's hurt look as I pushed him away when he was helping me up in the garden comes back in my mind. I immediately regret doing so, not out of guilt, not out of pity, but as I change the water temperature from hot to cold and hot to cold, I realise that the only thing that can calm me down is the warmth which emits from Tobias's hands as he grips my waist. The warmth which emits from his hands as he rubs soothing circles on my back. The comfort of being held to his chest makes me feel even more protected than what the grand oak tree made me feel. And I regret pushing him away because now, I am sure that he will think that I am a bitch who is not grateful to those who have helped me.

And I am no longer going to feel his warmth.

So, out of regret and despair, and in an attempt to throw all the worries of my nightmares which have returned and are now haunting me again, I scream into the shower.

I scream, collapse and I cry.


A/N: Just 3k left to goal on NaNoWriMo :)