A/N: I'm back! It was supposed to take less time for me to post but I was a bit stuck with my main project so it delayed me a bit. Also, you have no idea how happy I'm because of the amount of comments I've received; this has to be most comments per chapter I've ever gotten. Thank you so much 3

I am not completely satisfied with the chapter, it might be a bit slow at times, but oh well, the true excitement starts in the next part. Please Read and Review.

Edit: Fuuuuu, I had forgotten this deletes all the star markings… fixed it now *_*

XOXOXOXO

Awkward, unpleasant, scary, embarrassing… if Lovina had to describe her current situation with adjectives those had been first ones she would have chosen. She had just finished explaining why she had been late, adding "I'm sorry" to every fucking sentence. So there she was, standing in front of her employers, shaking while staring a beautiful pair of dark eyes that studied her with curiosity. Those eyes belonged to the landlady who, for Lovina's surprise, didn't seem to mad at all – at least she was smiling very brightly. However, even if the woman seemed to be fine with her late arrival, her husband seemed to think otherwise. He glared the teen, detesting her messy appearance.

"So, you say you got lost and that's why you are late?" The man asked, obviously thinking that Lovina was lying. His voice was full of pride and when he spoke, his words were full of venom. Lovina was sure that if she wasn't kicked out, she would not get along with Mr. Carriedo too well.

"Darling, don't be so mean to her!" woman scolded and placed her hands on Lovina's shoulders. That stunning smile never left her face. "I believe your words, Lovina, and I'm not blaming you for anything. You are not the first one to get lost", she assured before grabbing the teens hand and starting to lead her indoors.

"You mean I'm not fired?"

"Of course you aren't, don't be silly. Everyone makes mistakes", woman giggled. "I am glad you are okay. I was very worried when the gatekeeper told me that he found your luggage from the main gate but there were no signs of your whereabouts. That silly old man… to think he went to take a pee when I specifically told him to wait you at the gates", she continued with apologizing tone, which Lovina found amusing since the lady really had no reason to be sorry.

"N-no, it was my fault. I got distracted and didn't think wisely. I'm sorry Mrs. Car…"

"No need to be so formal, Lovina. Just call me Candice."

"Yes ma'am, I mean… yes, Candice." Lovina struggled with her words, blushing a little, which was something Candice seemed to find very adorable. Woman pinched Lovina's cheek and the younger one could have sworn she heard her mutter something like "how cute". It didn't make Lovina feel any less embarrassed.

"Hmh, it looks like you need a bath", she observed and Lovina could not have agreed more. She really needed to change her clothes and get rid of all that dirt she'd managed to gather during her 'adventure' in the garden.

"Well then", Candice spoke after seeing that the Italian had approved her suggestion. Let's get you cleaned first, then we'll have dinner together and I'll show you around so that you don't get lost anymore…"

XOXOXO

Lovina had exchanged no words with the lady while they made their way to the bathroom in the second floor. One thing, or actually multiple, but one specific thing had bothered Lovina during the entire walk – it was woman's smile; it seemed oddly familiar, like something she had seen just a while ago. It was probably nothing important but it still distracted her.

"Here's a towel for you", Candice chirped, getting Lovina's attention, and shoved a bright pink towel to Lovina's hands. "Take your time, there is no need to hurry", she assured and opened the door for her. The bathroom was huge, at least twice as big as Lovina's own room back at home.

She stepped in and heard the door close behind her. For a moment she wondered if she should have gone after Mrs. Carriedo since there was no clean outfit for her to use after bath, but her legs were sore from all the walking and all the filth sickened her just enough to make her abandon the idea. Well damn it, she would worry about it later.

Lovina put her towel to a stand next to the shower and then walked to investigate the rack that held the detergents. She explored enthusiastically the long line of different shampoos and bath oils that fully filled a metal made shelf behind the bathtub. She picked one bottle at a time and took a quick look of their labels to figure out which ones would fit for her hair type the best. All the options made her dizzy – back at home she was able to use only cheap and weakly working products, since she and her little sister couldn't afford to use their money on proper hair products, heck, they barely had enough money to buy their food.

As much as Lovina would have loved to take a decent bath, she knew that if she entered the tub it would be mission impossible for her to be ready on time. Candice may have say that there is no need to hurry, but Lovina had already messed up with timing and she didn't want to make the same mistake twice – she would be just fine with a shower. She grabbed a few bottles and put them on top of the nearest ledge before she started to remove her clothes. She threw them on the floor, not caring that they were now lying in the middle of the cold floor. The teen turned on the shower and chose a proper water temperature before entering the shower. The warm water felt divine against Italian's sweaty skin and tangled hair, and it made her feel a bit more relaxed. She had had almost unbearable day but finally she didn't have to worry about a thing – or that's what she thought until the door was slammed open.

By instinct, Lovina grabbed the closest cloth she could find (which was a red Turkish towel) and placed it so that it would cover as much of her bare body as possible. She cursed silently that she hadn't lock the door – there had been a chance that Candice would come back to bring her something she could put on, but at least the Italian had expected people to knock before entering. Lovina glared the arrival who seemed to be a rather old lady, about sixty years old. What really caught the young Italians attention was her outfit – it was a light blue, bland and simple and it was easy for Lovina to figure out that the woman was a servant. She had an apologizing smile on her round face and she was holding a pile of clothes. Lovina's anger towards the woman eased a bit.

"Ah I'm sorry to burst in like this, but I needed to bring these to you", she spoke and placed the load in her arms at the top of a dryer.

Out of the curiosity, Lovina turned off the shower and paced to look more closely the clothes the woman had brought to her, but it wasn't easy when her other hand was occupied to keep the towel around her. Lovina could have sworn she felt the lady to chuckle at her shyness (they were both women, being naked in front of her should not have felt THAT awkward), but she tried to ignore it and focus on the dress the lady had brought to her. It was very similar to the one that the older woman was wearing, a maid's outfit. The biggest difference besides the size of it was the color – the dress was green and the accessories were mostly white.

"I'm not sure if it's your size, but you are rather tiny so I picked the smallest one."

"Umm…" Lovina started after placing the clothes carefully to a shelf. The woman was still standing there and it seemed that she was planning to wait until the teen tried her new clothes. Lovina blushed slightly as she asked the woman to leave. "I-I still need to wash my hair. So if it's not too much trouble, could you wait outside?"

"Of course, it's no trouble at all", she assured with a sweet smile. "Until now I was cleaning the room right next to us. I didn't manage to finish the job yet, so when you're done here, come to the room on the right, I should be there. And if I'm not, then check the following one or two rooms, those are the three ones I still need to clean before the dinner."

Lovina responded with a nod, showing the woman that she understood. She watched as the woman left and shut the door behind her – Lovina felt immediately a lot less sheepish. She marched back to the shower, but before opening the spray she placed the red towel to the exact place where she had taken it. Only then, an awful feeling conquered her mind – what if someone had used the towel before her? It would be terrifying if it belonged to a man. It would be like having an indirect body contact with a male, and that would be something that could possibly traumatize her mind forever; at least for a long time. Well, at least it most likely didn't belong to Mr. Carriedo, that bastard probably had his own private bathroom so that he needn't to bath in the same room with ordinary and unimportant people. That though was a small relief for the young Italian…

XOXOXO

Lovino didn't move an inch, barely breathe as the maid examined her appearance. She seemed to be pleased how the dress fit her. It was a little too big from the sides, but other than that, it was perfectly fine. The woman seemed to approve the outfit as she only blabbered how pretty she looked in it. Lovina would have loved to disagree with her, but she had to admit that the outfit was quite nice for a maid's outfit.

"So, now that we're ready, let me show your room. You cannot go to the dinner with your working clothes on, so you need to change again", the woman said and started to lead the Italian towards the end of the corridor.

Lovina's room was the last one on the left. The Italian was very glad that she seemed to have no "neighbors" as the only room next to hers seemed to be a laundry room. They opened the door and Lovina couldn't help but to be, once again, impressed by the size of it. There was a massive bed, so big that two persons would have easily fit to sleep in it, maybe even three. There were several shelves and a phone rested on a wooden nightstand as well as a small desk lamp. There were also multiple wardrobes and there was two huge windows in the room, both of them giving an outstanding view to the garden that seemed to be endless. No wonder she got lost. Lovina also noticed that her luggage was lying next to the bed. She sat on her bed and lifted the luggage right next to her.

"I must go now, I need to finish my work for today", Lovina heard the low female voice behind her. "The dinner will be held within half an hour. The dining room is in the first floor – it should be easy to find since it's near the front door, but just in case you can't find it, don't hesitate to ask directions. There are several people here and I'm sure that all of them would love to help you out."

"Thank you for your help", the Italian thanked as the older woman left the room in a hurry. Lovina couldn't help but to feel a bit guilty. After all, it was her fault that the maid's schedule was messed up. "Hopefully she makes it in time. She seems like a nice old lady", teen mused to herself before she started to unpack her belongings. She threw her clothes to one pile and rest of the items ended up in the other stack.

Lovina couldn't help but to growl in frustration as she studied her clothes. She didn't know exactly how tidily she was supposed to dress up, but what she did know was the fact that she hated her clothes, either they were really old or looked very cheap – as they mostly were. The Italian sighed as she abandoned another piece. She would definitely have to buy decent clothes when she'd get her first paycheck. ..

XOXOXO

Just like the maid had said, finding the dining room was easy. All Lovina had to do was to settle to the downstairs and walk the hallway to the direction she had first come with Candice. Also, there were a few other persons heading for the dinner too, so she simply followed them. It was all a piece of cake. Only thing she felt unsure was her dress. It used to belong to her mother, which meant it was almost twenty years old. Lovina also disliked its bright pink color and the incredibly hideous lace decorations on the hem, but it was only one that didn't look completely down-market compared to what others were wearing.

The Italian teen stepped into the dining room, avoiding people's gazes. She has never been the type who wanted everyone's attention. No, she wasn't an attention whore like her little sister who couldn't tolerate loneliness longer than fifteen minutes. She loved spending time alone, or not necessarily love, but preferred it to spending time with bimbo's who did nothing but talked about guys and spent hours in front of the mirror. It was the same with the boys - they were always bullying her – usually talked badly about her behind her back, because everyone back home knew that being mean to the young Italian directly usually lead to a broken nose.

The Italian noticed that there were nametags in the table, to show everyone where to sit. Lovina found her place quickly, since most seats were already taken anyway, and it was easy to figure out that the seats on both ends of the table were reserved for Mr. and Mrs. Carriedo. She was a bit disappointed to see that the maid she had gotten in good terms with was sitting in a middle of a crowd, far from her. Young Italian positioned herself on the edge, next to a middle-aged man who greeted the young Italian politely. Lovina answered him with a small and forced smile, but she was a far more interested about the delicious scents floating in the air. Just with a few sniffs, she was able to recognize multiple different spices as well as the scent she nearly worshipped – the aroma of hot pasta sauce made of fresh tomatoes. Only now, Lovina remembered how hungry she really was.

"Is everyone here already?" Lovina turned her head just enough to see Candice arrive to the room, her husband following her with a grumpy look on his face. Did the guy even know how to smile? Not that Lovina was anyone to judge; after all, she didn't smile that often either.

"Looks like Toni is still missing", man answered to his wife, frustrated but bearing it, like he had been through this same thing many times before.

"He'll come when he comes", Candice noted when seating herself to the same end of the table where Lovina was sitting.

"That boy is never on time", Mr. Carriedo grunted as he did as his wife, sat down on his chair. He tapped his watch while staring at it with intense. Counting the seconds to the moment the food was served.

It took about thirty seconds before a handful of chefs burst out from the kitchen, carrying huge amount of different types of food. Lovina stared the colorful and expensive looking serving dishes with craving. She wanted to get her hands on the food really badly, but she didn't have the courage to do so before others would start. Unfortunately, it didn't happen even when the kitchen staff had left, since a loud and energetic "¡Hola!" got everyone's, even Lovina's attention.

Lovina could have sworn that her heard skipped a few beats when he saw the arrival. A young, tanned man around his early twenties with stunning green eyes and the warmest yet also most dense smile she had ever seen. His hair were a bit wet, like he had just gotten from shower, a red – oh god! bright red towel resting on his bare shoulders, only wearing a pair of black white sweat pants. Lovina suddenly got an extremely bad feeling about everything, and Mr. Carriedo proved her greatest fears true.

"Antonio mi hijo, what took you so long?"

Lovina had never been an expert when it came studying foreign languages (not that she was good at any other subjects either.), but she had learnt just enough Spanish to understand what had just been said.

"He's their son?" the Italian teen cried in her mind, suddenly hoping that she could be anywhere else right now…