Disclaimer: I do not own any Harvest Moon characters.
Author's Notes: Thank you for great reviews. I am very happy to read them even if there are only a few.
Nori stared at Lillian's weary way of cleaning the table. It looked likes she hadn't been sleeping.
"What's wrong, Lillian?" Nori asked while wearing her worried expression.
"I stayed up too late to study for my tests today. I didn't get any chance of sleep," Lillian replied.
"Aww, you've been working hard lately, do you want to rest for a bit?"
"It's okay, I can still going."
"Okay, don't overwork yourself, okay?"
"Okay, thank you for worrying."
"You're welcome."
Ash and Cam burst in through the kitchen door and each sat next to Lillian.
"Good afternoon, young masters," Nori greeted the boys. "Do you need anything?"
"No, we're just coming to check on Lillian," Ash replied.
"oh, I see." Nori smiled at Lillian and went back to work.
Ash poked the dozy girl that seemed like she didn't pay attention to anyone. She looked up at him with her drowsy eyes.
"Yes, young master?" Lillian said with gravelly voice.
"Woah, did we just walk into the Zombie Apocalypse?" Ash teased Lillian.
"Probably, she been like that the whole day," Cam replied.
Lillian stood up from the table grumpily.
"Why yes, young masters. This zombie is going to eat you alive because it's eager to rip some fresh humans' heads apart."
Ash jabbed Cam's side with his elbow.
"She's saying more than 6 words, should we be scare?"
"I think we should make a run…"
The boys turned to the maid who was giving them a merciless smile.
"Young masters, is something wrong?" Lillian asked.
The two young masters sensed chills running down their spine. They back away a few steps and ran through the door.
"Nori, I'll be right back," Lillian said.
She followed the boys and began her hunt. She walked into the living room and looked around the place.
"Let's see, who's the closest here," Lillian murmured. "Ash."
She stood still and folded her arms to her chest.
"Young master, please come out under that table," her voice stiffed.
Ash crawled out of his hiding spot and laughed.
"You're very good at sensing people."
It seemed like he had forgotten the reason he was running away. Lillian came close to him and knocked him down then later she tied him up.
"H-hey Li-!" Ash's mouth was taped.
"Next is young master, Cam. Please wait patiently while I look for him."
As Lillian turned away, there was a hidden smile behind the tape of the young master. She stepped inside a new room that was prepared for guests who came by to visit. She stood by the bathroom door and said, "Young master, please come out of the bathroom."
In a moment, the door swung opened. Cam stared at the maid with wide-eyed.
"Impressive. How did you know I was here?"
"Just a feeling, but perhaps you had forgotten why you ran, young master?"
"Oh… right…"
Before Cam could ran away again, Lillian grabbed him and knocked him down. She tied him up the way she did to Ash.
"This feels like you're kidnapping us," Cam said.
"Maybe that's too nice, young master?"
She dragged them to Cam's bath tub that was big enough to fit two people.
"H-hey! What are you doing?" Cam stuttered as a drop of sweat dripped down his forehead.
"MHM-MHM!" Ash screamed.
Lillian turned the cold water on which leaves the two young masters with chills. She poured ice into the tub and watch them scooted away from the cold breeze.
"Ahh! It's cold!"
"MHM-MHM!"
"Get us out-" Cam paused in the middle of his sentence when he saw Lillian sleeping, resting her head on the bath tub.
After fifteen minutes, Nori came inside to Cam's room. She gasped at the image she was seeing. Her two young masters were being tied up inside the bath tub while her friend slept beside them. She rushed to the boys and pulled Ash's tape off his mouth.
"H-hey… can you um… take us out of here? My bottom is freezing…" Ash said while his teeth chattered.
"Yes, young masters."
Nori woke Lillian up who was in a daze after opening her eyes.
"Come on, Lillian. Please help me!" Nori said as she struggled to pull Cam out.
"S-sorry!"
Lillian quickly untied Ash and dragged him out of the bath tub. He forced himself to stand up in front of her and take a step forward. Unfortunately, his feet were still numb and he lost his balance. The boy fell right on top of Lillian who looked shock as ever. Cam stared at their position which made him felt annoyed.
Cam and Ash sat on the couch with blankets covering them as they shivered.
"S-sorry young masters, please forgive me!" Lillian apologized.
"Y-you're s-s-so s-scary w-w-when you s-s-said m-more t-t-than s-s-six w-words…" Ash teeth chattered again.
"S-she l-l-l-literally p-pun-punish us…" Cam joined.
"I-it w-was th-the s-s-s-sc-scar-scariest t-time in my life."
Lillian carried a withering expression on her face. Ash smiled at her.
"B-b-but you know, t-today w-was still fun."
The words left Ash's mouth brought a smile on the maid's face. Later, Nori pulled her friend's hand into the kitchen.
"What is it, Nori?" Lillian asked.
"Here," Nori handed her a white envelope.
"What's in here?"
Lillian took out a check with 4 digits on the right side.
"T-two thousand dollar? Woah! This is two times more than the payment from Boss!"
Nori smiled at her and said "You've been working very hard. You earn it."
"Thank you…"
"I support you! And your romance, too!"
"W-what?!" Lillian stuttered. She felt her cheek turning red.
"Oh come on! Tell me which young master you'd like to date! " Nori asked with curious and jovial tone.
"N-none!"
"Aww, well, they seem to like you," the maid grinned.
"How?" Lillian tilted her head to the side
"Young master Cam spends more time in the living room than his room. Young master Ash came here more often since you started working here."
"Maybe it was just a coincidence?"
"No no no, I watched a lot of anime and k-drama. I know where this is going."
The maids laughed together.
"Well, Lillian, I'll be rooting for whoever you choose."
From the living room, they heard girls gasping and screaming.
"Oh my gosh! What are you two doing?!"
"J-just chilling and cooling."
Nori and Lillian walked out of the kitchen to find Georgia and Laney stood in front of their young masters in shock.
"Good afternoon, young mistresses," Lillian and Nori bowed politely.
Laney glared at Lillian in shock.
"Why are you here," Her taut voice sent Lillian a hostile invitation.
"I- er… I worked here…" Lillian quavered,
She turned away from the maid and stared at Cam.
"What exactly happened to you two?"
"We messed with a sleepy monster."
"What?"
Lillian interrupted their conversation.
"Umm! Excuse me for interrupting but it was my fault. I –uh… soaked the two young masters in cold water with ice…" she felt her body shaking in front of the two young mistresses.
"You what?" Georgia said in an unpleasant tone.
"A poor maid like you got some nerves to do such a thing?" the blonde said.
Ash stared at Lillian's fidgeting hands. She was focusing directly on the floor instead of Laney's eyes.
"I-"
"Hey! I allowed her to do that. I was the one who made her angry first," Ash interrupted Lillian's sentence. He walked toward the maid and pulled her against his chest.
"Because of her, I finally know what fear really was and I had fun."
Lillian looked at Cam who was already staring at her. His gaze created a restless feeling inside her chest.
"So why did you two come here?" Cam asked turning to the two young mistresses.
"We just wanted to visit you," The blonde replied.
"Alright, want to hang out in the pool then?"
"…sure."
"Come on, Ash. Let's go."
Ash smiled at Lillian and ran up to Cam. The maid turned to Nori who was grinning.
"I think I'm out of breath…" Lillian sighed.
"That was so romantic!" Nori giggled and fan-girl screamed.
"W-what are you saying! That was horrible…"
"Young master Ash was standing up for you!"
"I am grateful for that but…"
"Hehe. Let's move on to another subject. Your shift is over, are you planning to stay here today?"
"Well, do you need help with anything until midnight?"
" I don't know yet. The chef might prepare a lot of food since there are guests coming over."
"I hated when he does that. The freshly cooked food always stared at me, making me feel hungry," Lillian sighed.
Nori giggled and replied, "I know what you mean, I get hungry, too."
"I guess, I'll stay for tonight if you are since its Friday."
"Okay. Do you want to go out for a walk? Get some fresh air and come back."
"Yeah, I might need that."
Lillian stretched her arms in the air when she walked out of the mansion.
"Fresh air! I feel so revived!" Lillian chirped.
She walked far away from the mansion where she found Kana strolling around on the side walk.
"Hey Lillian!" Kana shouted as he ran up to her.
"Hi, Kana. What are you doing here?" Lillian replied.
"I was just hoping you'd walk by here, actually."
"Is something wrong?"
"No, I wanted to talk to you like before."
Lillian felt her cheek flushed. Seeing Kana helped her relaxed from all the tension she had.
"Is today your day off?" She asked.
"Yup, wanna go visit Boss?" Kana replied.
"Let's go."
They walked to the restaurant where Lillian used to work. They peaked inside to find a middle-age lady sitting alone behind the counter. She was trying to solve the Sudoku in her book.
"Boss! Guess who's coming?" Kana cheered at the lady.
Still not looking up, the boss replied, "What? Did you find a girlfriend or something?"
"N-no! she's here!"
The lady finally look up with eyes wide opened. She ran up to Lillian and gave her a tight hug.
"Lillian! I've miss you so much!"
"I miss you, too."
Lillian felt something hard against her head. The boss had smacked her with the Sudoku book.
"Oww! What did you do that for?" Lillian cried.
"How could you not visit me?!" Boss yelled.
"I wanted to but I couldn't. I was so tired from staying up too late."
"No excuses! You better visit me more often!"
"Alright alright! I will make more time for you because you're special."
"Uh-huh. Are you two going on a date or something?" The boss asked.
Lillian and Kana turned away from each other. Their cheeks became as red as a tomato.
"N-no, we just encountered each other," Lillian replied.
"Oh really? Why are you two so red?"
"I-it getting hot in here," Kana stammered.
The boss grinned at them and gestured her hands for them to get out of her shop.
"Shoo-shoo. Get out of my restaurant."
Lillian and Kana walked out awkwardly. Neither said anything to each other. They walked side by side in the noisy crowd yet carried the silence with them.
"MOVE ASIDE!" Someone shouted.
Kana grabbed Lillian's hand and pulled her away from the man that was about to crash into her.
"Phew, that was a close one. Are you okay?" Kana sighed.
"Y-yeah…"
They walked back to the place where they encountered each other.
"I-I got to get back to work. It was nice visiting Boss with you," Lillian said.
"Let's hang out again soon," Kana replied.
"Mhm."
Like that, they waved at each other and walked in the opposite direction. When Lillian got back to the mansion, Nori was panicking until she saw her at the door.
"Lillian!" Nori called.
"What's wrong?"
"The chef! He fell ill so he has to leave early! We have no one to make the meals for the guests!"
"No maids can cook or something?"
"They can… but they only know how to make simple stuff… We need something fancy."
Lillian released a long sigh and shook her head.
"Food don't need to be fancy. It's food. Let's make something simple for them."
"But-"
"We can make it look… creative…?"
"hmm.. we can try."
The two maids set off to the kitchen and began cooking.
"Fried fish with rice!" Lillian cheered.
"Crab soup, too!" Nori joined
"Fried chicken wings with sauce!"
"Bacon Omelet!"
"Toast Butter!"
"Chicken Noodle Soup!"
"ALL DONE!" Lillian shouted.
They began to served the food to the young masters and mistresses outside in the pool.
"The food looks different," Cam said as he carefully studied the food.
Nori bowed down.
"S-sorry young master, the chef has to go home because he got very ill."
"Who made the food?"
Nori and Lillian stared at each other nervously.
"It was me," Lillian answered.
Ash held up a piece of the Bacon Omelet with his chopsticks.
"So Lillian made this… Is it poisonous?" Ash asked. A drop of sweat ran down his back when he felt the familiar merciless smile from the maid.
"Why yes, young master Ash, it might be very poisonous for you. Are you going to eat it or not?" Lillian's sarcastic and caustic voice was scarier than anybody.
He chomped down his food nervously and smile at Lillian. Surprisingly, it tasted better than he expected.
"Ash! Why would you eat the food made by commoner like her?" Laney said with disgust.
"Her food tastes fine, maybe even better than the chef. You girls should try it," Cam interrupted.
"Actually! This fried fish tastes really good!" Georgia added. "Laney, you should try some!"
The blonde felt the humiliation rose stronger as she watched the maid smiling. She envied the girl for getting so much attention. Mixing with the humiliating feeling was anger and jealousy. Laney sat down and forcefully swallowed the food made by the person she despised the most.
Lillian gave them a broad smile and turned to Ash. Her facial expression turned dark with a scary smile.
"So young master Ash, did the poison goes through your system yet?"
"Uh-uh-… N-no…"
"That sucks."
The maid stared at him and returned to her genuine smile.
"What kind of drinks would you like?" Nori asked politely.
"Another edible one," Cam looked at Lillian and gave her a teasing smile.
Ash jerked his elbow to his best friend's stomach.
"I don't think you should tease her. She been giving me the chills," Ash whispered.
"Like she can scare me. Beside, I'm worrying about my safety," Cam replied.
Nori giggled at her young masters and turned to the other girls.
"What would you like to drink, young mistresses?"
"Anything is fine," Laney said.
"Can you make something good that you always drink?" Georgia requested.
The two maids bowed and walked into the kitchen. When they escaped the sight of the guests, they gave each other a high-five.
"Way to go Lillian! We did it!"
"Yeah!"
They set off to prepared their homemade drinks and served them when finished.
"What is this?" Georgia asked.
"It's banana and strawberry smoothie. They are very healthy!" Nori said.
"This?" Laney added.
"It's Passion Fruit drink. It's very healthy for you, too."
The two mistresses smiled as they took a sip of their drink. On the other side, there were the two young masters who were curious about their cups of unknown dark liquid.
"What's in this?" Cam asked.
"I added a little bit of toxic to the sink water to make this. Would my young master cares to test if it's edible or not?" Lillian said calmly. She was giving them an unreadable smile.
"I told you she's scary!" Ash whispered to his best friend.
"Shouldn't you be testing it for your master?" Cam said.
Lillian only smile and replied, "I cannot do that. It is quite rude for me to drink what was specially made for you. Therefore, my young master, you should be the one to taste it."
"Don't do it Cam! It's a trap…!"
Cam's lip curved up into a set smile and took a sip of his drink.
"It's good."
"Glad you like it. Maybe the toxic will sink into you later, young master?"
The sarcastic tone in the maid's voice was a malicious sound that sent chills all over Cam's skin. He caught himself staring at Lillian's tender smile under the moon's big radiance that shone above the dark, clear sky. That smile to which he loved the best and only to disappeared in a short time. And that beautiful smile of hers invited his best friend's pensive gaze.