AN: Sorry this chapter is so long and a bit all over the place, it's just I have a lot going on in a few weeks so I thought I'd try and get it uploaded for you guys. It's not rushed though, I promise. :) Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 4 - First Day on the Job

Okay. Today was the first day of my new job, and the moment I woke up and sat up in bed, I knew that I had to make this count and do my best for Audrey. I mean, what kind of person wouldn't try and do their best to help an old, blind woman with chores around her house? I ate up a quick breakfast and immediately began putting together a cleaning kit in an old tote bag I had been given back in Romania.

Once I had found scouring pads, a microfibre cloth and some limescale remover and slipped them all into the bag, I slung it over my shoulder, made sure my appearance was appropriate for outdoors and made my way out of the house. I had memorised Audrey's address from yesterday and remembered that it was not a house, it was a bungalow, which was sort of expected since it would be much easier for a lady who had lost her sight.

The bungalow was rather small with a white front door with a golden number 8 and a knocker on it. Beside the stone steps leading to the front door was a long metal rail, which I suspected was put there to help Audrey and guide her to the door without difficulty. I walked round the left hand side of the house where there was a slabbed pathway which led to a small wooden gate and fence that was painted green, and behind that in plain sight was one of the most beautiful gardens I had ever laid eyes on.

There were grape and tomato plants on the left hand side, an apple tree in the top right hand corner, and near the middle behind a white brick wall was a line of planted yellow and Queen Elizabeth roses which I could smell even from the gate. When I looked to the right of the apple tree, I noticed that about a quarter of the garden was cut off by a metal grated flimsy barrier where strawberries, blueberries and raspberries were growing.

Why is that bit cut off there? I thought as I reached my hand over the other side of the gate and fiddled with the latch. Momentarily, I felt a hint of dread in my heart. I wondered if one of Audrey's neighbours were to poke their head over their fence and see me opening her gate and going into her garden. Honestly, they would think I was breaking in and trespassing, but the thing was Audrey had given me permission to enter her garden whilst coming round, and besides, if I entered round the back instead of the front, then she would know full well it was me and no one else.

I noticed that Audrey's back door was open, but I didn't want to go inside, so I leaned my head half in, half out of the cloakroom. "Hello?" I called out, but within about two seconds, there came a high pitched bark in response which made me jump.

The next thing I knew, a small black ball of fur came running out the door and down the steps, and my eyes lit up for it was Bramble, the little black lab puppy Audrey had talked about upon our first encounter. She stood in front of me for a few seconds and wagged her tail before moving forward a little to sniff my leg. I crouched down to her level and gave her a little rub under the chin.

"Hey little one.." I said softly. "You must be Bramble. Your mistress has told me all about you. She told me that you're a cute little puppy, and it's true, you're the cutest little puppy in the world, yes you are!"

Just then, Audrey appeared on the doorstep holding her cane and I immediately straightened back up again, knowing that I was practically on working turf and I didn't have time to be mucking about and playing with her puppy.

"Good morning, dear." she said, smiling warmly and inviting me into the house.

I walked up the single stone stair and into the house, Bramble doing figure-of-eight movements round my ankles all the while. The kitchen was quite small, but the positioning of the appliances was very neat. There was a small fridge directly to my right with a counter that had many decorations and toast racks on it, the kind of ones I'd look at as a young child and immediately ask to play with them because the wooden rungs on them looked like those of a hand-eye coordination toy, which made me smile a little.

I glanced to the side of the fridge and there were tons of colourful novelty magnets dotted around it. Well, I say colourful, but really, they looked like they used to be colourful. Now they were all grey and faded. However, one magnet caught my attention, and it consisted of two young children, a boy and a girl, who were surrounded by a black background except for what looked like a Christmas tree behind them. The little boy looked no more than three years old and he was wearing a Christmas head bopper with little Rudolph heads on the ends of the springs.

The little girl was, in fact, a baby and she too was wearing a head bopper, except that hers had silver angels on the ends of the springs. She was also wearing a red Christmas dress that dropped right over her little feet as her brother was holding her firmly in his lap. They were both smiling excitedly at the camera and to me, they looked like they were having the best Christmas ever. I thought for a moment about asking Audrey about the children and asking if they were her grandchildren or not, but I also didn't want to interfere and be nosy. I couldn't be like that since I was here to work.

I followed Audrey through the hallway and into the living room, which was much more spacious than I'd expected. Directly in front of me a few meters away was a fireplace with vintage porcelain animals and small willow patterned vases on the mantelpiece. Either side were two armchairs, the left hand one covered with blankets and throws and the right hand one with a white blanket draped over it, but it was smothered with black dog fur and sodden with muddy paw prints, most likely from Bramble.

"Take it you have a messy rascal on your hands." I remarked, chuckling a little as Bramble jumped up onto the armchair and sat down wagging her tail and staring at me as if to say, "I'm being good! I'm a very good girl!"

Audrey laughed. "Oh yes! Sometimes it's difficult enough trying to get her to stop eating my raspberries in the garden, so try and imagine me trying to clean her up after rolling about in the dirt!"

I laughed, imagining the little black puppy yapping and rolling around with her legs in the air. "I bet that's a pain." I replied before clearing my throat and shuffling uncomfortably on my feet. "Anyway, I should probably get on with some work."

I scanned around the room, acting as if my eyes were small cameras that could detect any source of dirt anywhere and I saw that the cabinet the TV stood on was quite dusty. Without a second thought, I began picking out the cleaning supplies I needed for the job, sprayed some surface cleaner on a microfibre cloth and began rubbing it whilst Audrey smiled at me and sat back in her chair.

"Ludwig, you don't really plan on doing your entire hour's work in dead silence, do you, dear?" she said, sounding as if she was concerned about the fact that I was acting so professional, even though I wasn't at the average age to properly work yet.

I cringed and turned around and for a moment, I didn't know what to say. "Er..I.."

"It's alright, you don't have to be in silence the whole time. We could maybe have a chat and get to know each other better, and it's much more fun doing work when you have somebody to talk to."

"I…guess that's true." At last, my heart relaxed a little and I began to feel much more secure about this experience than I was before. I resumed cleaning, every so often turning around from my work to speak. "So..what shall we start with?" I asked.

"Well, we could start with something that could be a little helpful to me, if you'd like. That being, what do you look like?"

I chuckled before planning out in my head how I was going to answer. "Well, my eyes are black, I'm five foot four, I've got fluffy dark blue hair, I've also got one front tooth. Yeah, I know. Most people have two front teeth, but I have only one, but despite that, I feel I have…quite a handsome face if I may say so."

Audrey let out a hearty laugh. "Oh, I bet you are! You know what, dear? I suppose your mother would've been delighted to give birth to such a handsome little boy and to grow up with him. I, for one, know how strong a bond is between a mother and her son.."

For a moment, I stopped in my tracks whilst wiping the last of the dust off the cabinet and I knew that Audrey must've known I had stopped due to the sudden stopping of the sound of the microfibre cloth against the wood.

"Ludwig, are you alright, sugar?" she asked.

I sighed shakily and instantly silently cursed at myself afterwards since it all but implied to Audrey that I was upset.

"Did I say something wrong?"

I let out another sigh and turned around to face Audrey even though she couldn't see me. "It's just…I don't want to be any trouble, but…I don't have a mum. Not anymore."

Audrey's mouth opened in the shape of an O and she put a hand to her mouth in a way that conveyed that she regretted even bringing up mothers. "Oh, I'm so sorry dear, I should've thought first… How did she die, if you don't mind me asking?"

I set the can of surface cleaner and the microfibre cloth on the cabinet and sat down in the armchair next to Audrey. "She got killed in a car accident on Christmas Eve when I was nine years old. She claimed she was going out to buy me one last Christmas present that was very special. I'd love to know what it was..but I can't. Never, ever." I swallowed and inside, I imagined that present being something that showed love towards me, which was exactly like the loving mother who worked so hard by herself to bring me up and adore me up until her death.

Audrey placed out a hand and felt around my armchair until she reached my left hand. There, she caressed it softly and looked up, as luck would have it, right into my eyes. "I'm so sorry that happened to you at such a young age. Are you feeling okay about this? Do you ever get lonely living by yourself? H-how do you even have the ability to maintain a house on your own?"

I was quite fascinated by how many questions Audrey had for me, and I didn't know why, but I felt nervous to answer them. "I…My mum taught me how to pay rent when I was young, which was lucky because I can use that to my advantage, but now that we're on the brink of a cost of living crisis, I'm kind of struggling to scrape some money together."

"Oh, poor dear…" Audrey sighed, before her face lit up. "Which reminds me of something I want to give you at the end of the hour." She smiled and rubbed her soft, wrinkled thumb over the back of my hand. "I'm sure you'll love it."

Just then, my phone rang in my pocket and I tensed up, knowing that I was at work and I probably wouldn't even be allowed to even see who it was. I looked up from my lap and at Audrey in dismay.

"Don't worry, dear. You can take the call if you want, I don't mind."

I sighed with relief and took my phone out of my jeans pocket and immediately saw Gracie's name pop up on the screen. My heart filled with love and adorability since I could understand why Gracie felt the need to call me. After all, today was a day when I didn't work, and I found it endearing that she thought I was free to talk to her when I wasn't.

"It's my girlfriend." I said to Audrey, standing up and walking over to the doorway of the spare room she had. "I'll be right back."

I shut the door to the spare room behind me, sat down on the settee in the corner and swiped my phone screen to accept the call. The moment I did though, I heard distorted female shouting, which I knew wasn't Gracie because this voice was much deeper on some level. My heart leaped a little at the harshness of the voice, and I felt a mixture of fear and confusion. Where was Gracie? Was she okay?

"Gracie…?" I said, which felt like a raspy whisper.

The moment I spoke, however, the quality of the woman's voice on the other side of the phone grew higher and before long, I could actually make out what she was saying.

"You put that phone down now, Gracie!"

After that, I heard Gracie's voice for the first time, which threatened to tear my heart in two due to her pained, pleading voice. "Please, Mum! I just want to ask him one thing! It'll only take me two minutes!"

"No! Did we say you could use your phone now?"

"Uh..I..no, I just assumed that I was finished!"

"Well…you're only done when we say you're done! Now, tell your little Prince Charming that you're busy, and that you'll see him tomorrow!"

I heard footsteps leading out of the room they were both in, and once I couldn't hear them anymore, I spoke up, quite shaken and a little bit angry at what I'd just heard. "Gracie, is everything okay? What happened there?" There was silence for a moment before Gracie let out a sharp sigh and I heard her running upstairs to her room and then bawling her eyes out. "Hey, hey, sweetie, don't cry…"

"I…really need you here!" she sobbed. "I'm not even allowed any time to talk to you anymore…"

Oh my god, this was terrible to hear. My girlfriend's heart was aching for me to be by her side, but I couldn't just skip work. "Gracie, I…I'm so sorry, I know you're not prepared for this, but I'm at work right now and I can't leave until the end of the hour."

Gracie let out a sob before sniffling. "O-Okay…can..can we talk after? There's something I need to ask you."

I smiled warmly, which was an action that I wanted Gracie to see so badly. "Of course we can, sweetie. I won't be that long, just be patient, okay?"

"Alright… I guess I should..go back to my chores now. See you later."

"Bye bye." and with that, I hung up the phone and sat in silence, still trying to take in what had just occurred.

What Gracie had told me about hers and her parents' relationship a few days ago seemed horrific enough, but now that I'd heard it actually happen over the phone was much worse. Gracie was clearly too scared to speak her mind about this whole ordeal, so I knew I had to do something about this…