Chapter 5：Off balance

It takes a week for her to really settle in and get comfortable. Alexander Burke's home turns out to be a mansion with more rooms than people and an actual crew of servants, including cooks, gardeners, and maids. There had been a strange combination of respect and resentment. It had been made clear to her that while all of his employees respected Alex, few of them knew to respect her and, in fact, were resentful of her presence. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't care. Rather than respect or resentment, she would have preferred nothing.

Still, in these first days, Alex was almost always nearby, ready to offer his help whenever there was a question of strength or authority.

While Anna appreciated the sentiment, the lasting impact of those actions probably weren't going to be good for her considering he was blatantly putting her wellbeing and desires in front of the concerns his loyal staff held. One week was hardly enough time for them to get to know each other, so she'd decided to just do her best until these people understood she wasn't out to cause any harm.

"I can't believe I had to quit my job," she groaned aloud. In the privacy of her room, she was free to do and say whatever she wanted, but she couldn't quite bring herself to curse Alex as much as she'd wanted. His home, it turned out, was on the complete opposite side of the city from her part-time job. While she'd tried to attend to her work, the reality of the situation was that the cost of the commute in time and gasoline wasn't worth the wages she was earning, especially when someone else was driving her there and back! "Ughhhh."

Her things were arrayed conveniently around the room. Alex had sent some men to retrieve them on her behalf. She'd provided a list of items and they'd brought all that was on it and then some. Her lips thinned as she looked in the long, oval mirror in the corner of her room. Angry eyes stared back at her and so she sighed, trying to release her anger. Laura had been trying to helpful. In all honesty, she'd been successful… But the wound of their freshly sliced bond was still fresh.

She inhaled sharply, then exhaled, taking a few deep breaths to try and calm herself. They were strangers now. Strangers can be helpful to each other.

Alex had granted her jack and jill bedrooms - two rooms which were connected to each other with a bathroom privately tucked in between them. Since it had been up to her to choose how she wanted to use them, she'd assigned one as a bedroom and the other as a sort of study. He'd provided all of the furniture, too.

Anna made a face, recalling the argument she'd lost. It was the first of many, and she'd yet to adjust to losing so many debates, lighthearted though they might be.

She stood up from her bed, stretched her arms out above her head and twisted at the hips for a few seconds before sighing and exiting the room.

Anna startled. Though this was a consistent function of her new home, she simply wasn't used to the maids popping up out of nowhere to offer assistance. She turned to see Lissa Flowers, the young maid that was in charge of her rooms and the common areas. There were several others also assigned to the common areas, and Lissa hadn't taken well to the notion that Anna liked to tidy her own things. Lissa was of the opinion that she could do such things far better and that Anna needn't bother wasting her time with it.

This particular clash in opinions had caused several awkward faux arguments wherein Anna had tried to tidy things up and Lissa had been appalled or vice versa. They were presently in a kind of cold war where Lissa passive aggressively tried to serve her in whatever other avenues were available to her while Anna just did her best to self-manage.

She suspected she'd have better luck with this particular cause if not for the fact that Lissa had allies amongst the rest of the staff. It was really hard to argue when the common areas were basically all cleared and perfectly sparkling thanks to their efforts.

"I'm fine, Lissa," Anna exhaled, "I don't need anything."

Lissa smiled at her innocently. "Of course, Miss Walker."

And cue the maid-shaped shadow as she wandered through the mansion. Lissa was definitely winning the cold war. It was annoying to think about, but Anna was starting to relax into her new reality. Lissa's persistence was paying off. She was a blond-haired young woman who stood at just over five feet and had blue eyes and the boldest grin. She was pretty, but in a way very different from Laura.

For one thing, she wore her hair in two low pig tails and the ends brushed up against her shoulders instead of a long braid. The grin was viciously sweet, as though she knew she was going to get her way, but it wasn't the sweet, wheedling kind Laura used when she wanted something. Distantly, Anna was aware she was possibly making too many comparisons between Laura and Lissa, but she didn't think she had it in herself to let go just yet.

Maybe soon.

"Is Alex around?" she asked, feeling awkward. She hadn't exited her room with purpose, but rather from boredom, so the immediate confrontation with Lissa was… well. It wouldn't be lying to say it was unexpected. They were only a week into cohabiting the place, so they had yet to fall into any sense of camaraderie. Conversations were sparse and full of land mines.

"He's in his study," Lissa replied adeptly. Her tone was full of deference and Anna wanted to shake the excessive respect right out of her.

She and Alex had spent some time chatting in the study. They hadn't quite settled on the requisite amount of time necessary to fill the second condition of their contract. She hadn't quite explored the enormous structure yet, but she could retrace her steps to the study.

This place was simply decorated, though there were occasionally some very ornate objects around. Anna had encountered candle holders that had looked rather fancy for their function. There were very pretty landscape paintings here and there and one portrait of a woman. It was the only image of a person used to decorate these halls, but it didn't seem out of place. Anna might not have noticed it at all if she hadn't used it to mark the path to the study - she would turn left when she came to it.

The walls were an easy off-white and the floors an easy to clean wood in dark, alternating slats.

The door of the study was thick, but hung not quite shut and eased opened when she tapped at it. "Alex?" she called, announcing her presence.

He was sitting in one of the comfortable sofas, a book in hand. This room was his study, but doubled as a library with thick shelves loaded down with books. He had collected a lot of texts over the course of his life. In fact, Anna had even found a few that looked like they'd sell for rather a lot of money if they were ever auctioned.

"Hello, Anna," he greeted her, pleased. He placed his bookmark in the book and shut it, setting it on the low coffee table in between the two couches before getting to his feet.

"No need to get up," she told him, moving into the study and flopping into the couch opposite his. "I got bored so I came to see what you were up to."

Lissa stopped at the door, pausing for a moment before giving a small curtsy and retreating. If Anna wanted anything, Alex was sure to obtain it for her by calling on one servant or another so Lissa's presence was redundant. She closed the door as she left.

As soon as the door shut, Anna exhaled and relaxed into the sofa.

Re-seating himself, Alex gave her an amused look. "Is it so tedious to let her help?"

"It's draining to have someone around me all the time," Anna admitted, tucking a strand of brown hair back behind an ear. "I'm not used to it and it's really weird." She crossed her legs, any semblance of proper posture dispersing into the aether as she let herself fall into the comfortable couch.

"You can just ask her to leave, you know," Alex pointed out. His low voice was a bit too amused for her comfort and Anna made a face at him.

"It's weird," she repeated. "She's basically the same age as me and she's trying to do all of these things to help, but really I'd like to be left alone. I mean, I'm sure I'll get used to it eventually, but it's not exactly normal for regular people to have a whole bunch of people waiting on them."

Alex chuckled and she scowled at him. "Don't laugh at me!" she protested. "Just because you've had a really long time to get used to being filthy rich doesn't mean the rest of us plebeians have any idea what to do with this kind of - of luxury!."

"It's not so terrible," he soothed her. "Give it a bit more time. Maybe you can become friends. If it's still bothering you after a whole month, I'll tell the servants not to assign you anyone."

"Sure, sure," Anna waved a hand in the air, not overly passionate about this matter. Given that humans could adapt to anything, she wasn't overly worried about the situation. "What are you reading?"

"An old story," Alex said. "It's about a detective that's particularly good at solving mysteries with only the slightest of clues. He's a bit of a dunce when it comes to interacting with people, though. Fortunately, he's a friend with him, a doctor that keeps him out of too much trouble."

"A classic series of stories," Anna agreed amicably. She recognized the description he'd given her. "But a commonly known and rewritten one."

Leaning back into his own seat, Alex only smiled. "Then, shall I tell you a story?"