“Wake up.”
Malee wondered why would she need to wake up even before she could fall asleep. She felt her body shaking from being pushed and saw Mary from the corner of her half-opened eye.
“Wake up, Malee. Its morning. I brought 3 new dresses for you. Meet me in the dining room.” said Mary as she flicked the light switch near the door before leaving. Malee couldn’t believe it was morning because she remembered getting into bed not too long. She sat up and picked up the clock by the bed. It was morning. She must have fallen asleep soon after getting into the bed. Malee jumped out of the bed in a hurry and went into the shower room for a quick clean-up and a shower before changing into one dress in the small wardrobe that Mary had brought in. She was nearly out of the room before realizing she forgot to wear the heel.
Malee went up the stairs to the main floor and into the dining room where Mary, Hoshi and Sophie were already in sitting with their breakfast in front of them.
“Come, sit down here.” said Mary before continuing her conversation with Sophie. Malee nodded and bowed before she sat down by the chair that Mary had pointed out. Her breakfast plate in front of her comprised an egg omelette, sausage and cheese, but it didn’t smell like anything she had tasted before. Hoshi turned to her and starting saying, but she didn’t understand it till Mary plugged in the translator ear-piece in her ears.
“…Yalk’s milk. Try it.” was all that she could catch from Hoshi. She smiled back and picked up the fork beside the plate to taste the mysterious cheese on her tongue, only for vomitting it back. The rest laughed at her reaction till George came into the dining room. They stared at him in surprise for a while before standing up to bow. George seemed more sleepy than amused by it.
“Where is everyone?” asked George.
“They will be in a few minutes, young master.” replied Mary, using the official name for George in front of the guests. George nodded and took the seat beside Malee, followed by the rest.
“Would you want..” said Mary before George waved his hands to stop her from continuing. He then put his arms on the table and his head before closing his eyes. He looked more restless than she, Malee thought. Georgia came in not soon after, and the ritual followed. She stopped to look at her brother in shock and disappointment before letting out a huge sigh. She stepped forward to him and raised her hand only for Mary to cut in between them. Georgia could hit her brother anytime, but not in front of the guests, was how Malee saw it. Mary dragged George out of the room before anything else could happen between the twins.
“How is the cheese?” asked Georgia to Malee. Malee could only shake her head with her mouth full of sausage as Sophie and Hoshi stared at her in silence. They would not think of replying to their mistress in how Malee was replying to Georgia. Georgia could shake her head. That girl had much to be trained, she thought.
“Good morning, everyone.” smiled Georgia to Hoshi and Sophie, who were still standing since Georgia had not yet sat down. Only Malee was still sitting and trying to clean her plate like a tigress having her first meal of the day. She didn’t realize that everyone else was staring at her till she had finished chewing the sausage and looked up from the plate.
“Eh.. Ahh…” muttered Malee before standing up and bowing towards Georgia. Georgia shook her head again with a smile before Hoshi picked up the phone from the pocket.
“Her highness is calling. Please excuse me.” said Hoshi with a bow to Georgia before leaving the room.
“I should attend to her highness. With your permission.” said Sophie with a bow and followed Hoshi back to the princess under their care.
“Clean up and wash up.” said Georgia before following Hoshi and Sophie out of the room, leaving Malee alone in the room. She took the plates left by the rest into the kitchen where there were plenty of people, some of whom were familiar to her and some were not. One of them pointed out a spot on the table for Malee to put the dirty plates and she left the kitchen back into the dining room to clean up the table.