Sweet Tea (Ominis x American OC romance)

Chapter 3: Falling

~~Ominis~~

Her words kept circling around in his head. That time was more important than money. He'd grown up all his life with money and status being everything to those around him, and the only people until now who hadn't cared about either of those things had been Sebastian and Victoria. Now... he could add Maylee into that as well. It was rather strange that he added her into that category so quickly, considering Sebastian and Victoria were so close to him. He hardly knew Maylee, he'd only spoken to her a few times already.

Yet here he was coming to rather like that unique accent of hers, her strange little sayings she sometimes added, her 'y'all's and 'ain't's.

Going to bed last night had been... interesting. He'd shown her to one of the rooms in his wing of the house because like hell if she was staying in the servant quarters when they were the only two people here. Besides, there had been flooding down there, and the musty smell still wafted up from the staircase. He'd never subject her to living in that.

She'd seemed rather shocked, and suddenly oddly bashful that he'd offered her a normal room. What had she expected him to do? Force her into the musty disgusting rooms downstairs? He was again reminded that she likely wasn't treated well by those above her in the past. It made him angry that someone would take advantage of someone so sweet.

It was the morning now, and he sat in bed with his night shirt draped over him carelessly, rubbing his face as he tried to gather his thoughts. He was interrupted by the sound of the door opening, looking toward it in surprise.

"Good mornin' Mr-" she paused suddenly, and he frowned when she seemed to stop in her tracks as well.

"What? Is something wrong?" He asked anxiously.

"N-no, sir- no! No, nothing is wrong. Mmm- ah, right-" she seemed to not be able to speak for a moment, which confused him. She was usually rather talkative from what he'd seen yesterday. "I came to tell you that it's time to get up- I got breakfast waitin' on ya. Bacon and eggs of course, gotta start your day right."

"Alright, I'll be right out." He smiled, and heard a small little sound from her before he heard the door close again.

What had that been all about?

He shrugged and sat up more in his night shirt, yawning as one sleeve fell down a shoulder. He could feel the warmth of the sunlight through the open window, and it did feel rather nice. He almost wished he could lay back down and just lay in the sun for a while, but Maylee had breakfast waiting on him.

After getting dressed in a more casual outfit he made his way to the dining room again, letting his hand slide along the table until he got to the corner and turned to find his seat.

"Thank you for making breakfast, Maylee." He said happily, starting to eat.

"Of course, it's literally my job, Mr. Gaunt." She giggled in amusement.

He noticed she wasn't making any noise except talking, no clinking of silverware, or moving a chair. He frowned a bit, looking toward where he'd heard her. "Are you going to eat too?"

"Oh- um... I thought that was just for dinner." She said a bit sheepishly.

"No, you can eat with me whenever you want to, Maylee." He said in a more gentle tone. "I don't want you to feel pressured into doing it though."

"Oh, no, no I'm not pressured!" She said quickly. "I just... I'm the help, it's... very strange you want to eat with me, Mr. Gaunt."

"Perhaps I just want company instead of a servant sometimes." He said, letting a bit of vulnerability out. It was a risk... but she hasn't shown any indication that she'd use it against him. It was just... so quiet and lonely in this house on his own.