Camellia finally reached Dr. Sirimon one day. He had been out of town for a conference and was why she could not contact him.

“I didn’t know James was your guardian, Miss Quintana, or I wouldn’t have offered you the position,” he remarked.

“He is not my guardian, Dr. Sirimon,” Camellia replied, anxiously hoping he would believe her. “But I need a job, and it is my choice to get one.”

“I’m not sure. My friend didn’t sound happy when I mentioned you to him.”

“Dr. Sirimon, I’m twenty-three years old. If I do not work in my field, I will lose all this knowledge and experience that I have worked hard in college for. I want to take your position,” Camellia remarked.

There was silence on the end of the phone.

“Please,” Camellia slowly replied, “I need this job.”

There was another silence before the doctor replied, “All right. You seem to fit this job, anyway.”

Camellia was relieved.

“The child will be here tomorrow at 1 O’clock. Why don’t you come at 9 tomorrow and I’ll review the case for you?”

She thanked him and hung up the phone. She knew Sam would not take her to the clinic tomorrow, but she remembered that she had Jerry, who had graciously offered to help her anytime.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the morning came, Camellia watched as James left in the Mercedes-Benzes car. Then she changed into formal clothes. At 8 O’clock, Jerry’s car came and parked outside the gate. She anxiously walked to the gate, hoping no servants saw her. To her horror, Leek called her name.

“Miss, where are you going?” he asked, seeing her purse and formal clothes.

“I—I am going out with a friend today, Leek,” Camellia slowly replied.

Leek nodded and watched as Camellia went out of the gate and got into the Toyota car outside. He turned back to work on the garden.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry left her at the clinic and promised to come back at 4 O’clock for her. The doctor was thrilled to see her. In fact, he seemed relieved that she took the position. At 1 O’clock, a young girl was brought to the clinic. She was silent, but observant. Dr. Sirimon took Camellia to greet the woman and the child, and he introduced them as Mrs. Wesman and Brielle. The child was lovely, but she did not seem to notice Camellia as she saw the coloring books in the room and went straight to it. When Mrs. Wesman left, Camellia went to the child.

“Hello, dear, may I join you?”

Brielle did not look at her but continued coloring the picture.

Camellia silently observed her and saw how neat she was in coloring. She had placed her crayons and picture in an orderly structured and made sure the color matched as she placed them back on the table.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the entire day, Camellia interacted with Brielle for a while, then Brielle went on talking to herself on how messy her picture was looking and how beautiful another picture of hers was. She spoke to herself so innocently that Camellia could not help smiling. She wondered what it was like when she had been young.

She proposed to teach Brielle to read, but after a moment of attention, Brielle returned to her pictures. At the end of the day, she managed to get Brielle to hug her before she left the hospital with her mother that day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry asked to take her out for dinner, so Camellia agreed since she wanted company with someone who liked her for a change. When they sat in the restaurant, Camellia looked depress as she observed people who happily talked to each other. They seem to have someone, except her.

“Camellia, is something wrong?” Jerry asked, excitingly sitting down opposite her.

She smiled.

“How many brothers and sisters do you have?” Camellia asked after they had ordered.

“I have two brothers and one sister. They all are working like I am,” he remarked. “And you, how many brothers and sisters do you have?”

Camellia smiled sadly.

“I don’t have any. I’m an only child.”

Jerry looked confused. “Then why do you need to work? That house you live in must be millions of dollars,” he stated.

“That house belongs to—my father’s friend. My father passed away a couple months ago, and his friend has offered to take me in until I find a job to pay for my own living.”

Jerry looked sorry at her sad face.

“I see. You must be lonely, without any family member in that big house. Do they treat you well?”

Camellia quickly smiled and changed the subject.

“Why did you become a tour guide?” she remarked with a brilliant smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Camellia thanked Jerry and watched as he drove away. She came through the gates toward the house, and saw the Mercedes-Benzes parked in front and knew he was home. To her horror, he came out of the house with a beautiful woman holding onto his arm as if they were married.

Camellia cautiously walked toward them as he sternly looked at her. He looked at her clothes and notice its formality. She ignored him and walked up the stairs to pass them.

“This is Miss Quintana, the one I was telling you about, Teresa,” James remarked, as Camellia reached them.

Camellia turned to the woman and smiled. To her misfortune, Teresa did not like her one bit. She gave Camellia a cold, disapproving look.

“So nice to meet you, Miss Quintana,” she remarked with an edge to her voice.

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Camellia returned the remark and without another word or care, walked into the house. She walked straight up the stairs into her room and locked it. For some unknown reasons, her heart was racing, and she did not like it one bit. So she got a towel and slipped into the bathroom to take a cold shower to cool her heart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Camellia stayed in her room the entire night and avoided dinner with them. To her luck, nobody came to knock on her door. Surprised that the house was silent after a moment, Camellia came out of her room at 10 O’clock to look around. She was in her peach silk pajamas and robe. More to her surprise, the rooms were silent and empty. James and Teresa seemed to have disappeared along with the servants.

Relieved and feeling strange, Camellia searched all the rooms to make sure no one was around. When she was sure that no one was around, she looked confused. Then she heard Bow bark. Filled with joy that Bow was in the house, she searched for him and heard his bark coming from the library. Afraid that he could still be in the house in the library, Camellia slowly opened the library door to check if it were lighted.

To her relief, the library was in darkness. She pulled the door opened and heard Bow bark again. To her surprise, Bow ran up to her, and she giggled. Before she could bend down to pick him up, Bow ran into the dark room.

“Bow?” Camellia called, noticing how dark the library was with the shades closed. But to her surprise, a small light was coming from the fireplace.

She touched the wall to see if she could find a light switch. Unable to find one, she slowly came into the library as Bow barked from inside the room. With slow walks, she made her way blindly to the fireplace where Bow was barking.

“Bow, where are you?” she asked, hoping she would not bump into something and hit herself.

Finally, she felt a sofa and knew she was in the circle of sofas she had seen earlier before in the light. She traveled along the sofa and from the light in the fireplace saw Bow sitting on the floor, wagging his tail. She reached him in relief and sat down, picked him up and hugged him tightly. She cuddled him in her arms.

“How are you today, Bow? I missed you very much,” Camellia remarked, hugging him tightly and placing her head to him.

She turned to look at the fireplace and placed Bow on her lap. She sighed and hugged him again as if she would lose him.

“I am lonely, Bow... I don’t have a friend or family who cares for me like you do,” she began sadly. “You are my only friend in this cold, empty house. I wish I could leave and take you with me.”

She held him and looked sadly into the fire.

“I wish Mother was still here,” she whispered.

There was a noise behind her, and she turned to see what it was, but Bow jumped out of her arms, and she turned to look for him.

“Bow, where are you?” she asked, as she stood up from the fireplace and walked into the dark again.

She heard Bow at the end of the sofas, and slowly placed her hand on the sofa to help guide her. She was reaching the loveseat, when suddenly a hand jerked out, grabbed her waist, and pulled her down. She cried out in fear and reached for the hands on her waist as she was placed on a lap. Her hand furiously tried to remove the arms around her, but when she could not, she turned around and came face to face with James. Even in the dark, she could tell it was him, for her face was next to his. He was in his dark robe and pajama, hiding him from her eye.

“You!” She shouted, trying to stand up when she realized she was on his lap.

He only started at her silently, but she could tell in the dark that he had on a grin.

“Let me go,” she remarked, trying to pry his fingers of her waist.

He tightened his hold on her and brought her closer to him. Her heart pounded. They were too intimate.

“If you are lonely, you should’ve come to me,” he whispered, mocking her.

She desperately tried to escape, but his arms gripped her.

“How dare you eavesdrop on my words! You have no manner or respect at all!” she cried, trying hard to pull away.

He shook her, and she stopped struggling and turned to give him a lethal look.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping on you, my dear proper Miss Quintana. I was in here before you came here.”

She tried to move again, angry at his words.

“You could have told me you were here, Mr. Shaw! That would have been a courteous thing to do,” she replied, angry that his arms were not loosening its hold on her waist and she was forced to intimately sit on his lap.

“But I am not a gentleman, do you remember? That is Mark,” he whispered near her ear.

Horrified, she drummed his arms.

“Let me go, you wicked man!”

He finally released her, and she fell onto the floor. He laughed as she faced him angrily in the dark.

“You seem so different from what I thought you would be, Camellia,” James remarked, startling her at using her first name.

He bent down to face her on the floor. His face came close to hers that she could feel his breath.

“I can fill your loneliness if you need me to,” he whispered.

Though her heart pounded, and she wanted it to be true, she knew what he meant and she knew she would never allow him to treat her this way, not when she already owed him so much and viewed her with little value. She stood up and faced him high. Though she could not see his face clearly, she knew he looked at her closely.

“I don’t need you. You would be the last person I go to… to fill my loneliness,” she remarked, as she swallowed nervously. “A dog is preferable over your presence.”

To her horror, he stood up. His height intimidated her, but she would not allow him to scare her, not when it was what he wanted to do.

“Is that why you would sneak out of this house and have rendezvous with another man?” he remarked cruelly, “Is that lonely heart of yours so empty that you must spend an entire day to have him fill it up for you?”

She heaved in anger.

“I didn’t spend my entire day with a man, Mr. Shaw. In fact, I—” she stopped herself before she could tell him her accomplishment.

He grabbed her arm.

“You what?”

Angry that he wanted to know her business, she told him anyway, just to spite him, “I got the position back from your friend, Mr. Shaw.”

His face hardened, and she could tell that he was not happy.

“Was it the position you were aiming for, or my friend, Miss Quintana?”

His words shocked her, and she pulled her arms roughly away from him. He laughed.

“If I didn’t know better, it sounds as if you are trying to catch Dr. Sirimon so he could pay these debts for you?”

She did not hit him this time, for she knew it was too dangerous, in the dark and alone.

“If I was, then you’ll see an invitation from your friend to attend his wedding, Mr. Shaw,” she icily remarked, and passed him to go in anger.

She did not get far, for she bumped into something and trip. The statue also fell from its place and hit the ground. It must have bruised her for she felt the excruciating pain. He immediately came to her side and held her arm.

“You must be more careful, there are a lot of antiques in this library,” he remarked, his tone of voice quite different from those she had heard. It was almost caring. She looked surprised but thought that he was concern about his antiques.

“I see. How much will I owe you if I break one of your antiques?”

He frowned.

“You misunderstand. I wasn’t talking about the antique,” he slowly remarked, and then a smile touched his lips. “But they are rare and irreplaceable, so you will owe me forever if you break one of them.”

Frustrated at his words, she moved away from his touch, and tried to stand up, but fell back as her knee gave way from the pain. Before she could stop him, his hand came beneath her knees and he picked her up in his arms. She re-acted and jumped.

“Don’t, or that injury of yours will be worse,” he firmly stated holding onto her tightly.

She stopped and flushed red. She was glad the room was dark, for she did not want him to see her red face.

“And if you trip? What then?” she asked almost mischievously.

He slowly carried her in the dark.

“Didn’t I tell you this is my place to hide? I know it like the back of my hands, even in the dark,” he stated so surely, that she believed him.

He brought her safely out of the library back into the light. She felt shy and unable to look him in the eyes. She was in her pajamas, in his arms, and their bodies touched. He looked at her with strange emotion in his eyes, and it feared her as well as excited her. It was something she felt drawn too but knew she should not want.

“Please let me go, I can manage from here,” Camellia softly replied unable to look at him.

He did not say anything nor heed her as he continued to carry her up the stairs. She stared at him in disbelief and found his face to be stern and focus, as if he also did not like what he was feeling. When he brought her into her room and set her on the bed, she refused to look at him, but stared at her hand on her lap.

“I’ll tell Sara to bring you some medication,” he remarked strangely, and she finally looked at him.

“Thank you,” she slowly replied, a strangeness to her voice.

He looked at her for a moment, his face expressionless and hard as if he were battling something.

“Good night.”

He turned and closed the door behind. She stared at his exit with heaviness on her mind, wondering why her heart was racing. She needed to remember that she was a rival’s daughter living in a rival’s home. Her body was heating up and she hopped over to open the window to cool her head. [Author: uniqnovels.com]