I spent the rest of the day at the clinic, pretending to be sick. The nurse didn’t seem to notice that I’m just pretending and let me sleep on one of the beds. The bed was soft and wide. The ambiance was quiet and peaceful. This is the life I’m yearning for. Please, let me keep my comfortable life even if it’s just for a few hours, I said as I began to lose consciousness.

The comfortable feeling only went on for a few minutes as I saw another dream. Maybe I shouldn’t sleep at school anymore as I always experience some kind of nightmare. The idea that I could sleep at school is good but if I will keep dreaming every nap, then I’ll just sleep at home.

This time though, I didn’t see myself or any of my younger selves. Instead, I saw Bel. Like my last dream, the Bel I saw was a younger version. She was working hard on a training regime prepared for her. Being honed to be my future personal maid, her training regime was harsher than the usual because even if I'm a black sheep among the rest, I'm still a part of the main family. My parents keep on nagging about keeping up appearances to others. Such, my personal maid needed to be competent and proper.

As I observe Bel, I held a feeling of admiration for her, she was working and practicing hard even despite the obvious gap in age and strength. Though I wondered why am I seeing this dream as I clearly didn’t see this scene before.

Bel was practicing preparing coffee. Her movements were crude and unorganized. Different from her usual performance. It seemed like she put a lot of effort into honing her skills as a maid. Her mentor, Bel’s very own mother, was strictly instructing her on making her movements faster but at the same time, refined and elegant.

“Mom, master likes his coffee sweeter right? Should I add more sugar?” She said as she opened the sugar container.

Her mother sighed and shook his head. “No Bel, you should practice the standard coffee first. After you mastered making quality coffee, you can move on to variations such as Master Kane’s preference or the Headmaster’s preference. You should greatly improve your basics before moving on much more complicated procedures. It’s a must for everything, not just coffee making.”

She nodded and continued practicing her movements. She seemed excited and full of enthusiasm. I wonder what motivates her to be a maid. Looking at her expressions and passion when serving me, she doesn’t seem to be forced on to it. The pressure of being born in the Mejia Family and being a maid upon birth, cannot be seen or felt. Seeing her do her best, I remembered my past self. The days when I worked hard and improved myself. The days where I was hoping for my efforts to bear fruit. I laughed a little, at least her efforts aren't for naught.

I reminded myself that I needed to thank Bel afterward, at least I need to make her feel that her efforts are worth it. It's the least I can do to thank her for being so nice at me.

Speaking of which, how did Bel know my coffee preference? She was clearly a child in this dream, or I say vision. And as far as I remember, my interactions with her were limited because on-training maids usually weren't allowed to be on duty before they complete their training. I only saw her when I was passing through the corridors and happen to stumble upon one of their lessons. Such, for her to know my coffee preferences before she served as my personal maid, struck me as unusual.

As if answering my very thoughts, the scene shifted. The world promptly shook and Bel and her mother blurred out.

When it returned to normal, I saw Bel practicing table manners at a spare table just at the corner of the house's garden. Her mother is nowhere to be seen. She's setting the table up on her own, arranging various tablewares such as spoons, forks, plates, and knives. After she arranged the tableware, she began preparing coffee and other dishes. Her movements are still crude, possibly worse than the previous vision. She then stood quietly at one side of the table. It's possible that she's waiting for her mother to come back or maybe it's kind of a practice when one is waiting for her master to arrive.

Due to fatigue, young Bel’s posture quickly deteriorated as time went on. Her shoulders dropped and her back slightly bent forwards. Her mother is surely taking her time before coming back.

A sound was heard over the distance, the door of the mansion opened. Bel quickly glanced to look if her mother finally came back, fixing her posture at the process of doing so. I turned my gaze over the door as well but Bel's mother didn't come back, instead, I saw my younger version of my brother walking with my mother. They seem to be happily talking about something.

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My eyebrows twitched. I saw my mother's smile. One that she only wore in front of my brother and my father. It gave me mixed feelings. I hate that smile but at the same time, I yearn for it.

Bel quickly bowed down to show respect. Her movements may be sloppy, but she did it properly, maybe because of the result of her training.

Then I heard some of the leaves rustlings. I turned my head and saw my younger self. I was meticulously swinging my sword like there's no tomorrow. My eyebrows are furrowed, seemingly frustrated about what just occurred. That's where it all happened. My younger self stopped practicing and headed towards where Bel was located. He sat at one of the seats and ordered Bel.

“You're a maid right? Serve me some coffee, make it sweeter than usual.” He said as he started eating the sweets served on the table.

My younger self actions caused Bel to panic. She clearly didn't know what to do as her actions were a mess. Seemingly noticing this, my younger self stopped her.

“Stop. Are you still in training? Your movements are a mess. I'll just do it myself.” Irritated by the Bel, my younger self made his own coffee. The materials are on the table anyway, so he just has to prepare it.

Bel looked at him dumbfounded, not knowing what to do. She just quietly stood at the side waiting for my younger self to finish eating and go away.

Just as my younger self was in the middle of eating, a stomach growl was heard. It was Bel's. Standing for how many hours caused Bel to be hungry and tired. She got embarrassed and quickly apologized while holding her stomach, making it stop growling.

“Tsk.” My younger self clicked his tongue.

“If you're hungry, sit. I'll give you some.” My younger self prepared another cup of coffee and separated some snacks on another plate. Bel just stood there, dumbstruck once more.

“What? You don't want it?”

“No… It's not that… It's just…” Bel staggered a few times.

“Then sit down and eat.” My younger self resumed his meal.

“...” Bel didn't know what to do. She just followed her stomach and sat down at the opposite of my younger self. She drank a mouthful of coffee. She looked at my younger self, finding out what my reaction was, but my younger self didn't care and kept eating. In the end, Bel faintly smiled and started to eat the snacks. An afternoon was spent just like that.

Bel's mother came back afterward and saw the scene. She apologized to me for Bel's rude behavior. I brushed it off and went away. The dream thus ended.

***

As the dream ended, I felt a warm sensation on my hand. It was a very nice feeling but I get the feeling that it’s not from the dream instead it’s something that my real body is feeling at the moment. How should I say this, the warmness and softness, it feels so real that it’s impossible to be a dream. It feels nice and soothing.

I opened my eyes to see what’s happening. There, I saw the face I always saw when I wake up. Bel was sitting at a stool beside my bed. She was smiling while holding my hand. As for why she’s holding my hand? I have no idea either. The feeling is nice so I won’t say anything about it.

“I’m still in school right? What are you doing here Bel?” I initiated the conversation.

“I became worried when you didn’t come to your afternoon classes, I came to check what your status is, Master.”. Bel answered. So she’s worried. I should’ve mailed Bel that I’m just here to skip classes.

“What about your friends? Won’t they think something’s up?”

“You don’t have to worry about that Master, I made sure that they went home before going here.”

So I slept for so long that classes ended already. I gently stretched my body as I got up of bed. Oh, that’s right, I was still holding Bel’s hand. I raised my hand, not letting go of her hand, and looked at her, asking what’s the deal with that.

Bel also didn’t notice that she was still holding my hand and quickly let go. She got a little flustered and began explaining.

“Uhm… My mom used to do that whenever I get bedridden, she holds my hand and sings me my favorite song until I get better. When I heard that Master had a stomach ache, I thought of that and did it to Master as well, since it seemed to work on me, I was hoping for it to work on Master as well.”

“Is that so, well I thought it worked fine so thank you, Bel.” I appreciated her simple efforts of making me better but I felt a little guilty since I didn’t really have a stomach ache. I’ll make it up to her once we got home.

“Master, I’m terribly sorry for what happened earlier.” She bowed in the process of saying so.

“You know, you don’t have to worry about it. If they found out, then it’s fine. I knew that this day will come sooner or later anyway. We can only keep a secret for how long. Plus, it’s not so bad if you serve me here at school as well.” I smiled at her reassuring her that everything is fine. I held her hand once more for an added bonus.

Surprised by my actions. She went silent for a while, and then looked at me. She smiled warmly and gently, just like her usual appearance. I’m glad if all things went back to normal. Well, her smile is enough for me at the moment.

“Let’s go home shall we?” I guess I’ll solve tomorrow’s problem tomorrow. I wonder what will happen.