Damon Wright was only twenty six years old. Yet sometimes he felt like he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. His problems stemmed from the fact that he was usually over thinking every little detail. He was a perfectionist when it came to his work, that was one thing he knew he was. That was why he always made sure he was hundred percent focused at work, so that everything could turn out to be perfect.
He hadn't been to Staunton in nearly two years. And it was an entirely different ball game that what he was used to back in Manhattan. New York was simple, the laws were easy in Wall Street, eat or be eaten and that was what Damon knew. The last two years he was away from Staunton was when he and his father got into a big fight after his tenure as the Mayor of Staunton ended. He and his father used to have a close father and son relationship.
Damon's father had been very particular about his son taking over the family business and settling down in Staunton for good.
They were one of the founding families of the town and his father deemed it necessary for him to spend time in Staunton as the new Lord of the house. And nothing about that appealed to Damon. It was tradition! His father had demanded that he honoured their traditions and the rules that came with their kind.
Damon had no choice.
Coming back home after that was different, his relationship with his father became a little tense, they were no more than cordial guests in the house. Caelia was right about that. He thought as he started walking towards the direction of the garden where he suspected she could be.
Day by day he was getting more and more intrigued with her. He loved her company, there was something so interesting and calm about being near her and he really liked it. Maybe it was the appeal, maybe it was the fact that she was simply human and yet she had interested him more than any human woman had.
But it was good he finally had someone he could talk to freely. Someone who wasn't like him. Someone he could be human with.
He was right, she was in the garden. Her back was turned to him but her head was bent to the book she was reading.
"Caelia."
He said to her.
Walking towards her and eventually sitting next to her. She smiles at him and watched him.
"Ah. Enjoying the air here?"
Damon took a deep breath as if to demonstrate the air was great.
Caelia sheepishly nodded, taking in a deep breath too.
"It smells like freedom."
Damon nodded and in silence they take in the air.
"So do you like the book?"
Without turning to her, he asked.
"Uhmmm. Not really."
Caelia answered. She was taunting him.
Damon immediately turned towards her like he meant to challenge her.
She started laughing.
"It really means that much to you?"
Damon quickly realised it was a joke and eased up.
"Yeah, it does."
"It's a very sad book. It is especially sad that a bunch of friends split because of a mistake."
Damon is looking away again.
"It's truly a masterpiece. It felt like life. "
Caelia ended her review.
"I think this is the most comfortable you have been around me."
Damon observed.
"This air must really be something."
He continued.
They both sat in silence again, each second with just comfort.
"Do you enjoy Balls?"
Caelia this time broke the silence.
"Ah. I see you must have heard about the masquerade ball."
He said and then chuckled. Caelia waited for his answer.
Damon answered plainly.
"No. Balls are outdated and wasteful. The sheer amount of planning that goes into having one is ridiculous. It was supposed to function as a place to find you a marriageable partner."
Laughing at the last bit, he realised that it still was, at least the one his mother was planning was.
"Now we have Tinder." He added mockingly.
Caelia stood up, ready to leave. She really could not risk them being caught again.
"I beg to differ. I think they're simply magical."
...........
Sam Dortmund had not been able to get the maid Caelia out of her mind when last she saw her, there was something so striking yet so mysterious about her that seemed to be drawing Sam close to her.
And she was just human, nothing else, she could smell the human on her. The Wrights were notorious for hiring human maids. Sam didn't know why they bothered to.
Plus, she was the perfect model for Sam. And Sam had been looking for someone like her to try on her new designs. She rarely made just anybody try any of her designs, because she always had a specific vision of who should be wearing it in the first place. And the moment she saw Caelia she already knew the ones that would fit her.
So after a long exhaustive day of working on her unfinished pieces, Sam marched to the Wrights household. She knew they wouldn't be home that evening because of the dinner that the Mayor was holding, almost every elite family in Staunton would be in attendance and the Wright family would rarely pass up such a chance to shine.
"Hey."
"Greta right?"
Greta was surprised her name was remembered.
She nodded.
"I am pretty good with names."
Sam praised her self.
"Umm. I want to see the new girl. Caelia."
Greta nodded, waiting a while to see if Sam would provide a reason but she didn't say anything.
"Let me go get her."
Greta said and Sam shook her head.
"No. No. Take me to her."
Sam reiterated to Greta who sluggishly responded to her. If Ms Margaret found out she took an outsider to their living quarters she would be pissed. It was a good thing she was out running errands with Lourdes.
"Come with me."
Greta led her to Caelia's room and left.
Sam hastily knocked twice and opened the door.
Her eyes widened as she saw Caelia in a tank top and small tights.
"I knew they were there! Curse those uniforms."
Sam said as Caelia quickly grabbed a shirt.
Olga usually advised that she slowed down for other people to catch up with her, but it was an advice she rarely remembered implementing.
"Hello Caelia. I want you to model for me. Your body is perfect for what I want."
She pitched, Caelia, mildly shocked that she had barged in without as much as an apology shook her head.
"No."
Caelia said, slightly weirded out by Sam.
Greta watched the two of them from the hallway, showing vague interest.
"Please Caelia!"
"I promise, it will be fun." Sam added with a big grin.
All the reasons to say no were flooding through Caelia's mind. She was not even sure she would go even if she could but she couldn't.
"I am sorry. I have work to do." Caelia doubled down.
The smile fell off Sam's face.
"I understand. It's fine" A disappointed Sam said and walked out of Caelia's room.
..........
Rachel noticed Sam wasn't her usual upbeat self walking back to their quarters.
"Caelia, what happened with Sam?"
She asked curiously as she peeped into her room, Greta had walked away at this point.
"Can you believe it?! She wanted me to model for her?" Caelia said expressing her surprise.
It was flattering to Caelia but she did not allow herself think of it. She was focused on knowing her place.
Rachel lit up at Caelia's words,
"Why are you still here then?"
"You must go! It's not like you doing anything right now. Besides, Sam is the kindest person I've ever met and I hear she's very talented."
This allayed Caelia's fears about how strange Sam had acted but still the problem of work remained.
"But Ms Margaret would be upset." Caelia said barely containing her excitement of the possibly.
Rachel shrugged.
"Don't worry about Ms Margaret. She's busy shopping right now." Rachel confidently said.
"I can cover your shift but you cannot miss this opportunity."
Rachel added.
With her doubts cleared, she briefly hugged Rachel and walked out of her room, slightly picking up her pace to catch up with Samantha before she left.
She walked very quickly and found Sam a few steps away from the gate.
Sam turned and saw her approaching her.
"Ah. My model returns!" Sam shouted in excitement.
........
Sam's room was a mess, that was what Caelia saw as she entered the workroom/living room in the Dortmund mansion. Caelia almost felt like cleaning up for her till Sam chuckled.
"I know! It's absolutely untidy and messy but I just find things better when they're all disorganised."
She explained and Caelia gave a small smile. There were a couple of dresses hanging on mannequins in the large room and from the look of everything, Caelia could guess Sam's style and it was simply unique. She was putting modern twist in old eighteenth century clothings. It was unique. She thought as she ran her hands through a shiny fabric, it felt a bit rough but it was beautiful to look at. She could imagine herself in dresses like this, dressed that were similarly worn in the period novels she liked to read.
They were simply breathtaking.
Sam goes into the large closet and left Caelia on her own for while. She came back with a heavy lilac dress. She dropped it on the messy bed.
"Caelia, I cannot tell how glad I am that you changed your mind."
Sam dug through a box of supplies on the floor, searching for something.
"I am a little nervous." Caelia mentioned shyly, looking down and fiddling with her fingers.
"Oh. Don't worry about it. You aren't doing anything asides wearing that dress and being yourself."
Sam said, trying her best to comfort Caelia.
"Ah. Found it!!" She screamed all of a sudden, mildly startling Caelia. She held in her palm, a box of pins. She kept them aside and proceeded to put the dress on a mannequin.
This took a while, but enabled Caelia see the dress fully.
It was a breathtaking piece that would have taken hours to make, judging from the hand sewn flowers that were on the dress.
"That's for you, I got inspired making it after meeting you."
Pointing at the dress, very calmly. She observes the dress again, like a mother proud of her daughter.
Before handing it off to Caelia for her to change into.
"You will have to strip down to your underwear. She waited for Caelia to remove her top and tights before belong her into the dress.
Caelia wore the dress and it was a lot heavier than she thought.
Sam just stared at Caelia when she was done putting on the dress. Caelia was conscious of this, until Sam broke the silence.
"You cannot possible understand how it feels when something you put so much effort into works."
She said as she smiled at Caelia.
Caelia looked in the full sized mirror, Sam was right, the dress was breathtaking.
She was breathtaking.