Chapter 3: A New Door Opens I
"Laura is my name."
The young man paused as he found it funny because she gave her name to a stranger. To add she's interesting if they were to meet in the future he would want to know her more. But for now, it's time for him to finish his business. In deep thought, he placed his hand on his chin and after gave Laura a smile.
"It was a nice pleasure talking with you miss Laura."
"Master! there you are! I've been looking for you. Don't you know how worried I was when you weren't beside me?!"
"Blaine, didn't I refrain you from calling me master outside?"
Blaine rubbed the back of his neck and apologized to the young man. He then notices another person in front of him and stared at her. The young man knocked on the head of his servant then said, "Don't stare at a girl. It's rude weren't you taught?"
"I'm sorry, Sir. I didn't mean to but... her hair is just very unusual."
Laura flinched upon hearing the word 'unusual', she knew that it wasn't an attractive color and wanted to hide it. She lowered her head and looked away from their direction as she felt uncomfortable.
'I know it's not beautiful, and I don't have to hear to again.'
She clenched her hands tightly and avoided the young man's gaze. The young man looked at her and felt that she didn't want people to talk about her unusual color. He understood the feeling of getting judged by people who you don't personally even know.
"Blaine that was a bit rude."
"I would like to apologize. It's just that it's rare. I have hurt your feelings," Blaine bowed his head.
Laura's chest lightened a bit as it has been such a while since someone had complimented her hair aside from the kids in the orphanage. The young man walked up to Laura and gently touched her hair and kissed it.
Laura stumbled back as she was surprised by the sudden kiss. Her face turned slightly red and she looked away from him to avoid his eyes. The young man laughed softly and whispered to her ear.
"I hope to see you again."
The young man wore his hood and continued to his own path. Laura didn't know what his intentions were but clearly, she knew, she had to be cautious of him. To add that young man didn't look like a normal noble.
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Laura looked out the window eyeing for the young man who was nowhere to be seen. All-day long she couldn't forget the look on his face. He had such beautiful eyes and wanted to continue looking at them.
Laura felt someone tugging her dress and as she turned around she saw Lisa. She then carried Lisa and placed her on her lap and stroked her hair.
"Laura... I want candy."
Lisa begged as she hugged her bunny stuffed toy and looked up to Laura, whose heart was beating at a fast pace. She couldn't hide the fact Lisa was incredibly adorable and she wanted to pinch her cheeks. Unfortunately, she remembered there were no more candies inside the cabinet.
"Ah...there are no more candies inside the cabinet. I'm sorry Lisa."
'"Aw is that so?"
Laura saw Lisa's eyes trembling as she tried holding her tears in. Her cuteness had struck Laura even more and was determined to go to town and buy some. However, she couldn't as today wasn't her day off.
"I'll go out and buy them tomorrow then."
"But today is your day off and you told sister Abby that you would be out for the day."
Laura questioned herself when she heard 'day off'. She gasps as she then realized what the date today was. It was one of the days where Laura would go to the city and buy some books for herself.
She buried her face in her palms as she realized she had forgotten what day it was. Lisa tilted her head and wondered what Laura was doing. While Laura was blaming herself for not reading the calendar properly. Lisa then got off Laura's lap secretly.
"It's okay...I can wait."
Lisa smiled and Laura couldn't help but give her a hug as she was too adorable. She didn't know why Lisa still hasn't been adopted yet.
'How can you ignore such an adorable being?'
"Laura?"
'Calm down self. Regain your composure."
"It's nothing. I'll ask sister Abby if I could go out tomorrow. I totally forgot about today."
Lisa's expression lightened up and she went to hug Laura. She then skipped out of the room and was humming with happiness.
'I wish I could take her in too.'
However, she knew that if Lisa had gotten adopted by the count, her life in the estate would be miserable. Laura shook the idea out of her mind as she hoped nothing like that would ever happen to Lisa.
Laura stood up from her chair and got a box from the bottom of her bed. In that box, she stored her journal as she didn't want the other kids to read it. She touched the cover of the journal and felt nostalgic about it.
When she entered the Alvarado estate it was her only friend and memory that she had kept about the orphanage, after all, it was a gift given by the other kids. As she lived inside the estate not once she had forgotten to write because memories are precious.
'It has been a while since I've last seen this'
The only time she had stopped writing was when she was thrown into prison and wasn't allowed to bring anything with her. Her freedom inside the jail was limited. The journal had stored all the painful moments she had experienced.
'It would be nice if the words I had written didn't disappear.' Laura opened her journal and couldn't believe what her eyes saw. Just like she wished, the things she had written didn't disappear.
Everything she had written inside the Alvarado estate was still there. Her tears flowed as she read each page. She felt a pang in her chest as each day inside the estate were all terrible memories. Laura didn't want to go back to the estate and if ever she couldn't avoid it, and the only way is to find a fiance as early as possible.
'If everything had been kept here then it means that I can predict the future?'
She then realized that if she enters the estate she could dodge all the bad things Tine had done to her. Laura had a slight bit of hope inside her and was really fortunate to have a miracle happen to her.
"Ha? you're crying again. What's wrong with you today?"
Luke entered the room without asking for any permission to come in. Laura wiped her tears away and quickly closed her journal. She gave Luke a reassuring smile and dodged his question. She didn't want anyone to know that she had gone back to the past.
"Geez can't you knock?"
"I can't when your door was wide open."
Luke ruffled Laura's hair and begged her to tell him the reason why she was crying. Laura shrugged off his arm assuring him that it was nothing but a bad dream. Luke still didn't believe her, however, he knew that forcing her to speak up would be rude.
"Fine. I'll stop but you better tell me next time what it is about."
"I will."
Laura lied about telling him what it was about. After all, she didn't want to worry him any further. Luke left Laura inside the room to give her some space alone. She really missed how Luke treated her kindly and wished days like these would never pass at all.
Laura stood up and placed her journal back in the box and placed it back under the bed. She was then reminded that she had to talk to sister Abby to get permission to go out tomorrow as she totally had forgotten that that day was her day off.
She also didn't want to disappoint Lisa.
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The next day Laura had gotten permission to go out as sister Abby felt bad for Laura as yesterday was a bad day for her. Laura hummed as she tied her hair with a ribbon and got a basket out of the cabinet.
"I'll be leaving."
"Make sure to be back before it completely turns dark outside."
Sister Abby walked Laura out of the house and sighed in relief as Laura's mood had gotten brighter. She laughed about how worried she was yesterday, but it seems like there was nothing to be worried about.
Laura continued walking to the carriage stop since it would have taken longer if she would have walked on foot. She was lucky that there was such service going to the town if not her legs would have given up on her.
The carriage arrived and she greeted the coachman who greeted her back kindly. She looked out of the carriage and was euphoric after seeing so many familiar places. They finally entered the town which was called Karras.
The town was known as one of the best places to sell items as the town was surrounded by many natural resources. She got off the carriage and went straight to buy a loaf of bread and a bag of candies for the children in the orphanage.
As she was on her way to the candy store she went to stop by a jewelry shop and admired the beautiful necklaces that were being displayed. Her eyes stopped as she saw a familiar necklace, a necklace that she has seen Tine wear.
The necklace was color pink and made of a gemstone called morganite. It was considered one of the sturdiest gems and one of the prettiest gems in the world. Laura felt envious of Tine as she was able to receive such fine jewelry.
The store door opened and came out a man in a brown suit who was looking quite old. He was astonished when he saw a girl with black hair. He looked at what the girl was looking at and it was the necklace he had just bought for his daughter.
Laura had noticed someone looking at her and she turned to see who it was and upon looking at the man she was left speechless. Her heart sank as she saw a familiar face, a face she would never forget.
Never once had she resented or hated this person because he was a very kind and gentle person, unlike his daughter. She picked up the basket that she had dropped and ran off far away. She didn't know why she ran away.
Was it because she knew that he would visit the orphanage and adopt her? The old man called one of his servants and asked to find more about her. He was really curious to see who it was because she resembled his deceased wife.
Not only that but he also wanted to have another daughter who would make him happy.