Would you mind

If I loved you a little more?

Because when you're around, 

My restlessness finds peace.

When you're around,

The emptiness in my heart fills.

When you're around,

I feel whole again...

It was 4 o'clock and the princess had been patiently waiting for her afternoon tea in her garden. Her heart sank a little when she saw just the head chef coming to deliver her much-awaited beverage. 

Had she been expecting a certain someone to tag along? She was sure she was not. She remembered all too well how she went and told the head maid to lay off Rebecca Patricia Armstrong from the palace only to later be objected to by her own brother. Prince Non wanted his sister to give Becky a chance and so, they came to the conclusion to limit Becky's tasks near the kitchen and to run errands outside the palace. Consequently, she had not seen the girl in exactly two days. 

Not very long after she finished her tea, she found herself headed towards the royal kitchen, startling every servant and maid on the way. Some started to rub the dust off the already shining furniture and painting frames on the walls in an attempt to look busy.

She strode into the main kitchen and swept her gaze around the interior. Everyone present in the kitchen dared not move or make a single sound. The princess rarely visited the kitchen. It was a rare occasion. 

"I just wanted to let you know that I want a change of my afternoon tea. I would prefer to have Manohari gold tea tomorrow." 

She knew she could have just told the chef as he had been attending to her the whole time she sipped her tea but felt she needed to visit the kitchen herself. 

She walked through the gallery, and the ballroom, and finally emerged in the royal garden. She had not done such a great physical workout in a long while and rightly so, she was a little out of breath when she finally got to the far end of the garden where Becky was playing with the royal ginger Persian cat. Close to her stood Heng, the gardener, with gloves on and casually playing with his hedge sears. He was completely turned towards Becky and clearly not doing his gardening at the moment. They were giggling and chatting away. The sight of which stirred emotions in the Princess which she didn't want to acknowledge. 

"Pom Pom", The Princess called out. The Persian cat lazily ran to the princess upon hearing its name. Becky stood up, hiding a little behind her friend, Heng, who bowed deeply at the princess. 

Becky found herself bowing a little. 

Standing there looking at the ground felt awkward, especially when everything turned really quiet. 

"What brings you out here, your highness," Heng spoke to break the ice.

"What were you two doing?" The princess asked back, ignoring Heng's question.

"Your Highness, I was just-"

"Why is it that whenever I see you, you're having your free time, Miss Patricia?"

Becky bit down on her lip, unable to come up with a reply. 

"She was helping me cut the dried stems," Heng cut in, pointing at the hand pruners lying a couple of metres away on the ground. "I was teaching her how to, uh," Heng trailed off. He could now feel sweat forming on his forehead. 

"Oh, she wants to be a gardener now?" The princess spoke, "Now tell me, do you want out of this job? Let her replace you?" She continued, her voice taking a sweet but threatening tone. 

"No, I'll get back to my work," Becky replied, looking up to meet the princess's eyes for the first time. 

The princess wasn't standing too close but the stare she was giving burnt holes in Becky's soul. Becky gulped. She refused to look away this time. She needed to stand her ground and not be intimidated.

A couple more silent seconds dragged on.

"Oh, isn't it interesting? Now you're defending each other." The princess now turned her gaze at the innocent gardener, "How cute, right? What is the nature of your relationship?"

The question completely took the gardener off guard and he involuntarily blushed hard at the question, shaking his head sideways in a way of denial. "There's nothing going on between us. We're, we're just good friends-"

"Enough," Princess Sarocha calmly interrupted. "Run and call the head maid here,"

If Becky thought the last couple of minutes had been awkward, then she had wrongly assessed the situation. The princess had now picked up the Persian cat and was the cat with one hand, all the while staring daggers at poor Becky.

Clearly, the princess missed her best friend of childhood and it was becoming borderline inappropriate how she left no room for Becky to breathe. Staring at someone for a prolonged period was not very polite in Becky's dictionary. As for Becky, she had found a very interesting patch of grass to look at. It took all of her willpower to stop her hands from fidgeting. She wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. 

After what felt like forever, the head maid arrived, freeing Becky from the scrutiny of the princess. 

"Your Highness, you called for me?"

"Mami, may I know why is it that every time I see this girl, she's either roaming around or chatting away? Don't you have any work to assign her?"

The Head maid hesitated. 

"Please answer me," the princess continued.

"His Highness, your brother, specifically asked not to give her any tasks."

The mention of her brother again was the last straw. "How dare he decides what my maids should and should not do?"

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Becky's back was breaking. It already felt like an entire day and she had yet to mop half of the room. The Princess's private art gallery was huge. Becky thought it would be easy work to mop the whole room even if it was huge since the floor was already spotless. But now she was realising how utterly she had underestimated the task at hand. And it did not help her in the slightest that she had to mop the floor under the watchful eyes of the princess, who was sat in a chair near the entrance like the princess she was. 

"Why have you stopped?" The princess' voice echoed through the room.

Becky closed her eyes to try and calm herself down. 

Truthfully speaking, Becky never had to mop a floor this huge in a long while. Ever since she had been under the care of Prince Ken Chan, who had taken a liking to her, a few years ago, she had mostly been treated with respect. Being young and exceptionally beautiful helped a lot in all of that. Becky was aware that she was pretty and more often than not, she would take advantage of this to get people to be in her favour. Though it mostly worked only for men, both noble and ordinary. 

She sighed and continued mopping. She knew she was being tortured at the moment but she decided to let it escape her head. She didn't want to dwell on depressing thoughts.

The princess watched Becky, arms crossed from across the room. She admittedly never paid anybody this amount of attention as far as one could remember. The only thing she stared at for a prolonged period being only paintings and expensive stones and jewels. 

She begrudgingly noted how Becky didn't answer her verbally before continuing to mop the floor. It was unacceptable.

This idiot needs to be taught some manners later. How dare she leave me with no reply. 

Finally, the moping was done. Becky reckoned it took close to two hours to complete. She was sure she could have been quicker. She had to make sure not a single square inch was left since she was always closely being monitored by the princess herself. She was sure she will be having cramps the next day. She exited the door at the far end of the gallery and took a moment to compose herself before walking up to the princess to formally ask her to grant her leave for the day. 

With one long breath, she walked up to the seated princess. 

Again, Becky chided herself inwardly for not being able to look at the princess directly.

"I am done. May I retire to my room, your highness," Becky enquired. 

"Are you tired?" The princess asked, getting up from her seat.

"I- yes, your highness"

"Good, but could you at least look at me while I am talking to you, Miss Patricia"

Becky looked up, the princess looked menacingly smug as she stared down at the girl. 

Becky took the chance to look deeply into the princess' eyes. She accepted defeat when she couldn't find a speck of fondness in those eyes. 

It hurt.

"How about I make you clean this place often?" The Princess proposed.

As for Becky, she was unable to form any words to reply. She simply nodded her head which seemed to infuriate the older woman a bit.

"Yes. Your. Highness," The princess said, much to Becky's surprise. "You say, Yes, your highness when I tell you something. Don't simply nod your head to me." The princess retorted. 

"Yes, your highness," Becky replied, nodding her head along. She seemed genuinely terrified, the princess felt a little bad.

"Do not talk to the gardener. You're not here to make friends." the princess said before gracefully striding off, leaving Becky confused and irked.

______________________________________________

Irin woke up to a wonderful next day but the same couldn't be said about Becky. 

"You go on ahead. I think I have muscle pain. My arms hurt"

Irin nodded. She felt bad for the younger girl. While she thought that it was okay to mop the whole gallery, she couldn't agree with the fact that the princess deliberately made Becky mop the entire floor denying a minute of rest. She knew the princess wanted Becky out of the palace but that's no reason to torment someone the way she did. But then again, it was none other than Princess Sarocha. There was a reason why she was disliked and feared by many... Irin thought the best way to approach this was to quit voluntarily. But Becky was the only close friend she had in the palace. She wanted her to stay. She decided the best course of action would be to go and tell Prince Ratchanon about everything. 

The princess darted her eyes back and forth from her golden pocket watch to the general entrance of her garden as she awaited her tea. 

She was becoming restless by the passing second.

When the chef did arrive with her tea, she stood up from her seat. "Whatever took you so long today" She started. The innocent chef hurriedly put the tray down and began pouring the tea the princess asked for the other day. He wouldn't dare open his mouth to correct the princess but he knew that he was several minutes earlier that day than normal. He was very keen on delivering his services on or before the agreed time. 

The princess was up and moving in less than five minutes. 

"Your Highness, was the tea not good?" the chef asked, concerned.

"It's fine. Let's keep making it for the time being."

The princess was roaming around the palace again around the kitchen area, much to the displeasure of the maids, servants and guards. What they didn't know was that she was hardly there to pay them any heed. She was just looking for a certain someone. 

A small sigh escaped at the thought that she now had to try the garden. 

What she ran into as was an unpleasant sight. The royal Persian cat, Pompom was currently up a branch of a tree and Becky was right beneath the tree calling down the poor cat from the tree. The cat was unmoving. The whole scenario had gathered plenty of onlookers. All of them bowed when the princess appeared out of nowhere.

"what in the world is going on here? She is an indoor cat she doesnt like to be on trees. Who the hell put her" She looked accusingly at Becky.. "Get her down, now" She ordered. 

Becky was on the verge of tears, trying to convince the cat to jump down on her.

When the cat finally jumped down, it landed on her front, Scratching her way down backy's right shoulder and chest before landing on the ground. A shriek could be heard as Becky clutched onto her shoulder in pain.

The princess was quick to assist Becky, much to everyone's surprise. 

"Let me see" The princess demanded. Becky had forgotten about the pain now that the princess was in such close proximity. 

"I am fine," Becky answered. 

"You cannot be fine, she tore your blouse." The princess pointed out, seeing the slightly torn top of Becky. Becky resisted when the princess tried to pry her hand away to see the scratch. 

"I am okay. Your Highness," Becky insisted.

When Becky didn't budge, The princess resorted to dragging her by the arm all the way to the royal physician's quarters. 

Becky was at a loss for words. Everything was happening very fast. 

Not long after, they were inside the physician's room. 

Becky heard the princess call out to some guards to fetch the physician soon.

The princess stepped away and ordered Becky to let her see where she was hurt. Becky was adamant. How was she supposed to take off her blouse? It would be hell of awkward and she was not ready.

"I said I am fine. I am not hurt. It's a minor scratch." Becky said, bringing her hair to the right side to cover the slightly torn shirt.

Hands that did not belong to her reached up the neck of her blouse where a ribbon-like design fastened the blouse. Becky's hands involuntarily moved themselves to stop the princess from taking her blouse off. 

The princess' hold was steadfast. 

"Stand properly," The princess ordered, much like a teacher scolding a disobedient child.

The ribbon was pulled, The front of the blouse came undone and Becky brought up her hands again in an attempt to cover herself a bit. 

"Why are you shy? Can't you see I am a woman?" Was all the princess commented before leaning closer to inspect the scratch mark on Becky's front. She traced the three inches long scratch line with her pointer finger before standing back up straight. 

"It didn't draw blood" She spoke to herself.

Becky was now comparable to a beetroot. It was so embarrassing she was sure she wouldn't recover for a long time. 

Right then, the lady physician entered, saving Becky from further embarrassment.

"Your Highness" She bowed. "what seems to be the problem?" She asked looking at Becky.

"She got scratched by Pompom."

The Physician was quick to examine Becky's scratch. 

"It'll be alright. It's just a minor scratch. You're lucky she scratched you over your shirt. Don't worry, it won't leave a mark." The physical told Becky. Becky was nodding profusely, in a failed attempt to mask her embarrassment. 

"That's it?" The princess enquired. "Aren't cats carriers of rabies and tetanus?" "I have heard news about people dying because of cat bites."

"Exactly, your highness. Cat bites are more lethal. Their saliva seems to be the carrier. But she barely got scratched, your highness." The physician said looking at Becky and at the princess. 

"I will wash off and clean up the scratched area for good measure." The physician said.

The princess nodded. "Do what you must."

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