A Big Birthday Bash! (Part 1)

Gui Gui’s POV:

I stomped into my room and slammed the door shut. Even though it didn’t matter to me, why was I feeling so pissed off that I still had to be a stupid maid for Aaron’s birthday??

Could it be-?

No, no, no. I was just pissed off that I still had to do stupid work on a special occasion.

…

Special occasion?

No!!! Aaron’s birthday was not a special occasion!! What the heck was I thinking?? I flopped onto my bed with frustration.

Work on a day everybody celebrates. That .

A few days later…

There was a knock on my door. Grr…Stupid Penny. Can’t she see that I don’t want to get up today?

“Come in,” I yelled. To my surprise, instead of Penny, Mei Mei burst in.

“GUUUIIII!!!” She shouted, bowling me over.

“What is it now?” I sighed. She gave me one of her biggest and brightest smiles ever.

“Y-Young master Xiao Yu called me cute!!” She cried. “He called me cute!!” She was blushing.

“What did he say?” I asked, wondering if she had gotten the wrong person.

“H-He said something like, ‘The way you always act shy is quite cute’!”

“…Therefore he didn’t really call you cute.”

“He did! He did!” Mei Mei protested, a look of determination in her eyes. I sighed.

“Alright,” I said. “Good for you.”

“Anyhow,” Mei Mei said, making her hands into two fists. “We have to do our best today! It’s Master Aaron’s birthday today! We’ll all be extra busy serving the guests!”

“Wh-What!?” I yelled. Serving guests?? What if someone them recognise me??

“See you at the main hall!” Mei Mei said, waving at me and skipping outside my door. Oh crud. What will I do?

~~~

By the time I had dressed and gone out to the main hall, most of the maids were there already. Or should I say maids in animal masks. I blinked twice. What was going on?

A maid in a cute cat mask came fluttering towards me, which was quite strange for she was supposed to be a cat.

“Gui Gui!” The maid with the cat mask said. “You’re finally here!” The voice sounded awfully familiar.

“Mei Mei?” I asked, frowning. She took of her mask and giggled.

“Bingo!” She said. “For Master Aaron’s party this year, the maids get to wear animal masks and serve the guests!”

“Really?” I asked, interested. “What did the maids wear last year?” Mei Mei smiled.

“We didn’t wear anything special!” She said. “But for some reason, this year Master Aaron has told us to wear animal masks to hide our faces!”

Could it be? No, no. It can’t be. Could he have asked all of us to wear animal masks to hide our faces so I wouldn’t get recognised?

Mei Mei took out a mask from behind her and handed it to me.

“Here is yours!” She said and laughed. “See? Yours is a mouse mask and mine is a cat mask! I can eat you~”

I looked at down at my mask. A mouse which was always forever hiding in its mouse hole. Just like me.

I put the mask on and looked at Mei Mei.

“How do I look?” I asked, jumping around. Mei Mei laughed.

“Good! It’s like I can’t recognise you anymore!” She said. That’s good.

~~~

Soon, time flew and the time to start the party came. All the maids stood silently and patiently at the front door, greeting guests as they came in. I looked around distractedly for Aaron. I hadn’t seen him for the whole day.

N-Not that I wanted to see him.

As the guests walked past, I recognised some of them. I even recognised the caretaker of our orphanage, still with that same mean and sneaky look as she did from when I lived in the orphanage. She looked richer now, with her crimson red lipstick smeared right across her lips, making them stand out with her flowery, light blue dress. The colours* really clashed.

As the caretaker walked past me, a whiff of strong smelling perfume hit my face. I restrained myself not to sneeze. Ugh. She was a terrible caretaker. She was cruel to kids. She only looked after us for money.

No. She didn’t even look after us. We were basically her slaves. When charity was given to us, the caretaker took it all for herself. I wrinkled my nose under my mask and made a mental note to save those orphanage kids one day.

~~~

After all the guests arrived, we closed the big doors and watched them dine and talk. Then, I saw Aaron in a white suit, stepping downstairs with a microphone in his hand. The guests noticed him and quietened down. He smiled and I saw a flash.

I turned to look at the maids who were shuffling about. D-Did they just take a sneak photo of him??

“Good evening everyone,” Aaron greeted, speaking into the microphone. “I am so glad that you could come today. This year, as you may have noticed, we’ve gotten the maids to wear animal masks so they can remain anonymous.” He looked across at the crowd and his eyes settled onto me. The guests didn’t seem to notice but I felt that he was speaking directly to me. Could he recognise me under this mask??

“I thank you all for bringing me such wonderful gifts and presents and I hope you will enjoy the party.” He finished off, taking his gaze off me and finishing with a smile.

There was applause and it ended. People started chatting once more and Aaron walked around, talking to the guests and shaking hands with them.

I watched him being professional until I noticed a guest waving a hand. I scuttled over to him.

“What may I get you, sir?” I asked, trying to be professional as well.

“Yes, I’d like a…” He ordered some type of wine that I’d never heard of before. I looked at him blankly.

“…S-Sorry?” I asked. He repeated it. I still didn’t know what it was. Suddenly, Aaron appeared next to me.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it for you instead,” He said to the guest and turned around, dragging me along with him.

“What was that?” He asked me.

“I was trying to be professional,” I mumbled. “Professional?” He asked. “You call that professional?”

“I-I-I don’t like to drink these types of wine!” I protested. “It’s not my fault!!” He smirked and walked off, leaving me there.

“Good luck~”

~~

Author’s Note:

…Wait. Wait. Wait. It’s not finished yet. Nup, this isn’t the special chapter. (Well, not really.)

The next chapter will be the special one! :)

*Oh and by the way, in Australia, we spell colour as, well, C-O-L-O-U-R. America or some other countries spell it as C-O-L-O-R or something, right? Yeah, so it’s not a mistake! ;9