The beeping of an alarm woke Ymeno up. After hitting the top of the alarm, said annoying beeping stopped.  After putting on his glasses, a quick glance at the time followed. 6:30 AM. The job started at 8 so there was plenty of time to prepare.

Walking out of the bedroom into the living room and opening the curtains, the last remaining bit of moonlight greeted him. Looking at his workstation, a lot of papers were stacked on top of each other. Time for cleanup wasn’t really there.

He walked into the kitchen and turned the coffee machine on alongside putting bread in the toaster. Both those things took time to finish, so he sat down on his red-ish couch and looked at the table. Laying in front of him were even more papers. It was for today's client.

Ymeno's job is that of a gardener, mainly for the upper class. This job was very enjoyable to him. His plan was to save up a lot of money doing this and then to go on a trip around the world. It was going to take a long while, but at 25 there was more than enough time.

Now with toast and coffee on the table, he began to look at the route that he had to walk to get to the client.

The client for the coming time was Kane Qur. A very rich person who owned a large mansion. It was Ymeno's job to maintain the multiple garden fields that surround the mansion. There wasn't much special about Kane otherwise. The gardener wasn’t familiar with what Kane did otherwise, but he did notice that he was only 29, which surprised him, considering the wealth Kane had.

Ymeno had to walk 35 minutes to get to the destination. This route also included walking past the orphanage that Kane's wife owns.

Having finished the toast and coffee Ymeno walked inside the bedroom again. Putting on a formal black suit and a black tie, it looked like he was a standard businessman; which contrasted with what he actually did.

The sun was slowly coming up. Ymeno put on a jacket and due to habit looked at the wall where the dining table was placed. Above it were two objects hanging. A mask and a katana; Something that he should've thrown away years ago when the accusations of murder were published. Black stains on a past that he wants to rather bury and forget about forever.

But he couldn't. Both those objects are too important in his life to do away with. He hung them up on a place where no onlooker could see them, both as a reminder and as a warning of who he was in a former life.

The sound of birds chirping echoed throughout the city that was just starting up. Ymeno visited the local bakery, with the smell of fresh bread wafting throughout the small store as he entered. The lady behind the counter greeted him.

“Hey, Ymeno. Same as usual?”

“Yes please.”

Ymeno was a regular at this small bakery. Always buying the same sliced bread every few days. Sometimes, they’d have a small talk over some coffee.

With a thank you, the man started walking towards his destination again. Only stopping in front of the orphanage and looking at it for a couple of seconds.

He couldn’t stand still forever and continued on towards the mansion. After arriving at the destination, the man was met with a large closed gate. Ringing the doorbell, a male voice responded.

“Ah, is that the new hire? I’m coming.”

There was a distinct accent to his voice. After waiting for a short while, a man with a side part cut opened the gate.

“You must be Ymeno.” He held out his hand.
Ymeno shook it.
"My name is Kane Qur." He smiled

Ymeno nodded and entered the building.

Kane and Ymeno walked inside the massive building which was decorated very stylistically. The entrance to the main hall alone was massive, and there were some vases with unique patterns on them placed around.

Upon entering, the first thing Ymeno saw were two sets of stairs that led to the first floor, which had a balcony overlooking the entrance. Underneath that balcony was another door which would lead to the main hall. Behind the left stairway was a brown door, which Ymeno assumed was a storage closet

Ymeno followed behind Kane, noticing a few maids cleaning and doing other house jobs. An eyebrow was raised when one maid walked past him who looked way smaller than the rest.  They then entered the main hall, which was also very large, the walls were plastered with expensive art and pots. There were also a few photos of Kane shaking hands with very large and prominent people.

“Ah, looking at these, huh.” Kane laughed, brushing it away very casually.

Ymeno noticed one picture that stood out more than the rest. Kane with a woman who had a burn mark on her right cheek. Knowing everyone who Kane was shaking hands with, he was drawing a blank as to who this could be.

Putting that thought in the back of his mind, Ymeno sat down on a chair, opposite of Kane. A maid walked by and gave them both a cup of tea.

Kane immediately put down a few papers on the table, listing them one by one and passing them towards Ymeno.

“Map. Instructions. Contract. You already know what to do and I’ve heard great things about you.”

Ymeno flipped through the instructions and the map.

“As you see, this mansion is surrounded by 4 different gardens. The previous maintainer had to quit with their team due to personal issues, so I’m happy that you’re a fast replacement.”

“4 gardens. The tools are located at the first garden?”

“Yes, I suggest going clockwise. You’re free to use this mansion to rest and have a break when needed. I’m not that strict, just keep it well maintained. But I got a lot of faith in you, my acquintances had good things to say about you.”

Ymeno adjusted his glasses. It wasn’t usual for him to only be hired by one person, normally assigning multiple jobs to himself, but Kane paid so well he could afford to only maintain the mansion’s garden.

Kane let out a small laugh. “Oh yeah, before I forget, children from the nearby orphanage wander in and around this mansion. If they irritate you, just shoo 'em away.”

Ymeno nodded. Within the blink of an eye, Kane put keys in Ymeno’s hand. He didn’t even notice they were there until Kane pointed it out.

“Well then, good luck with the job. I have to get going. If you have any questions, call me. My number is on the back of the map.”

And just like that, while humming a song, Kane disappeared. Ymeno stood up after finishing his tea and walked to the first garden.

It was a 5 minute walk, and Ymeno felt as if he was being watched the entire time. After a short walk, Ymeno stood in front of a shed. Opening it, there were a ton of tools and bags lying around. The instructions said that the green bag contained everything needed.

After checking the green bag and confirming it had all the tools, Ymeno grabbed it and quickly began working on the first garden. It was very large and filled with different types of flowers. It was his job to keep it well maintained and pretty, he was very focused and determined to do this job.

Time passed and Ymeno just couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was watching him. Turning around, he saw a head disappear behind the shed.

A sigh escaped and he continued his work on the first garden. It was gigantic, but Ymeno’s speed and diligency allowed him to finish it within 2 hours. Following the path on the map, the second garden greeted him. This one was even more colorful than the first garden.

But that feeling crept up again, so Ymeno decided to trick the stalker. Pretending to be hyper focused, he waited for the perfect time to look and catch the person observing him. Turning around after 10 seconds passed, Ymeno was greeted by that same tiny maid that he saw when entering the mansion. She had fallen on her back due to being scared.

Ymeno adjusted his glasses. 

“Are you okay?”

The girl quickly bolted away.

After a few seconds of dumbfounded silence, Ymeno adjusted his glasses again and began diligently working on the second garden. Another hour passed, the feeling didn’t come back and he finished the second garden. Looking at his watch, the time had passed quickly, so he walked towards the mansion for a break.

The gigantic mansion was once again being cleaned by all the maids, some running after the kids who were playing around, their laughter echoed throughout the halls.

The small maid was nowhere to be seen. Maybe Ymeno scared her off accidentally. Entering the massive dining room after going through one of the halls, more pretty art and several tables greeted the young man. There was a coffee dispenser at the back of the room, which was uncharacteristically clashing against the rest of the well-designed room.

The buzzing of the coffee dispenser echoed throughout the large but empty hall. For all the cleaning that was happening, there wasn’t a single maid on break right now. Not a single one of the people who worked here were taking a break. Kane did say that everyone was free to choose their own break time, so Ymeno just assumed they were very focused on their job.

After walking to the counter to get utensils and a plate, he sat down with his cappuccino, grabbing the bread that was still fresh from his bag. Suddenly, the small maid sat down right in front of him. She was fiddling with her fingers, her eyes shifting nervously all over the place, but never directly looking at Ymeno.

Finally getting a good look at the girl, she had blond hair and her eyes, although shifting everywhere, were a deep crimson red. Ymeno had seen eyes like that before once; He never thought he’d see eyes like those again. She also had small limbs which were trembling a lot.

 A small deduction that Ymeno had made when he first saw her following all the other maids was confirmed.

This is a kid. Why was she wearing a uniform?

But before any questions could be answered, the little girl began to speak very softly

“I-I’m sorry for following you without your knowledge.”

There was an air of politeness to her words which surprised Ymeno. He wasn’t that good with children, so he just assumed them all to be like how he was when he was at that age.

“I always get interested when Mr. Kane brings in a new person. But my curiosity got the better of me and I couldn’t help but follow you.”

Ymeno just listened to the girl explaining herself, feeling a bit bad for scaring her like that.

“Sorry for scaring you. But how come you’re interested in me?” He asked.

“…your suit.”

“My suit?”

“You’re a gardener, yet you’re dressed like that. It’s so out of place. I wondered if you were an undercover spy.”

The girl shifted her eyes again. The whole situation was just because of childish innocence. Ymeno couldn’t help but chuckle at the honesty of the little girl.

“That’s alright.”

A bit of bread was torn off and put on another plate. It was then passed to the little girl. She smiled and they both began to eat. While they were both silently eating, a thud was heard. The girl looked next to her chair.

The girl apologized and stood up to grab the fallen object, it was a pink blue umbrella with tiny black stars all around it, which was way too large for her. The sight of a small girl in a maid uniform with an oversized umbrella made Ymeno silently laugh.

“Do you always carry that umbrella?”

The girl nodded.
Ymeno thought it was kind of cute, but he didn’t feel the need to ask any further about it. After a few minutes, they were both done. The girl stood up and patted the breadcrumbs off of her maid uniform.

“Why are you dressed like that?”

“I wanted to know what it was like to be a maid, and the head maid happily gave me this uniform.”

There was a large smile on the little girl as she picked up her umbrella.

“Bye-bye mister, thanks for the bread!”

And she wanted to dash off, but quickly turned towards the man once again.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Magnolia.”

She dashed off immediately after. Ymeno stood up too, while walking to the front door of the mansion, he saw that Kane was busy talking with a boy who had a book in a metal holder on his leg. As the boy walked upstairs, The man noticed Ymeno.
“Ah, done with your break, I see. How many gardens have you finished already?”

“Two, I’m going to try to finish the rest now.”

Kane held his hand against his chin. “Wow! That is fast! These gardens are no joke, I expected you to work way longer on them. Well, I’ll let you know that you can always enter this place as long as you work here.”

Ymeno adjusted his glasses, feeling a little big smug on the inside due to his fast work.

“Well, I have to go now, see you soon.” Kane walked upstairs afterwards.

Ymeno went on to the third garden. This one was just as colorful as the previous two, but also way more massive than the both of them. Ymeno decided that this would be the last garden he would do for the day, as it was really hot outside. He already had the feeling that Kane was very satisfied with his work.

And after a lot of hard work in the heat, Ymeno finished the third garden. He heard the sound of children playing and running around in the background. He did wonder what the little girl was doing right now.

While walking back to the first garden to store the green bag inside the shed, Ymeno tripped over an object that he had never seen before. It looked like a custom made toy water gun. Upon closer inspection, it was more of a bazooka than a gun.

He looked around but saw no one who it could belong to, so he just placed it on a nearby bench. After putting the green bag back, he began to walk to his appartement. He passed by the orphanage where he saw a lot of kids playing. This put a soft smile on his face, as he was seeminly reminiscing about something.

He got home, looking at the mask and the katana on his wall. The day was very successful. He sat down and brewed some coffee. He turned on the news and saw a brown-blondish haired policewoman being interviewed. She apparently apprehended quite the large gang. Ymeno wondered who that was, and why she felt so familiar.

Seeing her also reminded him of Fari and what happened that night.

But everytime he thought of that night, he became sick. After all those years, that's not who he was anymore.

Not anymore.

Chapter 2 -END-