Chapter 2

Owen was holding his phone, a gentle smile on his lips.

I could tell he was chatting with Wendy. After setting his breakfast on the nightstand, I quietly slipped out.

When Emily returned, I went to her and handed in my resignation.

Unlike the other maids who were stuck with lifetime contracts, I wasn't tied down by anything.

Emily had told me that as long as Owen didn't need me anymore, I could leave whenever I wanted.

But I had once said that I only wanted to stay by Owen's side for my whole life.

Now, I went back on my word.

In the study, Emily stood with her arms crossed, watching me. "Does Owen know you're leaving?"

She knew about the special relationship between Owen and me, so she was always strict with me and never treated me kindly.

I lowered my head. "I've taken the pill. I won't get pregnant with a Grant baby."

If it wasn't for being there to satisfy him, I'd be nobody to him.

If I left, Owen wouldn't care.

Emily clearly didn't believe it. She called in the family doctor to run a full physical on me, and only after making sure there was no way I could be pregnant did she finally agree to my request.

"I'll find someone to take over in five days. After that, you're out of here," she said.

I knew that if I didn't know all of Owen's little quirks, she would've thrown me out on the spot.

As I stepped out of the study, I finally let out a sigh of relief, only to spot Wendy sitting in the living room.

She was holding Owen's arm, leaning in close to whisper something in his ear. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement.

Owen caught sight of me out of the corner of his eye and told me to make Wendy a cup of coffee.

I had set the cup down in front of her when Wendy couldn't wait to take a sip. The next second, she spilled it all over the floor.

"It's so hot!" she yelped.

Owen shot me a cold look. "Is this how you do your job?"

I lowered my head and quickly apologized, but as I was about to take the cup away, Wendy stopped me.

She smiled, dimples showing. Then she shook her head and said, "It doesn't matter. I didn't check the temperature.

"You're Anna Grant, the maid who's always by Owen's side, right?"

I nodded, and then met Owen's colder gaze.

He wasn't satisfied with my apology.

I stood there and apologized again.

Owen's gaze grew gentler as he guided Wendy back to the sofa. "You don't have to be so polite with the maids. That's the way things work around here in the Grant family."

Wendy sighed, looking at me with a bit more sympathy in her eyes.

After that, Wendy latched onto Owen, acting all sweet. "It's my first time at your place. Can you show me around?

"Oh, Anna, maybe you don't have to—" Wendy started, but Owen cut her off before she could finish.

"Anna should come with us. If you need anything, you can ask her," Owen said.

With that, he took Wendy's hand and walked ahead of me.

Wendy, annoyed that I was ruining her alone time with Owen, spun around and shot me a sharp glare. She lowered her voice and hissed, "You'll pay for it."

I didn't respond and trailed after them in silence.

Following Owen had always been my job. Now, I had one more person to keep an eye on.

When we stepped outside the estate, Wendy pointed at the highest branch of the cherry blossom tree and grinned at me. "Anna, climb up there and pick it for me."

The cherry blossom tree branches were slender and packed close together. Climbing up was dangerous. It was easy to slip or get scratched.

I was about to turn back and grab a ladder, but Wendy stopped me. "Don't use a ladder. I want you to pick it with your own hands. What if the ladder messes up the blossoms?"

When I didn't move, Owen gave me a cold, impatient glare. "Did you not hear that?"

I gritted my teeth, rolled up my sleeves, and started climbing.

The dense branches kept scratching up my arms, making my skin bleed in tiny spots.

Wendy was down below, shouting instructions. "Go higher. A bit more."

As I was stretching to grab the branch, I heard a loud snap under my feet.

The branch broke, and I went crashing down, totally losing my balance.

Branches scraped and ripped at my skin. Some of the smaller ones even dug into me.

I crashed to the ground, still clutching the cherry blossom branch Wendy wanted. Once I got my bearings, I shakily held it out to her.

Wendy pouted, her eyes welling up with tears. "Owen, my flower isn't pretty anymore."

Owen wrapped her in his arms to calm her down, and then he frowned and scolded me. "You can't even pick a flower without getting yourself all scratched up?

"Such bad luck. Go back inside."

I nodded, my hands shaking as I struggled to get up.

Maybe Owen felt a little sorry for me. He walked over and grabbed me by the arm. "Forget it, with how slow you are, you'd still be out here next year."

I didn't fight it. I let myself savor this moment, the last bit of warmth I'd get.

But behind me, Wendy's stare was boring into my back, like she wanted to see right through me.