Lost

The birds chirped outside the glass window of the room of Anderson mansion which belonged to none other than, Zaria Smith. The rays from the sun glazed the window glass, greatly.

Too shiny!

It made her stir in her sleep as she quickly yanked the light pink quilt over her head.

She was seconds away to close her eyes again, when she heard her maid, Elizabeth Jones, commonly known as Lisa in her friends, called her out.

"Ria, come on, get up! It's afternoon already." Of course, it was a lie. Madam Anderson had told Lisa to wake Zaria early today. Lisa clearly knew Zaria would not be awaken that easily.

Elizabeth and Zaria were the best of friends of the same age. They did not care about the master-servant relation between them. What mattered to them the most was their strong friendship which had been built for the past couple of years with their close bond of sharing things with each other.

In a nutshell, both girls had each other's back.

Elizabeth was brought five years back in the Anderson mansion to kill the boredom for Zaria. She was timid at first, but came out of her shell when she immersed herself among the lives of people living in the Anderson mansion, and vice versa.

"Lisa, please, let me sleep. I was awake the whole night for that eyesore assignment. I want to rest. No, I need some rest!" Lisa only shook her head.

It was common for Ria to say this every morning. For every subject.

But, Physics was something Zaria despised with her whole being. No matter how much time she invested in it, she could never be able to understand the subject, but she definitely did get good grades.

She also had some prejudice against Isaac Newton and apples. Oh her rotten luck!

"No means no. Madam Anderson has instructed me to wake you, so get up." Now, Zaria had opened her right eye a little. Lisa smiled. Finally!

Madam Anderson was the best friend of Zaria's late mother, Cassandra Smith.

Madam Anderson was a kind woman who had always treated Zaria fairly and had given her the love of a parent from the moment she brought Zaria home with her when she was informed that her beloved best friend had left the world along with her husband in an accident, leaving a bundle of sunshine alone in this selfish world.

At that moment, Madam Anderson wanted to protect her from all the evil in the world.

Madam Anderson, also known as Mia Anderson had never forced Zaria to call her mother, instead she told Zaria that she could call her whatever she would like, so Zaria insisted on calling her Aunt Mia.

Aunt Mia and her husband, Master Anderson, her Uncle John had always treated her like she was their own, and so was Zaria.

They were like her parents and meant the whole world to her. She could do everything for them.

It was rare for Aunt Mia to request her presence in the breakfast table this morning as she always had told Zaria to take her time in getting up, as well as Master Anderson.

The Anderson couple clearly knew Zaria was getting spoilt with such concessions, but the loving parents in them always got in between and told them to give everything she wanted.

If she wanted any dress, she could have it. If she wanted any perfume, she could have it. If she wanted the whole world, Anderson couple would give it to her without missing a heartbeat. That much, she was loved by the Anderson couple.

But waking her up in the morning, this seemed rather important. It aroused her interest.

"Why, is something the matter?" Zaria's voice was still groggy as she had not woken up clearly.

Lisa shrugged,"I don't know. She hasn't told anything to me yet, but I heard the other maids talking about some high esteemed guest coming here over today."

"Oh." Zaria said plainly. Some guest coming here at the Anderson mansion was nothing special to her. In fact, it was the most common thing. Meetings, discussions, eating with business partners.

It was not like her childhood sweetheart was coming.

Since, her aunt had told her to, then naturally she had to attend. She yawned and outstretched her body, getting up from the bed. Her white sleeping gown was crinkled, resulted in changing of sleeping positions the whole night.

Did she care?

No.

Her thick hazelnut wavy strands blocked the sight in front of her and she stumbled across the bedpost. She had a lavish four poster bed like a princess, just like her name.

Lisa was horrified. This girl..

Not a day would pass when Ria had not been clumsy.

She was clumsy and she was born clumsy, and she was proud of that.

"Heavens! Ria, you're a young girl. You need to watch your steps when you walk. What if something happened?" Yes, one thing in Lisa was, she was always that melodramatic.

If Zaria was conscious enough, then she would have rolled her eyes at Lisa, but nonetheless, she loved Elizabeth like her sister, her closet confidant.

"Yes, yes." Zaria waved her hand and proceeded to move to her attached bathroom for a quick shower.

She had the habit of taking showers whenever she woke up. At any hour.

Around 20 minutes later, she came out from her bathroom with her hair and body wrapped up in a pure white towel. Her face was still flushed red due to the warm water. Some water droplets were falling from her hair strands on the ground.

A dress was already prepared by Lisa for her. It was a teal pink floral dress for her, her favourite colour. Pink had always been her favourite colour.

It gave her a princess feeling. She made her way to the staircase and her gaze tried to find Aunt Mia, but aunt was nowhere to be found.

She next went to the kitchen.

As Zaria made her way to the kitchen, she saw the kitchen maids hurriedly working like machines. She was baffled.

It was not like that the maids slacked off usually, but it was strange today.

What was going on?

"Hey, Felicia, what's going on?" She asked another maid who she considered her friend, but Zaria's relation with her was not that strong as that of hers with Lisa. They were bosom friends.

Felicia, a sweet little girl with orange hair and chubby cheeks full of freckles, was a seventeen year old, working as a maid at Anderson's to unhinged the economic burden of her parents. She was a high school student, but her hard work still could not be compared with the most of the people. She really worked hard to earn with good and fair means.

Felicia was startled to see the young miss up so close. Not that her young miss looked like a creep who was smiling so big at her, but rather she was nervous to face people from her childhood.

"Y-young miss, you should've called me. I could have come to y-you." Felicia looked down. Zaria smiled and shook her head. Did Felicia know how adorable she looked right now? She really had an obsession for cute things.

"It's okay, Felicia. I was just asking which important guest is coming today? So much preparation has been done for that guest." Zaria looked around. She was feeling jealous. Such special treatment!

Guess she was wrong considering the guest as random.

Even the kitchen seemed new. She did not need to ask about the living hall as it could be seen how the whole hall was decorated with beautiful curtains. Sofas were new. The table set was new, too. The white tiles were shimmering like diamonds.

Staircase also was polished. Just how much hours of sleep had she gotten to see this big of a difference around her surroundings?

Now, Zaria wanted to know who was so important to the Anderson couple that they even changed their decoration of years for him.

"Young miss, t-that-" Felicia was cut off by Madam Anderson, Zaria's aunt, Mia Anderson.

"My dear, you're awake." Aunt Mia looked so energetic today like she had become as young as she used to be when her son, Elian Anderson was present here with them around. She was wearing a decent and graceful light purple dress which gave her a beautiful glow.

How much time had passed since he went to abroad for his studies? Zaria had heard that now he was handling the business branch of Anderson's there. His studies were almost completed, but she did not know when he would come back.

In some years, the whole business would belong to him, too, as there were no other Anderson heirs. Elian was the sole heir.

How much he had grown up now? Was he still that playful and sweet boy of her memories who used to tease her when she wore pigtails? Who would ask her to tidy up his room for him.

Aunt Mia and Uncle John teased her one time saying she looked more like a wife than the helper. At that time, even Elian had said that anyone would be lucky to have a little wife like her.

At that time, Zaria was new to the idea of being a wife, she knew this word's meaning but she never had heard anyone saying that to her. Only Elian said that. She became so embarrassed that she did not let anyone see her blushing face for days, and that anyone was Elian Anderson, himself.

She did not want to be teased by that playful troublemaker anymore!

Little Zaria did not know when he came to knock on the door of her heart. From her childhood, she seemed to love only one male who was him, Elian Anderson who was six years her senior, other than her father and her uncle John.

Her father Alexander Smith and her Uncle John were the people she looked up to.

Her Elian was someone she looked forward to spending her rest of her lifetime with. She hoped he could accept her.

Solely, these three males were the most significant males in her life. Rest of them in the world were not as important or a least bit concern to her.

Zaria did not realise that she was smiling when thought about her love of the life. Just the mere thought of Elian made her smile involuntarily. It happened every time.

He was always good to her, cared for her, protected her, cheered for her, and encouraged her in what she wanted to do.

Every girl wants these qualities in her knight in shinning armour, and Zaria Smith was no exception.

She seemed to be awaken from her reverie when she sensed her aunt looking at her with a warm smile.

Her aunt always smiled at her and would tell her that she was as beautiful and sweet as her mother. "You look so much beautiful, honey. May you always be happy forever." Aunt Mia squeezed Zaria's hand in hers. Where Aunt Mia looked so energetic in work, she also looked quite soft and emotional. She seemed to be wearing her emotions on sleeves today.

Zaria Smith was really confused.

What was happening with everyone? Such change was getting her disturbed now.

Zaria offered her aunt a smile and asked: "Aunt, why everyone is working extra hard today? Is it because of that guest?" She really wanted to ask who that highly valued person was. As for him, the whole place seemed renovated. Even she, the person living in the mansion did not get this treatment.

Her jealousy meter was really high now!

Aunt Mia did not reply but her eyes said it all.

Her eyes were twinkling with delight, laughter and playfulness. Figure it out on your own, child. You will be so much excited later.

"How about you find that out?" With a pat on her head, Madam Anderson left with a smile. Let us wait till she find out!

Oh the fun.

When Aunt Mia refused to tell her anything with a smile, Zaria guessed that the person coming at the Anderson mansion was not that much of a significant figure in Mia Anderson's eyes. After all, only some people could catch her aunt's eyes.

In her mind, Zaria simply just did not want to pay attention to that stranger.

Because of that person, everyone was playing riddles with her!

She hated riddles. She liked everything easygoing. That was one of the qualities of her Elian. He was really easygoing, so she also loved easygoing things. Easy to get, easy to read, easy to understand, easy to see, and easy to get along with.

If he were to be a person full of importance, then her aunt would have had told her already about him, and not play riddles, so Zaria stopped paying attention to him. He was not important! Not important at all. Hmph.

Amidst walking, she realised that she had not seen her garden for a whole day! Could anyone imagine that?

Oh, her cute and beautiful flowers must be missing her. She swiftly crossed the path without noticing the luggage in front of her and took her route to her garden. She wanted to talk to her flowers very badly, wanted to let all the frustration of guessing so long.

The place she was going to, it was her secret garden where she would talk to her flowers about her feelings for Elian for hours. No one was to be allowed to enter it without her permission.

Even Aunt Mia and Uncle John obliged the rule.

She was humming lightly and her hair were jolting ; bouncing even. The day was good. She should wake up early from now on. Who knew waking up early was this good.

Wait.

She stopped, when she stood there on the track, dead. She sniffed the air. Her sniffing sense was really extraordinarily incredible among other people. Lisa often joked that Zaria surely was born in the year of a dog. She could easy sniff and bite.

The scent of the garden was disturbed. Someone had intruded in here!

It looked like someone was not taking her seriously. She had to see the person who dared not follow her wishes. Let's see how much of a good person he was. He really needed to give a good explaining to her.

Zaria was rather pacing lowly, because she did not want the intruder to be alerted. What if he ran away? She would never be able to scold that intruder.

She cautiously examined the whole garden around her. No one had messed with her roses, yet. No harm was done to her lilies, and even her jasmine flowers were safe, too! Her sunflowers were in the sun gently. Summing up, all her flowers were smiling at her.

So, what was the intruder doing here? In the past whenever someone would come to her garden, all the flowers she had tirelessly grown with her blood, sweat and tears would be annihilated. She could never let that happen again. She remembered she cried so much that day.

Nothing would happen if I check again.

Another horrible thought came into her mind and her face changed.

Oh, God! I hope my little babies are safe and sound.

She counted her flowers one by one. Roses were there, Lilies were there, Jasmine were there, Lotus pound was save and little lotus flowers in there were not harmed, Sunflowers were okay. Chrysanthemums still held their youth, innocently looking at her whilst shinning.

Then what was missing? She had counted again. Once. Twice. Thrice.

There was one thing she seemed to be missing now. She could not remember what was it, but was important for her. Really important.

Wait again.

What about her lavender pot? It was her most favourite! Her priced possession.

It was her precious baby.

Her uncle John ordered her lavenders specifically for her from abroad as they were not available in the country where they lived in. They were ordered in the memory of her late mother, Cassandra Smith. Zaria still remembered how her mother used to talk about having a lavender field near her home, so she could visit them daily and make plans for her future. Growing up hearing it, Zaria had the same thought too, but de was not lucky enough.

She tried to grow them, but the success she achieved was of only one pot. Growing that one pot was difficult too, as there were some serious conditions which were to be taken to plant them.

She did not want to lose it. After all, it was rare and only one.

But now her beloved baby was missing! It was only 3 years old. So young.

She ran to every spot she knew, but her lavender was not there? Where could it be!?

Her eyes widened. Why someone other than her was holding it? Much less, a man. Who was tall from her, really a punch to her stomach.

Women usually hide their ages and try to look as young as possible, but with Zaria Smith, it was different! She wanted to look older, and she wanted to let everyone know her age.

This eighteen year old girl was very petite which made her look like she was actually fourteen or fifteen. She was an adult! Some people had several times mistaken her for her age.

Why did I not grow enough!?

Would Elian like the way I am?

Three weeks ago, under the protection of bodyguards, she had gone to cinema to watch that famous assassin movie with her friends from high school, but what she faced was not an ordinary situation, but a dire one.

"Look, how carelessly this girl is jumping around. She belongs to the same age group as of our children, right? Does she not care about what people are thinking about her? She is shouting so loud. What an imprudent child. Our fourteen years are better at manners here than her." They were hushed whispers, yet they sounded like someone throwing grenade in the enemy's camp.

Fourteen years?

She was called a child, an imprudent child who was not listening to anyone and shouting excitingly at the action movie!

It was all because of her height!

No one knew how much insult and embarrassment she had felt that time. After all, her short figure was the biggest trigger to her.

It was utterly humiliating!