Breakfast (1)

Lillian stared at her retreating back for a while before turning her attention to somewhere else, her stomach. She found the woman weird. There was something off about her, Lillian was already too famished to let her mind burn any more of her energy. She needed to use it to find her way to the kitchen.

She would have asked the lady, but she left before she could even thank her. If it wasn't for her, she would have just waited for lunch time and kept herself on water until then.

'Let's go on the kitchen hunt.' She thought inwardly as she walked across the wide hall.

She hadn't paid much attention to the hall earlier but now that she was looking at it, she realized that despite the fact that the place was meant to serve the people who worked under Blake, it had a homey feeling about it. Maybe it were the pale lightnings which lit the place up, or the light brown wood furnishings which were giving off a cozy vibe.

She let her eyes wander around the place, jumping from one thing to another. She was walking at her own pace, not too eager to find the kitchen as earlier.

Beep! Beep!

She was pulled out of her trance as a notification popped up on the phone's screen. She shifted her gaze to the screen where she saw a text blinking in the center.

'Take the left exit on the end of the hall. You will find the kitchen.

-Zak.'

She frowned before exhaling out a long breath. She was too enthralled by the gleaming lights that for a minute there, she even forgot about her empty stomach. She couldn't be blamed for it either. It was the first time she was witnessing a place which looked pleasant to the eyes.

"Thanks, Zak." She mumbled to herself as the phone's speaker was away from her face. Little did she know that the program was able to catch on her whisper, but it just decided to stay quiet for the time being.

She walked to the end of the hall just like she was asked to. There was a small doorway on the left which she took as the exit mentioned in the text. Without wasting another minute, she walked out of the hall.

As soon as she stepped out of the hall, a faint aroma wafted up her nostrils before her eyes could register where she was. Her feet were rooted to the ground as she continued to stand in the doorway. Once again, she was awed by the sight alone.

There was a large kitchen counter right in the center of the wide room which had a marble top. The two walls on either side of the counter had slabs running along their length which were supporting a number of stoves. Some of the stoves were lit up under large pains. Steam could be seen coming out from the sides of their lids, indicating that something was in the process of cooking.

'What have I walked into?'

She was too lost in observing the surroundings around her that her hunger stricken self was ignored once again.

Grrrrr!

Her stomach grumbled in protest, demanding for her attention. She blinked her eyes a couple of times, pulling herself out of her thoughts.

"Excuse me! Can I help you, young lady?"

She heard a deep voice coming from behind her. It made her jump in her spot before she stepped to the side. It wasn't long before her eyes landed on an elderly man who seemed to be in his late fifties. Unlike the others she had seen before, he wasn't wearing a black uniform. He was dressed casually in a loose blue summer shirt paired with khaki trousers.

"Umm… I-I was looking for the chef." Lillian managed to answer him.

A polite smile broke on to his wrinkled face before he gave her a nod. "You must be hungry, Miss." He added only to see her nod in response. "Follow me." He asked her politely to which Lillian complied.

With the girl in tow, the man began to make his way to the kitchen counter. As they walked closer to it, a couple of bar stools came into Lillian's view which she wasn't able to see earlier.

"Have a seat, please." The old man, who was actually Blake's family butler, asked her while pointing towards one of the stools.

Not given any other choice, she just nodded her head. She was grateful that there were only a couple of people working in the kitchen, or she would have never been able to eat under everyone's scrutinizing gaze.

"Mark." The old man called out loud. Within a couple of seconds a young man walked inside the room.

"Can you get the young lady here some food? Make sure it's nutritious." The old man asked him.

"Sure, Uncle Robert." Mark replied. His eyes briefly trailed off to Lillian before he shifted them away. "Any preference?" He asked the old butler.

"As long as the food is fresh, anything will do fine. She just needs to eat healthy" the old butler said, "Young Master's order."

"I will look over her meals myself and make sure that she does eat healthy." Mark nodded his head in acknowledgment. Seeing the old butler personally catering to the girl's need, Mark could tell that Lillian wasn't like the rest of the trainees. She seemed young and too out of place to be one.

"That's good then. You can set up a diet chart for her as well. She's staying in the Young Master's room for now, so you can just ask someone to deliver the food upstairs according to what time it is." The old butler continued with the list of instructions just like he was asked to do by his Young Master.

Hearing what he had to say, a couple of workers turned around to stare at the young girl. They wondered about her identity. She had to be someone important for their Boss to give up his own room.