Chapter 4

Say doesn't have a choice but cancel their squad practice that night as she still needs to finish her research paper. She went home early and planned to use all the books she could get her hands off from the library. One of their security guards, Gino, carried all the books she picked up all the way to her room.

“Ma'am, here are all of your books. Do you still need anything?”

“I got all the things I need now, Gino. Thanks. You can go back to your work. ”

“Okay ma’am, just let me know if you need anything.”

***

“Why is there no signal again? I can no longer hear what Sir Enriquez is saying in the call... Ah... I will have to look for that phone reception. Where is it? Ah...rooftop!“

Nick saw the maid’s quarter where his mother stay had big enough window for him to get into. The opening will lead him to the rooftop.

Nick carefully opened the window of his mother's room to get out. The typical Servant’s Quarter is below, but his mother’s room is on the third floor with the passage and exit directly to the first floor near the kitchen.

When Nick got out properly, he posed on one side of the roof, and there began to check his cellphone's signal again - hoping this time, he will get reception to receive a callback or text from his boss.

***

Say sleepily yawns as she types her research on her laptop. It was already late 11 P.M. The milk that their cook brought earlier was already lukewarm. She remembered again that supposedly tonight, she won't be staying up late for her research if it wasn't for that damn nameless janitor guy earlier who humiliated her over a book. She decided to focus on her work when she realized one of the book she needs isn’t around.

Wait, the medieval book of Peter Abelard is not here. Ahh... I need to go back to the library. Should I ask Gino to get it for me? Hmmnn...he might not know where it is.

A few minutes later, Say got the book she was looking for in the private library. She was about to leave when she noticed something moving from outside the windowpane of the library. And it looks like... It looks like an intruder! Somebody wearing a black hoodie was on their rooftop!

“Ohemgee! Someone's on the rooftop! And I’m sure as hell he’s not from here! I have to call Gino and Steve! “

Say was referring to their Security personnel at the mansion. But she thought that before she could call them, the intruder might have left. She suddenly made a decision.

“Oh no, it will take time if I still have to go down and call the security. I have to check who that intruder is!”

The rooftop where the guy is standing is between the guest room, the maid’s room and the library.

The large window in the library was forcibly opened by Say. It has enough space for her to pass. From there, she sneaks into the stone-coated roof towards where the guy is. She has not been on the rooftop for a long time. When she was young, she frequently climbed out of the library’s window and steps into the roof - until she was told not to do anymore by her mom who was still alive at that time. But now because of the intruder, she will have to step on it again.

***

"If there is no reception still, my text will not reach Sir Enriquez. Heck, how can I let them know that I will not be able to work tomorrow because I have an exam? "

Nick frustratingly looked at his old phone then realized something. “Perhaps it's not the reception problem but because my cellphone is outdated? Oh, heck! Come on, let me just send this one text message, so I can sleep!”

Just when he was about to try to dial a number again, a female voice from the back made Nick jump to his wits.

“WHO ARE YOU??!”

“Oh heck, you scared the daylights out of me!” Nick was suddenly startled by the booming voice at the back causing the cellphone he was holding to fall suddenly and go straight to the bottom of the rooftop. It was the cellphone he bought from the savings he got from his part-time jobs.

“Uh-oh no! My phone! My cellphone - Ahh!”

"I said who are you ??!" the female voice demanded with impotent hostility.

Nick turned angrily. “Why did you suddenly shout? The only phone I have fell and -” He stopped mid-sentence when he recognized who he was talking to now.

"--And you still have the audacity to be angry even though you are the one I should ask for why you're here and wait...YOU!??"

Nick was shocked to see that in front of him was the governor's daughter, Samantha “Say” De Plaza. Her angry face moments ago was suddenly replaced by doubt. Nick remembered how she was furiously annoyed with him earlier at the library. And how he left her looking so appalled.

And now she is approaching him with her glaring eyes - like a bull with her eyes set on her prey - HIM!

“Say...”

Nick seemed to be out of breath when he saw Say is getting closer.

“You, nameless Janitor-guy! Now I know why you know my name. You also know where I live, and now you're here to... Wait --- Are you my stalker ?! ”

“Me? A stalker? To you? Of course not...”

The angry lady continued to get closer to him. Nick saw that Say wasn't even looking at her steps while she stepped on the wet stone-coated roof. He knew that some parts of the roof were slippery as there are some mosses around it and since it rained in the afternoon, it becomes slippery.

“Say, don’t step over...don’t come over because --

"Why? Because you are afraid that I will report you? Ha! I will definitely report you! ”

“That’s not what I’m trying to mean. Say, you’re stepping at some mosses and the wet part of the --"

“I will step wherever I pleased. This is my house and you are but an intruder and a stalker - "

“I said, I’m not a stalker. And I said, please watch your steps!”

“ You, nameless brute janitor! I haven’t forgotten you yet with what you did earlier and ---wwwooppss! NOOOOOOOOO!”

And just as Nick thought, Say stepped on the roof with wet moss and, before he knew it, the pretty Governor’s Daughter was already sliding her way straight through Nick’s body.

“NOOOOOOOOO! Say!!!”

“CATCH MEEEEEEE!!!”

****

For a moment, Nick was relieved when instead of the ground floor catching the governor's daughter's body, it was the protruding branch of a pine tree. They were both at the edge of the roof with him atop her, trying to hold her protectively from falling. Aided by the light from the library's open window and the moon, Nick saw her staring at him - looking afraid and relieved. He doesn't know what to say - instead, he found himself looking at her too.

"Dreamy hazel brown eyes...covered by her long and thick eyelashes...Small upturned nose with little freckles...She has a lovely oval face shape paired with long black tresses of hair, clear smooth and rosy white skin, small chin, narrow jaw. And those —, " his thoughts trailed off as his eyes moved to look at Say's exquisite thin upper and full lower lips — almost bee-sting bitten.

He saw her multiple times from a distance and on numbers of posters and pictures over the halls of the university or the election tarpaulins all over town, but those pretty pictures don't come close to how attractive she looks when this inches close. The Governor's daughter truly is stunningly pretty even in a hapless accident.

***

“CATCH MEEEEE!!!!”

Say already imagines that she will go straight to the bottom of the rooftop and then to the hard cold ground floor with her bloody body. She closed her eyes and was ready to feel the pain of falling on the three floors of the mansion but instead, it was the strong warm arms of a nameless brute that held her, grabbed her waist, and protected her head.

“I...i got you…” whispers the nameless intruder.

She closed her eyes again in relief. When she opens her eyes, she sees the intruder next to her - hugging and protecting her. And she can’t help but stare at her unwanted protector.

He has thin, prominent nose, masculine strong jawline, wine dark-colored lips and…smoldering chocolate brown eyes…like someone who can see your very soul…

“I told you to not step over but you weren’t listening…” she heard him say those words in his low, dangerously controlled voice.

His eyes are covered with long lashes. Is there a man with that long lashes? And this stranger has a handsome cleft chin...he looked...he looked...wait... Why am I staring at this handsome stranger?

Say blinked at the thought. She was mad at the guy, she should remember that. She tried to find a word in defense of his question.

“I did not know that part was slippery. “

She didn’t hear a thing from him. The stranger was so close for comfort. His big arms which protectively hold her waist felt like a caress now for her. Wait, why do I feel like I’m liking being hugged and protected by this scum? He is still an intruder!

She tried to act angry again.

"You can now get your filthy hands off my head and waist, Janitor." She took his hands out of his protective holding and tried to stand up, holding the branch of the tree above her head. Only to realize her big mistake.

“Wait, something cracks. Don’t move up yet. Don’t stand up yet and --

“Why not? I will because I can and ---“ Her eyes widened when she saw that the branch she was holding was broken, and she was now losing her balance, “I am…I am falling, NOOOOOOOOO!”

“SAAAYYY!!!”

The man tries to hold her again, but it was too late. Say went straight falling to the three-level mansion below, along with the guy.

SPLAAAAAAASSSSSSHHHH!

She thought she would die along with him. But then it was the cold swimming pool in the ground that caught them. They are floating in the pool now. And because of their shouting incident, the noise woke up everyone and now the security guards and some helpers are now out to see them in the pool.

“Ma’am Samantha!!!”

“Freeze!!!”Gino and Steve shouted at the same time holding their guns, pointing at the floating guy with her.

“Nick! What did you do, son?! ” Say saw that Aling Sabina also came out and was terrified.

“Nick?” questions the security guard - trying to identify the face of the guy. When it seemed that they recognized him, she saw the guards pulled back their guns.

“It’s you, Nick!”

"Do you know him?!"Breathless and damp, Say looked around at the five security guards, especially at Gino who called the guy’s name.

Then everyone hushed when her father,in his robe, went out as well - curious of what's the commotion.

“What is this mess? Say?!? What are you doing in the pool at this hour and who is --”

Say got up with the help of the bodyguards and quickly approached her father. “Dad! Oh heck! This man was on top of our roof. I went to catch him alive and I did! ”

"What are you doing up there Nick?" the sudden question of one of the security guard Nick knew.

“There is no phone reception. I can't receive an important text or call. I can't tell my boss at the town bank that I can't come in tomorrow because I have an exam in the university. ” Nick replied shyly. This time, Say saw him already out of the pool too and stands next to their Cook, Aling Sabina.

“Wait - wait, you know this guy, Gino? Steve?” Say impatiently asks the two guards again.

“Gino, Steve, explain. Who is this man?” demanded her father too.

The head of Security himself explained. “Governor, Ma’am Samantha, he is the son of your Cook, Aling Sabina. He is Nick, we introduced him to you 6 years ago when he was still a teenager and used to live here with Aling Sabina. Now he only visits his mother from time to time so you can hardly see him here in the mansion. ”

“Governor, I am asking for your consideration for what my son did tonight. Nick only visits me tonight because I asked him to. “ says the teary-eyed Cook.

Her father approached Aling Sabina and the guy named Nick. “So, are you Nick? The boy who loves to borrow my books before and the only one who beats me in Chess? ”

Say is confused by what happened. So this guy is familiar to everyone including her dad but NOT her?!

“You recognized him too, dad?”

“Yes, but I have not seen this child for a long time. Now Samantha Yvette, explain why you were on the rooftop and even fell into the pool?

"I told you, I saw him on the rooftop, he looked like he was trying to steal something and -"

“I didn’t -- “ he interrupted.

“How do I know? You are a stranger in my house standing on top of our roof and was wearing hoodie!”

“There was drizzle. I don’t want to get wet.”

“But still you are ---”

“Then why didn't you call the security guards? What if it wasn't Sabina's son you see, and it was really an intruder and could have harmed you? Also, didn't we tell you when you were a kid that you couldn't go to the rooftop? And how come you fell from the top? ”, The governor demanded.

"I-I slipped and ... this guy caught me." Say ashamedly replied. She annoyingly looked at the guy smiling from ear to ear as she saw her dad looking at Nick gratefully.

“So you saved my daughter, Nick?”

“I tried to, sir - but the tree branch that was holding us was broken, and we fell. Glad we fell in the pool instead. “

"I see. Well, tsk! tsk! Tomorrow morning all the roofs here in the mansion will be checked and repaired. Steve, help my daughter get something to cover herself. Nick, thank you. ” The governor started to leave when Say stopped him.

“Oh please don’t thank him, dad. Did you know he bullied me in school this afternoon? He didn’t let me borrow the book he was using first. And I was --. And I was --"

“He was using it first, you just told me so. That means you should have waited for him to finish reading it. In the first place, it was a university library, not ours. Now if it's our books here in the library that he won't give and let you use first, let me know. This is none of Nick's fault. Now sleep, my little queen. I have an early campaign sortie to handle tomorrow. Everyone, go back to your rooms and stations.”

"Wait --wait… Dad!" But her father left already right after kissing her on the forehead. She saw his dad shook Nick's hand and then left.

"One day...you'll pay for this, you Janitor!", she furiously promised.