One Step to Forgiveness

Just as Arya had guessed, both of her parents did not really cared if she was really sick or not. She watched through her bedroom window as her father drove to the company on his own, and her mother carpooled with Kanon.

Arya woke up earlier than anyone that day. To be honest, she barely slept. Both of her parents fought so loud, that she needed to sleep with her headphones on. As everyone knows, sleeping with headphones was clearly not comfortable. Sadly, earbuds did not work well enough to reduce the noise from her parents' fight.

She then went to her bathroom to get ready, she still had two hours before Asher came to pick her up. Arya decided to relax a bit by taking a bubble bath. She inspected her left cheek, and she saw it had a bluish-purple hue forming. Arya dried herself and got dressed before putting on makeup to cover up her bruise.

She then put on some music in her sound theatre to relax a bit. Singing through the song "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift she walked into her walk-in closet to see what to wear. She was singing the chorus when she saw the perfect dress to wear. It was an off-shoulder, light blue Alexander McQueen dress. She then paired it off with a pair of white Jimmy Choo sandals. After changing, she then put on simple silver-loop earrings. And ended her complete outfit with a perfume that smelled like jasmine. She then sat on her vanity and tried to cover up the bruise as best as she could.

"Dammit, I can still see it," Arya muttered. But putting on more concealer would let to a cakey makeup. "Well, let's hope it's enough for no one to notice it."

Arya decided to go to a salon first to bleach and dye her hair. After that, she was planning to write down her life timeline to see what the best way was to complete her mission. She had already wasted one day, fighting with Asher and with her mother. In the end, she had spent yesterday in worthless fights.

"Well, good, Arya, you are taking so much advantage of your short time. Don't worry! You are just going to hell if you don't succeed."

Arya could not help but feel anxious. She just could not stop thinking about what repercussions were going to happen because of what she did yesterday. In her past life, she had never confronted her mother. Yes, she would act rebellious and sometimes be in trouble, but she never fought with Ava. Could that fight make her entire mission more difficult, will it make it easier, or nothing would happen?

"I better ask Asher when I see him."

Arya gave herself one last look in the full-length mirror she had in front of her bed, before heading downstairs to grab something from the fridge to call it breakfast.

"Perfect!" Arya used her index finger to touch her reflection in the mirror as she turned around, grabbed her purse, and went downstairs.

"Lissa, Monsieur Dubois, morning!" Arya gave them a smile.

"Miss Arya, morning. Miss Kanon said that you were feeling sick. Are you planning on going out?" Lissa knew Arya since she was a kid. She knew when Arya was planning something.

"Lissa, please, don't tell Kanon or any of my parents. I promise to return before they come home."

Lissa made an okay sign and winked at Arya.

"You are the best, Lissa!" Arya kissed Lissa on her right cheek as she went to the fridge to grab some yogurt to eat.

"There is still some food left from breakfast, are you sure you don't want any?" Chef Dubois said in a heavy French accent. He had been working for the Ling family for a short time compared to the other staff, but like the rest of them, he loved both of the girls.

"Don't worry, Monsieur Dubois!" Arya took a seat on top of one of the counters. Her feet dangled as she ate her yogurt.

"Make sure to eat well, Miss Arya, you are way too skinny these days."

"It's called fashion, Monsieur Dubois. Boys like skinny girls!"

"It's called wanting to get hospitalized because of malnutrition, Miss Arya. Now, eat your yogurt or Chef Dubois is going to feed you the whole kitchen." Lissa laughed.

"Monsieur Dubois, can you please make an angel cake for today's dessert? I want to say sorry to my mother." Arya's face blushed a bit in embarrassment. She left the cup of finished yogurt next to her.

Lissa and Chef Dubois stood there perplexed. Arya was not someone who will say sorry.

"Sure," Chef Dubois said, as he continued to work.

"Are you sure you are feeling well, Miss Arya?"

"Yes, Lissa. I just noticed that I have been acting like a spoiled kid to everyone, and for that I'm sorry. I hope you can all forgive me," Arya said as she stood up again and bowed.

Lissa then went to Arya and made her stand straight again, "Miss Arya, this is too much. Miss Kanon and you are the ones who have treated us, the staff, as family, and for that, we are eternally grateful. I'm so happy that you are becoming an adult."

"Lissa…" Arya wanted to cry as she hugged Lissa. She felt as if a big piece of luggage had just been taken off from her.

"Does feeling redeemed felt like this?"

Arya then heard her phone ringing. Lissa wiped Arya's tears. "Miss Arya, don't worry. We will keep your secret, but please return early. Remember that Madame has been in a bad mood these last few days."

"Don't worry."

Arya saw that the caller ID was from Asher. She had saved his number after her call with him yesterday.

"Hi, um… I'm already walking to the front door."

"Perfect, I'm close by already."

"See you in a few then." Arya could not help but say the last sentence blushing. She then hung up.

Monsieur Dubois was the one who could see her face and raised an eyebrow as if he was asking her if she skipped school to meet with a boy.

"I'm not going on a date, Monsieur Dubois. If… if that's what you are thinking!"

"Don't worry, Miss Arya, that never passed through my mind, but be wary, boys nowadays are not as gentlemen as before."

"Did you even hear what I was saying?! Not a date!" Arya said laughing as she waved goodbye to Lissa and Chef Dubois.