Oversized Siberian Husky

Amayah entered the room, and just as she took a step forward, she hit her foot against the side table and hissed in pain.

Just then, Nolan came out of the bathroom after his bath and heard her hiss. Wondering what happened to make her hiss in pain, he couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

"Phew!" Enduring the pain, she replied in a lower voice: "Nothing just hit my foot at the table."

Suddenly, remembering something, she asked him, "Master Nolan, could we change out the opaque window panes to more translucent ones?"

Nolan did not say anything. Seeing his silence, she hurriedly explained further. "I realized that the windows in our room let no light in at all. It's stuffy and gloomy in here, and I'm worried you'll be smothered to death."

More importantly, Amayah herself didn't like it.

Noland wasn't dumb enough to believe that she was doing it for him. "I imagine if my health deteriorates, it might be hard for you to explain things to my grandfather. You want to change the window panes. That's not an impossible request."

Amayah's face lit up in delight. "So you agree?"

Hearing the jubilation in her tone, Nolan silently mused that she shouldn't get too excited yet. "My opinion is irrelevant—being able to pay for it is all that matters."

"Pay for what?"

"For the replacement service."

Amayah finally understood his words and mused, "Oh, that's not a problem. I'm going to be getting my salary the day after tomorrow. It won't be good if you get ill from being cooped up in a dark room all day and your grandfather misunderstands it. After all, I have to take good care of you for the contract."

Nolan's gaze dropped to the floor hearing that, as he was silent for a long time.

Just when she thought he did not care, he roughly pulled his towel from his shoulder and jammed it onto a hood on the wall and headed straight for the bed.

Amayah froze. What was this? Did he lose it at every mention of the contract?

Amayah glanced at the man cautiously. Water was dripping from his wet hair as he was walking towards the bed. After a moment's hesitation, she spoke up: "Um, your hair's still wet. Shall I blow it dry for you?"

She really felt like she was looking after an oversized Siberian Husky dog that needed a whole lot of patience, attention, and responsibility.

However, instead of answering, the moment Nolan found the edge of the bed, he flopped right down onto it with his back to her. It was as if he was trying to shut the world out. "Shut up! I'm going to sleep."

Huh hey… Going to sleep with a head full of wet hair? What if he caught a cold the next day? She wouldn't answer for that!

Not long after, Nolan heard some rustling behind him. Thinking that Amayah must be tidying up something as usual, he paid no heed to it.

Suddenly, he felt Amayah come close and heard her whisper, "Master Nolan, are you sleeping?"

Nolan was wide awake now. His first instinct was to open his eyes, but he decided to wait and see what she was up to so he could catch her red-handed in the act!

Seeing him not respond, she sighed, then plugged the dryer into the nearest outlet and climbed onto the bed.

She was now sitting cross-legged behind Nolan and staring at the back of her head, a hair dryer clutched in her hand. "Since you're not saying anything, I'll assume you're fast asleep, okay?" With that, she switched the hair dryer on, and began blowing his hair dry.

He was sleeping with only half of his hair exposed to her and the other half was pressed onto the pillow. She started to dry the hair that was exposed with the dryer. His hair was as black as jade and was really soft to the touch. Amayah couldn't help but feel the softness a little more by weaving her fingers through them a few more times.

Warm air hit the back of his neck, and Amayah's fingers caressed his hair. Very well, so she wasn't doing anything wicked. Still, it was rather pesky of her, Nolan thought with a frown.

Moments later, though, due to this comfortable treatment, Nolan's mood greatly improved.

It felt so comfortable that he actually drifted off to sleep.

***

The next day, at the bakery, Amayah arrived at the shop to find Ms. Dorthey already there in the shop waiting for her.

She greeted her, washed her hands, and went to put her apron on to start working.

Not long after, a customer came in and she went up to serve them.

"Isn't that Amayah Young?" A girl's sweet voice echoed.

Amayah looked up after she was done putting her gloves on. In an instant, she recognized the group of young girls. It was some of her former high school classmates.

She politely returned their smile and asked for their order. While she was packing their orders, one of them said, "Our class's having an after-graduation gathering tonight, Amayah. You'll be coming too, right?"

Amayah thought of Nolan all alone in that dark room. Without her, he'll have nothing to eat tonight.

She could only smile apologetically at her classmates and refuse. "Not tonight. Maybe next time?"

***

At six in the evening, Amayah punched out and was preparing to leave. Just then, Ms. Dorthey came up to her and stopped her. "Young lady, you forgot to collect your salary."

Amayah looked at Ms. Dorthey, confused, and reminded her politely. "But the pay day is tomorrow, Ms. Dorthey."

Ms. Dorthey just smiled at her and said that she might not be here tomorrow, so that's why she was given it to her today in advance.

Amayah smiled gratefully and thanked her.

Grabbing her things, she headed to the door and left.

Seeing her, Ms. Dorthey shook her head, sighing with a smile. "Such a hard-working girl."