TWO AGAINST ONE

　　Camilla's heart keeps beating fast as she counts each second the bus takes to get to the estate.

　　"I should have taken a fucking bike!" She tells herself, thinking how much faster that would have been.

　　What is she going to tell Ethan if she gets home and finds him there?

　　She clasps her hand together and says a quick prayer. "Oh God please, I know I am not much of a praying person but help me out here!"

　　She is even supposed to have gone to see her dad after talking to Lisa but Ethan's call changed everything. All she cared for right now, is to get home before he does.

　　As the bus drove along the road, she presses her foot so right unto the floor hoping it will make the bus go any faster. The bus finally reaches her stop and her legs are aching from the pushing she has been doing. Camilla jumps down from the bus and hurries to the back door. As she gets to it, she remembers Peter.

　　"Oh my God!" She forgot about him.

　　What if he is still there at Lisa's place and he saw her running out and using the back gate! He will confirm that Lisa come to the estate to see her and she won't be able to deny it. But she is already at the gates and there is no way she can turn back, doing that will only cause more suspicions. Worst case scenario he finds out, she will create a really sad scene and tell him how she doesn't want to leave the house because she loves staying with them.

　　"Yeah, that will work!" She says out loud as she pulls her hoodie closer to her face. She pushes the door open and thankfully, no one has locked it. The door opens without a sound and Camilla slips in safely.

　　Once inside, she secures the door latch back in place and takes long steps into the main house. Going through the kitchen is too risky because, by this time of the day, Mary and her team will be making dinner. She can't risk getting caught by them. So, she takes the front door, if anyone sees her, she can always say, she went for a long walk in the estate.

　　She pulls the hoodie off her face, takes a deep breath, and enters the house. Luckily for her, the house is empty — as usual. She quickly walks to her room and unlocks the door, slipping inside safely.

　　Once in, she locks the door again and leans against it. "Which!" She exclaims. She places a hand on her cheat and resumes breathing properly. She has been holding her breath since, she feared someone might hear her and question her. As her breathing normalized she went to the bathroom and took a long shower. It is almost time for dinner and Mary will waste no time to come and call her down.

　　She picks up a t-shirt and throws on one of her jean shorts. For her hair, she packs it up in a pony and sits in her bed waiting for Mary. As she waits, her thoughts are taken back to Peter. Why was he stalking Lisa?

　　Can Lisa be right about him having feelings for her?

　　"No, that was insane," she thought. Peter is too uptight to fall for Lisa. Lisa is just being her romantic self and she has endangered their plan. Camilla will have to follow Peter up, to find out what he is planning to do before Ethan comes.

　　Her phone ringing tone fills the room and pulls her out of her thoughts. She jumps to her feet and starts looking for the device. The last she remembered, it was in her hoodie pocket. She runs to where she dropped the blue hoodie and finds her phone. Luckily, it is still ringing. A smile comes to her face as she sees the caller.

　　"Hello?" She says, biting her lower lip.

　　"Hey, how are you?" Ethan's voice breathes through the phone.

　　"I am fine." She chirped, trying not to sound too excited. That will be considered too girly and a red flag. She chews more of her lip, hoping Ethan doesn't pick up on her joy.

　　"You sound happy. I love that."  Again, her prayers get rejected as Ethan picks up on her mood. He always does that and she is beginning to wonder if the guy has some hidden powers she didn't know of. He always picks up on her emotions. He knows what she is feeling without her saying it, this makes lying to him even harder.

　　"When I called earlier you sounded tired, I thought I should let you relax a bit." Ethan continues saying and Camilla feels her heart squeeze in pain because she lied to him yet he knew something was wrong with her.

　　"Yeah, I was..." Camilla says pulling the ends of her pony. Talking to Ethan makes her feel giddy like a little school girl again. It makes her remember the girl she once was before her parents' accident. And it hurt her. She knows she can't have that life back just as she can't have Ethan.

　　The memories of her past flood her mind and she scolds herself. She has to stay in control. She has to steal as much as she can to keep surviving. Her father needs the money to stay alive and she will go to any length to keep him alive. Her father is all she has left. She will go through any length to keep him alive. This is the reason why she is still in Ethan's house and nothing else. So, she has to remain focused.

　　"I called your doctor, he said it is normal for you to feel tired. So don't worry about it..." Ethan trails. He seems to be struggling with his words. Camilla perceives he wants to say something else but he ends up saying an entirely different thing.

　　"Yeah," Camilla answers awkwardly. Talking about the doctor brings her out of her dreamland immediately. The doctor is bad news. She hopes the one checking her brain never returns. She needs to stay on the estate for as long as possible. She needs the money.

　　"And don't worry we will be going for your final check-up soon. I was informed the doctor got caught with other patients where he is," Ethan adds and Camilla's lungs lose all the air in them.

　　She has even forgotten that she still had a second doctor to worry about. Now she would have to pray that this doctor remains busy forever!

　　"Camilla..." Ethan calls and Camilla feels her heart stop at the intensity of his voice. All her conviction of staying focused fades away immediately. It feels like he is whispering right into her ears and she finds herself caught up in the sweetness.

　　"Yes, " she responds as a shiver runs down her spine.

　　"I- " he starts but stops almost immediately, the words leave his mouth. "Please take care of yourself. I have to go now, bye."

　　The call ends but Camilla feels Ethan's voice in her head. She could have sworn that he wanted to say something else and ended up saying something different. As a woman, she knows Ethan is also attracted to her but what she doesn't know is the extent of his attraction.

　　"What did you want to Say, Ethan?" Camilla whispers to herself. Sometimes she just wishes she can float away in a place where nothing mattered and she could have whoever she wanted, even if they were way out of her league!

　　A knock on the door snaps her out of her thoughts. As she is about to get up from her bed, the door opens and Mary pops her head through the opening.

　　"Dinner is served!" She sings, sporting a large smile as her eyes settles on Camilla.

　　"Someone seems happy today..."  Camilla says, taunting the older woman. "Did you receive a bonus? Or did Jessie finally leave?" Camilla says, clasping her hands playfully.

　　"I wish the two options were true," she says rolling her eyes playfully. "Jessie can be such a pain in my back!"

　　"You are right about that! Jessie is horrible drama!" Camilla says and they both burst into laughter.

　　"So tell me, why you are all smiles then," Camila says as they both walk out of the room and start heading to the dining hall.

　　"For starters, I am with you, my favorite madam. I have seen so many cruel faces today, it's good to see a sweet one. I have to smile don't I?" Mary comments happily.

　　Camilla understands what she says by seeing cruel faces, connecting it with Jessie, she starts laughing and Mary joins her.

　　"I am not that sweet you know?" Camilla says with a soft chuckle. She is anything but sweet, she is an ordinary pickpocket — Camilla thinks sadly.

　　"Oh, of course, you are," Mary says waving her off. " Oh, that reminds me, I didn't see you all day, where did you go?" As Mary's question passes Camilla's ears, her heart squeezes in contrast.

　　So someone noticed she wasn't in the house — she thinks.

　　"Did someone ask after me?" Camilla squeaks. The true question would have been, 'did Ethan come looking for me?' But she doesn't want to start digging her own grave yet.

　　"Just me." Mary beams as they get to the last door leading to the dining hall. "But I am glad you are still here. Now, go get something to eat before Jessie finishes it," Mary says, with a grin on her lips. "That one eats like she is pregnant with ten babies!" Mary says, waving her goodbye.

　　Camilla chuckles softly as she waves goodbye to Mary. She then takes the last step to the door and opens it. She can hear voices at the other end but as she opens it, the hall goes as quiet as a graveyard

　　There are two people on the table and as soon as they see her, they stop talking to themselves and turn to watch her. Camilla is already used to Jessie's rude stares but this new person makes her very uncomfortable. Her piercing blue eyes seem to look at not just her body but even her soul.

　　Camilla's legs become heavy and moving from the door to her seat becomes a very tedious task. Her legs feel like ten tons of load each and she is sweating by the time she reaches the seat.

　　"Hello!" She whispers awkwardly. She is never the shy type, but this new lady is giving her such strange vibes, Camilla starts feeling so inferior compared to the lady.

　　The quietness in the dining hall seems to only intensify as Camilla greets them. Her voice echoes to the wall and back, her no one answers her. They only stare at her as she dropped into the wrong room. To make it worst, Camilla does look like she is in the wrong room.

　　"Jessica, Is she the one you spoke of?"