I got home super late last night and arrived earlier than usual this morning. I still had that damn pantry to organize. I hate Yvette for putting me through this but if she comes in and finds out that I didn't finish yesterday, my head would be on the chopping block and my job in question.

The sun was barely out because that's how early it was. Nobody was awake as yet.

I had finally managed to ingredient coordinate and organize, now all that was left was to label the containers, jars and baskets in an italic font with the fourth shade of grey as dictated by Hugo. The sun would be up in a few minutes and I was waiting to open the drapes to let warmth in the mansion. It was like an ice castle in here. Always, terribly cold.

The fourth shade of grey? Whatever that meant.

I went to fetch the label maker from the supply closet which was in the east wing on the mansion. Not too far from someone's room.

At least he was kind enough to send me home with Leeroy who drove me comfortably and in a good amount of time.

I rummaged through the storage boxes looking for the machine. It was dusty and buried deep within the other boxes. I wondered if it still worked. As I made my way out after finding it, my focus was on the machine in my hands and I bumped into someone extremely hard.

It seemed as if the person I had bumped into also lost their balance and fell with me. I let out a yelp as my back hit the ground, however before my head could hit the ground, a large hand encompassed it in order to prevent that from happening.

I unknowingly grabbed onto the persons shoulder for support. Looking up, I was met with intense teal eyes.

Alexander hissed in pain as he got up and blood was prominent on his gym shirt. He stood up and offered me his hand. Helping me up as well.

"I'm sorry," I mumbled out because that was my fault. "I was too focused on the label maker that I didn't see you."

Alexander looked at me again. "It's barely been 7 hours and you're already back?" he questioned.

I nodded. "I had to finish the pantry before Yvette gives me grief for it."

I looked at him properly as he stood in front of me, "You have blood on your t-shirt..." I trailed off. His knuckles caught my attention at that moment. They were completely ruined, full of blood and the skin ripped open. I gasped, "Your knuckles," I pointed out. I must have worsened it when he put his hand under my head to shield me from cracking my skull open.

He huffed a deep breath and looked at his knuckles. He tried moving his fingers and he winced. Again, his eyes were bloodshot red, only this time worse than before.

He could see my reaction as I assumed that he once again got drunk due to his disheveled look. "Not drunk princess, just a few strong drinks and a boxing game," he said.

I nodded, because once again, none of my business. "Not my business," I quietly said. I meekly pointed to his knuckles. "You need to sort that out."

He looked at his knuckles once again and nodded at me. "I do. Come help me," he demanded and started walking towards his room. I looked at him dumbfounded. He needed more than simply a dressing on his wound.

Hastily, I picked up the label maker and started running to catch up with him, my short legs no match for his long ones.

"Uhmm.. Mr. Alexander-" I began.

"It's Alexander to you, princess. Drop the formalities," he said from in front of me.

I ignored him and walked faster to get to him. He turned into his room and gestured for me to get inside before shutting the door.

"You need to get a doctor, or get to the hospital. Both of your knuckles are bad. You'll need stitches."

He walked to the bathroom and opened the tap, letting the water run over his wounds and rinsing the blood away. "Open the top cabinet," he looked at me.

I did as I was told and saw the orange antiseptic liquid he was most probably needing. I grabbed the bottle and proceeded to get some cotton balls to gently treat it, but before I did that he simply took the bottle from me, opened it, and poured the antiseptic straight on his wounds.

Oh my goodness that must burn

I looked away as I could only imagine the unpleasant stinging feeling he must be going through. He lightly hissed in pain but other than that he didn't flinch.

"Why did you have to be so harsh? I was getting the cotton balls," I somewhat scolded.

He walked back to his bed and I followed. He took a seat and dried his hands. "What's the need to be gentle? The pain will still be the same."

"Yes but... it would not have been as rough," I weakly explained.

He looked at me as if he didn't care about what I was saying. "Get the medical kit from my top drawer and bring it here."

I opened his top drawer and found the kit. I laid it out on the bed next to him inwardly panicking as I saw the tools to stitch up a person.

"Can you stitch a hem, princess?" he asked and looked at me. I actually enjoyed needlework, it was one of my hobbies that I picked up from Mrs. Allen when she had to babysit me. I could knit, crochet, and sew.

"Well, yes but I can't stitch your knuckles. That's completely different."

He got out his phone from his pocket and went on YouTube. "YouTube it right? That's what we all do anyways." He shoved the phone in my hand and it was on a tutorial on how to suture. I shook my head no and put the phone down on the nightstand but he pulled me to sit next to him and put the medical kit on my lap.

"Come on, you can do it. I believe in you," he lightly encouraged and held his hand out for me. I bit my lip in anticipation as I had never done this before.

"You'll feel pain," I whispered.

He humourless chuckled. "Nothing I haven't felt before."

I swallowed hard and nodded. Quickly, i washed my hands, sanitised the tools then put the gloves on and took out the needle driver and proceeded to stitch him up.

It was relatively doable apart from the initial step where I had to make the knot. I winced every time and felt the pain for him as the needle went through however he didn't move at all. He simply stared at me, all along I could feel his teal orbs burning into me.

Just as I was rounding up on his other hand I asked, "Why do you keep staring? Its creepy."

He smiled. "You're doing a good job. I'm proud of you, princess." He knew I registered what he had said, but I never respond. I didn't know how to. It was a foreign feeling for someone to tell you that they were proud of you because I had never heard that in all my 19 years of being.

I finished stitch him up and I removed the gloves. I quickly sanitized my hands and proceeded to place the bandages over his stitches. Making sure everything was tight and secured, I assessed his hand one more time and then nodded in satisfaction.

I went to his bathroom to wash my hands and discard the used medical kit. When I got back into the room, he was shirtless and in a pair of sweats. I looked around and my work there was done. I began to exit the room and proceed back to the hell of a pantry.

"Wait," he once again called out and walked to me as I opened the door.

I turned around and looked up.

"Thank you, Rachel. I appreciate you," he gently said to me. Again, I didn't know how to react. I looked down at my shoes and mumbled a 'sure' and immediately left. As I was walking away from his room, I could definitely feel his gaze on me, so I subtly turned around to see him leaning against his door watching me.

I appreciate you

I lightly smiled at that.