REJECTED

ONE’S FIRST LOVE

(THIRD PERSON'S POV)

The next day, Emily went through the array of chores presented to her on a list. The list detailed the time around which she was to perform several tasks. Around five, she was required to wake Madeline up with a beverage. Accordingly, Emily must provide Madeline with breakfast around seven o'clock. Besides these minute chores, she needed to heed her commands whenever she'd required her.

While remembering the Alpha's atrocious behaviour from the other night, Emily felt anxious about even approaching her. Nonetheless, she mustered her courage and decided that she had to wake her up if she wanted to continue living further in the mansion. It was her job. Emily, therefore, took hold of her fear and walked up to Madeline's chamber after procuring a glass of orange juice from the kitchen.

As she entered the room, she observed that Madeline was already up. She was busy reading something.

When Emily saw Madeline in her glasses, she couldn't help but admire the beautiful woman. The metallic frame of the glass sat perfectly on her pointed nose. More than a person, she was a work of art. Her features and eyes were heavenly.

For Emily, everything but Madeline ceased to exist at that moment. This preoccupation with her desire for the alpha had a side effect too. Other than the object of her affection, she couldn’t perceive anything else.

In front of Madeline’s bed, there was a chunk of clothes that Emily failed to see. Since she was headed in the alpha's direction by fixating her gaze on the beautiful woman, she couldn't take notice of the pile of clothes lying there. As a result of her ignorance, her feet got enmeshed in the clothes and she ended up falling upon Madeline.

The orange juice that Emily had been carrying stained Madeline's peerless, white nightdress and also Emily's uniform. Emily stood up in haste and then hung her head in shame. She thought that she might get dismissed from her job. Instead, Madeline rose calmly and addressed her uniform, which was stained as well.

"What are you going to do now?" asked Madeline while peering confidently into her eyes.

Emily's gaze lowered as she responded, "I will go to take a bath and then return shortly with your breakfast."

"You'll go back to the servants' quarter?" asked Madeline curiously.

In response, Emily nodded while still trying to avoid looking into her chestnut eyes.

Looking down at the young girl, Madeline declared, "The farther you'll go, the longer it will take for you to prepare my breakfast."

Unsure of what Madeline was trying to imply, Emily asked, "What should I do then?"

Madeline grabbed a hair tye that was placed on the table beside her bed. While tying a bun of her hair, she instructed Emily, "Since I will be taking a bath, you can clean yourself here too. That way, you'll save your time."

"In the same bathroom?" asked Emily in disbelief.

Madeline gathered her clothes as she spoke, "Why are you so anxious? There’s nothing to fear. After all, we are both women."

With no counter-response, Emily agreed. Following Madeline’s lead, she entered the royal bathroom. She, then, discarded her clothes and began to rub detergent over the stained uniform. Since the bathroom was huge, there was a considerable amount of distance between both women. Though Emily was fixated on cleaning the uniform, she felt jitters by even the thought of being around Madeline while being naked.

After successfully eradicating the speck from her white uniform, Emily was instructed by the alpha to settle inside the bathtub. She did as was told.

In a fetal position, she began to splatter some of the water over her face as she wondered, "How did I end up in this uncomfortable situation? Sharing the bathing space with the alpha is extremely discomfiting."

As Emily removed her wet locks aside from her face, she couldn't help but wonder about the reason behind her unsettling emotions that arose while facing Madeline.

"Geez! What's the matter with me?" Emily asked herself as she ogled at Madeline's bare body. Though she feared being caught looking at her, she couldn’t help it. Every hair on her hands rose up to depict the intensity that she felt for the woman in front of her.

Just when Madeline looked behind her, Emily looked away while trying not to get caught. Emily’s attempts were in vain as Madeline had already known about the handmaiden's intentions, which she showcased through her prying eyes.

While trying to stop herself from peeking further, Emily told herself, 'We are both women. Hence, taking a bath together doesn't mean anything. Why am I getting so worked up about it?'

Even after much resistance, Emily couldn't help but stare at the elegant woman, who seemed to be enjoying her bath. Observing every corner, Emily's thoughts got cluttered with the notion of admiring the divine beauty that she was subjected to.

With an open mouth, Emily thought, 'Her hair is neat, and her skin's the perfect complexion. Whenever I look at her, I feel like I want to touch her. I hate this feeling. I’m afraid of touching her but I still want to.'

Madeline had tan skin and golden-brown eyes. Her eyes complemented her dark hair.

'Maybe it’s just me. She obviously didn’t feel the same,' Emily's constant thoughts regarding Madeline were now beginning to trouble her 'What am I even thinking? Why do I yearn to touch her so much? What's this overpowering feeling which seemed to be channelling a sense of longing for her?"

Just when Madeline finished showering, Emily covered her eyes since she had no control over them. As the alpha made her way towards the young lady, Emily hastily stood up and tried to excuse herself, "I know I have been in here for a lot of time. I was just about to get out--"

Madeline walked up to Emily, grabbed her hands and pushed her towards the wall. Overstruck with fear and excitement at the same time, Emily stared into the alpha's enchanted eyes. Madeline’s beauty charmed her but the lack of emotions caused an aversion in Emily. There was neither contrition nor gaiety. Emily realised that the alpha was just trying to mess around with her.

Realising that Emily was too scared to make a move, Madeline leaned a little and brought her mouth closer to her neck. Thereon, she stuck out her tongue and licked little Emily’s neck tenderly.

Freaked out by the sudden approach, Emily pushed the alpha away as she yelped, "Get off!"

Flustered red cheeks with a heavy breath suggested Emily's hidden excitement that she wished to cover over a false facade of braveness. The tingling feeling inside her brain made it hard for her to even peer at Madeline. Emily, known for being aloof among her peers, was beginning to lose her cool. Though her words reflected aversion, her face spoke otherwise.

Fixating her gaze upon the trembling girl, Madeline spoke, "The way you were looking at me made it clear that you wanted to be touched."

Without responding, Emily dashed out of the bathroom, got dressed rashly and took off. While Emily stepped downstairs thinking about what had transpired, she bumped into one of the servants. It was a girl.

The lady looked at Emily and asked, "There are bags under your eyes. Are you okay?"

"Certainly, I'm fine. Since it is the first time I was away from my town, I ended up feeling homesick and spent the night while ruminating over it," spoke Emily. It was a clear lie. Emily hadn’t been able to get any sleep because of her thoughts about the alpha. The fact that Madeline loved her or not kept her awake.

The anonymous girl stretched her hand in Emily’s direction and introduced herself, "I am Lillian. I work here as a maid. Before working here, I used to live in the orphanage nearby."

For reasons unknown, Emily felt relieved to have someone who appeared to be like her. Someone who came from nothingness like her and was struggling in a place that seemed overbearing. Therefore, Emily didn’t shy away from sharing her details either.

Instantly, the girls became buddies after learning how much both of them shared in common. As they got into the kitchen, Emily observed the women around her. They all seemed to be holding hands and showing their tender feelings to one another while doing their jobs.

Confused, Emily asked Lillian, "I see a lot of female couples here. Are they together, or just toying with one another?"

While observing the women around them, Lillian explained, "It's not like they planned on staying together forever or anything. They wish to have a little fun while they still can."

Emily was shocked beyond her beliefs. She had never seen anything like that happening in her town. She believed that it was the progressive mindset of the capital that bestowed the free will of love on women.

Upon reading the curiosity on Emily's face, Lillian further explained, "Don't worry about them. Most of them have already gotten betrothed. That's why they fool around."

Emily had a hard time processing the fact that those women showed affection for one another without being in love.

After reading the confusion on her face, Lillian explained, "Think about it! A lot of these girls are already engaged. If you were in their place, wouldn't you want to fool around as well and get that kind of experimentation out of your system before you tie the knot too? Swimming in a sea of raging hormones can be excruciating."

After listening to Lillian's explanation, Emily pondered if Madeline was messing around with her as well. In her head, the girl came up with the conclusion, ‘Madeline touched me without warning and scared me away. Maybe she was trying to terrify me by doing something this atrocious because she wanted me to leave. She couldn't possibly be touching me out of affection. Her lack of emotion made it evident that she wasn’t into me.’

Lillian read Emily's baffled face and blurted out, "I get it now. It is only now that I realised that you have a crush on somebody too, don't you?"

While brushing her hair behind her ears, Emily refused, "Don't be stupid! How can that be? For me, my affection and adoration lie within the confined boundaries of education. Other things do not interest me."

Henceforth, the young women grabbed the utensils and began preparing Madeline’s breakfast. It was at that moment that one of the guards came running into the kitchen announcing, "Alpha Madeline's grandfather, Mister Wagner, is here."

Stressed after observing a light stain upon Emily's uniform, Lillian expressed her concern, "Look at your uniform! He is so going to murder you!"

Confident that the stain was faint and wouldn't get recognised, Emily assured her, "You stand back and watch. I can assure you that he will not notice it. Further, he is an aged man. How good is his vision going to be?"

After a sigh, Lillian spoke, "Well, that sounds a lot cooler as you said it before me, but don’t try to act that cocky in front of Mister Wagner. If you'll say something so obscure in front of him, you might land in greater trouble."

The moment Mister Wagner came into the kitchen to inspect, he spotted Emily's inappropriate uniform from afar. The stain was indeed large enough to be seen. While Emily's face didn't illustrate any dispositions, Lillian was undeniably worried.

The man walked closer to her and asked the maiden about her identity, "Who are you, young lady?"

"I'm Emily Adkins. I am Alpha's new handmaiden," responded Emily.

Out of nervousness, she failed to bow her head.

Looking at the woman's inadequacy to appear formal while responding to him, he expressed his distaste for her, "What disgusting behaviour and clothing! This woman is atrocious! She doesn't even know how to behave in front of the royals.."

Promptly, Madeline came into the kitchen after listening to the bluster. The grandfather approached the young alpha and complained while pointing his finger at Emily, "Explain ‘this thing’ to me, please. How could you let such a despicable creature disgrace us?"

Madeline, the alpha, known for her pride and honour in the whole pack, bowed her head as she apologised, "I am sorry, sir."

"I see that you've been neglecting your responsibilities as the alpha. Nowadays, you let anyone enter this mansion and get away with what they want. Just look at her uniform. It's so untidy."

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AUTHOR’S NOTE

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I’m extremely grateful for the support. Please add this book to your library if you haven’t already and comment with your thoughts about the chapter.

Thank You.