"Are you even listening to me?" Celia asked.

I shook my head, getting back to reality. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Where is your head at today? Are you even ready to face the day?" she asked.

"I don't even know the answer to both your questions," I admitted.

"What's going on? Are you ok?" Talia questioned.

The truth was that I wasn't sure how I was feeling. The rest of my weekend didn't have any expensive gifts to it, but I was still unsettled by the ones I had received. It also turned out that there was no way of tracking this Myron guy.

Grace stayed the whole day before finally leaving with Fabio in the evening. She and Richard actually ended up bonding when he eventually woke up. It turns out they're into the same books and games, so they had the time of their lives with that.

Not that I was present in any case.

I was distracted, and I think that they could tell, hence finding solace in each other. Fabio ended up offering his services to me. He said he'd track this man down and give him back his gifts. I haven't heard anything from him since, which is what has me on edge.

"Rose!" my friends shouted.

"Huh?" I said, zoning back to them.

"You have a delivery," they said, pointing to the guy who was patiently waiting with a bunch of black roses.

"You are Rose Kidman, right?" he asked me.

"Yes I am," I replied.

"Great. Please sign here," he said, handing me the device.

"Where do these come from?" I asked as I signed.

"There's a card," was all he said before handing me the bouquet and leaving.

"Wow, black roses? These are expensive last I checked," Celia commented as I opened the envelope:

Thank you.

That's all the note said. The words were printed onto the note, and I was stunned to find that it said 'From the desk of Olivier Black'. I had no idea what he was thanking me for, but I was grateful for the flowers. I've never seen black roses before, but now that I have, I'm pretty sure they're my favourite.

"Who are they from?" Talia inquired.

"No one," I said, hiding the note from them.

"You've finally decided to start dating and you don't tell us anything?" Celia asked.

"There's nothing to tell because I'm not dating anyone. These are gratitude flowers. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find a vase for these," I said before leaving the teacher's lounge.

I eventually found a vase and I put the flowers in it. By the time I placed it on my table, the bell for the first lesson rang throughout the school. My first class streamed into the room, curious about my flowers, but there was no sign of Grace.

The whole morning went by and she still hadn't come. I was getting worried, especially since when I tried calling her or Fabio, I wasn't getting through. For some reason, I was panicking. I was already thinking the worst, especially because of who she is.

"Rose, are you ok?" Gail asked me. She found me sitting in my class at lunch.

I didn't have an appetite with the knots in my stomach.

"I, I'm worried about Grace," I told her.

"That's actually why I'm here," she said.

"Is she ok?" I panicked.

She frowned. "She is, but why are you so worried?"

I breathed out in relief. "She wasn't taking any of my phone calls and I couldn't reach Fabio either."

"You've established a relationship with her?" she asked in surprise.

I nodded. "I have, and if it's against school rules then you can fire me."

"No no, that's not it. I'm just amazed, that's all. I didn't think anyone would ever get through to my niece, which I guess explains my brother's request," she replied.

I was beyond mystified. "Your niece? Your brother?"

"Olivier is my brother and Grace is my niece. He brought her here hoping that this would finally be the school for her, but it turns out she doesn't need a school. All she needed was a teacher. Now, I didn't even think about this, but apparently my niece brought it up. You've been recruited to be Grace's home school teacher," she informed.

I was baffled.

"Olivier is your brother?" I asked.

She nodded. "He is."

"But you're black," I blurted before my eyes widened.

She laughed at my outburst. "Thank you for the update. I wasn't aware."

"I don't mean it like that. I mean, your brother is white, so I'm a bit confused here," I pointed out.

"My brother isn't white," she said, looking as confused as I was feeling.

What the hell is going on?

"Then why is Grace adopted?" I asked.

"Grace was adopted because my brother fell in love with her the moment he lay eyes on her," she replied.

You know what, I'd solve this later.

"You said I'm being recruited to be her home school teacher," I commented.

She nodded. "She has sung your praises and managed to convince my brother that you're the only person who will ever teach her anything. She mentioned all the subjects you took, and he's sold on the idea. That's why she didn't come today. She's tired of being treated like an outsider, which is something I believe you haven't done. She'd like for you to go over to her after school."

"How would that work? Would I have to quit my job here? Am I not tied by my contract?" I asked.

"Should you accept, we would look into your schedule and try to reshuffle all the classes so that you only have to come in for half the day, and then you'd go over to give Grace her lessons for the other five hours. This would be the same from Monday through to Friday," she replied.

"Will I have a new contract?" I asked.

She nodded. "It will be drawn up as soon as you agree."

"Can I have some time to think about it?" I asked.

"By all means. I'm only here as a messenger. I'll get you my brother's address so that you know where to go after school," she said as she got up.

I nodded. "Will do."

"Nice flowers. Who are they from?" she asked.

"Your brother actually," I replied.

She scowled. "My brother sent you flowers?"

"Yes?" I said unsurely now that she was using that tone.

"Huh, strange," she said.

"Why?" I bothered to ask.

"My brother hates flowers," she responded before walking out of the room.

Can my life get any weirder?

I pushed the incident aside and instead focused on soldiering on with the day. I was anxious to leave and see Grace. For some reason, I needed to see her with my own eyes to believe that she's ok. By the time the last bell went, I dashed out of my class like one of my students.

With the address in hand, I gave it to the cab driver before we got underway. I asked him how long it would take to get there, and he told me that we'd be there in thirty minutes if we didn't encounter any traffic.

I spent the time trying to make sense of the new information I'd received. Something told me that not many people know that Gail is Olivier's sister, especially at the school. She goes by Principal Travis, so I assume that Travis is then her ex-husband's last name.

She said that Olivier isn't white, so who is the white man I spoke to at the exhibit? Nothing was making sense to me, and my answers were hopefully awaiting me where I was headed because heaven knows I need some answers right now.

My phone buzzing made me jump before I answered it. "Hello?"

"You haven't returned my phone call and it's been three days," my best friend reminded.

"Oh shoot! I'm so sorry Cammy. I've just had the weirdest weekend," I replied.

"And calling me back was clearly the last thing on your mind," she said sarcastically.

I sighed. "Look, I'm really sorry."

"It's fine, but what exactly is it about this weekend that had you so riled up?" she asked.

I wouldn't even know where to begin.

"It's a long story that has some gaps in it, so can I tell you the whole thing once I've filled in the missing pieces?" I suggested.

"This sounds juicy Rose. What exactly are you getting up to?" she asked excitedly.

I laughed. "Definitely nothing that you should get so excited about."

"Oh come on! Give me something good here. I'm dying," she whined.

"Ah gee, is your husband that boring?" I joked.

"There's nothing wrong with John. It's his brother and his whore that are my problems," she complained.

"They're back from their honeymoon?" I questioned.

"Yep, and Holly is still rubbing it in everyone's faces that she scored Jeffrey like it's something to be even the least bit proud of. No one's paying her attention so she was asking about you," she informed.

"She was looking for someone to be on her side," I said knowingly.

"And by looking for you, she was looking to obviously take advantage of you," she added.

"So, where does she think I am?" I asked, knowing very well that they'd fed her a lie.

"Why, a teacher's conference of course," she replied.

I laughed. "You and John are aware that those don't happen as often as you think they do, right?"

"That doesn't matter. The same excuse can be used for as long as it's being used on different people," she argued.

I laughed. "Mhmm, sure."

"Besides, they've only been back for three days, so our excuse is still valid for the next week or so. We'll think of something new then," she said.

"Why not just tell her that I've left?" I asked.

"Because then she's going to interrogate us, wanting to know where you are," she argued.

"Isn't she eventually going to find out though?" I countered.

"Then we shall wait for eventually, but until then, we will lie our asses off!" she declared.

I giggled. "Well, since you're fighting this so gallantly."

"We must protect your golden heart from her Rose. It's the only way," she said dramatically as the cab driver indicated to me that we'd arrived.

"Sure thing Cammy. Listen, I've got to go. I promise I'll call you back tonight," I told her.

"If you don't call me back, you owe me your favourite clutch bag," she threatened.

I mock gasped. "Then I'll definitely be calling you back."

We said our goodbyes and I paid the cab driver before staring at the huge iron gate before me. There was an emblem on it, and under the emblem was the word, or rather name, Black. I pressed on the button at the intercom.

"Yes?" a woman's voice came through.

"Uh, my name is Rose. I'm here for Grace," I replied.

"One moment please," she said.

Three seconds later, the gate opened and I made my long walk up the driveway to the stunning mansion. There's a fountain out front and the garden looks impeccable. I walked up to the door and before I could knock, it opened to reveal a beautiful blonde woman.

"Rose Kidman?" she asked.

I nodded. "That's me."

"Follow me," she instructed.

I did as she asked and followed her into the house. I was met by painting after painting and exquisite artworks as we walked past the lobby and down a passage. I hadn't seen a single photo until we reached what I assume is the lounge, where only photos of Grace could be seen.

"Miss Kidman!" she beamed when she saw me. She ran over to hug me.

"Hey you! I missed you today. You had me worried," I told her.

"I'm sorry. I forgot that I had a dentist's appointment," she informed.

"Is there anything you'd like to drink?" the blonde lady asked me.

"Water's fine thank you," I replied. She turned and left the room without so much as a blink in my direction.

"She's a nice lady," I mumbled.

"Carol is a, complicated person," Grace offered.

Let's go with that.

"Do you not like her?" I asked.

She shook her head. "She can't stand me, but she's in love with my father, so she tends to be nice to me when he's around. When he's not here, she makes sure I have everything I need so that she can ignore me. She doesn't really care."

"That's wrong on so many levels," I commented.

She shrugged. "It's nothing new in my life."

I needed to change the subject.

"So young lady, what's this I hear about you wanting my full attention for five hours of the day?" I asked her as I sat down.

"We've already established that I suck at the school system, so why not be home schooled? I can't believe it took me so long to think about this idea in any case," she responded.

"Why do you think I'm the person for the job though?" I questioned.

"Isn't it obvious? I like you and you treat me like a normal person," she said.

"And your father's just ok with this?" I asked sceptically.

She gave me a piece of paper. "I mean, he has his reservations, so we made a deal. If this doesn't work out over three months, then I go back into the schooling system."

The two of them actually made a contract for this agreement.

"Do the two of you make a lot of contracts?" I asked.

She walked over to a cabinet before pulling out a file. "All the time. We make contracts and statements of agreement for anything that needs an agreement. They're our pinkie promises."

I went through the file and it looked like everything had been filed chronologically. There were agreements for chores, academics, communication and so much more. I cooed when I reached the last agreement, which is the first agreement.

They promised to always be there for each other, and it was signed by eight year old Grace.

"Who came up with this idea?" I asked.

"I did. I was always fascinated with watching him signing papers, so one day I asked him about the papers he signed. He explained what contracts are, and that's when we made that first contract to be always be there for each other. My dad is my best friend and I would be nothing without him," she responded.

She had tears in her eyes just talking about it, and I realized that not only does her love for her father run deep, but that she's either been traumatized or mistreated by her mother. It's the only thing can come up with for why she doesn't want to talk about her.

"I'm sure you mean the world to him too," I commented.

"I know I do, and I feel bad for shutting him out these past two years," she admitted.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I'm not ready to talk about it," she said lowly.

I got up and hugged her. "That's fine sweetheart. You don't have to tell me anything that you don't want to."

"It's not that I don't want to. I think I eventually will once I know how to tell you about it," she explained.

"Sounds fair enough. Is your father around? I'd like to speak to him about this agreement," I questioned.

"He isn't here today. Why do you need to talk to him though? Are you turning the offer down?" she panicked.

I laughed a little. "Calm down Grace. I'm not turning the offer down, but it doesn't feel right to negotiate such things and not have him be there. While I love the relationship you and I have, I need to meet your father at some point. He must surely want to meet the strange woman his daughter is spending all this time with."

"I guess that makes sense. Well, I'm not sure when he'll be back, so I guess I'll be coming to school until you've spoken to him," she said thoughtfully.

"Are you sure? Your aunt told me that you're tired of being treated as an outsider," I commented.

"You spoke to my aunt? Which one?" she asked.

"You have more than one?" I counter asked.

"Wait! Of course you mean Aunt Gail. Aunt Kristaline isn't even in the country. Yes, I have two aunts. Aunt Gail is my dad's older sister, and Aunt Kristaline is my dad's twin. They don't talk much anymore, and I don't know why that is. Aunt Gail is my least favourite aunt, but I have to tolerate her because she's family," she elaborated.

I laughed. "That's not nice."

"You've met her. That's all I'm going to say. What did she say to you anyway?" she asked.

"She's the one who came to tell me about your idea. I think your father asked her to talk to me, and she ended up revealing that she's your aunt after finding out that I care about you since she found me panicking about your whereabouts," I explained.

She looked taken aback. "You were really panicking?"

I nodded. "I called you and Fabio and when you both weren't responding, I assumed the worst. I know nothing about your father, but the fact that you have a bodyguard speaks volumes. Anyone could easily harm you to get to him and I couldn't stand that thought."

She ambushed me in an unexpected hug and I hugged her back just as tightly. I wasn't all that surprised when she started crying. Like I said, I have a feeling that this child has gone through way more than she's told me about.

"Grace! What have you done to Mr Black's daughter?" Carol attacked me when she walked in on us.

I stuck my arm out, keeping her away from us. "I did nothing to her."

She glared at me. "She's crying!"

"That's what humans do," I said sarcastically, making Grace laugh a little.

"Mr Black is going to have you killed for making his daughter cry," she said proudly.

I rolled my eyes. "Ah gee, I'm so afraid."

If looks could kill...

Grace let go of me, probably sensing the tension. "I'm fine Carol."

"Whatever," she said before storming out of the room.

"Thanks for sticking up for me," Grace said to me.

"It's my pleasure sweetheart. Just call me if ever she bothers you. I'll be right over to put her in place," I told her.

She laughed. "You're a weird woman Miss Kidman.

I smiled. "Call me Rose."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"We've crossed the boundaries now Grace. You may as well," I agreed.

"Thanks," she said.

We spent some more time together and I stayed to have dinner with her now that her father wasn't around. When it was late, I had to leave, even though I was slightly reluctant to. Since there's a security team at the mansion, Grace had Fabio take me home.

"Hey Fabio?" I called him.

"Yes Miss Kidman?" he replied.

"Please, call me Rose," I requested.

He laughed. "Yes Rose?"

"Is Olivier gone a lot?" I asked.

"Not really. He only travels if he really needs to, like now. If he can, he takes Grace along with him, but now that she has school, he thought against it," he explained.

"So he's not an absent father or anything like that?" I continued.

"On the contrary. He loves Grace more than anyone on the face of the planet. He spends as much time as he can with her while running his empire," he responded.

I don't know why I was relieved to find out that much.

Fabio interrupted my thoughts. "If I may ask, why do you want to know about Mr Black's presence in his daughter's life?"

"Grace is such a wonderful child who doesn't deserve any of the attitude towards her, and I guess I just needed to know that her father's at least there for her since she's treated the way that she is because of him," I answered.

"You really care about Grace, don't you?" he asked.

"Is that a bad thing?" I countered.

He shook his head. "It's just surprising. Besides the fact that your attachment to her formed over such a short time, you're one of the only people to ever care about her. The only other people who do are her father, her aunt and me."

"Gail?" I questioned.

"God no. That woman can't stand Grace. I'm talking about Kristaline," he replied.

I thought as much. "Where is she?"

"She's in England where she lives with her family," he informed.

I didn't want to seem like a pest, so I stopped my questioning then. He dropped me off and I headed into my apartment to find my brother still there. He was watching TV while eating cereal. He didn't look like someone who wasn't meant to be there.

"You're still here?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes. "Hello sister. How are you? I'm good thanks!"

"Weren't you supposed to be gone Richard?" I asked, ignoring his sarcasm.

"I may have missed the bus back," he replied.

I sighed. "So what now?"

"I've got a bus ticket for tomorrow. The bus leaves at six in the morning, so I should be there by one and make it in time for my test," he said.

"Are you intending to catch this one?" I teased.

He threw a cushion at me. "I don't know why you're not grateful for the opportunity to spend more time with me."

I laughed. "Because that's what it is, an opportunity."

He opted for giving me the silent treatment, so I decided to take a shower before calling my best friend. She had a whole lot of rubbish to say that I was supposed to listen to because I was being 'punished for not calling back'.

The things we put up with from our best friends.

When I was done with her, I checked in with my mom. She was suspiciously cheery, but I reserved my questioning. Knowing her, she's bound to eventually tell me. I was just happy that for once our phone call had nothing to with 'how depressed she is now that she's all alone'.

"Do you know what's up with mom?" I asked my brother as I joined him in the lounge.

He smirked. "So many things could possibly be up with mom."

"She's just suspiciously cheery," I informed.

"We'll find out sooner or later. You know how she is with keeping secrets," he reminded.

"I thought so too," I agreed.

"Now, are we watching a comedy or a horror?" he asked.

"Hit me with the gory stuff!"