T H I R D    P E R S O N

Scarlet climbed down the attic and went to the kitchen to grab her usual morning drink. It is a strawberry and lemon mix that calmed her nerves down each morning. After a long night of not being able to sleep, she looked forward to her drink. She opened the fridge and searched for it, she could not find it. She checked the island in case she left it there but it was nowhere to be found. That was the last bottle she had and she couldn't find it! Hold on, she isn't the only one at home right now, is she? The anger boiled from within as she realized that they could've drank it! Those thieving sons of...

"YOU BLOODY BASTARDS, COME DOWN HEEERREE!!!"

L O G A N

"Who is it?! Who the heck is it?! Who drank it?! AAARRRGH!!"

We all watched as Scarlet threw a tantrum, none of us dared to talk or else she would skewer whosoever. Who was stupid enough to take anything red from Scarlet's fridge? We all know about her obsession with red, who is the idiot that caused me to wake up crappy because of Scarlet's screams?

'I have a pretty good guess...'

She soon started to throw stuff so I had to run to hold her down. It was risky but I managed to make her release the set of kitchen knives she was about to throw. The others had scampered to various directions for safety, leaving me to handle the whole situation myself. I pat her hair– one gigantic risk move and whispered calming things into her ear. It's what I do when I feel on the edge except, I don't pat my hair. Now Shelia does it for me, I'm one lucky guy.

She slowly became quiet but all the while, I noticed that she was tapping her foot erratically on the floor while her eye muscles twitched.

"What's going on here?"

All of us turned towards the direction from which the voice came, it was a woman in her late twenties like Mr Mayorkun, our principal and my was she hot. She is dark skinned and her rich black hair was braided into cornrows, not to mention her perfect body proportions...she is a package...

"STOP EYE RAPING HER, GODDAMN PERVERTS!"

Great. I just managed to calm her down and here she was screaming again. Scarlet's voice just has to ruin my moment with natural beauty. Oh well, I have Shelia and she's a package so that's more than enough for me. The woman– I think she's Scarlet's sister– walked into the kitchen and magically calmed the bull down. Wow, that woman should teach me her magic, I could really use it with Scarlet as my seatmate.

Scarlet went to her room after the woman pacified her and she (the woman) turned towards our direction while giving us a closed eye smile and introduced herself; "I am Asa, Scarlet's nanny." She smiled.

"Woah, you look pretty young." Phyllis voiced everyone's – I think– common thought. Asa just smiled and waved a dismissive hand at our lot.

"Nah, I've been taking care of her since she was six so I'm kinda old. So, who was it?" She looked around all of us until Jordan sheepishly laughed, breaking the silence and affirming my suspicion.

I knew it! That birdbrain, how is he the president of the chess club?!

As if everybody was thinking what I was thinking, they all started throwing insults...er, remove Sharon from 'everybody', she's on the couch sleeping... at Jordan who was trying to defend himself. Keyword: trying.

"I drank it before I realized the color, don't blame me she's mad!" He drastically failed at verbal defense because the others still rained insults at him. While they were involved in the banter, I walked over to the guest room while removing my contacts to rest my eyes. I did a very risky thing by sleeping with them on last night. Fortunately, it didn't affect my eyes but it still stings. After a while, I was okay to wear the contacts again and I went downstairs to join the others in helping Asa.

When we were done, we all went to our assigned rooms but the girls were quite skeptical about going to Scarlet's room. However, Asa called me back to the kitchen to help with the fruit juice.

"Logan, is it?" She asked to strike up a conversation.

"Yes, you're right." I answered politely.

"Where do you live?" She asked again. Why does she want to know? Is she one of my father's agents too? No way, he thinks I'm still in Beastgrovia. I decided to answer with 'I'm living on this street'.

"Hmn..." She trailed off, leaving me dumbfounded. "Your parents?" She spoke up again.

"I live alone."

There was silence between us until I decided to ask her about one thing I was always so curious about.

"Asa, may I ask you something?" I inquired.

"Ask away."

"What was Scarlet like before?" I asked, remembering the words of that old lady at the orphanage. Asa stopped cutting the lemons to juice and exhaled deeply.

"Actually, I don't know." She said quietly. "When I was hired, she was nothing but a nasty kid who threw tantrums and had panic attacks a lot. I found out later that she was that way because of her ailment."

"Ailment?" I asked and she nodded.

"ASD. Her sister, Lady Sara, was her therapist and Scarlet was doing well. Her attention span was longer, she was more patient, she spoke freely to strangers and her body jerking movements stopped but when her sister died, it all changed. The symptoms came back and she grew worse. These past days though, she's been really behaving. I noticed her body jerking reduced too." Asa explains.

So that's why she taps her hands against her laps or taps the floor. I never would have imagined that Scarlet has ASD. Her sister's death must've been a tough break for her. Scarlet and I are so different yet we're both the same.

"Do you know why I decided to tell you about Scarlet?" Asa suddenly asked and I also began to ponder on the reason she would tell me about something so personal. "That's because you have this aura of a trustworthy person. You're a great listener too." She answered before I could utter a word.

She said I'm trustworthy, would she say that when she finds out?

"Thank you, I am honoured." I shook the thought off and replied with a smile.

"Good, so I'm giving you a task."

"Okay, what task?"

"As you can see, I am always busy with my inn so I can't watch over Scarlet when she is in school or anywhere else. I only get to see her when I come to prepare meals and every morning so I'd like you to keep watch over her."

Eh?!

Even if I wanted to say something, my voice was stuck at the back of my throat. How the hell did I get myself into this mess?!

"W-why– what– m-me..." I struggled with my words.

"Other than me, you're the only other person that can calm her down when she throws a fit."

Oh shimata.

"So, what do you say? I don't take no for an answer, I'll pay you too."

Yeah...I figured out as much.

"Thank you so much, Logan. I would tell Scarlet about her new guardian and therapist, boy she'll throw a fit..." She rambled on and on without even waiting for my answer and called down the gang for breakfast. I do not deserve this!

Breakfast was silent other than the sound of mouths chewing. Everywhere was tense and stuffy until Don broke both the silence and tension.

"Guys, I just had me a crazy idea."

***
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