Tom's POV

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I was awoken by the loud startling sound of the rooster in the chicken pen crowing. I jolted up with a small yelp. I looked around and realised that it was nothing to be afraid of and I put a hand on my chest, feeling my heart thumping out of my chest. That is the second time in a row I have fallen asleep here and been scared awake.

I looked out the window and saw a dim light shining through outside. Y/n was right. It didn't seem to dark. I heard some noises from y/n's bedroom and took it that she was awake now too. I quickly got out of bed and as I opened the door, I saw y/n just coming out of her room too. We both jumped back a little in almost running into each other.

"Oh, good morning Tom." Y/n yawned.

"Morning y/n." I returned and yawned myself. She smiled at me a little, "Um, that's certainly and very... effective alarm to wake up to." I joked and y/n laughed.

"Yeah. Well it works. You get used to it after awhile but I agree that the first couple of times, waking up to that it a bit of a shock." She laughed. We then heard a noise from the kitchen and the loud thumping of feet on the wooden stairs greeted us suddenly as Jack came running up.

"Y/N! Y/N! There's something wrong! Tom's bag is in the-" he suddenly realised that I was standing next to y/n once he came into view, "What are you doing back here!?" He snarled at me and I gulped.

"Uh- um- I-" Y/n spoke for me instead.

"It was rather cold last night out there so I brought him back." She merely stated.

"Why would you do that?" Jack crinkled his eyebrows together, "He was horrible last night!" He pointed to me.

"Now Jack. That is not very nice at all. You mustn't say that." Y/n said firmly and I looked at her surprised. She was standing up for me? Still after everything? "Apologise this minute."

"No. He doesn't deserve my apology." Jack snapped and he looked at me, "I am not going to apologise for speaking the truth." He sharply turned around and walked down the stairs.

"He'll come around." Y/n sighed.

"Thank you for sticking up for me." I muttered, looking down at me feet because I knew that Jack was right.

"No matter. Come on let's go down." Y/n walked away and I followed her into the kitchen. I saw Kay and Jack down there and they were both glaring at me, "Is fruit ok with everyone for breakfast?" Y/n called out.

"Yes please." Kay and Jack answered. They didn't remove their strong stares from me, and I shrunk underneath their threatening gaze.

"Tom?" Y/n turned to look at me as she brought out a cutting board.

"Oh uh, yes thank you." I answered and she smiled. She grabbed a variety of fruits and started to cut them up and mix them into a bowl. Jack and Kay made their way over to the table and sat down. I sat down at the chair next to where y/n would be sitting because I don't think I would survive if I sat next to Kay or Jack.

Y/n came over with the bowls and cutlery. She placed the fork and spoon next to my bowl and smiled at me, "Th-thanks." I stuttered. Y/n walked away and came back with a large bowl of mixed fruits and berries. She placed it in the middle of the table along with a large glass jug of what I guessed was orange juice.

"Ok. So we've got some apple, watermelon, rockmelon, pineapple, persimmons and berries with some orange juice." Y/n recalled everything and my jaw dropped at the variety they had for a simple breakfast. Kay reached forwards and grabbed the salad spoon in the large bowl and served herself some fruit. She passed the spoon to Jack and once Jack was finished he passed the spoon to y/n, "I hope you don't mind. We traditionally serve food from youngest to oldest." Y/n told me quietly.

"Oh, it's fine." I smiled she returned it and handed me the spoon, "By the way, what is a persimmon?" I asked confused. I had never heard of it before.

"A persimmon is a fruit that looks... a lot like a tomato actually. They are a bit of a weird flavour at first but they taste rather nice in my opinion." Y/n told me. I nodded in understanding and picked up my fork, "You may not have heard of them before because one of fathers friend from over seas came to visit us and we planted the seeds. Surprisingly they actually grew out here in the country. Technically there are an Australian fruit though." I nodded in understanding.

"So which one is a persimmon?" I asked. Y/n stabbed a piece of fruit from her plate with her fork and showed it to me. It was a red looking fruit and it reminded me a lot of a tomato as y/n said. I picked up a piece of the same fruit from my plate and tasted it. My eyes lit up at the weird tangy yet sugary flavour of it, "Woah, that is amazing. Weird. But amazing." I ate some more fruit eagerly.

The fruits here were some much more flavoursome compared to the fruits at home. I heard y/n giggle a little watching me eat. I shot her a playful annoyed side glance. Once everyone had finished y/n stood up, "Ok pass me your plates." Y/n picked up everyone's plates and I stood up too.

"Uh, do you want me to get the glasses?" I asked and y/n smiled at me and nodded. I walked to the other side of the table and grasped Kay and Jack's glasses. They both shot me a look that could curdle milk. 

"Don't think that just because you decided it was too cold and you came crawling back, that we are suddenly going to just forgive you." Jack growled, "You were horrible to y/n and I will never forgive you."

"Me neither." Kay glared, "Y/n is too nice and kind, so you taking advantage of that is absolutely disgusting." Jack nodded in agreement.

"I am not taking advantage of her. I promise you that." I whispered, we all didn't want y/n to hear, "And I really am sorry about how I acted. You didn't deserve that-"

"Don't apologise to us. Y/n is the one you yelled at for no reason at all!" Jack growled again. I opened my mouth to say that I had apologised already but y/n had come back to the table. She picked up the empty fruit bowl and walked off again but not before giving us all a subtle look of suspicion.

"Just leave us alone." Kay grumbled, "Especially y/n." I just walked away with the glasses to y/n. I saw that she was already washing up everything so I grabbed a tea towel and began to dry and put away things.

"Don't worry about them." Y/n suddenly said.

"Pardon?" I tried to pretend that I didn't know what she was talking about.

"You aren't very subtle at whispering." Y/n laughed a little, "I could hear some of your conversation without even trying from here. Especially when Jack raised his voice. Just ignore them." I looked at y/n.

"H-how can you just forgive me that easily though?" I sighed and fiddled with my fingers as I put away a glass, "I just still don't get it." Y/n shook her head and smiled at me again. 

"Because. I understand how you felt. It was probably hard for you. Being chucked out here and told suddenly that you needed to stay here and that you couldn't go back to your life. That you had no say in any of this. You lashed out. It's fine. I know that it is completely understandable for you to have been on edge. And it wasn't even personal was it?" I smiled softly and shook my head.

"No. It wasn't personal at all." I said softly. I chewed my lip to stop my self from saying anything stupid like 'I would never hurt you of all people on purpose.' Which I had almost said but realised how it would have sounded...

"See?" Y/n pointed out, "It's not important anymore so we can just forget about it and move on." Y/n concluded and I still couldn't believe how easy she was, "There is no point in lagging on the past when you have a whole future left to move on to." Y/n's quote stuck to my brain like glue.

"That's a good saying." I muttered as I put away the bowls.

"Thanks." Y/n laughed, "Well I better get everyone off doing their chores now."

"Chores?" I asked, "Uh...What do you want me to do?"

"Well Jack milks the cow, Kay feeds the chickens and collects the eggs and I usually feed the horses, do the laundry and clean up the house." Y/n told me.

"Why do you have to do so much around here?" I asked quietly. It's like y/n has taken up the responsibility of both parents at once which is not fair. I guess that she did say that she would do that in that letter though... which really explains everything.

"I just have to I guess. I mean Kay is too young to clean the clothing in buckets of water and use the scrubbers. I'm the only one out of the three of us who is tall enough to reach over the horse's stables to feed them and the only one who knows what to give them. That, and the fact that I like cleaning up the house." Y/n answered.

"Can I uh, help you? Do the horses and stuff? I mean... I am taller than you so I can help with the horses like yesterday, and could you teach me how to clean up and stuff? It could be helpful to have a second hand right?" I offered. I really wanted to spend more time with y/n whenever I could so this would be a great way to do it.

"Sure. That would be amazing. Thank you. But you don't have to help me with everything. It's a lot of work-"

"That's why you shouldn't do it by yourself." I cut in and she laughed. 

"Ok. Fine." She shook her head. I smiled at her as she walked past me out to the kitchen, "Alright Jack remember to seperate Milly's calf while you milk her. And Kay, can you see if we need more chicken feed?" They both nodded in understanding.

"Got it." Jack clarified.

"What's Tom going to do?" Kay raised an eyebrow at me.

"He's helping me." Y/n replied simply. Jack and Kay glared at me again and I shrunk under their gaze. I know they were just kids but I don't know if it was the looks or something, but I felt like they could do a lot more to me than I could to them, "Come on let's go." Jack and Kay stood up and went to walk out of the door. Once they closed it y/n turned to me, "Ok so I usually feed the horses first." 

"Uh ok, cool." I nodded and followed her out the door and down the stairs to the horse stables. Y/n walked over to the buckets and scooped the feed out.

"Can you give that biscuit of hay we talked about yesterday to cupcake?" She spoke. I just realised that I had been staring at her this whole time and finally mentally slapped myself out of my daze.

"Oh, uh yeah. Yeah." I walked over and separated a section of hay from the bunch. I walked over to the smaller room, "So I just chuck it over onto the ground here then?" I checked. Y/n nodded and I tossed the hay over the stable door to the small, fluffy pony.

I watched the small pony as she would bite into the biscuit and tear it apart by throwing her head up. She looked at me as she ate and I smiled a little at the cuteness of her. I rested my arms on the door's top and rested my chin on them.

"Found a new friend have we?" Y/n's voice brought me out of my thoughts and I looked over to her.

"Not quite yet. But she is very cute." I answered.

 "Yeah Cupcake may look adorable but she can be quite cheeky sometimes." Y/n laughed and I watched her as she poured another lot of feed into... was it Cinnamon's trouph? 

"So do you ride?" I asked.

"Yeah. A fair amount of the time if I don't have other things to do." Y/n answered.

"Who rides which horse?" I lent against a wooden pole and watched y/n mix another batch.

"Well, Kay obviously rides Cupcake, Jack rides Cinnamon and I ride Missy." She answered.

"So, then who rides Nightingale?" I tilted my head to the side.

"Well... I ride her sometimes if she needs it, but she used to be Father's horse." Y/n said a little more quietly.

"Oh." I bit my lip and looked down. I could tell that y/n's tone always changed a little softer when ever she mentioned her parents. Which is completely understandable... and by the dates that I noticed of the tomb stones... it only happened around two months ago or something.... "I'm sorry that I brought it up..." I mumbled.

"Oh don't worry about it. I mean it's not like you knew or anything." Y/n smiled at me a little but I could tell that I wasn't one of her smiles. It was a fake, forced one. She quickly looked down at the ground and I saw that her eyes looked a little more shinier.

"You know...." I said quietly and hesitantly, "You don't have to force a smile around me. I can tell the difference." I mumbled softly and y/n stopped what she was doing and looked at me. I looked into her glossy eyes that seemed to be thick with tears that wouldn't spill. Y/n forced a small laugh.

"If only that was true." She gave me a thin lipped smile and sniffed a little. She quickly turned around and patted Mistletoe. I jumped as I suddenly felt Nightingale nudge me roughly. I turned and patted her softly, "Well we had better get back to the house and start up on the laundry then." Y/n muttered as she went to walk out. 

I debated for a while while we were walking, until I grabbed her wrist softly to stop her from walking away, "Y/n... I know that you've only known me for a day... but... if you need someone to talk to I am here. Just... know that." I told her and she bit her lip, avoiding eye contact with me. Her eyes flicked to meet mine and they went back to the ground, "Just know that I am here." I said quietly and I let go of her wrist. Her hand drifted back to her side and she nodded after a moment of silence.

She then quickly shook her head and turned away from me, "That laundry won't do itself so we better get on it now." She swiftly walked at a fast pace towards the house. So fast that I had to jog to keep up with her. Her expression hardened as she continued to walk ahead, not once removing her gaze from the house.

I could easily tell that she was upset but she didn't want to show it. She was hurting so much.... but just kept it bottled up inside like she said she would in that damn letter. 

And it was then that I set myself a goal. A task that I had to complete. I was going to be here for y/n every second she needed me and I was going to get her to open up. Because there was something in the look her eyes showed and just her body language. That she needed someone. Someone to cry to. Someone to talk to and someone that would just be there for her. But yet she never said it out loud.

I blame these decisions on the butterflies in my stomach and the weird feeling I always got when ever I saw y/n. But that is my goal.

And I intend to reach it.