My Perfect Lady 38 The Hunters' Home

He was failing miserably. What was going on?

Miya settled herself properly and looked at Mr. Park, who was still chatting with Ben. When he noticed her staring at him, he gave her a delighted smile, quickly said, "We're almost there," and resumed his talk with the child.

Miya sighed.

As much as she would have loved to look at the scene outside, curtains had been drawn on all the windows of the car, so it was pretty much like sitting in a closed room. Now that she thought about it, throughout the plane ride too, she hadn't seen the scenery outside at all.

She must be the only woman of her cla.s.s who had travelled in an airplane, sat in a limousine, and yet couldn't even tell the difference between the two rides. They were both like sitting in a moving room! Except for the beautiful lady in the airplane, of course. She was a pleasant difference.

She was almost done reading about the Hunters too, and her brain had almost blasted off. There were just too many Hunters in the entire family, and all of them seemed to be involved in some company or another that was owned by the Hunter Corporation. She could not remember their names, and had therefore confined her research to the devil: Chairman Simon Hunter. He was the one she needed to be wary of anyway.

She kind of wanted to confirm what she had found with Jimmy, but looking at how rigid the man had suddenly turned, she dared not interrupt his thoughts. Gathering her wit and her courage together for a fight, she clenched her fists too.

Let the show begin!

The car suddenly came to a halt.

Jimmy breathed deeply, and let the anger fade. He reminded himself to calm down. And just as someone pulled open the door for him, his face went serene, expressionless like a blank sheet. He stepped out.

A man dressed in smart overalls bowed to him deeply.

"Young master," he greeted, "Welcome back."

Jimmy dipped his head slightly in a nod, and then held out his hand to Miya.

The man's face fazed a little, as he looked at a small girl come out of the car, dressed in a white t-s.h.i.+rt and ripped jeans. She had a weird hair colour, her face was evidence of her low status, and the man couldn't understand for the life of him, as to why the young master was holding her hand.

Miya was slightly surprised by the rather respectful treatment of Jim. She eyed the man who was staring at her consciously, and then broke into a smile.

"h.e.l.lo," she chirped.

The man looked shocked.

Usually, he would ignore a greeting from a haggard person like her without a second thought, but the fact that she was with the young master was vital here. So he withheld his frown and tried to smile while saying, "h.e.l.lo, miss."

Miya could have laughed.

This person's reluctance was so evident! This was her first signal as to how the people in this place were going to be.

Behind her, Ben and Mr. Park came out of the car.

Just then, she had the chance to notice where she was.

Much like the pictures had suggested, this place was grand. She was now standing before a huge white building, which she recognized as Jimmy Hunter's house. The Hunter mansion was spread over 40 acres of land and had various palace-like houses built within. According to the pictures and some articles she had gone through, there was a lot of greenery surrounding the place, along with gardens, orchards, and a park with rare trees. Sure enough, Miya noticed, this building was surrounded by green patches of land all around, except for the driveway that ran all the way from an exotic main gate, to Jimmy's house.

The place was breath-taking.

From the size of the house alone, Miya could barely imagine the number of people that the house must be capable of accommodating.

As she was busy staring at the place with wildly excited eyes, Jim pulled her slightly to draw attention. Once she looked at him, he started climbing the steps to the main door.

Miya couldn't help but notice the small name plate in a corner, that had the name of the mansion carved on it.

'Jade'.

She smiled.

It was so like the young man to name his house 'Jade'.

She didn't know what she had expected, or why she was so surprised, but once the door flew open and she saw rows of servants stand before them in line, Miya nearly jumped out of her skin.

She was thankful for Jim holding her hand. She would otherwise have fainted, or bolted far away. A sweat broke on her brow as she noticed a heavily built woman standing at the door, smiling.

She greeted Jimmy with a bow, and the tens of others behind her followed suit. Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"Enough with the bowing, Kyouko," he said a bit irritated, "I got it. Thank you."

The muscular woman smiled.

"I hope your trip was sound, sir," she said.

"It was," Jim replied.

The odd thing was, none of the servants from here seemed to be struck by Miya's presence. They greeted her with a placid smile as well. Miya thought. Had the man from outside informed all the other ones inside of the weird girl accompanying the young master? There was always an informer or scout amongst the peasants, after all. When she was part of a trade union, she had acted as one herself, although temporarily.

Jim still held Miya's hand firmly. He hoped she wouldn't feel intimidated. And he knew his workers wouldn't dare disrespect her as long as he was nearby.

They entered the house.

The interior was as pretty as the outside. Somehow, the entire house gave off a Jimmy Hunter vibe. It was painted in rather cold, metallic colours, and yet felt welcoming.

Jimmy took her up a flight of stairs.

Miya wanted to ogle at the house, but she felt immense pressure, for she was aware that even though inconspicuous, all eyes were staring at her. She kept her head down and kept following the young master.

Behind her, Ben trotted shyly too, holding onto Mr. Park's hand tightly.

They slowly walked into a huge room.

Miya was hardly aware of where they were going to, she was so focussed on staring fixedly at the ground, that she was taken by surprise when Mr. Park lifted up Ben and placed him on a very, very large bed.

Her mouth flew open instantly.

Don't tell me… this was…!

"Your room," Jim said nonchalantly, as he waved a hand towards a room that was almost ten times the size of her previous apartment. And it had so many expensive looking things in it, Miya couldn't help but cower in fear.

"M-Mr. Hunter," she began in protest, but then stopped.

The young master's gaze, somehow, had turned cold, as if his mind had suddenly wavered to something else. He looked at her, but didn't really see her and whispered rather robotically, "I'll ask someone to bring over your stuff."

Then he signalled to Park and quickly walked out.

Miya was dumbfounded.

What had just happened?!

Seconds before, Mr. Hunter had looked okay! She then suddenly remembered his plastic face when they were sitting in the car. Maybe he did have something important to attend to. In that case, she was thankful that he had accompanied her till the room, and even let her entry to this palace be only mildly uncomfortable.

Sighing, Miya looked about the room.

As expected, she was scared by the sheer size of it.

When she looked at the huge king size bed, the gigantic screen which most probably was a television, the refrigerator that somehow had two doors, and even a cla.s.sy computer, she automatically wanted to cry.

She would never be comfortable in such a place!

Meanwhile, her son was much better at adjusting to the new environment.

He had begun jumping up and down the bed, shrieking, "So soft, mum, so soft!"

Miya smiled weakly at him, and then walked to an open window to allow herself to breathe. And just when she was looking down from it, something strange caught her eye.

Someone seemed to be standing right under the window. Strangely, the man had a painted face. As Miya raised her brows in a frown, the man suddenly lifted one of his hands in the air. She froze.

The man had a slingshot in his hand. And he seemed to be aiming at her face.

As a creepy smile spread on the lips of the coloured faced man, Miya swore under her breath.

Had the trouble already begun?

d.a.m.n it!