“How?” Brook asked as a large plateful of bacon, omelets, and biscuits slid steaming to her.
“Basically,” Nathan explained, “I’ll just take you on another date, but this time with the paparazzi at every corner. Yesterday was a practice session for today’s practice session.”
“Practice what?” Lily asked while Angela wiped some crumbs off of her cheeks.
“She has to look worthy of the Walker family name, so we’re going to expose her to some society today,” Nathan said, picking up the hot towel on a silver tray from the butler standing by.
“Can I go?”
“No.”
“Where are we supposed to go anyway?” Brook asked.
“Charity work. Just going to an orphanage for toddlers,” Nathan replied somewhat reluctantly. Apparently, the idea of little grimy munchkins didn’t sit well with him. Brook, on the other hand, shoved away her unfinished breakfast and enthusiastically dragged her fiancée out the door.
“I can’t believe it!” Brook laughed as she pulled Nathan down a corridor. “I love kids! We never had a lot at the old hunting grounds since they usually starved-” Here her voice faltered, then picked back up.
“But they were still full of spirit and cheerfulness despite all that! Let’s go right now!”
“Not so fast,” he smiled, yanking his hand out of hers. “You need to be properly dressed before anything.”
“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing right now?”
“The mistress of the heir of the world needs to be first seen by mass media in womanly attire; not a hoodie and sweats.”
“It’s not a fashion show, you know.”
“It kind of is.”
***
“Stop slouching,” Nathan managed to hiss through the corner of his smile.
Brook managed to straighten her back before a camera clicked somewhere at the entrance of the supermarket a few feet away. “This is torture. Why couldn’t we take the car?” she whispered with a false smile as photographers’ eyes bored into her back.
Nathan laughed as if she’d just said something funny. Brook heard another subtle camera click right behind her, specifically in the direction of a trash can they passed. “Bear with it,” he quickly muttered humorlessly as they crossed a street. “It’ll ruin the whole point of this exercise if you weren’t exposed to as much publicity as possible.”
A couple chattering school girls passing them fell silent. They immediately broke out into whispering as Brook and Nathan continued to walk away.
“Is that really-”
“It is.”
“So that must be-”
“Brooklyn Avery.”
Brook blushed as the girls said her name simultaneously. It sounded as if they were trying to curse her into the deepest part of hell by uttering her name with as much hate as possible.
“Don’t worry,” Nathan said quietly when he felt her tense. “They only hate you because you’ve killed their dreams.”
“What?”
“It’s every girl’s dream to marry a royal, rich and poor alike. Most people would accept my fiancée if she was a fellow royal or a celebrity, but then you showed up.”
“So… they’re jealous?” Brook asked incredulously.
“Bingo.”
Brook saw the orphanage come into view. She recited the words Victoria burned into her mind before leaving ten minutes ago.
Graceful. Refined. Smile gently. Laugh softly.
The doors swung open.
Broken toys everywhere. Dust an inch deep on the walls. Cobwebs strewn in every corner of the room as if someone put them there on purpose. The sounds of screaming children down the small hall.
A tired looking woman with her auburn hair in a loose bun and pale skin greeted them with a strained smile.
“Oh, it’s an honor to meet you, Mr. Walker and Mrs. Walker,” she bowed. “I’m Tiffany, the one in charge. Right now, we’re short on staff, so I’m the only adult here.”
Brook barely heard their brief conversation. She watched a couple of skinny little boys poke their heads from behind the peeling plaster walls leading to what seemed to be a mess hall.
“Is it always like this?” Brook asked in a dazed manner when the two boys ran off to tell everyone else that the “rich people” were here.
“Yes, well,” the woman sighed, “we were supposed to receive the money a week ago, but it still hasn’t come yet…”
A little boy waving a rag doll ran past them with a wailing girl toddling after him. The woman stopped him and asked for the doll, but the boy simply stuck his tongue out and ran off.
“Well,” Brook said resolutely after seeing this, “I’ll start working immediately, if you don’t mind?”
The woman’s eyes widened. “‘Work’? Simply coming here will inspire funds; there really isn’t a need for someone of your standing to-”
She was already gone. It took awhile to rally all the children, but she managed it eventually. Once she had them all sitting quietly sucking on candy she brought with her, Brook started.
“Today,” she announced, “is Cleaning Day. It’s a day when everyone pitches in and helps tidy up the house.”
This was met with loud voices of protest.
“Well,” Brook sighed sadly, “I guess that I won’t be able to show you guys a rainbow then.”
“We’ve already seen rainbows before,” a little girl piped up.
“But can you make one?”
“You can’t make rainbows!”
“With a little magic and good weather you can.”
“Who cares about a stupid rainbow anyway,” a boy grumbled.
“Real men like rainbows, right Nathan?” Brook asked Nathan, who was simply standing dumbfounded at the doorway.
He said he did, which made a few boys’ eyes widen. Apparently, liking rainbows was now the new trend. Brook decided to play them up a little more.
“Did you know,” she whispered as if it was a large secret from Nathan and Tiffany, “that girls like guys who are nice enough to like rainbows?”
The girls claimed they didn’t until she reminded them that princes loved rainbows because they were nice and gentle.
This set everyone to work in a flash. Tiffany stared at Brook, the new heiress of society, tie her hair in a ponytail, take off her expensive jacket, roll up her sleeves, and work with everyone else.
It was hard work, but the kids had fun with the detergent that made bubbles and enjoyed watching the wall “change color”.
Two hours later, the place was spotless and it was snack time.
“Good job, everyone!” Brook laughed. The kids whooped and rolled on the sparkling floor, shouting about the smell of lemons.
They all ran to the mess hall to start eating, but Brook stopped them at the entrance.
“Wash your hands before you eat,” she scolded gently.
They complained about being hungry.
“But the dust is still on your hands. Do you really want to eat them?”
“YES!!!” they shouted and giggled.
“The Dust fairy counts dust in your tummy as part of the building though…”
Silence.
Tiffany nearly cried tears of joy when she saw the line of children earnestly scrubbing away at their fingers.
During snack time, she couldn’t thank Brook enough.
“How on earth,” Tiffany asked, “did you get them to listen?”
“Oh, um,” Brook thought quickly, “I watched over the kids a lot back at my old orphanage.”
Suddenly, a reporter walked into the room and started interrogating Brook with enthusiasm.
“Is it true that you adopted an indenture? How do you feel about the world thinking that you’re after the Walker family’s money? What’s your ideal type of guy?”
Brook hesitated before answering, turning to Nathan for a little help. Nathan simply nodded his head, so she took it as permission to talk.
The interview went on for several minutes but was soon interrupted by squealing when the kids found a package of fudge cookies.
“No, you have to break it up into smaller pieces first,” Brook said gently, getting up and taking the large cookies away. There was a lot of wailing before she could finally be heard over them.
“Alright, since you all insist. But let me try a piece first.”
The kids watched in horror as Brook “choked” on the cookie and coughed, “so painful… arg it’s stuck in my throat…” for several seconds. When she asked if anyone wanted whole cookies, they shook their heads violently and proceeded to breaking up itty bitty crumbs so as not to hurt themselves.
The reporters, for several others from different newspapers walked in a while ago, began scribbling in their notepads. Photographers clicked away at the group.
Nathan practically lost it when a couple of younger press members began whispering to each other about how slender Brook looked. He kindly asked the men to leave and locked the door on them.
When Nathan returned, everyone was already outside in the backyard. Brook, hose in hand, was telling them to be careful not to try and make rainbows by themselves without a certified rainbow maker nearby, which Tiffany apparently was.
“Ready?” she asked the kids. They went berserk when the water caught the warm sun’s rays and made a rainbow.
Brook laughed as they tried touching the rainbow and played in the cool water. Nathan stopped and stared at his fierce fiancée, suddenly a gentle babysitter of some sort giggling with a bunch of brats.
Tiffany’s kind remark brought him back to earth. “I can see why you fell in love with her, the sweet angel,” Tiffany murmured.
“…Me too,” Nathan admitted grudgingly after Brook put down the hose and started dancing around in a ring with everyone.
Her warm smile dazzled him and he wondered if it was it possible to like someone to a point where you just wanted hug her despite being watched by the world.