You are just a maid at my household, nothing more, nothing less ~ PAFP ~

Mika was ordering everybody about, telling them what to cook, where to put it, etc. But in the corner of her eye she saw the new girl shaking, looking uneasy, then before she knew it she dropped one of the over-a-million china plates. Mika gasped and ran over, grabbing the girl by shoulders and saying, "what's wrong with you! *hit!" All the servants around the area just stopped and turned with shock, eyes locking on the girl. Mika then let go and ran off, everyone knew where she was going. After a rise of gossip started to rise, Gakuto pushed through the crowds and came beside Aya with a gasp, coming over and laying a hand on her shoulder while peering down at the broken china plate.
"A-Aya are you okay?" He asked simply, not mentioning what the price would be for breaking a monument of the Eri family.

Gakuto gave a small sigh, removing his hand and explaining sadly, "unfortunately, M-master Eri wanted to see you, please follow me," he then gestured, but no smile like his usual self appeared. He pushed his way through the crowds a second time, ordering them to get back to work, keeping a glance towards Aya, wondering what was going on. He wandered up the staircase and finally arrived at Master Eri's room. Mika was standing outside the door, narrowing her eyes at Aya, before relaxing and apologising, she whispered, kind words surprisingly coming out of her mouth, "I am sorry. But, you looked shaken, I had to inform Master Eri," Gakuto just sighed and gave a small nod, he the opened the door, gesturing for Aya to enter the room, and then shut it behind her. Master Eri asked to speak to her alone.

Master Eri glared at her, dark blue knives digging into her beautiful green eyes. The young girl looked ill, maybe she was? But there was something inside of him telling him that it was more. He gave a small short sigh, looking down, as if thinking what to say, before lifting his head and interlocking his eyes with hers again. There was silence for a short while, until finally he broke it with a gentle, and small rasp, like a gentle whisper, "what's wrong?" And shortly after, "and tell me the truth," he added sharply.

At first Master Eri's eyes widened; one because of how she replied that it wasn't his problem, and two, she was lying, she was lying quite well actually. He processed this, and then narrowed his eyes sharply.
"Excuse me, but it is, my problem. I can tell when my staff are lying. First of all, that annoying happy spirit of yours is gone, second, you look like a wreck, and third of all, you are trembling. Now I need to know the truth or it will be hard for me to understand the situation on whether I should let you rest, make you continue to work, or fire you, I will have to go with one of the three unless you tell me," he explained.

Master Eri watched in shock as she broke down right in front of him on the floor. He sat still, frozen, the only things that had changed where his eyes, shocked, scared, angry, you just couldn't tell. He knew exactly what was wrong, but he asked anyway, he needed to know, he wanted to know, but most of all he didn't know why he asked it, "Aya, is your mother dead?" He asked sternly, but softly, it was the first time he had called her by her name.

Master Eri gave a small sigh. And before he knew it, his feet started to move on their own. They carried him towards the crying young girl, he wanted to stop, but he continued. He was changed, well mostly anyway, before the interruption, Gakuto was helping him change. He was in his suit, but he had no tie or bowtie, and his shirt and suit jacket was buttoned open. Slowly he came down to his knees so he was facing her, not smiling, but his mood had changed. He looked into her red eyes for a moment, the teenager watching her cry for a moment. The master couldn't believe that he felt something towards her, it must have been because he had gone through something similar, a long, long time ago. After a while, he slowly reached his arms forward and pulled her towards him gently, holding her gently in his arms, both of them on their knees.

He held her, slightly tighter, blushing slightly but ignoring it.
"I-its fine, I went through a similar phase," when he said that, he didn't add any more, mostly because he didn't want to say any more. But deep down he felt like he had felt her pain. He had never been so close before, well to a girl anyway, he had once had a breakdown in front of Gakuto, and it was the other way around once as well. But never had he saw someone go through the same pain as he had, Gakuto never felt this pain since he never had parents, but this girl, she did...she had a mother.

Master Eri closed his eyes, he waned to say that he didn't like being alone either, having all this pressure on his shoulders...but maybe he wouldn't be. So far Gakuto, was his only true friend. Maybe if he was more open, then so could Aya. He shook his head.
"Don't worry, you wont be alone," he then leaned back, holding her by the shoulders, explaining, "you have to be strong, okay? Start crying all the time, and you wont have a brother any more either."

Master Eri still refused to smile, but he stood up nice and strong, crossing his arms and looking at the floor, not making eye contact.
"Do you want the whole day off? Or are you okay with just the afternoon? You wont be back until Monday," he explained, fixing his glasses. She didn't look in the best condition to work, and he ignored the apology about the plate, he couldn't get a new one it was too expensive, but one plate short would have to be okay.

Master Eri raised an eyebrow, then gave a small sigh, murmuring, half to himself to the maid, "I don't do this often, so don't expect any attention, now leave," he explained, turning his head over his shoulder, trying to fix his shirt and jacket, not knowing why he couldn't look at her, it was confusing and hard, emotions, that's why he never used them often, so why did he just perform them in front of this girl?