Chapter 64: The Lavender Scent

"Oh my God .. My body is all sore..." complained Fae to herself as she changed her housekeeper uniform with a blue shirt and jeans. She rubbed her hands and frowned when she felt how her palms ached.

Taking a deep breath, she put her uniform into her backpack and came out of the bathroom. Fae hurried to get her bicycle and then went home.

As usual, she went through the country lane, skirting the beautiful Lake Rhine. The weather in early autumn was quite pleasant. Not too hot but not too cold either. The grass in the fields was still green, and wildflowers were still growing by the roadside.

As she was engrossed in riding her bicycle, Fae's gaze suddenly landed on the lavender plants that were still blooming in the meadow to her right.

"Wahhh ... there is still a lot of lavender here ..." muttered the girl happily. Fae hastily stopped her bicycle and dropped it down on the ground carelessly.

With a smiling face, she immediately picked out a handful of lavenders and put them in her bicycle basket.

Ahh .. these flowers are so beautiful! She kissed the lavender several times and put it back in the basket. Her face was beaming with happiness

Whistling, Fae continued her journey home.

***

"Fae .. Anna has a high fever this morning and can't come to work," said Ms. Kohler when she saw Fae come to the housekeeping quarter and got ready to change into her uniform. "If I'm not mistaken, she already taught you how to clean all villas and suites, right?"

Fae nodded. "That's right, Ma'am. Would you like me to take over Anna's duties this morning?"

"Yes, please. Can you do that?" asked Ms. Kohler with a face looking hopeful. "Sorry .. this is really unexpected."

"It's okay. I just need the list of properties to clean."

"Ah .. thank goodness. You can start with Villa no.1 at 8.30 am to 9.30 am, they will have breakfast in the restaurant while you clean their villa. Then you can continue with Villa No. 4 from 10 am to 10.50 am, Mr. Friedrich usually likes going for a walk around the lake or do some work outside. You can clean his villa after he leaves. Remember .. don't come too early and don't leave too late. He's quite specific about such things."

Fae nodded. "I understand. Anna already told me."

"Ahh .. great. We can't disappoint our VVIP guest," repeated Ms. Kohler. "Very well, then. Thank you, Fae. When you're done with villa no. 4, you can rest. I'll ask Mary to take care of villas no. 2 and 3."

"Thank you, Ma'am," replied Fae respectfully.

Ms. Kohler looked relieved. She tapped Fae on the shoulder and stepped out. The girl stayed alone in the housekeeper quarter and took a deep breath.

She hurriedly wrote down the schedule that Ms. Kohler had just mentioned so that she wouldn't come too early or too late. She didn't want to make mistakes on her first day of officially working in this department.

Fae cleaned Villa No. 1 with alacrity. She was exhausted because she forced herself to finish everything in less than an hour. It was really hard and she was late by five minutes.

At 09:35, she finally left Villa no. 1 with a sense of relief. The guest at the villa hadn't shown up and caught her five minutes late. Pfew ...

Maybe they're still having breakfast, Fae thought, feeling relieved.

She then decided to sit and rest in the small garden under the villas area while waiting for her 10 am appointment.

She remembered to arrive on time to Villa No. 4. Not a minute early.

At exactly 10 am, Fae moved from the garden bench towards Villa No. 4. She kept the trolley containing her cleaning equipment beside the villa after she had finished cleaning villa No. 1. After confirming that villa No. 4 was indeed empty, Fae took out an electronic key from her pocket and opened the door.

After pushing the trolley inside and setting the cleaning robot to clean and mop the floor, Fae went into the master bedroom to check whether the occupant had slept on his bed or not.

"Jeez ... what kind of person can't function without sleeping for two nights in a row?" Fae murmured in amazement.

On the one hand, she was happy that her job had become a little easier, but on the other hand, she was baffled. Earlier, at Villa no. 1, she had spent nearly 15 minutes just to clean up a messy and dirty bedroom. The master bedroom in villa no. 4 was immaculate, like it was untouched.

Fae actually felt sorry for Mr. Friedrich. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to have such severe insomnia. Had he never been to a doctor to deal with his disorder?

Hmm ... Fae was sure that someone as rich as that man must have tried various ways and sought the best medical assistance. However, he still couldn't sleep.

Shaking her head with pity, Fae then left the room and took a paper bag from the trolley. She took out a bunch of lavenders that she picked yesterday from the roadside and brought inside the paper bag.

Fae knew that lavender had mosquito repellent properties and that its fragrance could help people sleep better. When she saw so many lavender plants along the way home yesterday, she immediately thought of Mr. Friedrich, who could not sleep and she decided to bring some for him.

Who knows ... maybe some natural lavender scent in the bedroom would make Mr. Friedrich's sleep better, she thought.

Fae took an elegant porcelain vase from the kitchen and filled it halfway with water and arranged her lavender beautifully. After she was satisfied with the result, Fae put the vase on the bedside table. She happily smelled the fragrance with her eyes closed.

Ahh .. it smelled so good!

Lavender was Fae's favorite flower. She didn't know why she really liked the purple flower. She liked the color and the scent too. It was also one of the reasons she loved summer so much... because she could see lavender blooming everywhere.

Once she was happy with the placement of the lavender flowers, Fae then began to tidy up the curtains and opened the massive floor-to-ceiling windows to make the air in the room fresh. After that, she scrubbed the bathroom.

She was so focused on her work that she didn't pay attention to her surroundings. To cheer herself up, Fae hummed a little while she cleaned the sink, straightened the bathtub curtains, scrubbed the toilet, and polished the mirror. She almost didn't feel the tiredness and soreness in her hands when she was singing.

The girl set the alarm to go off at 10.40 am, so that she would have ten minutes to finalize her work and get out of the villa before 10.50 am as scheduled. She didn't want to risk making a stupid mistake on the first day she worked alone.

Because the girl was busy with her work while singing in the bathroom, she did not hear someone entering the villa.

Mr. Friedrich only realized that when he arrived at the lake, the sunray was too glaring this morning and he had to wear sunglasses. He was forced to return to his villa to get them.

When he arrived at the door of his villa, the man stood stunned, and his ears perked up as if trying to listen better. He frowned, thinking he had misheard, but after listening carefully, he realized that his ears did pick up on a woman's singing.

The voice was very melodious. The song she sang was just an ordinary folksong. A typical song from the village about the flowers that bloomed in the summer.

However, the voice that was singing those words... sounded so enchanting. The man became curious who was singing in the villa.