Chương 25: The Province of Hampshire

The South of this country takes you to a small serene province— Hampshire. Home of the famous Rivendell Academy.

In one of the loveliest spaces in this province, exactly at the head of a steep private valley full of hectares of greenery, stood the Richmond Ranch.

The old Grey Cottage acted as a picturesque eye catcher up in the hill where the ranch stood and it was all surrounded by barns, stables, gardens, fences and vast thick woodland. Beyond it beautiful hills served as perfect background and it drew a skyline sharp as a razor that served as one of its best highlights.

At the west side floor of the valley splattered a glittering body of water. They call it the Loch and it felt like it connected the property across the sea. The rich farmland down to the edge of the water however were filled with horses, cattle and sheep roaming around freely.

One sunshiny morning, Xhemin woke up to the sound of humming pigeons. She opened her eyes slowly welcoming the brightness that peaked behind the curtains a few inches from her bed.

She saw the wide glass door that led to a small balcony, and beyond it, the sky that is pale, pristine, cloudless. The outline of the hills was glorified and touched by the first ray of the rising sun. Just on the edge of her balcony, pigeons were flocking up just as they always do on mornings as beautiful as today.

"Happy morning everyone!" She exclaimed as she jumped out the bed and to the balcony, scaring the pigeons away. She raised her two hands in the sky, trying to stretch it as far as she could, without minding that she was still in her pajamas and her ebony hair was as messed up as spider's web.

She closed her eyes as she felt the morning breeze but then something caught up in her nostrils that alerted her senses in an instant.

"Strawberry jam!" Without a second of delay she flew out her bedroom, banging the door, and down to the stairs.

"Careful child, the strawberry jam is not going to dry pretty quick!" She heard her grandpa's call as she made her steps down the stairs. She slowed down in an instant, not wanting to disobey her grandfather.

She found him in the kitchen looking majestic on his blue striped apron. She smiled knowing that it was she, who sewed the apron and gave it to him as a gift on last year's thanksgiving.

"Dear child, look at you" His grandpa commented as soon as she came into the kitchen with her rippled clothing and messy hair. "Do you want bacon or egg?"

"Can I have both?" She asked, looking real hungry. She dreamed of the beast again last night and her dreams of him were all breathtaking. It drained all her energy away and made her famished in her sleep.

She eased herself between the small mahogany table and kitchen chair. She saw the bread toppled all over with the pink gelatin-like thing on it and was spread on one of the plates. Her grandfather prepared this for her. She smiled as she picked it up and gave it a bite.

"I thought we ran out of strawberry jams already" She mumbled with her mouth full. Strawberry jams were rare in the whole country as they were exported from abroad. A tropical country like the one they live in cannot grow strawberries as it requires sixty to eighty degrees Fahrenheit constant temperature, which rarely happens in this country.

"We did but a Montarini manservant came this morning and gave us a basket of those" Her grandfather answered as he forked the bacon from the pan onto a warm plate.

"Huzey is home?" She asked as she took a big swallow of the fresh orange juice already sitting on the table beside her plate. "That fast?"

"Sure he is. Otherwise there will be no strawberry jams" Turning back to his cooking, her grandfather slipped the fish slice under the fried egg in the pan and turned it.

"I'll go to the Montarini Manor later then" She decided knowing that her grandfather never once said no when it comes to visiting their neighbors.

"How was your experiment going?" He asked as he was reminded of her granddaughter's self made projects. He was curious how it was going as she had obsessively talked about it in the past but noticed she went pretty silent about it recently.

The influence of growing up on a farm and her addiction to strawberries made Xhemin grow an interest in botany. That interest roughly turned into an obsession to the extent that her grandfather had to fence up an acre of land to be solely dedicated to her plant experiments and had to turn one barn into her own laboratory.

Nevertheless, although a little frustrated that his own granddaughter did not pick up an interest in medicine which is his expertise, he was kind of thankful because her skills were very beneficial to the ranch. Her early training in botany was spent on experimenting with the ranch's products that boost out their crop productions the last few years.

After she took botany as her field of expertise in Rivendell Academy, Xhemin's experiments became quite intense and a little too ambitious. Her grandfather however had been very supportive of everything and let her do her own thing without restraint.

"No luck" She answered expressionless but the dismay in her face was obvious.

She had been trying to grow strawberries for the last few months and now she was about to lose hope. Though she had successfully grown healthy vines which made her success rate to seventy percent, the harvest season however had already passed yet not a single fruit sprouted. The past few weeks she had spent figuring out what's wrong with her plants.

"Don't be too hard on yourself child. The weather in this country is a little too harsh for strawberries" He said, trying to cheer her up a bit.

Xhemin took another bite of her bread when suddenly a sound of an engine came gushing into the front yard. Someone arrived. She saw her grandfather turn off the stove and head out to the front door to welcome the guest and she curiously followed him.

A black Ford pulled off just in front of their front door, panicking all the chickens and raged the tethered sheepdogs. A minute later, the door of the ford swung revealing a man in his business suit trying to pull off a suitcase lying on one of the car's seats.

Xhemin remembers this man, Mr. Cheng. Apart from their neighbors and few locals in Hampshire, he is one of their constant guests. The only weird thing about him was that unlike other guests, it seemed like his visits were scheduled and her grandfather had been always expecting it. She however sees him rarely when he comes as she's either too busy in her experiments or she's out with her best friends.

"General Manager Cheng" His grandfather greeted the guest with a warm smile extending a hand.

"Doctor Miles" Mr. Cheng greeted as he welcomed the latter's hand for a handshake. In a minute though he noticed the girl standing still beside the doctor and when he turned to look at her, his mouth fell in an instant.

"Little Miss?"

Seeing how surprised he was, Xhemin was appalled too. What's with her that he was so surprised about?

"Oopps!" Xhemin exclaimed when she realized she was still in her pajamas and her hair was all a mess. Damn, why did she forget to dress up and comb her hair? That could be the reason why Mr. Cheng gave her a weird look "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go and take a bath,"

She didn't wait for them to respond. She ran embarrassed toward her bedroom feeling ashamed of how she looked. They don't get to have visitors in the mornings as early as this so she didn't really think of washing up before heading down especially because the strawberry jam filled all her rationality the moment she woke up.

Mr. Cheng however was still left shocked even when the girl already left. He had always come to visit Doctor Miles yearly yet this was the first time he laid eyes on her, face to face.

Turning to the doctor, he gasped "She looks exactly like—"

"And exactly the same reason why we have to stay here" Dr. Miles cut him off. "No one must know," He added, reminding his associate about this predicament.

"I understand" Mr. Cheng tried to compose himself. As one of the few people who knew the long history of the past, he knew exactly what the doctor was implying. Being the General Manager of Feather Healthcare Corporation and one of the loyal associates of Doctor Miles, he is under duty to protect the secrets of the Dugmoch family.

"Now, run me the annual reports, " Doctor Miles commanded while he guided Manager Cheng to his office.

"Of course, " Mr. Cheng obeyed, but as soon as they entered the room he couldn't help but ask again. "Doctor Miles, does the child know?"

The room sank in silence.

"Not a bit" The old man finally answered as he retreated to his desk.