"Lisette, do you know where Mason is?"

Lisette had been busy dusting some of the shelves in the main entryway hall when Sky spoke to her, so she momentarily stopped her task to focus her attention on her young mistress.

"Mason? I'm afraid I don't. Is he not in his room?"

Sky shifted awkwardly on her feet as she tightened her grip slightly on the small package behind her back. "Ah, well... I haven't checked yet. I thought I'd ask you before I take that walk up the stairs, that's all."

Lisette cocked an eyebrow. "Since when have you been one to shy away from activities that involve movement?"

Sky couldn't help but grimace. "Less about the movement than the unnecessary journey?" She had meant for that to come out as a convincing argument but she posed it as more of a question, leaving Lisette amused at Sky's strange behaviour.

"Looks like you might have to make that journey then because I unfortunately can't help you. Unless you ask another of the maids who might know."

Sky shook her head. "I doubt any of the other maids would know; he seems closest with you out of all of the maids here. I only ever really see him talk to you."

Lisette's mouth twitched as she held back a smile. "Do I feel a hint of jealousy?"

Sky's facial features immediately hardened as she pursed her lips. "Of course not. Just an observation, that's all. Thank you for your help, anyway."

Lisette smiled, though the amused glint in her eyes didn't go unnoticed by Sky. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. I hope you find him soon though; I'll let him know you're looking for him if I do see him."

Sky shook her head. "You're lucky I like you. And don't worry about it; I'll see him at one point or another. I'll see you later."

Sky was just turning to leave when Lisette said one last thing. "It's good to see you back on your feet."

An honest smile appeared on Sky's face as she stopped in her tracks and looked at Lisette one last time. Everyone knew that the words 'thank you' were rarely uttered by Sky, but just as Lisette had said sincere words to Sky, Sky responded with her own sincere word. "Thanks."

Lisette hadn't expected Sky to say anything, so she almost didn't notice Sky moving the package from behind her back to her front as she walked away from her. However, as Lisette got back to her job, she couldn't stop the smile from spreading on her face as she shook her head at how uncomfortable Sky was at showing affection towards others. Whatever that package was, she had no doubt that it was meant for Mason.

Sky turned around at the top of the stairs to see if Lisette was watching her, but she wasn't. She had no idea why she felt so nervous about giving Mason a gift but then she realised it was perhaps because she hadn't been planning to give it to him outright anyway; she just wanted to leave it in his room. Perhaps she was worried that he wouldn't find it.

She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself as she nodded decisively to herself. If she didn't think he'd found it within a few days, she would ask him about it.

Sky had a quick look around, making sure no one was nearby, and opened the door to Mason's room quietly when she was happy that she was alone. The sun was just about ready to set so the sunset coloured his room in a light orange colour as she looked around in curiosity, what with this being the first time in his room without him being around.

Or so she thought.

"Sky?"

The voice came as a surprise to her, which was surprising in and of itself as she was normally very aware of her surroundings. The confused look on her face as she pulled her head back out to face Mason, with package still in hand, was almost comical. She automatically shut the door behind her as she removed her body from his room.

"What are you doing in my room?" he asked before he noticed the package in her hand. "What's that? Is it for me?" Mason tried not to show it but he was excited; he wondered what was in the package even before getting the answer from Sky.

Sky cleared her throat awkwardly as she looked down at the wrapped package in her hands. "Well... I guess. Yeah. Since you found me and took care of me and all." She thrust the package towards him then and he took it, trying not to show the excitement that he felt.

Sky wasn't one to say thank you and Mason knew that so he couldn't help but smile at Sky's materialistic way of thanking him; it was probably the only way she knew how to thank others. "Thanks, Sky."

"Ah, don't worry about it," she said. It was as Mason was about to open Sky's package that she noticed his dishevelled look. "What have you been up to? You look a right mess."

Her words immediately caused Mason to become flustered and a red flush appeared on his cheeks as the package lost his attention as he focused on her. "I wasn't expecting to find you right outside my room when I got back."

Sky crossed her arms as she looked down at him interrogatively. "And where exactly have you been?"

Mason copied her stance and also crossed his arms with the package still tightly within his grasp. "Not that it's any of your business but I went for a run."

"You... Went for a run? It's a bit late for a New Year's resolution, isn't it?"

Mason averted his gaze for he couldn't lie to her face without feeling guilty about it. "It's never a wrong time for a lifestyle change."

Sky frowned but didn't question him any further. "I guess so. Anyway, enjoy your gift. I'll see you later."

Mason knew that Sky was about to turn and leave so he quickly stopped her. "Wait. Sky." Now that Mason had her attention he was doubting whether he should pose his question but decided to anyway since it would come up at one point or another. "I didn't want to bring it up while you were... Injured, but why did you go to that place?"

Sky averted his eyes in that moment as she hesitated with her response. "Why don't we leave those questions for another time? Let's just have a nice day since it's my first day out of the hospital."

Mason pursed his lips to express his discontent but let her have it. She had gotten him a gift, after all. "Fine. For now. How about to celebrate, we study together for a while?"

She sent him a crooked grin. "I think I'll pass for today. But have fun."

Mason nodded but couldn't help feeling disappointed. "I will. See you later, then."

Sky just raised a hand in farewell as she made her way to her room and walked into it, closing the door behind her.

Mason finally let out a small sigh of relief when she was gone, as he no longer had to hide the pain on his face. He waddled into his room, placing her gift for him on the bed after he'd closed his door. He groaned as he sat down on his bed before slowly lying down and letting his body relax.

"Ow, that hurts!" Mason said.

"You're going to have to deal with it if you want to get better at fighting like you said you wanted to," Dean said.

"But surely it's not meant to be this painful?"

"It's not. You're just not used to it."

"In other words, I'm a cry-baby."

Dean just shrugged his shoulders in response.

Mason let out a huff of annoyance as recalled the intense training that Dean had made him do earlier; he'd been kind enough not to tell Sky about anything so she didn't know, but it hurt both of them to go behind her back like that.

Mason then turned his head to look at her gift that was on the bed beside him. Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to open it before he went to shower. Moving his body as little as possible, he picked up the gift and unwrapped it on top of his body. He ended up pulling out a nice synthetic leather black belt and he admired its brand new sheen.

With a final sigh, Mason pulled himself up and grabbed his phone to send Sky a quick text before he went to the shower.

Thank you.

Sky felt her phone vibrate rather than heard it and a smile appeared on her face when she saw that it was a simple thank you text from Mason. She reached over her papers on the desk and pressed her thumb to the button to unlock it and was momentarily surprised to see his face staring back at her. Her heart jumped in her throat before she remembered that she'd had a quick look at their Christmas selfie earlier. She couldn't say for sure why she had, but she couldn't stop a small smile from reappearing on her face as she saw how happy they looked in the picture.

Her heart jumped again when she heard Mason's door open and she quickly closed her photo application. Their rooms were the only ones in this part of the building that were commonly used so she always knew it was him, though he rarely ever knocked and this time was no exception as he just walked past her room and in the direction of the bathroom.

As she let out a sigh and leaned back in her chair, she looked at her school notes with a disgruntled look on her face. She knew she'd have to study anyway so she wasn't sure why she'd turned down Mason's offer to study.

As she returned to her phone to once again look at Mason in their Christmas selfie, she got agitated when she couldn't find an answer to the question even while looking at him. She voiced her agitation in the form of a sigh and locked her phone as she got to her feet. Since Mason was in the bathroom she knew she couldn't shower to relax so she decided she'd do the next best thing.

Stuffing her phone in her pocket, she left her room.

The hallway was freezing when Mason left the steamed-up bathroom and he quickly hurried back to the confines of his room as quickly as his sore body would allow him. Although his room was also freezing, it was less so.

The first thing he did upon dropping his shower stuff in its rightful place was to grab a blanket which he slung over his shoulders. His papers were already sat on his desk, waiting for him to sit down and study.

He decided to go and shut his curtains before he did just that as the sun was almost completely below the horizon now with only the last few rays shining their light onto the land.

He immediately noticed movement on the ground below his window once he reached it and saw that Sky was clearly trying to practice some moves. He stood for a while and watched her, marvelling at how fluid her movements were; he could only hope to be that good one day.

As he watched her, he couldn't help but hope that one day he'd be able to keep up with her in a battle. But then he shook his head and laughed at himself for the stupid idea.

Of course years of experience would trump him any day of the week.

___________________________________________________

Thanks for your patience with the update guys! My week off was long overdue XD And just typical I fell ill during it... But oh well!

Anyway, this is a bit more of a fluffy chapter. I wanted to emphasise the relationships a little bit more so I hope it wasn't too boring... I hope you all got the "little" joke that I incorporated too :'D

I also can't believe that the book is just two reads off 1.9k reads as of updating this chapter... With me updating this, it'll add my single read and then it's pretty much 1.9k! I just want to thank you all again for giving this book a chance. There's also a minimum of 20 people who have read every single chapter up until now and I want to thank each and every single one of you dedicated readers, even if I only know who a handful of you are :') It means so much to me <3 

I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you all have a good weekend! :D