Chapter 1: Master’s Wife

People say you should call someone “Master” and Master’s Wife as ‘Madaam’, but those old rules don’t really matter anymore. There’s no official apprenticeship ceremony. It’s more like going to school: you pay tuition, and it’s not cheap—$450. If you finish your apprenticeship in three years, you have to do all the chores at your master’s house and follow whatever your master says. They give you meals, but you don’t get paid.

[A/N: I’ve used ‘dollar’ as the currency to give you an idea of the antiquated and rural setting of this story.]

Kelo Murphy is fifty years old; Maya Devi is only twenty-five. They have a four-year-old girl named Lele Murphy and a dog named Black Panther.

Dino James settled down at Kelo’s house and officially began his apprenticeship.

Dino felt comfortable and at ease in Kelo’s home, thanks not to Kelo himself but to Maya, or perhaps Lele, or even the dog, Black Panther.

Dino was very diligent and did everything. Whenever he came back from outside or was tired from work, Maya would always hand him a cup of cold tea and say, “You’ve worked hard.”

Her voice was gentle, soothing like a cup of herbal tea. She had a beautiful smile, and whenever Dino looked at her, his eyes seemed to blur. He tried to see her clearly, but somehow he never quite could.

At night, when he was lying in bed, Dino could clearly remember Maya’s smile. It made him happy, and he wondered, “Will Madam always be like this? When I come home from work, she’ll hand me a bowl of tea and say, ‘You’ve worked hard.’ How great it would be if she stayed this way until she’s eighty.”

Maya didn’t like being called “Madam” because it made her feel old. She wanted Dino to call her “Sister” instead. Lele didn’t like it either. Whenever she heard Dino say “Madam,” she didn’t understand and would hug Maya’s neck tightly, her little eyes full of suspicion.

But Dino was good with kids and liked them a lot. In just a few days, Lele warmed up to him. One day, she even told him, “I’ll give you half of my mother.”

Dino was overjoyed.

Black Panther, the dog, was also very attached to Dino. It followed him everywhere. Sometimes, if Dino went out with Kelo, Black Panther stayed behind, but when they came back, it would run up to greet them and jump all over them. Its affection always made Dino happy.