Requested by: @-TheKnifeQueen-

Warning: Straight and sad.

Daniel hummed to the tune of the piano. Outside the window, the grass was freshly cut and the flowers were pruned. The leaves blew in the soft summer breeze. He'd been here every day for the past year, and so had she.

Every day it was warm enough, the window would stay open as she played. Call him creepy, but he liked to sit outside the window and listen. When she moved to his small hometown, everything seemed so much brighter.

The stars sparkled at night and the sun danced in the day. The young boy lived for that. For the chance to hear her music. Anneliese was a proud, but often cowardly girl. She was still learning, of course, to play the piano and requested no audiences. So he had to hide.

He would only smile when she struck a wrong note, as it reminded him that this heavenly girl was human as well. Such a shame she was homeschooled and he hadn't ever been able to hang out with her. He'd introduced himself to the new neighbors, but they didn't seem to fond of a boy about their daughter's age knocking on their door.

He sighed, standing up as the song ended. He left the property quickly and headed back to his home. His mom exchanged greetings with him and he climbed to stairs to his room. He opened the curtains to see boxes in the house across from him. His window was in just a perfect spot to see into a window that had always looked in on an empty room.

No one had to money for that house. Not only was it expensive, but it needed a lot of work done to it. Now there was a moving van at the front door. A family of two — No, three counting to baby that he'd caught a glimpse of in its mother's arms — worked back and forth, taking boxes in and coming out with empty arms to gather up more

Daniel's eyes seemed to follow a girl with white hair and. . . Red eyes? He had never seen a person like that before. She looked younger than him by about a year. Twelve-year-old Daniel thought nothing of the two girls he had seen that day.

Anneliese just lightened his stress through music. He was too young to understand that she might be a possible love interest. The girl moving in next to his home was just a girl younger than he was, nothing more.

His mother knocked on his door a few hours later, waking him from a nap and forcing him to get up. He groaned and opened the door. " Yes mama?"

" Go be a dear and introduce yourself to the new neighbors. They have a daughter about your age." She winked and scampered off before he could comprehend what the wink meant. He rolled his eyes and slammed the door.

" Yes mama." He answered. He slipped his shirt off and changed into a different one. For a boy his age, he was extremely fit. No abs, but a strong stomach. He liked knowing he was the best looking boy in his school. Naturally, he was flirt.

His eyes wandered to the window where he saw a flash of white. He frowned before realizing the room had a bed in it. Daniel shut the curtains quickly and cursed. " Darn it. Another thing for me to remember."

Julchen cringed slightly when she realized he had closed the curtains. It also meant she'd been spotted. She cursed under her breath when the doorbell rang. " Julie, sveetheart? Can jou get zhe door?" Her mother called from the kitchen, her voice as strict as ever.

The German girl sighed and trotted downstairs, not bothering to answer her mother. She flung the door open with a bored expression. That was, until she saw the cute boy from next door standing on her porch. He had a small smile as his hands were stuffed in his pockets. He had a twinkle in his eye that fluttered Julchen's heart. " Ja, vhat is it?" She tried to play it cool.

Well, as cool as an eleven-year-old albino could while the boy of her awesome dreams stared back at her. She winced slightly when she heard her thick German accent. He smirked at her uneasiness.

" Szia, I am Daniel," He introduced with his thick Hungarian accent," I am your next door neighbor, though I'm sure you know that by now." His eyes flicked to his window and back down.

She blushed bright red and cleared her throat. " Ja, my bad. Valked in at zhe wrong time." His accent made her a lot more comfortable with her own. She was just surprised it hadn't faded a bit.

He laughed slightly, making her blush more. " I didn't get your name, new girl."

She shook her head and smiled. " Julchen. Excuse my manners." She bit her lip. " Would jou like to come in?" She hoped her mother would be okay with it.

Speak of the devil, here came the woman herself. A small baby was in her arms as she walked towards them with such pride and determination. Holding herself high, she stopped and the baby cooed.

Daniel's heart melted a little at the sight of the baby. The German mother caught his stare and smiled. " Zhis is Monika. Mein smallest child." She explained.

The baby reached out her chubby hands to her sister. Julchen eagerly took her after seeing Daniel's reaction. If boys could use babies as chick magnets, she would flip it around.

He gasped slightly and looked at her mother. " May I hold her?" He asked softly, holding out his arms.

Julchen shrugged and handed the baby over carefully. " Just support the—" She stopped short when she realized he had already figured out how to hold the baby and now little Monika was fast asleep.

He smirked when he noticed her mother had wandered off and she was staring in shock at how gently he was treating the tiny human. " What? Surprised a man can hold a baby?"

She quickly shook her head. " Nein. I just didn't expect jou of all people to be so good vith children."

He blushed slightly at the compliment. " I used to babysit a little girl down the street. Maybe you can meet her later. Her name is Feliciana Vargas," he shook his head, " Nah, you wouldn't know her. You just moved—"

" I know her... my cousin, Anneliese, used to babysit vith a boy. Said she taught him zhe basics." She snorted.

Daniel grumbled and shifted the baby's weight. " Some basics. I taught her everything I know and she failed with the baby. That's why she was fired."

" Fired?! She said she quit." This statement made him laugh.

" No, poor girl just couldn't handle it. Children weren't her thing." He chuckled. Julchen's mother watched in amusement as they talked like adults.

Eventually, Daniel had to leave, but his mother was satisfied that he'd made a new friend even if he were late for dinner.

Daniel straightened his tie and kissed his mom on the cheek. She smiled brightly. " Have fun."

" Yes mama." He replied, trotting out the door and toward's Anneliese's house. He knocked politely. The Austrian aristocrat opened the door.

" Daniel." She nodded. He winked and kissed her hand. She blushed slightly.

" I am delighted to be your new butler, my lady." He stood up straight again. He had always thought being a butler would be an interesting profession. Anneliese's family was just polite for giving him a try.

Julchen watched from behind a tree. She couldn't help but be nosey. He'd been talking about a new job, and when she'd seen him all dressed up like that. . .

Well, she just had to scope it out. Who wouldn't be curious? She's known the 18-year-old since he was twelve, not to mention she had the biggest crush every since then. She relished in the moments when he forgot to close his curtains as he changed. The most she'd ever seen was him shirtless several times a week.

Let's just say, he didn't have abs back then, but he did now.

Anneliese was surprised by how quickly Daniel caught on. He was her first personal butler, but she felt like he'd been working his entire life. He never ran out of stories to fill the lonely silence. He never ran out of smiles that he generated for the both of them. He never ran out of fashion sense to tell her when something just didn't work. He never ran out of new and foreign meals for her to indulge in.

Not to mention polite, sweet, handsome, flirty, and underpaid.

Daniel found it quite easy to keep up with the schedules, the cooking, and the conversations. They were just basic life skills. It was fun to present those skills on a silver platter for Miss Anneliese. Of course, this meant he spent countless hours at their residence and less at his own.

He worked later and later shifts until Julchen stopped expecting him to come home and wave goodnight to her anymore. By the time he was twenty-one, he'd basically moved in with the family.

It became a buzz around the home that Anneliese was to be married off to him soon as well. Julchen fell deeper into a depression as Daniel floated higher into he clouds.

Holidays were no longer spent in the Héderváry home. They were spent with the two families, in the estate. Together. Without her. Monika was now 11 and was perfectly capable of caring for herself. There was no hiding her visible annoyance as each family dinner was quiet and bland. She remember Daniel very well. She was six when he had gotten the job. She'd seen him more often around then. Now she could barely pull up his face.

On June 8th, the church bells chimes loudly, declaring the rumor to be true as far as the naked ear could hear it. Sadly, Julchen was in that range. She hadn't attended the wedding. She couldn't. Daniel wouldn't even recognize her anymore.

It had been seven years of him working the same old job with the same people. She'd only seen him a handful of times around town. Each and every time, he was smiling with Anneliese. So happy. So carefree. Who needed her anyway? The strange looking girl next door.

Julchen didn't leave the house for a month after the wedding day. The bells haunted her. His smile haunted her. The fact that he married her cousin, the reason she moved out here, haunted her.

The worst part had to be that Julchen didn't feel like she had been given a chance even. He'd had his eyes set on Anneliese since the beginning. It took him a while to notice, but he liked her a lot. It had taken her even longer to notice she liked him back.

Now the wind blew through the trees, the flowers freshly pruned, the grass freshly cut. She noticed all these things as sat beneath a window listening to someone playing the piano, and another person feeding her compliments while holding a little baby in his arms.