"Smith is such a common name. Last week, we had an antique robber who was using the last name Smith making ruckus in my premise. Are you sure you are not sent here by Dolla to create more problem for me?" the mademoiselle crept in closer toward her.
The defenseless Charlotte took a few steps back. She instinctively raised both of her palms creating imaginary boundary between herself and the intrusive mademoiselle.
"Who's Dolla?" even though she was scared, her curiosity pique as hearing the unfamiliar name.
"Dolla is the fortune teller that directed you to my shop! She was this estrange woman who clad in robe and weird headgear right?"
Charlotte nodded her head vigorously.
"I knew it! That woman was not only wretched but she also has poor sense of fashion!"
Charlotte began to scrutinized the mademoiselle who was standing in front of her. She was wearing a colourful, provocative , thin - strap dress. Her red hair was fashioned into one huge french braid decorated with shiny beads all over them. Her fashion was not any different than Dolla's , but Charlotte decided to keep her thoughts to herself.
"Nevertheless!" the woman was staring intently at her. "You seemed to be another innocent victim of hers. You might have been duped by Dolla to come here to irritate me. I'm so sorry young lady, but I'm not in need of a worker."
Charlotte's hope crushed into pieces. Even though she had the premonition that this place was not a safe place for her , but she was also slightly disappointed to have her hope of landing a new job being dashed just in a blink of an eye.
"Ouhh…if that so, please excuse me Mademoiselle. I'll leave now" Charlotte hung her head low. She slowly began to walk toward the front door to leave the shop.
However, she suddenly realized about her initial mission to uncover about this mysterious place. But it was too late now!
"...On the other hand, young lady!" The mademoiselle suddenly called after Charlotte. ���I have an errand to do. I have no one to look after my shop while I was away"
Charlotte turned her head back toward the mademoiselle's direction.
"Hence, I have a proposal to you. Why don't you help me looked after this shop while I was away. Let's consider this as an examination to test whether you are a good worker or not. Like a probation"
"What's a probation?"
"Never mind. Forget about that. You seemed like a good girl, hence I expect you can be a good worker too." she pointed her finger at her. The bangles on her hands colliding with each other thus producing a loud clacking sound.
All of a sudden, the mademoiselle then left her in the middle of the conversation and went into an adjacent room that was located near the fire place. Charlotte was surprised that she did not realized the existence of the room when she first observing the place.
However, she suddenly realized that the ghostly aura that enveloping the shop mainly came from the room. That's it! The mademoiselle must be hiding something sinister inside the room!
Not long after that, the mademoiselle came out of the room looking extravagant. In addition of the already unique dress, she out on a sunglasses and wrapped an exquisite fur scarf around her neck in which acceptable if it was winter time. However, it was not. It's summer.
Charlotte felt sweaty just by looking at the mademoiselle.
"Alright, Miss Smith.."
"Just called me Charlotte"
"Alright Charlotte. I'm going now. I want to see everything is in order exactly like now when I came back from my errand."
"Alright mademoiselle"
"One more thing. Do not go into that room" she pointed at the room that she had entered just now.
"Ahhh….what is in that room?"
"That's my office. I stored my valuable things there. Alright then. I'm going" She strutted toward the front door.
After the mademoiselle left the shop, Charlotte began to properly examined the entire place. She fascinatingly went on to stare at each of the antiques .
Charlotte, however, did not dare to overstep her boundary as an outsider. She knew that the mannequin at the display was also watching her. This was the real test that the mademoiselle actually put her under!
After she felt satisfied examining everything in the shop, Charlotte reached the conclusion that other than unidentified object that the mademoiselle stored in the adjacent room, the shop emitted gigantic suspicious aura due to the antiques' nature. She learned through her experience that antiques naturally prone to mysteriously possessed sinister aura due to their old age.
Some of them was even intentionally built to stored spirits! Charlotte also believed that dolls and statues usually carried a poor souls that was trapped inside them.
Therefore, It was justified why this place was covered by such a sinister aura. It was as simple as that! Even the owner was not as bad as what Mr.Jones had described to her. The mademoiselle was indeed a weird individual, but, Charlotte spend three months facing the Duchess' wrath. A little weird personality would not faze her.
However, she was still curious about the 'valuables' that the mademoiselle kept in her office. The dark aura emitted from the office is even more powerful than all the antiques in the front shop combine.
But of course, Charlotte did not dare to investigate more as she knew that the mannequin is intently watching after her every move.
The sound of the door being opened made her heart leaped. Is the mademoiselle done with her errand. Did she passed the test?
Like a fire being put out by water, her happiness dissipate when she saw Mr.Jones appeared in the doorway.
"Ahh…you are here" he seemed happy to see her in the shop.
"Mr. Jones!"
"Did you get the job?"
"Not yet. But the mademoiselle asked me to help her watch the shop while she was away. She will consider whether to take me permanently or not after this"
"Ouhh…good then. But wait…is that mean she's not here. Well, that's unfortunate then"
"Why?"
"Cause I got a customer who mentioned that she specifically wanted to meet the mademoiselle. Ahh..there she is"
Charlotte could feel chill crawling up her spine when the customer stepped into the shop. The customer was a slender woman who was wearing a lavish dress while donning a huge hat. The hat alone was enough to shield her from the scorching heat and intruding sunlight.
Due to the gigantic size of the hat, Charlotte could not see the her entire face but she could feel that something is amiss about this customer.
"Madam, I heard from this young lady that the mademoiselle is not here. It is truly not your lucky day" Said Mr.Jones to the customer.
"It's ok. I can wait for her" she replied.
"But the young lady had occupied the only chair in this shop. Where are you going to wait?" Mr.Jones tried to reason with her.
"Well, if that so, may I be allowed to wait for the mademoiselle in that room" Charlotte was surprised when the customer pointed at the forbidden room.