Whenever Ethan's beatings left Brooke unconscious, her thoughts drifted back to her childhood and the sickly little boy who had shaped her memories. Specifically, the day they met stood out in her mind.
Brooke recalled her mother's words of advice as they approached the mansion where Serena had just started working as a cleaning lady. "Remember, Brooke, these people have so many nice things lying around. They wouldn't mind if you picked up a thing or two."
"But isn't that stealing?" Brooke asked, her brow furrowed in concern.
Serena tried to convince her, "Stealing? What do you know? You're just a child; this is an adult matter." She rested her hands on Brooke's shoulders, her expression serious. "Your father doesn't care about us. I have to work all the time to feed us. Don't you want to help Mom?"
Brooke shook her head eagerly, "Yes, I want to help!"
Serena's face broke into a wide grin. "Then do exactly what I tell you to..."
The mansion, owned by a wealthy family who resided abroad, was only occupied during special occasions.
Despite their absence, the family employed maids to maintain the estate. When Serena inquired about this arrangement, the head maid rebuked her harshly, threatening to report her to the agency.
The maids were assigned specific sections to clean, with Serena's area being the farthest from the main floor, where the family's most valuable possessions were displayed.
Aware of the impossibility of stealing without getting caught, Serena begged the head maid to allow her daughter, Brooke, to accompany her to work.
Initially, the head maid threatened to terminate Serena's employment, but Serena's fabricated tale of her husband's alleged abuse towards Brooke, coupled with her tears and persuasive makeup, eventually swayed the head maid.
Brooke's presence presented an opportunity for Serena. "Listen carefully, Brooke. You have one shot. Choose the smallest, most dazzling item," Serena instructed, her voice low and urgent.
Brooke hesitated, recalling some TV shows where kids faced consequences for stealing. Yet, she wanted to help her mother, so she steeled herself for the task.
As she ventured deeper into the mansion, Brooke encountered an elevator.
"Wow, a real elevator!" She had only ever seen them in movies.
She hid behind a pillar and observed a maid using it, then followed suit, momentarily forgetting she needed to exit on a different floor.
The elevator carried her to the top floor, a section exclusively cleaned by the head maid.
Brooke's eyes widened at the opulent hallway, crystal chandelier, and polished floors that greeted her, nearly making her lose focus.
With quiet footsteps, Brooke tiptoed past the head maid who was busy cleaning a bedroom. She continued until she reached a large transparent cabinet at the end of the hallway.
"Phew! I made it!" She exhaled wiping off her invisible sweat.
Her eyes scanned the cabinet's vast array of treasures. One of these antiques could buy a hundred houses like hers, with change to spare.
"I'll take the smallest one," Brooke decided, her finger tracing the outline of a small jewel-encrusted egg. It was the only item that would fit in her pocket.
Despite her doubts, she opened the cabinet which looked pre-opened and swiped the egg.
She turned to run away and leave, but stopped when she heard a soft thud from the room on her left.
Was someone in there?
"No! It's none of my business." She shook her head, and tried leaving again, convincing herself that she was doing the right thing.
But when she heard soft sobbing and low grunts coming from the inside, she couldn't turn her back away. In a hurry, she dashed into the room, unsure of what she'd walk into.
"Hey! You! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" She yelled, pointing at a little boy extending his upper body out of the window.
Before the boy could look over his shoulder at who had barged inside, Brooke had ran over to him, and started pulling hard on his torso.
"Stupid...let me...go!" The boy groaned in-between coughs.
"You're the stupid one! Why the hell would you try jumping out the window?! You're too young to die!" She dramatically chanted, reciting the lines from a tv show she watched last week.
"Haa?!" Thane widened his eyes, "I'm not trying to..." He coughed hard from her tugging, and resorted to punching and clawing at the 'idiot's' hands.
But Brooke overpowered him and dragged him off the window, sending them both crashing to the floor.
Using her body to cushion the landing, Brooke let the little boy fall on top of her, so he wouldn't get hurt from falling.
"Phew! I saved you!" She announced with a triumphant smile.
"You didn't save me! I wasn't trying to kill myself! I was just trying to close the window!" He argued, wondering where this idiot had surfaced form.
None of the maids told him anything about her, and he had never seen her once in his entire life. So where could she have come from?
Brooke nervously chuckled, "Closing the window, eh?" She averted her worried eyes away from the scowling boy.
She had messed up.
"But it's dangerous! You're so frail, the breeze could've tipped you over! So in the end, I did save you." She argued.
What? Was this girl some sort of idiot?
"You didn't save me-" his words were cut off by the sudden intrusion of the head maid, Theresa.
"Young master! Are you alright?! I heard noises!" Theresa screamed, rushing into the room. She quickly pulled Thane off of Brooke, and checked his body for any wounds.
"I'm fine! Leave me alone!" Thane lashed out, slapping her hand away.
He hated being treated like a weakling, just because he was always getting sick.
"Hey! That's no way to talk to her! She's just worried about you!" Brooke scolded him, getting up.
Unfortunately for her, while she got on her feet, the egg slipped out of her shorts pocket and rolled right over to the head maid's feet!