INTRODUCTION

I have been Adrian's maid for just a week, and what I can say is, so far so good. Angel is such a disciplined young girl and for this one week, she hasn't given me any trouble. There is also not as much work as I had speculated. It's just preparing Angel and taking her to and from school, which is easy because we have a driver, and tidying the house. With a washing machine that took me two days to be able to use, washing is so lenient. Also, especially because we eat ordered food from outside. I never get to cook and I don't know why Adrian doesn't want me to. They have an elegant modern kitchen with all the utensils but no cooking is done here. I kinda feel like my passion for cooking will be a waste here. Most of the time I'm just idle.

"Hello!" Adrian's voice startles me, and I stand up from the couch to go grab his backpack.

"Hello! Welcome, sir Adrian." I say as I stretch my hands to take his bag, but he doesn't let me. Right, that skipped my mind again!

"How many times do I have to tell you that you only take care of Angel, and not me?" He asks with a tinge of fury in his voice.

I keep forgetting that no matter how many times he has told me. It's becoming a daily lullaby.

"Sorry, sir!" I say, stepping back, bowing my head a little.

"How do you want me to explain it to you, Tania? Because I am tired of reciting it over and over again."

"I got it now, sir! I won't repeat it." I hope my servant's tendencies won't kick in every time I see him walking in through that door.

"You better not, because I am not going to repeat this. Where is Angel?"

"I have just put her to bed, sir!"

"She only sleeps this early because of the cold weather and school. In favourable climates and school holidays, she goes to bed late." He explains.

"Okay, sir!"

"I'll go see Angel. And Tania, that sir is annoying! Drop it!"

Huh?

He walks upstairs after that, and I sit down to resume the program I was watching on TV, but darn! It has ended. I switch off the TV and relax on the settee. I should make a note of all the things that Adrian doesn't like. He is a man of few to no words, and making him repeat one thing to me over and over every day is making me look incompetent and dumb. "Okay, Tania. No sir, and no helping him, no sir and no help..." I keep repeating that for I don't know how long until Adrian startles me again, making me almost jump from the couch.

"And want are you doing?"

"Reciting the don'ts so that they stick in my mind," I answer, trying to act composed but I know I am failing. He just shakes his head and walks to the kitchen.

With this cold, I miss coffee. Can't he allow me to make even just coffee? I stand up and follow him to the kitchen.

I knock and wait for a reply.

"The only door you are expected to knock on before coming in is my bedroom," Adrian speaks from inside, and I drag my feet inside. He is just parked on a stool scrolling his phone, perhaps checking emails or something. I scan the kitchen, and I spot a tin of Nescafe coffee on one of the shelves, and I just can not control the urge for my lemon and honey coffee. My!

"Aah... Andy? Can I...?"

Shit!

Double shit!

What name just rolled out of my mind, huh? I slowly turn around to face him, and I meet his dark brown eyes looking at me. I was expecting to see a shock or a disappointed look on his face, but he is just there, emotionless.

"Sorry." I quickly apologize.

"I will punish you for that." He says with a raised eyebrow, his expression changing in a flicker. Punishment? Damn!

"Anything. But don't fire me, please!" I can't afford to lose my job barely a week old. The condition of my family back home can't even allow me to become jobless.

"Your punishment is, you will not call me any other name. Just Andy." He winks and stands up.

Wow! Did he just wink at me? So he jokes, aside from with his daughter? He has been always cold and quiet to me since I came here. This is so new to me. So freaking new!

"You are okay with that? I mean, isn't it too casual for a boss and employee?" I ask.

"I like it, and that's final. It's a million times better than that annoying "sir" of yours. What were you saying?"

"Okay. I wanted to ask if you can allow me to at least make coffee. Even just for today."

He eyes me for quite a while, then he shakes his head.

"This kitchen hasn't been used for years. My wife never liked being in the kitchen. We are used to eating outside, and I don't want my daughter to get attached to things that won't last, Tania. So, no!"

No? Come on, Andy!

What kind of wife will not cook for his family? I mean, I understand that there are days one would feel exhausted and all, but not even a day to cook for your family? I think whatever transpired between him and his wife hurt him, a lot because he suddenly looks lost somewhere in a dark jungle.

"Well, I...I respect your decision, Andy, but it's just coffee. And I am not in a haste to leave, by the way. My family depends entirely on me. And our condition back home doesn't allow me to become jobless any time soon." I try to push my luck, fingers crossed in the hope that he doesn't yell at me.

After breathing out heavily, he speaks.

"Okay. You can make coffee. You know how to use the coffee machine?" He asks, and I shake my head. How can I know how to use a coffee machine if I have never seen one? I am yet to get used to this modernized life of the wealthy. I hope I will be able to, though, because it's like the rich and the poor don't live in the same world as I thought. Everything is so different, including the aura they breathe. Theirs is fresher than ours, and I think it even has a scent - a sweet scent.