ALIYA TORRES
"Get what over with? Ethan, who is she? Oh God, don't tell me. Are you cheating on Crystal?"
The woman probably in her sixties questioned, her eyes fixated on me with a shocked expression.
She was dressed in a green simple dress and even from afar I could tell it was expensive no doubt. Despite the grey hairs poking through her brown lush hair she was beautiful.
Her azure eyes matched with Ethan Carter's, as I glanced between them. The arrogant Ethan Carter on the other hand, stood by the woman in nothing but casual grey sweatpants and a light tank top.
He looked dashing no doubt, but who said handsome men were always kind?
To the human eye, Ethan Carter right now, standing infront of him looked like a decent human being. A handsome, gorgeous if I might add, man.
Contrary to that, he was arrogant, thought that the world revolved around him and more so he was also capricious.
Capricious in the sense that he saw me as a lowlife who in order to repay his debt, had to work as his maid.
That I, was only good enough as his maid because apparently all his employees came from great universities like Harvard or Oxford.
It took a minute for me to register what the woman had said and with one growl, I hissed,
"Oh no. No. No. No. He is not my type, ma'am. I would never-him and I aren't-"
I was brave at first but now my brain and my mouth failed to form actual sensible words.
"She is my new maid",Ethan interjected harshly.
The woman let out a gasp, staring at me then at Ethan then at me again. It was at that moment that I saw her similarity with Ethan.
The blue eyes were a give away but even their facial expressions seemed to match. If I didn't know any better, I would say that the woman standing infront of me was...Ethan Carter's mother?
"Am so sorry, dear. You look too young and",she paused skimming my body,"beautiful. Too beautiful to be a maid. Forgive me for the misunderstanding, my son hardly tells me anything"
Beautiful? I mean Ray said I was beautiful a couple of times but from him, it was always a joke.
I didn't consider myself beautiful, far from it, I had the dullest green eyes, my ginger red hair was so voluminous that it made me like an orangutan and my body? I was thin, too thin infact.
"It's okay. I understand", I muttered.
She moved past Ethan coming to me and holding my forearm before she pulled me into the living room.
I sat with her on the chesterfield fabric 6 seater sofa feeling so awkward having her stare at me like that.
"Tell me how did you two meet?"she asked and I bit my tongue nervously.
What was I supposed to tell her? That I poured coffee on her son, then her son insulted me, then I got fired, then I found him, then I almost blinded him with wasabi and now inorder to repay him, I was working for him as a maid?
I couldn't tell her all that. She was his mother after all and I had a gut feeling, she was like his son. An actual snob.
"I-we", I started.
"It's none of your business, mom. You wanted someone to cook for me so I got a maid, what's the problem?" Ethan asked harshly.
He six foot frame was towering over us before he went to seat on the sofa across us. All the while I could smell his strong masculine cologne wafting in the air like a sweet aroma.
"Is she going to be cleaning the house too?" His mother asked quirking a brow.
"Yes. She is a maid, after all",Ethan cocked his head towards me.
Rather it was not the way he said the word 'maid' that irked me, it was the way he looked at me while saying the word maid.
As if he was trying to engrave the word 'lowlife' on me. That I would never be no more than maid in his eyes. It didn't matter though, I didn't give two ducks what he thought of me.
I knew myself. I knew my worth and being his maid didn't make me a lesser human being.
"What? Ethan she's a frail girl to be handling this whole house by herself",her mother cried and I found solace in that.
She was a nice woman, wasn't she? Her son might have been a certified arrogant asshole but she on the other hand, was kind and caring.
I found myself staring at her in surprise. She cared for me even she didn't know me.
Perhaps, this house was nothing. I had worked tougher jobs than this one. I mean sure the house was a little big, actually it was big and beautiful and beyond anything I had imagined.
The living room especially. The chairs matched with the lapiaz opaz center table, and the woolen rag looked so soft from where I was standing.
There were a couple of paintings hung on the pastel walls, masterpieces I could tell. The glass windows easily gave the whole room more light and just beyond them was a pool and lots of green foliage.
He had a garden perhaps?
"She's not a frail girl, mom. You would be surprised by what she can do"Ethan said, his eyes never leaving mine.
I knew what he meant. I knew he was talking about the little wasabi incident.
"He's right, ma'am. I can handle everything", I said dutifully.
"It's Lisa, you can call me Lisa and no! She will have help. I'll send someone over to help her with everything here",Lisa said sternly.
I could feel the tension as I saw Ethan Carter's forehead crease frustratedly.
"Fine but no more meddling"
"I promise",she smiled cheekily before adding,"what's your name dear?"
"Aliya. Aliya Torres, ma'am..I mean Lisa"
"It's nice to meet you and if you'll excuse I'll leave before my own son kicks me out",she stood up from the couch hugging me before she went to the kitchen and came back with her bag.
"Take care",Lisa kissed Ethan's cheek leaving the house and I sat on the same spot on the couch wondering how the two were related.
Lisa Carter was like Mother Theresa, caring, kind and considerate while Ethan Carter was like Adolf Hitler, arrogant, rude, maniacal and degrading.
He turned to me, leaning his back against the couch as he assessed me the way a mother would while meeting her daughter in law.
"What can I offer you? Coffee? Juice? Tea?" He asked.
I wasn't buying his 'i'm a gentleman' act.
"Am fine", I snorted,"we can get straight to the point"
"Fine. If that's what you prefer",he said it so casually.
"You very well know why you are here so let's skip to the part about the debt. Since you'll be living here, specifically sleeping here, your salary will be about 33 dollars per hour.
By my calculations, that should amount to about sixty six thousand dollars per year and I'll be claiming half of that every year till your debt is fully repaid"
"What?" I asked in surprise.
I tried keeping up with his words but he lost me at sixty six thousand dollars. That was too much but even as I thought about it, it wasn't that bad.
Thinking about it, if he cut only half of the money per year at the end of the day I would have thirty three thousand dollars which was so much according to me.
"If you feel it's too little, I can always up the amount to 40 dollars per hour"
Okay, now he was just showing off.
"Yes. I mean no...I mean the first offer sounds good to me", I said recovering my voice back.
Thirty three dollars per hour? Damn, that was so much compared to the eight dollars per hour I got paid at regular jobs.
"Good. For a moment there, I thought you wanted more money",he smirked knowing full well he hit a nerve.
I rolled my eyes,"Am not a golddigger, Mr Ethan Carter"
"Mister?"
"I thought I should start preparing. After all you are going to be my boss and I, a mere maid", I said between gritted teeth.
"As you should. I made a great decision hiring you. You are rather less temperamental than I thought, I like that",he said standing up and instructing him to follow him.
'I made a great decision hiring you'
Ooh please. It's as if I had a choice.
I stood up following him behind. He took long strides into the dining room and I followed.
The dining room had navy blue walls that stood out against white. The Ginny Macdonald designed dining room gave me actual chills.
The good kind of chills where you wish you owned something. How I wished I owned this house. It was pretty and I had just been to the dining room only.
From there we went to the kitchen. It was designed in an island modular layout. Black palettes matched with the counter tops, the fridge, the mini stools. Simply it was a work of art and I could help but gawk at everything.
The pantry, everything in the fridge, all the kitchen ware, even as he turned on the taps, the crystal water itself seemed fancy.
"Just down this hallway, we have the laundry room",he boomed as he pointed at the washing machines up ahead.
It was a little too early to say this but I loved it here. The three washing machines were lined up together with the top shelves filled with various luxurious detergents.
I saw maple flavored detergent on one of the shelves and my eyes widened in surprise. Maple detergent? Something like that existed?
We walked down the living room and just down there, was some other four rooms. Small but cosy.
"You can pick one of the rooms to stay in",he said and I opened the door to one of the rooms.
It had a large bed, white as snow curtains, and a small wardrobe and a cabinet by the side of the bed. Simple and neat.
"This one. I'll stay in this one"
"You haven't even seen the other rooms"
"They have the same bed, don't they? Perhaps am a maid, I shouldn't have the liberty to pick a room", I said sternly.
From there we went up the stairs, he showed me the various rooms upstairs. The guest bedroom which looked divine, his room which if you ask me had a ton of dull colors and finally he showed me the pool.
A vast, large pool of crystal like blue water. I loved the way it glistened against the morning sunshine, the way the water stood still and calm.
I walked by the edge of the pool, feeling the cold water against my hands. I didn't want to get too close because God knows I couldn't swim and if I fell in, that would be the end of me.
The whole house tour was over in half an hour and when Ethan Carter walked me to the door, I turned around to say,
"I'll get my things and I'll be here tomorrow. As early as possible"
"I expect you to be. Remember you owe me, not the way around and believe me I am doing you a favor"
He had said right before I left his home. In one way or another, the jerk was right. He was doing me a favor because this was the stable job I needed.
And with the money, I could do so much for my mother. I could rent us a new place, get her a nurse to watch her and finally get us the good life we deserved.
I was just outside the big iron gates of Ethan Carter's place when my cell phone rung,
I looked at the caller ID to see Raymond's face on my screen.
"How did it go? Please tell me you rejected the job"
"I-I took the job"
"You what? Ali, we talked about this. There has to be some way to repay him. The guy obviously has something rolled up his sleeve in store for you. You humiliated him and now? He's willing to employ you?"
"Ray. I need this job"
"We can always get you another job. I-I just don't want you to get hurt"
"I'll be fine. I have dealt with drunkards in a bar before how hard can it be to deal with an arrogant billionaire?"
