Olivia had knocked twice on the door before she was let inside. The room was colorful, a stark contrast to Olivia's expectations, and quite clean as well. Laden in autumn colors of orange, brown, and pale yellow were the walls, adorned by abstract paintings and white LED lights. The coral white oriel windows let in the summer sun which kissed the coloured glass of the roof chandelier and shadowed red, blue and green on the roof as well as the walls.
Olivia was rendered mesmerized by the artistry.
"You are 39 seconds late!" A grumpy deep voice exclaimed while Olivia was busy observing his King sized bed and silken almond sheets. Olivia turned around the spacious expanse and saw him pulling over a shirt.
"My apologizes; I was held up with your sister," She answered with a deep clear voice.
The man nodded and turned around to face Olivia, who in surprise and shock, squealed and jumped backwards, hitting her head against the wall.
Ouch.
"What are you?!" She shook her head and corrected quickly, "I mean, what happened to you?!" she asked in bewilderment.
She recognised him instantly.
Standing in front of her, in the colorful premise of the room, sporting a silk black shirt and dark skinny jeans, was Leander Holmes. He had sandy brown hair, a shade between blonde and light brown. In Olivia's eyes, the slightly curled at the end hair looked smooth and well taken care of. They were pushed towards the left, looking long, wavy and insanely dashing.
He was quite beautiful, to be honest.
The boy had a pair of coral blue eyes. Just like Olivia had eyes like glass dyed in green and grey, the boy's eyes were drenched in the sky. They were an absolute blue, like free skies and beautiful flights. His black shirt tugged at his body, clinging in all the right places. Two of the shirt's buttons were undone and Olivia's weak heart fluttered at the exposed skin and muscles.
His words echoed in her mind: "I'm Adonis reincarnated!"
Well fuck, Olivia. Stop simping for your boss at first sight! You are supposed to be a man! What if he recognizes you?! No, No, he can't. It was too dark last that night... right? She looks very very different from last night. Even Ralph could not figure it out and he had seen her in light!
Focus on the bad parts of Leander instead, yes, don't focus on his bulging muscles you perverted little girl!
His thick sandy hairs were perfectly styled in a wavy side swept. On his oh-so-perfect face, he sported a black eye and busted lip. Yes, focus on that!
His pretty eyes narrowed and full lips pulled themselves in a scorn. He replied to Olivia, "I see you were blown away by my beauty. Some bloody selfish baffoon of a woman injured my holy body last night."
Olivia cringed. Holy body.
He spoke in a pouty tone, walking inside his walk-in closet and stood in front of a bejewelled full length mirror to admire his handsome glory.
"That was a horrible mistake of hers, I'm sure she is repenting," Olivia drawled out. Leander nodded to himself.
He winked in the mirror before replying, "There wasn't much damage done, you see, I'm still breathtakingly handsome." He whispered in awe, almost drowning in the blue of his own eyes. "Aren't I?" he asked, pressing his forehead against the glass.
Olivia pulled her face in a grimace as Leander hugged the mirror, rounded his hands around the object's radius, pretty tight.
This is a household of psychopaths.
"Undoubtedly, unbeatable!" Olivia replied in mock cheer, giving his back a thumbs up.
Leander pulled back with a nod to himself, a coy smile dancing on his lips. Olivia shuddered a few steps back into the wall. These people run a multi-billion-dollar business?!
"Your schedule is kept on the table by the windows," He instructed, his eyes not leaving the mirror and hands gesturing Olivia to make a move out.
Olivia nodded, happy to be out of this creep's proximity, and walked out. Out of his ear shot, she sighed dramatically clutching her thundering heart. Handsome or not, that person was a blink away from making out with the mirror.
Who knows...he's probably doing just that after kicking Olivia out...
Olivia shook her head to earse the gross images of Leander Holmes snogging himself. His privacy was not hers to invade. As a person with secrets of her own, she should respect boundaries. The antagonist in her story was her fate, but the protagonist was her determination.
Giving up the urge to sneak-a-peek back inside the closet, or throw a glass vase at his bloated thick head, she walked up to the table and picked up a decently thick book.
Ombre in color, it was titled, 'SCHEDULE' in Times New Roman. It wasn't a schedule. No, it was an ocean of irrelevant knowledge that Olivia never knew she would need to drown in. With wide eyes Olivia examined the thickness of the book, flipping through, almost all of the pages were filled with scribbled notes in different handwritings.
It was an experience handbook of all the servants Leander Holmes had before.
From a color-coded catalogue of underwear preferences to the choice of his breakfast depending on his outfit's mood, every gem of knowledge was penned on these pages of paper. Hm.
What if Olivia were to leak it?
Not even jail, that would be instant death. Also, she has signed a contract of confidentiality before the interview. Hm.
She picked up a black tablet from the table and slid open the lock. Another list of divisions and sub-divisions greeted her sight. "Even chemical equations look a lot more enchanting than his list of automobiles divided by weekday and weekend preferences."
Preferences.
Rich people and their obnoxious preferences.
She sighed while skimming over the day's schedule written in a to-do list.
A little later, Leander came out with a self satisfied smirk plastered on his flawless face. The ugly hollow of his black eye and the swollen skin of his busted lip had disappeared. Olivia raised an eyebrow, to which he airily replied, "Along with bearing the most handsome face known to humanity, I also posses magic!"
Olivia faked a smile and nodded in agreement, trying to control the bubbling laughter inside her, "Of course you do, sir."
Oozing pride and elegance, he waltzed out the door with Olivia tailing behind him.
"Mr. Olivander," he spoke on their way down the marbled staircase, "I hope you have checked if the breakfast is upto my standards."
Huh?
"Yes sir, obviously," Olivia enunciated without breaking a sweat. While on the inside, a storm broke in. Upto standards?! How the fuck am I supposed to know your standards three minutes into our meeting?!
Her small steps turned into a jog ahead. Leander smirked, his eyes followed her small form skitter out of his sight.
If Alessandra was correct, hopefully she was, then the dining room was two floors down. Her mind preoccupied with relaying the words on the schedule book. What were his standards for today?! Is she supposed to mind read?!
Being confident sucks.
Leander busied himself in admiring his well polished shoes. He was used to walking at a fast pace, taking larger strides due to his longer legs. For Olivia's five-foot-frame, this was not easy. Very inconvenient. To reach the dinning room earlier than him, she slid on the glossy floors practically ran all the way down.
Almost running into two randomly placed fire extinguishers later, Olivia flung open the designed doors to the dining hall.
Panting, she stood in front of the food laden table with a frown on her face. 'I really need to get some exercise…' she thought.
Alessandra, already sitting at the table, squealed at her sight. "Ah! My handsome man is here for breakfast updates?" she giggled, jumping out of seat and clinging to Olivia's arm.
"Can I sniff your sweat please?"
"Ye-ah," Olivia nodded to the former part of Alessandra's question, then pushed her off in the later, haphazardly stuttering, "I-uh, I mean NO! please! don't sniff my sweat! that's disgusting!"
Alessandra giggled. Ralph, formerly sitting opposite to Alessandra, scowled.
"Our man, Ally, our man is here for getting a breakfast update." Ralph spat at Alessandra with his eyes. Turning to Olivia, his brown his turned kinder and smile a lot wider. "Did you eat yet, my beloved?" He spoke in a thick accent laced tone.
"No, No, not yet, but it's not about me. It's about Mr. Holmes! He needs his 'breakfast up to his standards'" Olivia air quotes Leander's words, then continues," And I don't quite know—"
Ralph's loving eyes fell from Olivia's hasty explanatory stance to Leander Holmes chill one. His eyes widened as Leander walked past a buffering Olivia and sat on his chair.
Olivia
shut herself up, blinking for consequences.
Leander's observant glance skimmed over the table and suddenly morphed into a glare. But before Olivia could wash her hands off life, Alessandra jumped into the scene.
"Brother dearest! My oh-so handsome brother! Good morning! You look so well," she squealed in a sing-song voice, hugging him tight.
Leander pressed his lips in a straight line while Ralph flung his hands in the air to attract Olivia's attention towards him.
"Mr. Olivander! Change the orange juice to chocolate milk. He's wearing a black shirt today. Hurry!" he whisper-shouted across the table as subtly as he could.
"Yeah, I know that bitch pulled a bad number on you. I hope she trips and falls over her ugly face, brother dearest!" Alessandra whines out loud.
You just called me handsome you chameleon!!
Olivia opens her mouth to retort but priorities betray her. With wide eyes and struggling feelings, Olivia runs out of the dinning room.
Alessandra quickly engaged Leander into a deep conversation of Leander's flawless make-up skills.
Olivia rushes back inside with the same speed as she ran away, her eyes still wide as saucers.
Ralph greeted her with a blank expression because he knew the reason of her retreat. "The kitchen is towards the left hall. Ask any maid!" he mouthed, pointing towards his left.
They were facing opposite directions.
Olivia ran to her right which was Ralph's left. And also the wrong direction.
But it's fine, Olivia Stevenson has some few ticking brain cells which made her realize that this was the same way she ran inside from and there was no kitchen in that direction. Therefore, she turned left in almost no wasted time.
With speed that could bring leopards to shame, Olivia dashed into the kitchen, scaring the living daylights of the chef before she screeched in a scratched, breathy roar:
"Choco-choco-late…milk…!!"
[its not over dramatized in her head]
One of the maids nodded before handing Olivia a glass of water. She thanked her with a genuine smile and gulped all of it in one go. It wasn't easy for a starving person to run so much and not be breathless. She had only eaten two packets of Hanna's potato chips after surviving on water for last three days.
Another maid handed her the chocolate milk. Just as she raised her head to thank her, the maid winked at her with a sly smile. "Ever welcomed!" she chirped and wiggled back to chopping onions, leaving Olivia in a trance.
This is a household of psychopaths.
Shaking her head, Olivia raced back to the dining room to find a grim looking Leander staring in oblivion. Olivia gulped and slowly slid the glass next to him.
"Mr. Olivander," Leander began slowly. Ralph was busy gulping down the orange juice, while Alessandra kept buttering her bread, over and over.
"Yes sir?" Olivia asked in her clear voice, shifting a few steps back, trying to breath like a normal person but failing miserably.
"I know you are new and you need time to settle down, but I'll appreciate that it's not too long. I don't tolerate mistakes and I'm not someone who is keen on second chances. Keep that in mind," He shifted the chair back and got up, dusting the imaginary dust off his shirt, he grabbed hold of the glass of chocolate milk in his hand and strode his way out, with a panicked Olivia trying to catch up behind him.
This was going to be grueling. She knew it. She had been raised to order around, not take orders. She lived to be pleased not to please. But she would do it, she had to do it, to cross the room filled with void some hard work was at hand.
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