I stayed at the loft the whole weekend. Just preparing for the weeks ahead. I have been debating with myself the whole weekend. Should I or should I not reach out to him? I am curious to know how he had been, if he still, in fact remembers me. Although I came here with hope; I did not come here to face such ruckus and to risk being exposed.
I feel a little embarrass and stupid for not being able to do as much after all these years. I kept yearning for him, missing him, but always holding back with whatever excuses I can come up with. I'm scared that when he will finally know me, whatever we ever had will be gone. That's the underside of me, to always have this burning excitement and passion all at once, until I will eventually get tired when an experience becomes commonplace.
I got page by the lobby at 8 in the morning, Monday. It's Jane the Filipina housekeeper that Soo-ah hired to do the cleaning at the loft once a week. I have to pick her up by the reception in order to show her how to use the key card for the penthouse elevator.
Soo-ah is always putting an effort to make her job as thorough as possible. Jane is from the region in the Philippines where I came from, she speaks the same dialect as me. She looked so frail but presentable, wearing denim pants and a little loose green shirt and a Stan Smith sneakers. I greeted her in Tagalog and motioned her to follow me.
"I'm sorry if the meeting today is a little too early for you. It will just be today since I need to meet you and briefed you with the loft. I heard from Soo-ah that you already helped out after they moved-in the furniture and appliances." I started, I talked in our language.
"Miss, you're also an Ilocana?" she is smiling.
"Yup, from Cagayan but my mother's side is from Ilocos Norte…"
"I'm from Candon Miss…small world…" she commented, and she seemed excited. I know the feeling of knowing a familiar person in a foreign place.
We arrived at the loft. I gave her a copy of the key card and told her the passcode for the loft's main door.
"I have to leave after 9, we can talk at the kitchen table. Have you eaten breakfast yet?" I asked.
"I had coffee and bread Miss, so it's fine."
"Let's eat while we talk." I offered her with the croissant sandwich that I made.
"Thank you, Miss."
"So, about the work. I would love to have it done every Monday. I am out of the house by 9 and I will come home usually 7 in the evening, if it will be done between that time it will be nice. Yesterday, I already bought flowers as you can see. But it would also be nice if you can bring flowers before coming here, so they will be changed weekly. There's a flower shop by the corner of the main road that you'll pass by when you're coming with the bus, tell them about me and they already know which flowers to give. You don't need to clean the walk-in closet; I will do it myself. The bathtub doesn't need cleaning every time, since I will probably use it once a while." I handed her of the list of the things that needed to be done.
"You can read this first and I will just go and change. If you have any questions, don't hesitate." I finished half of the sandwich and went up to change. I chose to wear a black flare pants and a white wrapped-around satin tunic V-neck top. I twisted my hair in a bun and put on drop pearl earrings and my Skagen watch. I put the Chanel classic black pumps and grabbed the Ralph Lauren black winter blazer and my Mulberry large tote bag with my laptop and school documents.
I went down and she already tidied up the kitchen. She went back to her seat when she saw me. I looked at my time and I only have at least 15 minutes more to spare. I decided to order a taxi to go to the University today. I know it is impractical, but to take the bus for an hour journey is making me dizzy. Although, it seems that it will be my way of transport from the Loft to the university.
"Did you read the list?"
"Yes Miss…I just want to ask about the hours. It's written that it is a 7-hour job?"
"Oh yeah, I think you won't spend 7 hours cleaning. It's just the minimum time we put. The time you buy the flowers and probably if there are special errands that I need you to do on Mondays. We put 7 hours as the base salary time. We will tell you in advance if ever there are other tasks you need to do. Would there be a problem?"
"Not really Miss, I just thought that it's too much time for cleaning only…"
"No. It's not really cleaning only, it's the errands that I might asked of you. So, it's 7 hours minimum time. It doesn't matter if you reach that time or no, you will be paid for 7 hours and if you do more than that then you will be compensated with the extra hours that you will have to work."
"Thank you, Miss."
"I am not sure how much you're getting as an hourly salary, but I will pay you according to how much I am paying my housekeeper in Denmark, that would be 25,000 won per hour. Would that be fine?"
"Miss, hourly wage here is 10.000 won, are you sure you're not mistaken…"
"I know. No worries. I will transfer through your mobile wallet later…I need to go; I think my taxi is here. Nice meeting you Jane, I hope to see you around. If there's anything else don't hesitate to contact me…"