The basic duties were simple and not that hard to complete on a daily basis, it involved taking important calls, arranging appointments to fit his schedule, answering to his call whenever he needed me, Madame was being thorough with her explanations and I could clearly understand why; her son was a spoilt sour puss that likes to pounce on his workers that had sluggish tendencies.
I listened attentively until she came to the end of her long speech.
"Your work hours are from eight till six, you will be staying here with us except on Sundays where you will be allowed to go and spend time with your family, I guess, that will be all for now, any questions?" her question brought me back to my senses at once.
"Yes Ma'am, why did you choose me for this job? I am less than qualified for this-" she cut me short with a raise of her hand.
"I had already gone through this with your father but it seems like he hasn't told you yet, I am doing this because I heard about the tragic accident and what happened to your once happy family and I was moved to help Romeo in any way I can, I couldn't give him cash because he would always ask for more and that was when I thought about giving you this job, I have gotten your character breakdown from your father and he told me that you are the person who is handling the rent, grocery, bills, and even your sister's school fees, it's obvious that you have a zeal and a work ethic, those are all I need as qualifications." I stood there dumbfounded, it was the first time that anyone was complimenting me so openly.
"Thank you for considering me, Ma'am, I won't let you down." I said enthusiastically, she gave me a small nod and carried on as if she wasn't the same person who had just said those words to me.
"I am sure, you won't, Raymond will show you to your room and please don't break anything, they are all expensive."
I took her warning to heart as I followed Raymond to my supposed quarters, the walls of the house were decorated with big paintings of famous people or historians, the hallways were huge and lighted by fancy lights, I saw maids and cleaners scuttering here and there, some of them gave me a strange stare while some were just curious.
"Here you go, Miss, call me if you need anything, just press the number 9 on the phone over there." he pointed to a landline that was sitting idly on the bedside stool, I thanked him and I watched him take his leave before I started to offload my luggage.
The room was spacious and fancy as well, everything was far from humble and I started to have a gnawing feeling as if I didn't belong here.
'All of this is just too much to take in at once, I don't even know what I will be doing here, I don't know if my new boss was worse than Mr. Gregg, my old boss, how the hell am I going to make it back in time so that I can go to my date with Carl?'"
I felt my head spinning as different thoughts flowed through my mind.
I didn't notice when a small looking girl with blonde hair came into the room with her maid attire.
"Excuse me?" she said in a small voice, I came to with a jump.
"You scared me for a minute." I said in relief as I realized that she was only a maid.
"I am sorry ma'am, I didn't mean to scare you like that" the maid apologized sincerely, I waved her apology off with a shaky smile.
"It's not your fault, I should be more wary of my surroundings, what brings you here?"
She was young and I could tell that she was new to this like me too.
"I was appointed to you by madame to answer to your every need throughout your stay here, you are to tell me everything you want and I will get it for you." she bowed her head slightly and I started to feel awkward because I was being treated like royalty.
"All my life I have never heard of a personal assistant getting her own handmaid." I asserted in wonder and the maid giggled a little bit before she stopped herself abruptly.
"What is your name?" I asked her and she raised her head to look at me.
I saw fear in her eyes and I wondered why she was so afraid.
"My name is Emily."
"My name is Diana, pleased to meet you." I stretched a hand out to her and she took it fearfully.
"Pleased to meet you too, ma'am".
"Just call me Diana, okay?" she didn't say anything but she nodded with a confused expression on her face, I went on with my questions.
"How long have you been working here?".
"Three months." she confirmed my suspicion, I thought carefully about my next question before I asked.
"What is the new CEO like?" I saw a cold fear enter her eyes and she began to look left and right as if he was going to come out from the walls of the room, she spoke in a low tone that made everything feel ominous.
"I am not allowed to speak about my superiors to my co-workers." she said slowly, I knew the cause of her hesitation so I pushed her on.
"It's just the two of us, I will never tell a soul about what we talked about today."
At last, she agreed to let me in on some surprising information about my new employer.
"He is a mysterious kind of guy and he is usually quiet, he doesn't talk much to anyone other than his mother, he has a cold shoulder and he never loses his composure."
"How is he like with the maids and the drivers?" I needed to know how he treated his staff, she thought about this for a moment before she answered.
"He is pretty cool with the maids and it's no wonder that most of them has a crush on him, he doesn't act as if he is the boss of us and he lets us to do whatever we like most of the time, he has never raised his voice except when he wants to call somebody that is far away, are you asking these questions because you are scared of him?" her question caught me off guard and I had to rely on my wits for a quick response.
"No, I am not. I just want to know a bit about the person I will be working for." I answered casually and she bought it.
"He is not so hard to cope with and he has a great sense of humor, so I have heard, just don't do anything that will tick him off and you will be all set, the person that you should really be afraid of is Madame, she is the scary one."
I looked at her with a confused expression because I did not find her scary at all but all my fears were about to realize when I heard footsteps approaching my room, I paused whatever I was about to say next and held my breath for what would come next.