MARIAM'S POV
I FEEL the tension between Sir Airroz and Airamis, which is why I closed my eyes and spoke, "Ah. I'll just leave first," I said.
"No, you stay here beside me," Airamis said authoritatively, causing my eyes to turn to him.
I was about to approach him when Sir Airroz suddenly spoke which caused my eyes to shift to him. "Who is your boss here, Ms. Ramirez?" Sir Airroz asked with raised eyebrows.
Sir Airroz looks fine but why is his penthouse is such a mess when it looks like he hasn't drink?
I sighed and closed my eyes before I decided to go to my trolley.
"Mariam!" Sir Airroz shouted that stopped me.
Did he call me by my name? This was the first time I heard him call me by my first name!
I turned to him and spoke, "I'll continue cleaning your penthouse later, Sir. But if you have a problem, don't turn it to drinking. Getting drunk is never the answer to your problems," I preached and He was about to leave when he suddenly spoke.
"I didn't drink an alcohol. My friends did," he uttered that made me bit my lower lip
I didn't look at him again and continued walking out of Sir Airroz's penthouse.
When I arrived at our department, Andrea and Rebecca were not here, and my other colleagues were not there either. Maybe I came down really early so I'm the only person here.
I decided to clean my other area first and return to Sir Airroz's penthouse after. Time passed before we had breaktime. I hurried to the locker to get my bag of food.
"Wow! Eggplant with egg!" Rebecca said causing me to turn to her while Andrea was next to her.
"Why are you eating here, sis?" Rebecca asked causing me to smile at her.
"I don't have any other friends here except for you. Maybe our other co-workers will talk behind my back again," I said with a forced smile.
It's true! All my co-workers are talking about me because they think Sir Airroz is my boyfriend but the truth is he is not.
"Don't mind those people, Mariam. The important thing is, you know you're not doing anything wrong," Rebecca said while Andrea nodded in agreement.
They invited me to our canteen and we talked there.
"So why are your eyes swollen earlier, sis? What happened?" Andrea asked full of curiosity.
I sighed and chewed my food before I spoke, "Yrac already knows," I said as my tears began to fall down my cheeks.
"Know what?" said Rebecca.
"He already know that Sir Airroz is not my boyfriend and... and he already knowthat something happened between me and S-Sir Airroz," I stammered then wiped my tears.
Andrea and Rebecca frowned as they looked at me before one of them spoke, "Do those tears mean Yrac got mad and didn't accept you?" Andrea asked.
I started sobbing and I knew that the people in the canteen were looking at me but I ignored their thoughts. I wiped my tears with my hands and continued to tell the story.
"He even said that he hates me," I said while sobbing.
It hurts. The pain of the words Yrac told me came back again deep down to my bones and like I don't deserve be respected.
"He's an asshole! He's crazy!" Rebecca uttered in shock.
MINUTES passed before we finished talking. I decided to go to Sir Airroz's penthouse to finish my work because that's the only thing I haven't finished cleaning because I've finished cleaning my other areas.
When I got to the top-floor using the elevator, I immediately took out Sir Airroz's duplicate card to open his door.
"I'm here to clean," I said, but no one answered, so I went inside.
I looked around before I walked to the living room of Sir Airroz's penthouse and knelt down before picking up the scattered trash on the floor.
"Drink well but doesn't know how to clean!" I uttered.
"Let me help you then."
I stopped what I was doing when I heard the owner of that baritone voice causing me to slowly turn to him.
"Airamis," I whispered.
When I saw his face, the words he said earlier came back to my mind.
Does he like me? Am I dreaming? Or was he just joking about what he said to me earlier?
I just ignored my thoughts and focused more on the man in front of me now.
I slowly stood up holding the vacuum cleaner and sighed.
"If you find your job quite tiring then allow me to help you," he said then was about to pick up the mess but I unexpectedly stopped him causing me to hold his hand!
My eyes widened and slowly looked at him, so did he.
A smile appeared on his lips and he closed his eyes for a moment and immediately opened them.
"Tell me if you want to hold my hand, Mariam and I won't hesitate to let you hold this," he said with a smile then showed his hand that I held earlier.
My eyes narrowed and I crossed my arms in front of him.
"You are such a feeler, Airamis. I don't want to hold your hand! You and Sir Airroz are the same. Tsk! You really are friends!" I snorted then turned away from him.
"He's not my friend, baby. He's my brother," he laughed causing me to face him.
That's the reason why they look alike! I looked at every detail of his face and there is indeed a similarity between his face and Sir Airroz. How did I not notice the similarities between their two faces?
"No wonder why you're both arrogant," I spoke, causing his right eyebrow to raise.
"We're not arrogant, babe. We're just stating the fact. So, as I was saying, do you want me to help you? I am willing to give you a hand," he said.
"Tss! This is my job, Mr. Almojera," I said then turned my back on him and started cleaning.
I didn't pay attention to him anymore and when I heard the door close, signaling that he was coming out, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was restless and I was conscious of my actions because I felt that he was watching me earlier.
When I finished cleaning Sir Airroz's penthouse, I immediately left his penthouse and went straight to the locker.
"I guess you finished late?" I stopped to arrange my things in the locker when Yrac spoke behind me causing my chest to beat faster and my eyes started watering.
I immediately turned to him and frowned when he spoke, "W-what are you doing here?"
I heard him sigh and smiled softly at me, "I'm sorry for what I did and said, Mariam. I know my face is too thick to show myself in front of you despite the things I've done and the words I've said, but I'm sorry. Don't worry. I'm going back to the province. I hope... I hope despite the things I've done, you'll forgive me," he apologized and smiled sadly at me afterwards has left my presence.
When he left that's when I felt my tears fall. I was speechless. I was stunned and just now everything he said sank into my brain.
I slowly walked out of the company and when I got out, someone suddenly honked at me with a fancy car.
When the driver rolled down the window, Airamis immediately looked at me. "Hop in, baby," he said causing my forehead to furrow.
"Baby your face!" I snorted and started walking away from him.
Annoying! It's really windy whenever he's around! I frowned as I walked but I could still feel Airamis following me with his fancy car. He kept on calling me but I didn't bother to look back because of annoyance.
"C'mon Mariam! Let me drive you home," he said.
"I do not want!" I answered and adjusted my backpack.
"I'll walk with you then," he said causing his car to stop and immediately got out of his car.
I stopped for a moment and turned to him. "Why did you get off?! You might lose your car!" I screamed angrily!
"I don't care about that car anymore! All I care about right now is you, because, I wanna be with you," he said causing me to stop.
I stopped what I was doing for a moment and started to take a breath because of the mixed emotions I was feeling.
I closed my eyes and sighed before I opened my eyes. "Alright! Alright! Let's get in! Get back here and I might be the one to blame when your fancy car disappears," I said annoyingly then got into the passenger's seat.
He followed me and entered his car while smiling.
"Am I awake? If this is just a dream please wake me up," he said in disbelief.
"Your overreacting!" I said while putting on the seatbelt.
Minutes of conversation took place between the two of us before I reached the outside of our place. I didn't let him come inside because our neighbors would surely talk about me again.
"Thank you, Airamis," I said with a smile.
"My pleasure. Take care!" he said.
"Take care too!" I said goodbye then waited for him to go away before I entered our small house
"Sister!!" Fern uttered.
"Have you eaten?" I asked smiling.
"Yes, big sis! There is still a left over from what you cooked earlier, sis!" Fern spoke again.
"Where's Chesca?" I asked when I noticed that he was the only one who greeted me.
"She's inside the house, Sister. She's cleaning while I'm washing the dishes," Fern said with a smile.
When we entered the house, I was immediately greeted with a hug from my youngest sister, Chesca.
"Sister, why did you come home late?" Chesca asked hugging me while her head was raised towards me.
"Because I cleaned up quite a lot of mess, Chesca," I said with a smile then stroked her hair.
I said goodbye to them briefly so I could take a shower. After I showered, I immediately got dressed so that we could prepare something to eat. I cooked corned beef because that was the only dish I could cook.
Fern and Chesca were busy arranging the cutlery and plates on our small table. "Sister, the school year is near!" Fern said excitedly, causing me to turn to her with a smile.
"Yes, and we're about to buy your things for school," I smiled and turned my eyes to what I was cooking.
I spent a long time saving up for my siblings to go to school so that's how excited I was to buy them their things. Here is one of the promises I made to my mother. Fern and Chesca to study.
I know the feeling of being uneducated so I don't want my siblings to experience that. I will do everything to help them finish their studies because I know they have dreams that they want to fulfill.
"The dish is cooked. Let's eat," I said to them.
We ate dinner together and when we finished eating, I was the one to wash the dishes because I had put my siblings to bed.
After I washed, I immediately prayed. I prayed a lot to the Lord, including that he give Yrac enough strength and wisdom wherever the Lord and the times take him.
TO BE CONTINUED