The air outside was nice, it had a slight chill in it but the sun was up so it wasn't as cold. Jade took out a cigarette from her pocket, lit it, and took a long drag. The nicotine made everything better.
It had been a while since she smoked but these days she found herself lighting a cigarette often, maybe it was because the weather was getting colder at night and her heater was broken so it kept her warm, or maybe it was she wanted a way out from her thoughts, or she just wanted to find an excuse to go back to old habits.
"Excuse me, are you Jade Hart." A voice called out.
Jade turned her head in one swiftly; nobody was supposed to be back here.
"Depends on who is asking." She replied, and Keith smiled.
There was no reason for Keith to come, really, but she wanted to see Jade personally. If she is someone Levi wants at all costs, there must be something that makes her special.
"Nice to meet you Jade, I'm Keith Summers." Jade narrowed her eyes at her slightly.
There was no reason someone like her should be back here requesting an audience with her, unlike Keith who wore very fashionable heels and a low-cut black gown that hugged her curves perfectly, Jade was in her work uniform, a faded pair of jeans, and her work shirt. She immediately became self-conscious, and she put out the cigarette she had been holding.
"I'm sorry about the smoke, so what brings you here, Keith? Can I call you just Keith?" Jade said, smoothing out invisible wrinkles from her clothes.
"Yeah sure you can. Do you mind if we talk inside?" Keith asked, and Jade shook her head.
She didn't know who Keith was and then her boss might not like the fact that someone came to see her on the job and then whatever the reason this person was here she didn't want to talk about it at her place of work.
"Uhmm… there's a café close by we could go there instead," Jade answered she took the lead, and they walked to the café across the street.
"Can we get to it now?" Keith asked, checking her wristwatch after they sat down.
Jade nodded. She was dying of curiosity.
"So I came here to offer you a job at R & N Hotel. You applied for a position here that was…"
"Wait a sec, I'm sorry you want to offer me a job at R & N, didn't you guys already reject my application?" Jade said cutting her off, is this some kind of sick joke or something or maybe Keith could be a scammer or something, she had received the rejection email a few days ago so she didn't understand what the hell changed their minds and why they would even send their staff here.
"Yes we're offering you a job, but it's not the original position you applied for," Keith replied.
Jade was still not convinced; she looked at Keith intently, trying to assess her or something like that.
"I'm sorry, I might need to see your I.D. or something, not to be rude or anything but, I'm just having a hard time believing you right now." This made Keith smile a little, she too couldn't believe she was doing this but then again the whole situation was weird so she brought out her wallet and handed her card over to Jade who scanned the whole thing and handed it back to her.
Jade cleared her throat, okay, she was an executive assistant. "Fancy." Jade thought after looking at the card.
"So what position is that?" She asked.
"Well… uhm a housekeeper," Keith said, holding her breath this made Jade laugh; fuck Levi for making her do this.
"Are we in the eighteenth century or something, a housekeeper?" Jade said, trying to stop herself from laughing out loud so she wouldn't embarrass Keith.
Keith rolled her eyes a bit, she thought the same thing too, but then Levi is a little overbearing so yeah sure he needs a freaking housekeeper.
"Miss Hart, I assure you that you'd be paid very well and also have company benefits, and working there gives you an advantage over other companies. So what do you say, do you want it or not we're both busy people. I do not see the need for us to beat around the bush."
"Fair enough, what's the pay like?" Jade asks; well they wouldn't pay a housekeeper much but at least adding to her waitressing it could go a long way for her.
Keith didn't know exactly how much he wanted to pay a housekeeper, but he had left it to her to convince Jade no matter the amount. "So how does twenty thousand a month, plus health insurance and you take the weekends off."
"Twenty thousand a month, that's a lot." Well anyone would be crazy to decline this because you feel housekeeping is beneath your qualifications.
"Well, it's R&N. We aim to please," Keith said with a smile. At least she was interested, it would save her a lot of stress.
"I'll take it, this offer is too good to pass up, plus cleaning is relaxing anyway. When do I start?"
Okay, this was a lot easier than Keith had pictured, she was happy she didn't have to do much. She looked at her wristwatch. Levi would be back any minute and there was still that proposal she needed to review. Jade went back to the restaurant to change out of her uniform and get the rest of her stuff.
Jade stood in front of the door, she was a little nervous to go in; well the boss wasn't in but still she couldn't help it. She took the keycard out of her pocket and she opened the door. The place was magnificent just like the way the rest of the hotel is, and it looked okay to her but then she was so happy about the job that she didn't even look around much, she just got the cleaning supplies and started working.
As she cleaned she admired the places, the marble flooring was exceptional, so beautiful and they matched the bathroom walls, she could literally fit her whole apartment in the bathroom and there would still be a lot of space to fit more stuff.
By the time she finished cleaning the whole place, it was already dark out. It would be hard to get a bus from here so she would have to take a taxi, but at least now she could afford it. After picking up the sheets from the laundry room on the ground floor, she took the elevator back to the penthouse; she opened the door to discover someone was already inside.
"Can I help you?" She asked, immediately.
The person turned to face and she raised her eyebrows in silent shock. She met this guy last week with Doctor Nate and he was here, doing what? But if he works here, what are the odds? He looked at her like he was assessing an artwork so close and with eyebrows knit together.
"Uhh… I'm sorry but, no one is allowed here for now. I think you should wait outside if you're looking for Mr. Reynard or I could call his assistant for you so you could speak to her before he gets here." She said again since she felt he didn't hear her the first time.
He looked slightly amused which made Jade feel irritated; well if he couldn't take her seriously because she was holding laundry which was beginning to make her hands ache by the way maybe he'd take Keith seriously so she decided to ignore him and drop the beddings in the bathroom before she called Keith.
"There's no need to call Keith, I'm Levi Reynard by the way. It's nice to meet you, Jade Marie."
The fuck!
He couldn't be serious, there's no way. Well from the way he's dressed and the way he appeared here without anyone, it was somehow obvious.
"You're my boss?" She said, trying to reconcile the facts in her head.
"I didn't stutter." He replied. Jade was tempted to roll her eyes but that would be rude to her boss so she nodded slowly.
"I…uhh…well it's nice to meet you, Mr. Reynard, it's a pleasure to be here."
"Sure, I would like to rest now so you can get off work and I'll see you tomorrow morning." He said walking past her.
"Okay sir, do you need anything before I leave?"
"Ask Keith to have my stuff removed from the suite and transferred here, make sure everything is in order before you leave. That would be all, you're dismissed."
When she left the room she rolled her eyes, he just said she could get off work, but she couldn't complain twenty thousand was more than she could envision so anything for that paycheck so she headed to the reception to ask for Keith's office.
She walked up to the reception and of course, it was Claire the receptionist again. Life was playing sick jokes on her because why did she keep meeting people she never wanted to meet again?
"I wanted to ask for Miss Summers ' office."
"Oh, it's you again." Claire still had that mean look on her face but that didn't make her any less beautiful, imagine if she smiled, aren't receptionists supposed to be the cherry trees in the building? "It's on the second floor, along the halls the third door to your right. But I can call her line and you can ask her what you want, which do you prefer?"
"I'll go to her office. Thanks though." Jade replied.
"No problem."
Jade headed to Keith's office to deliver the message and Keith took her to the suite Levi had occupied during the weekend and then left her to it. The suite was just as beautiful as the penthouse, not as big though but that didn't matter, what mattered was that she just found out her boss was pretty picky. By the time she got back to his room with his stuff, Levi was nowhere in sight so she just did her thing and left as fast as she could because he could be sleeping and she didn't want to disturb him.
The next morning, Jade stood in front of her mirror, looking at her appearance. Black slacks and a white shirt, her new work uniform. She smiled to herself. Although this wasn't the original plan it was still worth it. She carried her bag, her coat, and the toast she made and headed out.
Levi stood at the center of the penthouse. The place was neat, and Jade had done a fine job. Nate would probably be surprised if he told him that Jade now worked for him. But he was going to keep that information to himself for now at least.
There was a subtle knock on the door. It came once, then twice and Jade entered. She was on the phone with someone and when she turned she ran into Levi's firm body and the worst part of it was that the coffee she was holding spilled on the both of them.
She opened her mouth but no words came out. Until Levi cleared his throat.
"I'm so sorry, oh my God. I've ruined your shirt." She said, with her hands over her mouth.
"It's okay. It's just coffee." Levi replied.
His shirt could cost more than her life savings for three years or more.
"I believe there are some things we should discuss. Please sit." Levi said as he ushered her to the couch and he took the chair opposite.
This was it. He was going to fire her because she was such a klutz. Levi Reynard was probably not looking for someone who spilled things on his expensive clothing.
Darn it.