"I'm hungry," Said the boy who sat on a chair in the room. They had been staring at each other for a while, till the boy broke the silence with his rumbling tummy.
Riley had expected someone much younger, but the boy looked like he was 12. Maybe she could squeeze out some information from him.
"Were you forced to do this?" Riley said as she searched for whatever she could give the boy to eat in the cupboards.
"To sit and say I'm hungry? Kind of," The boy said "My dad works here so he brought me along,"
"Right," Riley said, still searching the cupboards, "What is the name of this place… company, your dad's workplace,"
"Are you going to keep asking me questions or feed me?"
"That's quite rude to say boy,"
The boy scoffed in response, "If you think I'm rude, then you haven't met Melanie"
---
Minutes later, Riley came out of the room with a smiling Dylan (she later got to know the small boy's name). "How'd she do boy?" The Instructor from earlier playfully slapped the boy's back and led him away. "Eh," Dylan shrugged "She passed,"
He turned to wave goodbye just before he left the room.
"Well that was surprising," Nathaniel's voice startled her from behind.
"Here's the paper with the answers you asked for,"
The questions were just personal stuff about the boy; his name, his favourite colour et cetera, et cetera.
"So?" Riley asked as she saw Nathaniel begin to walk away. He was scrolling on his phone, so it must have been important.
"You're hired," He said absent-mindedly and left.
A group of men in black– bodyguards, judging by the earpieces –approached her before she could even process what had just happened.
"Now that you've been confirmed as household staff, someone will come round to collect you and your belongings tomorrow morning. We'll need your address before you leave today."
Riley messaged Skylar the moment she got back.
"I got the job."
Skylar's reply came within seconds. "Already??"
"Passed everything. I'll be moving in tomorrow."
"Moving in? As in living there?"
"It's a live-in position, yes. All I have to do is to take care of his daughter and let's just say I won't be worrying about rent for a while. "
"Riley. The pay is mad, I'll give you that. But his daughter?!"
"Is who I'll be taking care of, yes. Problem?"
"His daughter IS the problem. Don't you remember when it was all over the news– therapy at eight, and apparently the puppy they got her ended up more traumatised than she was. That girl is trouble, Riley."
"Those are just rumours."
"Are they though?"
There was a beat of silence before Riley spoke.
"I've already accepted the job. Nothing to be done about it now."
Skylar sighed. "Fine. Just… watch yourself. And don't trust anyone there."
"I'll be alright."
"I mean it, Riley."
"I know. You too."
---
The ride was a quiet one. The driver was clearly not the chatty sort, and Riley was too busy watching the city gradually give way to wider roads and taller gates to mind. She'd tried to memorise the route but gave up somewhere around the fourth roundabout. Too many turns.
She must have dozed off at some point, because the next thing she heard was the driver's door clicking shut.
Riley blinked, smoothed her hair, and checked herself quickly in the side mirror. Presentable enough. She took her bags from the driver with a thank you, and after a deep breath, she opened her eyes and took in the sight of the house… scratch that, mansion!
"Can I go in?" She asked the driver. He gave a slight nod. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get her moving. Some of the household staff glanced at her as she passed but didn't ask questions. She tried to find any familiar face from the ones who came for the interview alongside her, sadly there was none. She walked to the front door of the mansion. A man was standing there, it seemed like he was waiting for her.
"You must be the new maid, I'm the butler. Barry,"
"It's nice to meet you Barry," Riley shook hands with him.
"The pleasure is all mine. Come in and meet the young miss,"
Riley put on a friendly smile as she walked in, murmuring hi's to whoever looked her way. The looks from the other maids made her smile falter. Suddenly, a door was banged shut and everyone began to speed up their movements. The elevator showed that someone was coming down.
"You're in luck, she's done with her siesta and is already on her way down,"
"Right. Wait, siesta?" Riley checked her phone for the time. It was 3 in the afternoon?! H-How?
Someone cleared her throat. Riley looked up from her phone and saw a frowning young girl. Even with the frown she still looked cute, with those pinchable cute cheeks of hers…
"You must be Melanie," Riley started, extending her hand for a shake "It's nice to meet you"
The young girl just stared at the hand like it was a virus. After a few moments she spoke "It's Young Miss to you, and it's not nice to meet you," with that, she left.
"Alright," The butler broke the icy atmosphere "Let me show you to your room,"
---
Nathaniel returned home late in the night. He was very tired after a long day at work. At first, he didn't want to come back but then he remembered he had brought a new maid for Melanie and he had to monitor her for at least a week. Melanie's safety was his utmost priority, he wouldn't just trust anybody just because of what they said or what he saw on the net.
When Nathaniel turned on the lights in his room, he nearly screamed in shock. His side stool, table, frames and much more had been broken. The clothes in his closet were scattered. Paper, and trash littered everywhere, and on the bed… there it was, formed together from his torn expensive and exclusive vintage clothing.
Melanie!
"That girl!" Anger replaced sleep in his eyes as he thought of a suitable punishment.