Chapter Sixteen
Pia's POV
I'm so dead meat. I ended up sleeping on the master's bed!
I remembered checking his temperature every fifteen minutes. The last time I checked was 38 degrees celsius. I sat on his bed, waiting for another fifteen minutes, when I passed out.
My goodness. Eating too much food in the servant's buffet gave me a food coma.
Moving out of the bed slowly and sneaking towards the door, I managed to get out of the master's bedroom. I just hoped he did not notice me sleeping on his bed last night.
I ran towards the servant's hall, while I stopped at every corner to make sure no one would see me. It was still so early, and everyone was still asleep. I had a fear of being caught without my beige power and red lipstick on.
Yes! One last corner, and I'd arrive at the women's quarter.
"Hey, what's the rush?"
I heard a familiar voice.
Darn it. This man started to annoy me.
I turned around and gave Cameron a brutal and unfriendly stare.
"Obviously, because I'm very busy."
I remembered him mocking me last night infront of Jack and Larry.
"Calm down. Why are you so grumpy? It's early in the morning."
"Normally, I'm not," I looked at him with angry eyes, "I'm so mad at you. You were giving hints to Jack and Larry last night that I'm not forty-five."
"Oh that," a smile ruffled his mouth, "it was for you. I was reminding you to take the steps slowly. You were supposed to be forty-five and you're climbing the stairs so fast."
Still not convinced with his explanation, I turned to go. But he stopped me by saying,
"I waited for you till midnight to come out," he lounged casually against the concrete post, "when you didn't, I assumed you stayed in his room the whole night."
"I was monitoring his temperature. The man is running a very high fever. If anything happens to him, it's my responsibility."
"Of course I know that. Why are you suddenly so defensive?"
"I'm not defensive, and I have no reason to be," I gave him an impatient shrug, "by the way, why did you wait for me last night?"
He scratched his head, his face colored fiercely, "I saw in the Work Sched list that you're off on weekends."
"And then?"
"I wonder..." he inhaled deeply, before continuing to speak, "if we can hang out tomorrow. We can go grab some coffee..."
"There's plenty of signature coffee here, we have it everyday."
"Well, we can dine in a fancy restaurant..."
"I could not think of anything fancier, the food here came from a five star restaurant," I replied.
His mouth was thinning with displeasure.
"Come on, I'm trying to ask you on a date," his face was so red, like a ripe tomato, "we can go wherever you want, my treat."
I shook my head, "No."
"Why not?" his shy expression immediately turned to disappointment, "you don't have a boyfriend, right?"
"Yes, but I don't go out with a colleague."
"That sucks," his shoulders dropped down instantly, "what kind of philosophy is that?"
"Philosophy 101, Pia Rosi's way about friendship and colleagues. You must not forget too that I'm a forty five year old woman here," I looked briefly over my shoulder, "so, if you'll excuse me, I have to go."
"You don't look forty five right now. Your powder went off, and you have red smudges all over your cheeks," he chuckled, "I like you, Pia Rosi. I won't stop until we have our first date."
I shrugged my shoulders, then I ran towards the servant's hall.
In my room, I texted Calliope to take care of the master, while I'd be the one to monitor the harvest of the strawberries, and help the cleaners in the sun room.
During lunch, I met Calliope in the servants' dining hall. She was crying.
"What happened?"
"It's the master," she sobbed so hard. The very strict, firm and authoritative persona that she projected was gone.
"What did he do to you?"
"He... he called me... he called me by my first name," tears flooded on her cheeks.
"Oh..."
"It was the first time that he called me Calliope, and... and I became very emotional," she wiped her tears, smiling at the same time, "he knows my name, and that means a lot to me. He also wished me good luck, and if I decided to come back, the mansion is open for me."
"Wow, that's nice," I replied.
I was glad that Kristov Stavrakos did a nice gesture before Calliope left. I know, it was something that she would treasure forever.
"Anyway, he's feeling better now, no fever anymore. He also ate his breakfast."
"Great! Um... did he ask for me?"
"No."
"Did he mention anything about me?"
She shook his head, "he never said anything about last night."
"I see," I did not know if I was feeling relieved or disappointed.
The whole day, I was feeling so edgy. That feeling of awareness was so intense. I knew that he was in the mansion, and anytime, our path would cross.
How would I react then, if we see each other face to face?
The guilt feeling of sleeping on his bed was so overwhelming. What if he'd find out? Would he fire me?
I chose to stay at the servant's hall as much as possible, in order to avoid him. While Calliope took the opportunity to bond with the others, since she would be leaving tomorrow.
During dinner, we had a farewell party for Calliope. Everyone wished her well, to her new adventure in life, except for Debbie, who was being mean, by telling everyone,
"Good riddance. Just one more pest to get rid of."
Who? Me?
The following day was Saturday, the start of my day-off. Calliope left the mansion and I went to see aunt Jodie early in the morning.
She was already at her home, with a female caregiver who would come to her house everyday to take care of her.
"I guess I can go back to work in a month. This arm is recovering well," she said looking at her broken arm.
"The doctor said six to eight weeks, so it's better to follow his order. We don't want any complications, it would harm you more."
"Okay... so how's your work? Are you having a hard time?"
"Not at all. I'm enjoying it, everyone is very nice and friendly."
"What about Mr. Stavrakos? Is he nice too?"
"Hmm..." I was finding it hard to answer, since I remembered the incident of being thrown into the pool. I wondered how aunt Jodie would react if she were in my place, "it's for you to find out."
"What does it mean? You're scaring me already."
"He's very... unpredictable, and has this varied personality."
"Well, being young, extremely rich, gorgeous and all... that's normal."
"By the way, why didn't you tell me that I would be working for the younger Stavrakos? I assumed that I would be working for his father."
"You didn't know?" she eyed me oddly, "I thought you knew, because you didn't ask."
My goodness!
"You should have told me. It gave me the shock of my life!"
"Why? Is he that gorgeous in person? I'm sure you were starstrucked seeing him for the first time. I heard it happens all the time to women whenever they see him," she teased me, "sorry for not warning you."
"Never," I shook my head vigorously, "believe me, the opposite happened the first time I saw him. It was a disastrous encounter."
"Why? Tell me about it?" she asked curiously.
"I've mistaken him as the driver."
"Seriously?"
I told her about what happened that day, and she bursted laughing.
"I'm sure he forgave you easily. Who wouldn't? You're too nice and pretty. Any guy would fall for you easily. Even the highly powered billionaire, Kristov Stavrakos."
"That will never happen. He's either into classy extremely rich women or supermodels. I'm neither, so... nah-ah," I did not tell her about my disguise. It would only make her worry and hinder her fast recovery.
After having breakfast with aunt Jodie, I went home. The house felt so empty, that I started to miss Mom and Dad terribly. Well, at least they were happy having their dream vacation.
I spent the rest of the morning cleaning the house, taking care of mom's plants, and cooking for my lunch.
In the afternoon, I had a video call with my parents.
"How's the job?" Mom asked excitedly.
"I had dinner with the boss, and I got to taste the best steak that I've ever had in my entire life."
"Really? You're so lucky!" Dad took the phone, "you said, you had dinner with the boss?"
"Yeah, we did," I felt guilty again, for not telling them the truth.
"That's a big honor, Pia," dad continued, "he surely noticed that you're very intelligent."
"Of course, she's always on the dean's list," Mom shouted in the background.
Dad showed me the beautiful view of the ocean, "that's a big edge for you. Soon you'll be leading a research team."
"I really hope so."
"Of course, you will. The next step is teaching at New York University."
"We're so proud of you, Pia. Keep up the good work. We know you'll make it so big in the future," Mom took over the phone, and gave me an encouraging smile.
We talked for a while about their vacation, the places they went, and the people they met. They took many pictures, and posted them on Facebook.
"I'll check on it later, Mom, but I really have to go now. I'm going to attend Mr. Park's birthday dinner party tonight."
"So that's today. I almost forgot. Give our regards to the Parks, and greet Joon a happy birthday," dad appeared on the camera again, we talked about the Parks and my driving, then ended our call.
I prepared my overnight bag for my sleepover at Kimberly's house. I took a leisurely warm bath, taking my time, then blow-dried my chestnut brown hair.
I decided to put my hair down, let the soft curls flow on my back. My makeup was minimal, a little mascara, eyeshadow, blush-on and a pink lipstick to add color to my lips.
But choosing the outfit was hard because of the limited clothes in my wardrobe. I had to decide whether to wear the black dress or the peach dress. In the end, I picked the peach dress that I wore during our graduation ball, with matching gold stiletto heels.
The dinner party would be held at the Park's residence. The Parks were extremely rich, but very discreet and simple. They did not want to show off their wealth, and lived below their means.
The dinner party would start at seven, but I was already at their house at six thirty.
"It's going to be a sit down dinner party, good for twelve people," Kim informed me when we were in her bedroom, fixing our hair and retouching our makeup.
"Yeah, you told me already," I combed my hair, making it look shinier.
"Oh, this one I haven't told you yet. Dad said he invited a very special guest," she said, while applying her lipstick, "someone very important in the business world."
"Aren't they all?"
"This one is different. He's a very powerful guy," she eyed me wickedly, then curled her mascara, "and a bachelor."
"Who?"
"I don't know, but he warned me to behave. That goes the same for you too, because we're best friends."
"Of course, we'll behave. He has nothing to worry about," I added a pink tint on my cheeks.
"He's warning us because the guest is so hot AF."
"So, that's the reason why," I chuckled, "your dad has nothing to worry, we're immune to handsome men."
"I'm not really," she twisted her lips, then we laughed aloud.
We went downstairs, and headed to the beautifully arranged 12-seater dining table. Some of the guests were already seated. Kimberly and I took our place, but Mrs. Park stopped us.
"Kim, you sit beside me, and Pia, you sit across her," Mrs. Park pointed to the chair.
Oh no, the table was very wide, with the table chandeliers and flowers in between. It would be hard to talk to Kim.
Kim did not protest. She probably remembered her promise to her dad to behave.
The woman sitting beside me on my right, was an old lady, probably in her eighties. She was very friendly and smiled all the time.
"You look so pretty dear, what's your name?"
"Pia Rosi, maam."
She told me her name, then in the first five minutes that we sat together, she already asked me many things. My age, how I was related to the Parks, if I have a job, a boyfriend, where I studied, and other things.
I told her everything, the whole truth. Pia Rosi, 22 years old, best friend of Kimberly, jobless, no boyfriend, New York University graduate... and other things.
She was a darling, and my heart melted when she held my hand. The grandma vibe overwhelmed me.
"There you are," she looked at someone behind me, "what took you so long?"
"I got caught in traffic, grandma," I heard a very familiar deep voice.
Oh my God.
I froze on my seat, shocked and speechless.
"Pia, I want you to meet my grandson, Kristov Stavrakos."