The stare down went on for about a minute before Alex finally decided to speak, "So what's your name again?"
"It's Sophia, sir. Omotilewa Sophia," Sophie replied.
She was sure he was going to lash out at her, probably insult her and try to force her to leave so she was surprised when all he did was nod and turn his attention back to the magazine. The girl just stood there with her arms crossed, watching her.
Sophie had never felt so awkward in her life. What was she supposed to do? Sit? Keep standing? Ask about his health? Had he taken his drugs already? Was he on a special diet? Why hadn't she asked the doctor that? Why--
"Are you just going to stand around all day?" Alex's deep voice cut off her thoughts, his attention once again focused on her.
"I uh...I...no, sir...Is there anything you'd like for me to do?" Sophie stammered.
He raised a brow at her, "You tell me. What exactly is your job description?"
"The doctor said--"
"I heard what the doctor said. What are your hours?"
"Sir?" Sophie frowned, confused.
"How many hours are you being paid to work in a day? How many days in a week?"
"I..." How many hours? Sophie really didn't know. She'd been so overwhelmed by the amount of money they were paying that she hadn't asked about the details as thoroughly as she should have. She'd been afraid of asking too much questions in case they'd change their mind and decide they didn't want her.
"You don't know?" he asked incredulously.
Now, Sophie was beyond embarrassed. The expression he was wearing spoke clearly of what he thought of her; that she was a complete and utter moron.
"Never mind then. You can just sit and watch TV," he finally said, dismissing her.
Sophie felt he was being sarcastic and didn't really expect her to sit and watch TV so she remained standing even though that just made her look more confused.
After about a minute, he turned his attention back to her again, "Okay, what exactly is going on here?"
"I was just wondering...I mean, if you could just brief me about your condition..." she was cut off by the look he was giving her, "...never mind, sir."
Just what had she gotten herself into?
* * *
"Daddy, I'm hungry!"
About three hours later, they were all still in the living room. With the man thoroughly invested in whatever he was doing on his phone and the girl watching TV, none of them paid her any attention and except for the girl sharing her excitement about whatever was going on on TV with her dad occasionally, and when he'd had to take some drugs, it'd been mostly silent. Until now, of course.
Alex looked up from his phone and turned to his daughter, "hungry? You ate not too long ago."
The girl raised her brows at him, "Not too long ago as in almost five hours ago?"
"What?" he checked the time on his phone and realized it was almost two pm. "I didn't know so much time had gone."
"Yeah, dad. Again, I'm hungry."
Alex frowned, "Where's Kimmy though? I haven't seen her since I got back."
"Didn't uncle tell you? She quit."
"She quit? Why?" Alex asked
She shrugged, "I don't know."
"And it has nothing to do with you giving her a hard time?"
She smiled innocently, "Not at all. It doesn't matter though, I never liked her."
"Right. Then I guess you can go into the kitchen and prepare something for yourself."
She narrowed her eyes at him, "That's fine dad, I'll only like burn down the house, no big deal."
"I can make you something," The words were already out before Sophie had time to process them. Father and daughter turned their attention to her and she almost took her words back.
"Really." He didn't appear to be asking a question.
Sophie nodded and stuttered, "I..I...mean there's no other option and she's hungry. You also have eat to take your medications so I thought...B..But it's only if you want though."
He stared at her for what seemed like an hour to Sophie, though it was probably just about five seconds before nodding then he asked, "how good of a cook are you?"
Sophie might not have been sure of a lot of things in her life, but her cooking skills wasn't one of them. She smiled, "I assure you I'm a decent enough cook, sir."
He raised his brows at her, "You better be 'cause my daughter is a really picky eater."
Right. Why didn't that surprise her? Sophie controlled the urge to roll her eyes, like really what other choice did they have? "Really? In that case princess, what would you like to eat?" she asked as she turned her attention to the girl in question, smiling as warmly as possible.
The girl though, just rolled her eyes at her, "Just cook whatever, it's not like I'm sure I'll be able to eat it anyway. And my name is Angel, not Princess."
Sophie's mouth almost dropped open. How could anyone so young be that sassy? And rude? She felt like smacking some sense into the girl.
Before she could form any coherent response though, Alex spoke up, his voice stern, "Angel, that's no way to talk to someone older."
The girl scrunched up her face, "But dad..." She stopped at the stern look her dad was giving her and mumbled "I'm sorry."
Alex nodded and turned his attention back to Sophie, "Anything is fine as long as it's edible."
Sophie almost rolled her eyes. What was the point in reprimanding his daughter for being rude when he was even worse? "Where's the kitchen?"
"Angel will show you." He motioned to Angel to lead the way and the girl obeyed, albeit grudgingly.
Sophie followed as the girl led the way to the kitchen. Immediately they got there and the door shut behind them, the girl rounded back to her and scowled.
"I don't like you," she announced.
"Really? Oh my God, I didn't know that!" Sophie replied in a shrill voice, feigning surprise.
Angel's scowl deepened, if that was even possible. "Hahaha...very funny. I don't like you and I'll make sure you leave, trust me."
"Yes ma'am. I get it so can you leave me to work now?" Sophie replied, dismissing the girl as she went in search of what to cook.
Angel didn't reply but Sophie could feel the burn of her glare even though she had her back to her. Sophie ignored her and opened the refrigerator, checking what they had in stock, which turned out not to be much. She finally decided on white rice and stew, there was meat and fish in the freezer that she could use, perfect. She turned around then realized the girl had left at some point. She slumped on a chair and let out a huge sigh. If the events so far was anything to go by, this was going to be a very tiring job.
* * *
Father and daughter both were watching her with suspicion as she served the food. What? Did they think she put something in the food? She dared say the food smelled wonderful so what was their problem?
Alex conceded first and tentatively ate a spoonful. His eyebrows raised and he cocked his head at her. "Not bad," he said simply then went back to eating.
Sophie released the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She turned her attention to Angel in time to see her taste the food. Her eyes widened then she began to gobble down the food before she realized what she was doing and looked up to see Sophie staring at her, a hint of a smile on her lips. Angel looked away, blushing.
Sophie couldn't help the big smile that graced her lips then as she realized she really was just a kid. Sassy or not, Angel was still just a cute and adorable child.
"Stop staring at me. The food's not that tasty," Angel muttered grudgingly without looking up at her.
Sophie's smile grew even bigger and she was contemplating on a reply when a cheery voice called, "Wow, something smells good."
"Uncle Ray!" Angel's face brightened and she immediately rushed down and jumped into her uncle's arms. "Did you buy my ice cream?"
Raymond laughed, "you just don't forget anything, do you? I bought your ice cream, darling." He placed her on the floor and handed her a package, "Here you go, princess. Go and put it in the freezer so it doesn't melt."
Yep, definitely just a kid, Sophie thought as Angel's face lit up even more and she ran off to do as she was told.
"Hey, Sophie, Alex," Raymond greeted.
Alex just grunted a response while Sophie smiled at him, "Hey. You're home earlier than I expected."
He nodded, "Yeah, I wrapped things up quickly so I could get home on time before my brother here with his sweet behavior convinces you that you're better off with another job."
Alex didn't even give any indication that he heard what Raymond said. Sophie chuckled and shook her head, "I made some food if you're interested?"
He raised his brows, "do you even have to ask? I'll just freshen up and join you guys."
"Alright," she felt more relaxed with Raymond around.
"Angel! I didn't know it took a whole thirty minutes to put ice cream in the freezer." Raymond called as he made his way upstairs.
Angel came running back, smiling guiltily. Sophie didn't have a doubt the size of the ice cream had reduced drastically.
* * *
A few hours later, Alex had decided to go up to his room and Angel was busy watching TV allowing Sophie and Raymond some privacy as they sat in the living room discussing.
"So tell me honestly, did my brother give you a hard time?" Raymond asked, his expression serious.
Sophie sighed, "I don't even know what to say. I can't say he gave me a hard time, really 'cause he didn't. He did make me feel stupid though."
Raymond frowned, "stupid how?"
"I took the job without knowing the full details about it. I don't know the hours I'm working, for example.. Am I working round the clock or..." she let her words trail off.
"Oh. I'm sorry about that, I should have let you know. No, you're not really working round the clock. Honestly, I just need someone to look after him whenever I'm not around so you can go home in the evenings. Let's say your closing time's seven? You'll be free on Sundays as well."
Sophie was more than delighted to hear that. She nodded, "but there are some of his drugs he has to take by six am?"
"Yeah, I'll take care of that."
"Okay," Sophie smiled. "Alright."
"But there are some times I'll need to travel and I might need you to stay overnight then? Is that okay with you?"
"Yeah, sure. That's fine."
"Alright. Thank you."
Sophie chuckled, "I don't know why though, it's not as if I'm doing this for free."
He grinned and shrugged, "yeah, but... Thanks anyways."
He had a really nice smile, she noticed. His smile showed his perfectly set teeth and dimpled cheeks. He looked like he smiled a lot, he had crinkles around his eyes when he smiled. Sophie wondered how two brothers could be so different. Alex hadn't for once cracked a smile through out the day and she'd almost never seen Raymond without one. If not for the striking resemblance between the two, she'd definitely have her doubts about them being brothers.
"Hello? Earth to Sophie..."
Sophie broke away from her thoughts and smiled shyly at him, embarrassed she'd been caught zoning off. He smiled back, he really was gorgeous.
His expression was serious as he spoke, "Sophie, I'll be honest with you. It won't be easy taking care of my brother. He's not very accommodating and can be very rude, maybe even cruel so I'm apologizing in advance for whatever he says or does to you, alright?"
Okay, now he was scaring her even more than she was before. Was it really going to be that bad? What exactly was the problem with his brother? She wanted to ask him a lot of questions, what about Angel's mom? But at the end, she decided to keep her questions to herself and just nodded at him.
"You look tired," he told her. "I'm sure it was a really stressful first day. I think you should go home and rest."
"No, it's fine. I can still stay..." she argued weakly.
He rolled his eyes at her playfully, "there's nothing for you to do anymore. Alex is not coming back down. Besides, I'm here so it's fine really."
"Well, if you're sure..."
"I am."
"Alright," she conceded , standing up to get her bag. "I'll see you tomorrow then."
He nodded, "see you tomorrow, probably when I get back from work 'cause I have an early appointment tomorrow."
She felt a bit disappointed at that but shrugged it off as she nodded and waved at him as she headed for the door.
* * *
Ama saw her friend's expression as she walked in and shook her head. "Uh-oh, bad first day?"
"You don't say," Sophie replied as she fell face down on the bed, "I'm so exhausted."
"What? Did they make you lift weights or something?" Ama teased.
Sophie sat up and shook her head at her friend. "The man's so cold and his daughter is something else."
Ama held a finger up at her, "Hold on a minute. Who's cold, Raymond? And does he have a daughter?"
Sophie shook her head no, "His brother. The one I'm actually supposed to be taking care of."
"Oh, wow. Tell me everything."
Sophie narrated how her day went as clear as she could to her friend.
"He sounds like a real douche," Ama concluded. "Is he hot though?"
Sophie groaned, "Trust you to ask me that after everything I just said."
Ama laughed and shrugged, "It's two fifty thousand, sugar. You have to work for it now." Sophie threw a pillow at her but Ama dodged it and she continued teasing her friend, "At least Raymond's there. When all hope looks lost and everything seems bleak, just look up at that perfect specimen and you're all set."
Sophie rubbed her temples, "Just shut up, Ama. You're giving me headache."
"Ehn ehn. So na when Raymond matter enter am you know say you get headache. E dey your body," Ama teased. (So it's now, when I ask you about Raymond that you're complaining of headache?)
Sophie collapsed back on the bed, and muffled her head in a pillow.
"Food nko? You no go chop?" (Aren't you going to eat?)
Sophie ignored her and before long, she slept off.