"Can we watch another one, lovey?"
The ending credits rolled onto the plasma screen tv, something she was still getting used to, and a big yawn escaped her mouth. She could feel the tiredness seeping into her limbs, listening to the question being directed at her.
Lilia, who was busy peering up at her in awaiting, pouted her bottom lip. "Pretty please?"
A smile broke out on her lips at the silly nickname, it had been a few weeks into her stay at the manor. Both of the girls were equally as adorable, polite and well-mannered. All in all, they were two perfectly raised children, who were easy to look after. The nanny was shocked to find that they were shy yet hilarious in their own ways.
"I don't know..." Rika hesitated, eyes wandering over to where the girls were wrapped in a blanket. Janessa was at the end of the sofa, busy drawing in the sketchbook on her lap, Lilia was much closer to the older woman, clutching onto her mug of hot cocoa. "It's almost bedtime, I don't think your father would be too pleased if I let you watch another movie."
Caring for the famous kids was not as difficult as she had expected it would be. In fact, she was learning a lot from them. For starters, she was helping them with hobbies she had never practised before, such as sitting in on their piano lessons, and ballet recitals. Individually, each child was gifted. Janessa was a little pianist at the ripe age of eight, and Lilia was becoming a dancer.
"Oh, but I really wanna know what happens next," Lilia whined, battering her long lashes.
"I'm sorry, Lia." She sighed, shaking her head. "You know the rule already, if we want to go to the beach tomorrow, then you girls have to be in bed, on time." Making sure to add extra emphasis on the latter word, although they were good—bedtime was always a rather dreaded, strenuous activity.
Getting up from her comfy position, she motioned for the girls to lift their arms up and dragged the blanket off their bodies. "Come on, up you get. The quicker you get to bed, the faster tomorrow will come."
They had been super excited for their little beach trip, the weekends were made up of whatever fun they decided on. During the week, they had their usual routine; wake up, breakfast, school work, lunch, more school and hobbies, dinner, playtime, and lastly, bath time and bed with a nighttime story. It was a very practical routine and kept them on track. However, the weekends were the time for them to let loose and be their authentic selves.
Rika couldn't stress the importance of letting kids be themselves, she let them pick out their own outfits, and wanted them to know that there were no restrictions on how they should behave. They were kids after all.
Picking Lilia up with ease, she set the empty beverage onto the coffee table, then waited patiently for Janessa to gather her things up and stand up to her full height.
Her glasses were pushed onto the bridge of her nose, her hair in small pigtails. "Is Daddy coming tomorrow?" Janessa muttered as they started to walk out of the movie room together.
With her free hand, she held onto her little hand whilst holding the smaller child on her hip.
Rika looked down at her and the forced smile she was supporting, twitched ever so slightly.
Thankfully, she had bathed them early that evening and so, they headed up the stairs onto the second floor and went straight to their shared bedroom.
"Um, I still need to ask him, but don't you worry. I'll make sure he comes, just for you." She promised, even though she knew it was an empty promise.
She tried to hide the distaste at the mention of their father, in the space of the few weeks she had been there, she had seen Slater Ivanov a total of ten times.
Yes, she had really counted every encounter.
What had surprised her the most was how he seemed to be hands-on when it came to his children, he wasn't an absent father like many of the papers made him out to be. He was caring, gentle, and wanted the best for them, but being the famous producer he was, he rarely saw them in the day and was helpless when it came to girly things.
Rika had made her mind upon the hardheaded man, she didn't particularly like him nor did she respect him. He sneered at her, treated her like dirt on his shoe, and failed to spend his weekends with his kids.
Every weekend thus far had resulted in him being nowhere to be found, he spent his weekend elsewhere and came back home on Sunday evening.
She didn't know what the heck he went, and she didn't care. She only felt bad for the kids when they asked where their father was.
Thinking about their fun beach day, a thought popped into her head.
Janessa began to move into her bed and received a scolding. "Nope, no! Freeze, what are forgetting to do, munchkin?"
She hummed, narrowing her gaze down onto her bed in thinking. "Brush my teeth?"
Rika bobbed her head. "Mhm, both of you, take your cute little behinds into the bathroom." She ordered, bending down to set Lilia onto her toes.
Delivering each girl a playful glare, her eyes basked in the warmth. "I'll be back in five minutes. I'm going to pick out a book, by the time I'm back, I expect you to be in bed with clean teeth." She warned, standing back up and watching the figures start chasing each other to the joining bathroom.
Before they could disappear, she shouted over her shoulder once more. "Remember, clean teeth! I'll be sniffing to make sure."
She heard soft giggles pour out of their little bodies, they left and the sound of the tap being turned on filled her eardrums.
Rika tucked her hair behind her ear, letting one side fall in front of her face. She was adorned in black silk pyjamas, a brand new set to add to her growing collection.
Smothering down her shirt, she walked out of the room, heading for the third floor.
Since it was the end of the week, she knew her boss was still in the building. He had shown up for dinner, but after ten minutes of eating together in silence, he dismissed himself to his room. She didn't bother to ask why as he kissed his daughters on their foreheads, and left in haste.
Closing in on the long hallway, she passed her door and stopped in front of the last door on the very end.
She was sick and tired of making excuses for his whereabouts, Janessa's question had been the breaking point. He would be coming on their beach day whether he liked it or not. She would make sure of it.
First knock. Nothing.
Second knock. Again, nothing.
Third knock.
She waited, one minute passed by. Another minute, and another, until she heard continuous silence.
Rika huffed, a snort leaving her nose, she couldn't say she was surprised. Figuring he had probably left for his weekly escapade, she banged the door out of anger and groaned.
"Of course... You're a coward, not wanting to spend any time with your own kids." She scoffed aloud, it was more so to herself but she wanted to rant before she returned to the kids' room.
"One day you'll regret it, for goodness sake. Those poor kids," Rika sighed, glaring at the door. "to think they look up to an arrogant piece of shit. I'll make sure they have the best weekend away from your ungrateful stupi—"
That awful luck she had mentioned she had before, came to bite her in the ass in the most unfortunate moment.
The door yanked wide open as her mouth fell agape and the words died down on her lips.
"—d, Rika! Ha, stupid, stupid Rika!" She amended, a sheepish smile crawling onto her lips as her pale skin started to rose.
Slater's tall frame came into her peripheral vision, rendering the anxiety bubble hidden in her chest to burst.
Oh, crap!
Saying of the first thing that came to mind, she licked her dry lips. "Silly me, I keep getting the wrong door. Forgive me for interrupting your night, good night Mr. Ivanov." She babbled, trying her hardest to appear as apologetic as she could.
Spotting the bulky headphones around his neck, she relaxed her tense shoulders.
Thank god, he must've been listening to a beat, too busy to have heard her.
He rose a curious brow, his sharp jaw lacking any stubble. He was clean-shaven and smelt fresh like he had just taken a shower. His somewhat damp hair was also another major indicator.
"No need for the formalities Rika, I could've sworn you called me an arrogant piece of shit a minute ago." He said, honey-flecked eyes darkening by the second.
Rika hung back, unsure of what to make of him calling her by her name. He hadn't called her anything other than 'you' for the last few weeks. How charming, right?
She winced, lowering her head.
So, he had heard her after all.
"I-I'm truly sorry." mumbled the young woman, the sheer embarrassment sketching onto her features. "That was immature of me to say."
Giving a careless shrug, he held onto the door with one hand. He was wearing dark sweats and his usual scowl. "Yeah, it was, but I can't say I'm not surprised."
Her brows furrowed together, "What?" She spat disbelievingly, she couldn't contain it.
His attitude was awful and snooty. She had no idea what his problem was with her.
Slater rolled his eyes, watching her expression sour. "Immaturity at your age isn't a surprise, what do you want me to say? Thank you for badmouthing me?" He asked mockingly.
That was the most she had conversed with him during her stay thus far, and somehow she disliked him even more now.
She held in her shaky breath, for someone that was admired by many, he sure was a shitty person to idolise. "You know what? I take back my apology, I'm not sorry." She managed to fearlessly announce, holding her nose up high.
"You're not?" A low rumble sounded from his chest, "ouch, if you're going to continue being so mean to me, then I'm going to have to shut my door so I can go cry myself to sleep." His face held no hint of any emotion, he went to shut the door in her face when she stopped him.
What was wrong with him?
Did he have some kind of personal vendetta against her?
Her bold hand jutted out, pushing the door open.
"I don't know what your issue with me is, but you sure as hell don't have to be such a jerk to me when I'm trying to do my best. I'm not sorry for what I said, because I think it's true." She snapped, raising her voice to get her point across.
That made his own anger flare, it was rare for anyone to yell at him. She was chiding him as if he were a child.
"Who the hell do you think you are to believe that you're better than everyone else?" Rika raged on, letting the disgust to wash over her. She didn't care that he was her boss, she didn't want him to speak to her so lowly. "Seriously? I don't care what you've been through, it doesn't give you the right to treat me like I'm below you."
When he didn't say anything, she laughed dryly. "If you really want to know, I came here to ask if you would come to the beach tomorrow, for the girls. But I don't know what the hell I was even thinking coming here, of course, you won't come. It's not hard to see that you try to avoid spending any time with them. You're a self-obsessed, egotistical coward that hides behind his wealth. You know, one day you'll look back and wish you were more present in their lives."
She dropped her hand, taking a step back and pursing her lips. "Thanks to you, I now have to go and explain to two hopeful faces that their father could care less about their time spent together." Her tone was sarcastic, full of vigour. "If anything, I feel bad that Janessa even bothers to ask every single weekend when she knows that deep down you won't be there like always."
She was usually silent, never daring to say such intense things to anyone. Not even to her nasty bullies in foster care, although speaking to the older man, he reminded her of every bully she had growing up.
His face shifted from anger to something indescribable, he listened to every word, taking it all in.
"Jan really asked you that?" Slater voiced, his chest heaving up and down as he took in steady breaths.
Rika gave him an odd stare, "Y-Yes." She confessed, even though her rant was over she hadn't expected him to say anything. Bewilderment sketched onto her face, she was surprised that he had given any attention to what she had to say.
She felt a lot better already, finally standing up to him.
Knowing she would regret her actions in the morning, she tried to push the taste in her mouth back.
He wanted to scold her for talking to him so aggressively, but her last statement had clouded over his thoughts.
"What time will you be leaving?" He found himself asking.
Her face lit up, managing to compose herself by coughing so she didn't give her current overjoyed emotion away. "Ten."
Clicking his tongue, she could see his Adam's apple moving as he swallowed. "I'll be there."
She didn't know how to react, nodding quickly, she smiled. "Thank you," the soft-spoken voice of hers was back.
The door slammed shut in her face with no further warning, she couldn't be offended even if she tried as the satisfaction ultimately took over.
For once in her life, she had stood up to someone, and it had actually worked out in her favour.
Turning on her heel, she did a happy dance in her head. She couldn't wait to tell the kids, picturing their joy-filled faces.