Chapter 8: Chapter 8

Mr Martinez's p.o.v;

I woke up to the alarm sound. Why didn't I turn it off last night? I let out a sigh and walked to the bathroom.

After getting a shower, I came downstairs to the empty hall. I walked to the kitchen and made some breakfast for myself. Fried bacon and eggs. Simple and quick dish to eat in the morning. Cooking by myself relieves me from my stressful work a lot of times.

I sat at the table and ate the fried bacon and eggs with toasted bread.

After I finished eating breakfast, I changed my clothes for work. I came out of the house and locked the main door after I came out.

I came to the garden and took a look around. There are so many dried leaves here and there. I opened the door of the garden and walked through it. Good god. There's still space to dump the dried leaves. Let's collect the dried leaves and dump them here.

I took the garden shovel and started collecting the leaves. While I was cleaning the garden, I saw Isabella.

"What are you doing here?"

"Who's it?" She asked me back. Didn't she see me?

"Mr Martinez? Is that you?"

Why is she surprised?

"Why are you here?" Asked while I was trimming the grass.

"What are you doing here? In these clothes? And where is everyone? Why is the front door locked?"

"Do you always talk a lot?"

"I'm talking a lot? You're the only one who's saying that to me. People always say that 'Why are you always speaking less? 'why are you being quiet?' 'Do you feel shy?' You should hear them out!".

"I think they are dumb."

She squatted down beside me asking, "Well, what are you doing here? Can I help?"

I stood and walked away to get the bag. When I turned, she was standing like a doll.

"Aren't you helping?"

"What do you want me to do?"

"Carry these." Gave her the big bag of trash and walked inside the garden. "Follow." I stood in front of the pit saying, "Open and drop it inside."

"What is this place for?"

"Haven't you seen a compost pit before?"

"Ohh, yeah. That one! We made one for our project in school. So you're making your compost for the garden? That's amazing. Now I know why your garden looks so good. Natural fertiliser. Good idea."

She looks kinda interested in it.

"Come with me."

"What are we doing now?"

"See the pit there, is it full?"

"No..."

"We're going to fill it."

"What!? Are you kidding me? To make it full, we have to dump a lot many times."

"Yes. Don't you want to help? You can leave if you want to."

I continued collecting the dried leaves from the garden. She started collecting the leaves along with me.

I gave her a garden shovel saying, "Use this. It'll be easier."

"Okay."

After we finished, we sat together under the shade. I was surprised by the work she did. "You got pretty good stamina there."

"Ah! That… Since I've worked in construction sites, dumping the waste into the pit wasn't a thing for me."

Construction sites? Do they allow highschool girls to work there?

"Your physique doesn't look like you do tough jobs."

She laughed and continued, "I get that a lot, Mr Martinez. But there's a saying, 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. That quote suits me well. And… There's a lot of things I do, Mr Martinez."

"You can call me Alex, when no one's around."

"Uh-huh... Okay, Alex. After this, what are you going to do?"

"You can leave."

"Before that, where is everyone?"

"Maid's and Butler's don't work on weekends."

"Ohhh."

"Aren't you leaving?"

"Why are you rushing to get me out of here? Are you going to do something illegal when I'm gone?"

"Do whatever you want to."

I walked to the main door and opened the lock and entered inside. Let's prepare something for lunch.

"Um... Mr Martinez?"

Why is she shouting my name?

"In the kitchen."

After she came to the kitchen, I asked her, "What do you want for lunch?"

"Are you going to cook? You know how to cook?"

I gave a nod and waited for her answer.

"What about vegetable soup?"

"Soup is enough for you?"

"Um... actually, I don't know what to say. I can lift and carry heavy things but when it comes to cooking. I'm so bad at it."

Since I made a pho dish a long time ago, I'll just cook pho.

"I'll cook pho. Do you eat pho?"

"I'm not a picky eater so you can cook me any vegetable you want as long as it is edible."

I let out a little chuckle since she made me remember when I was little and made fun of my mother like she said.

"Mr Martinez! Did you just smile?"

"No." Continued prepping for cooking the food.

"I just saw a smile on your face. With this physique, this attitude, this face, I bet you'll look damn good when you smile. If you come to my school, all the girls will be after you for sure. And my friend, Sophia, she's already a fan of yours when you came for that lecture. Do you remember that? That's when you caught me in the bathroom."

"Don't sound like I'm a pervert."

She laughed and continued, "I wonder how you're still single when you're like this. Why aren't you saying anything? It's like I'm talking to a wall here."

"Then you should leave some gap to make someone speak."

She really talks a lot. Doesn't her mouth hurt?

"Oops! Hahaha. I'm not talkative like this before by the way."

"Before what?"

"Before coming here, before meeting you, before the contract. Hahaha. Do you want my help in cooking?"

"It's fine. I can do it."

"Actually, I worked as a garbage girl in restaurants so cleaning vegetables isn't a thing for me."

She took a lot of jobs I think.

She placed the vegetables on the kitchen top and asked, "How do you want them to be? Chopped? Sliced? Minced?"

"Chopped"

"Got it!"

"How much do you earn as a garbage girl?"

"Um... It differs from restaurant to restaurant but somewhat between twenty to thirty dollars."

"For a month?"

"No! I only work for hours. Did you forget that I'm a High-Schooler?"

"Oh."

Who gives work for a High-Schooler?

"Wait, I'll do that." She offered a hand when I was about to lift the pot.

"No. It'll be hot."

"You're going to sit with me?"

Where does she want me to sit then?

"You don't want me to sit here?"

"It's not like that. You're the owner of this house and I'm someone who works here. Is it okay for us to sit together like this?"

"Why do you sound like others all of a sudden?"

"I... I..."

I started eating the food while saying, "The food won't taste good if it's cold."

I started eating the food I prepared.

She said, "Wow! It's delicious. Believe it or not, I've never tasted something like this in my entire life. This tastes so good. Yummy! I bet Mom will love this! Can I take some to my house?"

I nodded and continued eating the food on my plate.

"You really have a talent. You're the husband material every girl likes."

"Husband material?"

"Yeah, the one who cooks nicely, being protective and caring, handsome and muscular, of course being rich and more to that a CEO!"

Her innocence made me smile a bit.

"Woah! That's what I was talking about! See! You look damn good when you smile like that! Why are you wearing a mask and hiding it? Don't you like attention? If I was like you, I would have lots and lots of girlfriends to fill this house and hold a party every night."

"Are you a lesbian?" I teased her.

She laughed out loud and continued, "I meant... when I'm like you. A guy... with all the things I mentioned."

"Oh."

After some time, We finished eating.

While I was discarding the vessels, she helped me while saying, "Aren't you afraid of being alone in this house? This house is really huge. I'll be scared to death if you leave me in this house alone even for a single night."

Am I a kid? Why does she sound worried?

"I'm an adult."

"How old are you by the way?"

I bet she would have heard about me from the people working here.

"Servants gossip a lot here. Didn't you hear from them?"

"Yeah, I got so much information from them but I forgot to ask your age. So what is it? How old are you? You don't look that old for a CEO."

She's honest.

"Twenty three."

"What? You are young. We're just eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three. Oh! We're six years apart."

I nodded and gave her the box in which I put some of the food I made today saying, "Take this to your home."

"Thank you. I'll get going then. My mom would've come back this time since it's the weekend, she'll always come early during weekends."

"Okay."

After receiving the box, Isabella left the house. With her absence, the house filled with silence again.

I came to my room upstairs, opened my wardrobe and took out my mother's framed photograph.

"Mom, I made your favourite dish today. It's been months since I made that dish and I don't know why it came to my mind when I wanted to cook something for her. After I cooked it with her help, Isabella liked it very much and do you know something? She took care of her mom too, like me. She's different, mom. I still couldn't believe she went for jobs in construction sites and restaurants. When I meet girls and women like this, it reminds you, mom. You also worked in restaurants to feed us when we left home. You and Isabella sounded like it's an easy job to do but I know how hard it was."

I lay on the bed thinking about my moments with mom. I miss you, mom. A tear escaped my eyes when I shut my eyes to sleep.

My phone rang all of a sudden.

When I checked, it was Noah. I answered the call.

"Sir, sorry for disturbing you on your day off but there's been a situation here at the office."

"What is it?"

"When I tried to process the payment, It says there's a server problem in the bank so the payment for employees hadn't been credited to them. But the employees are asking for immediate transactions, Sir."

"Make the payment from my personal account."

"Yes, Sir."

I ended the call and went back to lying on the bed.

The phone rang again. When I took my phone to see who it was. I didn't get any calls from anyone. I still heard the phone ringing. Where's it coming from?

It's coming from near me. When I checked the clothes, I found a phone in my pocket. How did this end up here? The phone looks old.

Ah! I remember now. When Isabella and I were collecting the grass, she put it in my pocket for the safety of the phone from falling on the ground. Did she forget to take it back?

The phone was still ringing. I answered.

"Hi, It's me, Isabella. I forgot to take the phone back. It belongs to my mom so I'll come tomorrow to pick it up. So don't throw it away. And if anyone calls, don't attend the call. If you accidentally attended and if it's mom, put my phone to sleep. I would have come right now but I found it when I was almost on the way to my house. There wasn't any bus at this time so I'll come tomorrow morning at eight to take my phone back. And, don't ever attend any of the calls please?"

"Okay."

"Thank you so much, Mr Martinez."

I ended the call and put the phone on silent and put it in my drawer beside the bed near my mother's photograph.

I thought Isabella talks without a person pause but she's same on call too. I wonder how her friends talk with her. Maybe they got used to it. Smiles*