Tempting

Maddie.

In the mainland, life was not as easy as I thought it to be. Contrary to what I had been told as a child, the streets of mainland cities were not paved with gold. Thankfully, I had a few friends I knew in the city of Miami. 

Because of Marina and Angella, I was able to get a cleaning job at the high end restaurant they worked in. My job was mostly to clean the toilets. It was a terrible job, worse than any other job I had ever had but I was grateful. At least, I would be able to earn something to pay for the little corner Marina had given me to sleep on. I had to pay some form of rent. 

One day as I was working, three ladies entered the restroom. There was an event going on in the restaurant so I had to be there full time. I was seated since everything was clean. They were all wearing glamorous gowns, jewellery and shoes. The room filled up with an amazing scent formed by the mixture of their perfumes.

After glancing at them, I went back to pressing my phone. Suddenly, it was slapped off my hand and it fell to the ground. My heart almost stopped as I bent down to pick it, hoping it was still in perfect condition. Someone grabbed the phone. “Is this what you call a phone?”

I looked up to see a young woman with thick blonde curls and a faced caked with makeup. 

“Yes, please give it back.”

“I will give it back,” she said. The door opened and older woman entered the restroom. She immediately entered one of the stalls and closed it. “After you finish cleaning the restrooms so that we can use them.”

“I have cleaned all of them after their use,” I said. “You can check. They’re all spotless and dry.”

“Are they?” she asked her friend who went and peeped in one of them. 

“They look clean, but they need more cleaning. She might have just wiped them to finish quickly. Girl, grab a mop and clean them while we’re seeing.”

I gritted my teeth and stood up. I decided it was better to just do what they wanted and get over with it. Having problems with clients had cost me my precious job at the island. I didn’t want to lose this one.

“Hurry up, fool.” The third girl said, pulling my hair. I winced and grabbed it back.

“You want a fight?” she said.

I shook my head and grabbed my equipment. Just as I was about to enter the first stall, I heard a flush and the older lady came out.

“Stop,” she told me.

The women who had been bullying me turned to her, looking shocked.

“You don’t have clean the toilets again when it’s clear that you already did,” she said. “I have used this one and it was spotless. I’ve been in this restaurant countless times and I’ve never found these toilets so clean.”

“But…” one of the young women started to say.

The other woman raised her hand. “Give the young woman back her phone.”

It seemed like they knew who this woman was because the one holding my phone didn’t hesitate to give it back. I felt a wave of happiness when my phone returned to me intact. It was old fashioned and rugged, but I loved it.

“Thank you so much,” I said to the woman who was now washing her hands at the sink.

“Don’t thank me. I’m human and I don’t like to see people treated like this.”

“I really appreciate that.”

The woman proffered her hand. “My name is Carrie. Give me your phone and I’ll type in my number. Call tomorrow morning. One of my maids quit and I think you’d be a perfect fit for the job. You’ll still be interviewed, of course.”

I gave her the phone. She input her number and dialled it to get mine.

“Thank you so much,” I said. If I was not in the restroom, I would have gone on my knees to thank her because the job I was doing was terrible.

“And you,” she turned to the young women. “If you bother her again, I’ll make sure you get what you deserve.”

After the woman left, the other women didn’t bother me again. But as they were leaving, one paused and turned to me. “Watch it, smiley. That woman is a devil. If you think being on her side is a good thing, you better think again.”

I rolled my eyes, thinking she just wanted to make me unhappy. Carrie had been nice to me even though she didn’t know me.

I called Carrie the next morning and she directed me to a restaurant where we could meet and do the interview. The restaurant was almost like the one I had worked in and it gave me a sense of dejavu. It was so weird being there as a patron and not a worker. Carrie asked me about my previous work experiences and I told her everything including my incident with Nick Donovan’s girlfriend. Carrie was very understanding and I asked her why.

“I have been in situations like yours,” she said. “I was not always rich but I fell in love with a rich man. He loved me and I loved him very much. I stuck by his side even when he was bedridden but unfortunately he died and his evil stepson took everything he had left from me except this little restaurant. He went and changed the will behind everyone’s backs with the lawyer and destroyed the original one. Now I’m struggling, can’t live the life I’m accustomed to but I try to make it work. People who are born rich are always very mean to others. I’ve been through a lot worse than I can tell you and that’s why I try to help those who are mistreated by the rich.”

“I’m so sorry that happened to you. Your stepson sounds like a d!ck.”

“He is, but there’s nothing I can do. My friend says I should try and get back what I helped my husband build but at the end of the day, those are my children. Besides, it would be hard since he doesn’t want me near him.”

“You should get back something,” I said. “That’s not fair.”

“No dear. Forget I told about this. Thinking about it makes me really sad.”

“I’ll do anything to help if you need me.”

“You know that’s a tempting idea. You’d really be helpful since he doesn’t know you and you’re very beautiful. You’d get close to him and help me get back what belongs to me but I don’t want to involve you in this. You’re too innocent and this man is too evil. He’d devour you.”

I chuckled. “You underestimate me. I’ve dealt with monsters, men who wouldn’t listen to me when I said I didn’t want them. I learnt early to fight boys since we lived in a household of only women and it has really helped me. I can survive much more than you think. The only reason I let those girls humiliate me was because I’m new to the city and that make getting another job hard but with time I won’t care.”

“Wow, I like this spirit. Will you really help me?”

“Yes, I will help you destroy that stepson of yours.”

Later, I would realise that I should have found out who the stepson was before making that promise.