I did not sleep at all that night. I spent the whole night squinting at the message through the cracked screen, wondering who it was and what they meant by I couldn’t hide from them forever. It was about 7 am in the morning, so I decided to get out of bed, take a quick cold shower again and get dressed up. Maybe it was my landlord? Nah, of course, it was not him. I have his number saved. Maybe he changed numbers and was trying to reach out. But he usually just calls, and then he eventually comes all the way to knock on the door.I walked around the room as I got dressed up, thinking and wondering who could be the unknown number. I dressed while glancing and looking through the window every second. It felt as if someone had been watching me ever since I got that random message. After dressing up, I quickly packed up my maid uniform and spare clothes in my bag. Maybe it was Dominic? I rushed back to pick up my phone and compare the number Dominic called me from the previous day an
But where would Hale have gotten my number from? I doubt Dominic would have given it to him, seeing that Dominic was very angry about Hale and even bothering to interact with me. I failed to eat my bread and jam sandwiches because my stomach began to feel queasy and make all these uncomfortable noises. I heard Dominic leaving the kitchen and heading to the dining room. “Homer, where am I supposed to eat?” he asked irritatedly. I placed my plate and mug of coffee on the coffee table in the living room and walked to the dining room. He was standing there, eyeing the table, as he sipped whatever was in his mug. “You better not be sitting and having your breakfast from there,” he said in a serious tone.“I could not find anywhere to sit and have my breakfast,” I replied “And whose fault is that?” he asked.Well, technically, it was his and Hale’s. When I set up the table, it was not that messy, but then I went home and came back to find the kitchen and the dining room a huge mess,
I stared right ahead at Dominic, who was as pale as a ghost. He did not blink, and he did not move or anything. He was just completely blank. “Dominic…sir?” I called out, hoping I would bring him back from his dazed state, but he was still too far gone. At a snail’s pace, I walked closer and closer to the desk, but he was still in a complete daze. It was as if I asked him the worst question possible. “Sir?” I snapped my fingers in front of his face as I called out again. He came out of his daze and then looked at me, confused, like he had just been hypnotised and the last few minutes did not make sense to him. “Sir, did you hear me earlier?” I asked “Yes, yes, I did. I am sorry.” he replied “What did you ask?” I looked at him in shock. Did Hale really get to him that much? Did he just remember something that happened? What was going on? “I was asking what Hale’s number is?” I sighed as I repeated. “Why are you asking for his number?” he asked back, finally able to retain more
“What kind of message did you receive?” Dominic asked the second I was done speaking. “It wasn’t anything deep.” I sighed, hoping he would suddenly be uninterested. “HOMER?” “It was just more of the person was like ‘checking’ in” I managed to craft a lie quickly. He looked down at my hands and then back at my face. “Where did this message come from? A bird sang in your ear, or you got a letter delivered to your mailbox?” he asked sarcastically. My face slowly formed into a grin as I imagined the 2 scenarios. Maybe getting a letter delivered to my mailbox did not sound too bad, but seeing the way he looked pissed signified that he was not in the mood to be corrected. “Oh no, the message came on my phone,” I answered “When?” “Last night. I had reached home and then saw the message.” I replied “So?” he asked back. So? I looked at him in disbelief. He was the one who wanted to hang on to the conversation when I insisted that we should just leave it and pretend it did not happe
“Someone has got a fan.” Dominic said excitedly as he lifted an eyebrow and smirked. He handed my phone back to me as if it was just a brick or something. “I know I pay you well enough for you to be buying a better phone. Why do you still move with something that looks like a window in a cathedral.” he chuckled slightly. I grabbed my phone out of his hands irritatedly and was about to march off. “Get back to work. Stop worrying about useless people.” he said. “I know I brought you here to be working and not worrying about what crazy stalker has found your number. Besides, your name isn’t Addison. So it was definitely directed to someone else.” he continued.“Well, actually…” I started off. He lifted his head and looked at me as he waited for me to continue the rest of my sentence. I bit my tongue from saying ‘never mind’ to him again. “You’re right. It is probably a wrong number.” I nodded as I slowly turned around and walked away slowly. “I know I am always right. Now, get bac
The next morning, I woke up to my phone ringing. I got it and struggled to see through the cracks on the screen who was calling me. But eventually, I saw and then now struggled to accept the call. My screen was getting worse and worse by the minute. It was starting to get very hard to use the phone. But once I finally swiped up to accept the call, I placed it on my ear. “Emma!” I screamed“Okay, stranger. You got a fancy job with Mr. Questionable, and you evaporate?” she laughed on the other end of the phone. “It’s not like that.” I laughed, too.“It better not be. Anyway, Lizzie got a promotion at her job. It's a really fat promotion, so I was thinking tonight we can either throw her a surprise dinner at my place or we could go out for dinner. What do you think?” she asked. Tonight? I wondered if I would be released early enough for dinner. “Uhm…” I started“Don’t tell me you have plans already.” she sighed “No, I don’t, but I am not sure what this guy may want. Okay, but no p
I completely froze on the other side of the phone. There was only one person who called me ‘Homer’. I wanted to end the call, worried that he was calling me to clean up his house again because he was having some special guests over. “Hello?” I called out, confused. “Homer, where are you?” he asked back sounding more confused than me. “I am at The Rustic Grill,” I replied There was silence on the other end of the call. So, I decided to hang up. “Who was it?” Lizzie asked eagerly, “Have you got a new boyfriend?”“No, no. It was no one. I think someone was lost.” I shrugged. We all went back to scanning the menu, with the waiter coming back, swinging his tiny diary. “Are you ladies ready to place your orders?” he asked with a smile spread on his face“Uhm…No, could you give us a few more minutes?” Emma responded The waiter nodded and swayed off. My phone started ringing again. I looked down at the messed up screen and saw it was the same unknown number calling me. It was Dominic
The cab driver dropped me off right at Dominic’s gate. I paid him and jumped out of the cab. I pressed the button to ring the bell, and the gate slowly opened. Only a tiny little bit for me to squeeze in. “What are you doing here?” Stanley asked me in shock as he saw me trying to enter the yard“We are all wondering the same thing,” I replied as I walked confidently towards the main entrance. I opened the main door to find the house pitch black. It was dead silent and very dark. “Mr Hall!” I called out as I walked towards the wall and felt around for the light switches. “DOMINIC!” I heard movement coming from upstairs. I looked up and found Dominic swaying down the stairs, holding a glass and whatever brownish liquid was in the glass. He was shirtless again, and he only had trousers on that were hanging so low on his waist. “My, my. Your fan is such a lucky person.” he whistled as he continued to sway down the stairs. Was he drunk? I mean, I did remember him having a bottle of