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
“My my, this looks cosy.” Dominic faked a chuckle. I broke eye contact with Joshua and hurried to the kitchen and reached out for a bowl. Because Dominic is much taller than me and has a certain order for how his things should be organised, he placed all the bowls towards the back, causing one of them to slip out of my hands and fall to the ground. “HOMER!” Dominic yelled at me while I stared at the broken pieces of glass right at my feet. “I am so sorry.” I hurried off to get the broom and dustpan. “It was an accident.” Joshua sighed as he came out of the bathroom to peep at what happened. Dominic, on the other hand, did not look too pleased. He had already worn his grumpy face by then and was starting to growl. “I am so so sorry, sir.” I apologised as I started to sweep up the mess. “Why are you so clumsy?!” Dominic asked angrily“Look, these things happen.” Joshua started to defend me“Joshua, it’s okay. You don’t need to speak up for me.” I quickly snapped at him“I am only
“I am sorry sir, for lying earlier. Emma Scorsone is a good friend of mine.” I finally answered “Then why do the records say that she is your sister?” he asked. I felt like everything was just getting worse and worse and going against me. Anything I said would just make everything much worse. I imagined if I had just settled for telling the truth from the start, I would not be in such a messy situation. “I don’t know. Maybe when she was arriving, she must have said something about being my sister to Wilbur and Stanley. I am not sure.” I twisted some few words around hoping it would not come back to haunt me. “Okay,” he said I remained standing above him for some more time. “Can I help you with something?” he asked “I just wanted to know where else the cameras are,” I said worriedly “They are only in the kitchen, living room, dining room and like the corridors. I am thinking of installing at least one or two in here,” he replied “So, there is none in the room I sleep in?” I as
“Homer, who is Emma Scorsone?” he asked again, only his face was starting to get a bit more serious.I knew I was definitely getting into more trouble by pretending to not know who he was talking about. “Uhm…” I still wondered what I was going to say“You know, this could end quicker if you just told the truth.” he sighed “I don’t know who Emma Scorsone is, sir?” I lied quickly “Really?” he queried I nodded. I wondered how he discovered the name and why he was asking me about her. Did the Stanley or Wilbur tell him about Emma coming over? I assumed he had surveillance cameras around the house but he would have probably asked who I was with and not the name. So, I decided that Stanley or Wilbur most probably told him about her. “Finish cleaning up the dishes and then we will come and have a talk,” he said and walked out of the kitchen. I gulped nervously. I had no way out. In times like that, I wished I did not live with him because I would have probably ran off and pretended to
“What a day!” the sound of Dominic’s voice scared me from a deep sleep. “Homer, you can’t be sleeping on the couch!”I slowly opened my eyes and rubbed them to find an angry Dominic standing above me. “There is a room for you to do all the sleeping you want to do,” he said. “I am really sorry, sir.” I stood up and apologised. He walked away, clearly irritated while I debated if I should go and take a nap, or just shower and get out of my maid uniform and call it an early night. “I am so exhausted!” Dominic groaned “How was it?” I asked “It was actually really lovely. I enjoyed it. We went to an art gallery. Her younger sister just actually just opened an art gallery so we saw a few pieces, might buy a few for my house and then we went for lunch to this Japanese restaurant. I was not really a fan of the sushi. I have better sushi but she enjoyed it and then after all that, we went to the park and walked.” he answered “So, it was a date?” I asked “No, no. Not a date. I am not th
As soon as Dominic’s car disappeared, Emma’s car showed up, all before Stan and Wilbur could close the gate. So, Dominic must have passed Emma. “Ma’am, you’re lost. You might want to make a U-turn.” Wilbur said“No, I am not lost. I believe I am at the right place,” she answered. Emma was the last person Stanley and Wilbur wanted to fight with. Even if they were just doing their job, she would still manage to find a way to fight them. “Do you know anyone here?” Stanley asked “I am here to see my sister, Harper Holmes.” She answered “HOLMES!” Wilbur called my name. I walked out of the house nervously. I did not know what Stan or Wilbur could do now that Dominic was not around and Rebecca had stopped showing up. I did not know if Dominic had left either of them in charge. “Yes?” I replied as soon as I reached them. “Well, don’t you look adorable in your little uniform,” Emma said excitedly “Is this your sister?” Wilbur asked. I mean technically she was not my sister but if I s
“I am sorry sir,” I blushed as I asked him to repeat what he had just said “I was saying that we need to come up with a plan for your sleepwear,” he repeated while his eyes traced all over my body once again“Why?” I looked down at my outfit as I felt my cheeks heat up. He kept quiet and continued to look at me. “Because…” he finally shrugged “Because what?” I questioned, “Did Sadie say something?” “No, no.” he laughed “Okay, the both of you guys need to stop with your weird competition or whatever it is.” I wondered what he meant. Did Sadie also ask if I had said something to him? I mean, most definitely if he was saying that we need to stop with our competition. I did not want to ask him what he meant by the competition because he would start talking about that and forget the whole conversation about sleepwear. “So, why are we coming up with a plan for my sleepwear?” I dared to ask again“I don’t know. I just guess we should come up with one.” he shrugged “Then what if I ref
After devouring the very spicy food, I washed up the dishes and went to the room to sleep. I could hear Dominic and Sadie laughing from upstairs and I wondered if they were laughing at me. But eventually, I was beyond fatigued and dozed off. ***I woke up early the next morning to the sound of footsteps and laughter in the house. I got out of bed and walked out of the room to find Sadie in the kitchen, laughing. But there was no Dominic with her. I noticed she had her phone on her ear and was laughing loudly. “Wait, I will talk to you later.” she said and then ended the call and looked up at me “Humiliating Holmes, did I wake you up?” “Uhm… yes actually.” I sighed tiredly “I am sorry or am I really sorry? Anyway, isn’t it time for you to get cleaning? I suggest you start on it sooner before Dom comes downstairs and starts reprimanding you.” she said with a fake smile on her face. I found myself rolling my eyes at whatever she said. Sadie just annoyed me. She had been annoying me
I was left to stand in the living room, wondering what I would make for dinner and how much I would need to make. I had already struggled to make breakfast the other day, now he wanted to me to make dinner. I walked over to the kitchen trying to scratch my head for any possible recipes I might have known. All I knew how to make was mac and cheese where the instructions were neatly printed on the box. And I just knew that Dominic would not have cheap mac and cheese boxes in his pantry. I opened his pantry and found a variety of things to make but I had no clue of how to make them. I wondered if I should bother dressing back up into my clothes to head back to the eating place. But I did not have enough money for that. My phone was too full to download a delivery app. I stood in the kitchen, wondering what I would do as I searched the pantry. Until I found a packet of noodles shining at the back and quickly grabbed them. They looked like a unique type of brand to me. They were definite
We walked out of the restaurant in some awkward silence. “Okay, why are you quiet? What’s wrong?” I asked, feeling confused and annoyed“Nothing is wrong.” he shrugged“No, something is wrong. You were all happy and laughing and smiling and then after the phone call, you went dark.” I answered “Nothing is wrong,” he repeated “Okay then, so can we go back to how things were before?” “Look, I think you should head back to work or wherever you were before you get in trouble. Besides, I am also busy too. I have somewhere to be.” He slowly started to walk away - the opposite direction of where I was going. “Well, thank you for today,” I said awkwardly before he pulled out his phone and started to speak on it. Of course, he would have that expensive type of phone while I was using my brick with cracks all over the screen. I walked down the road and headed back to Dominic’s house. At least Hale’s car was not there anymore, meaning that he had left. There was something about Hale that