CHAPTER 2: MEETING MR. LA'VARDO

Cara P.O.V

A sudden jerk broke my deep sleep. Taking in my surroundings I realized that I’m still on the bus, but it was no longer bright and sunny outside, it was nightfall. Everyone warned me that this place was far away but I thought they meant it was like 2 or 3 hours far, now it seems to be around 8 to 10 hours away since I left in the morning and I’m still traveling. It didn’t help that I have not been out of my hometown before. I guess that I can’t go home to visit as often as I thought that I could.

Suddenly the bus driver took a sharp turn, making me slide off the leather seat. Looking outside the window, I couldn’t see much except for a few houses. I could tell that these houses were massive due to their lights which were the only thing that indicated that a house was even there, seeing these lights I could also tell that the properties of these houses were actually acres of land. It took us a few minutes to pass each property, their entrances lit up by lanterns or garden lights. As each property came into view, my tummy twisted a little more as my nerves grew, leaving me to think that the next house is the house in which I would be working.

After driving for about half an hour past these houses, all I saw was darkness. I began to panic! What’s going on? Is this bus driver planning to kidnap me? There are no other passengers on the bus besides me; does he have some impure intentions? He did seem a bit strange since I got onto the bus! My heartbeat raced as he increased the speed, but soon I realized that he only increased his speed because he is moving uphill.

And then everything stood still except for the bus as I held my breath, the bus driver, driving me closer and closer to the isolated brightly lit and beautiful mansion! “Your stop miss” the voice of the bus driver tore me out of my spell bond state. “Thank you,” I said softly, my mouth dry as I grabbed my luggage and stepped out of the bus. The bus driver drove off not waiting for another second to pass, leaving me alone, standing small in front of the place that I would live and work in from now on! The leaves rustled, an owl hooted, the breeze made me shiver, ‘What do you do now, Cara? Do you have another choice rather than to go in? No! Certainly not!’ I thought to myself. Dragging my luggage I headed towards the heavy door. Knocking hard enough for them to hear, I bruised my knuckles, but it worked! A middle-aged man wearing a suit opened the door, for a split second I thought that he is my new boss, the owner of this mansion that I would be working in until I saw another man standing opposite him wearing the same kind of suit and I realized that they probably work in the mansion as well. “Hi. My name is Cara, Cara Stone. I’m here for the helper’s job which is available” I said. “It’s a servant’s job which is available” I heard a loud and powerful voice. My attention moved to the source of the voice which came from a young man. He was young but I could tell that he was older than I was, he was tall and sort of attractive with he craved facial features and sharp nose. His hair was styled perfectly and I could tell that he took pride in his dressing by his fitted suit, he wasn’t as muscular as Edwin was but the tattoos that peeped from his sleeves were a bonus to his appearance.

“Are you done?” he asked, distracting me from my mesmerized state. “I’m sorry?”  I begged his pardon. “Are you done checking me out?” he asked, his eyes danced with amusement but his lips were pressed together, which confused me. He made himself hard to read, I couldn’t tell if he was upset or tickled by my actions. “Sir, I was not checking you out,” I lied. “Oh okay, so why were your eyes inspecting every inch of my body?” he asked. “Er…they were …er…I was just trying to…” I was cut off by him. “It doesn’t matter. I forgive you, Let’s hurry it up!…. LILY!!!” he shouted and a girl came running from an opened door on the right of the staircase. “Yes Sir,” she said, her head bowed, she didn’t dare look at him.  “This is Cara. She is new and I would like for you to show her around, but for now, show her the servant quarters and give her a bed to sleep on. There should be one available, after all, she is Sarah’s replacement,” he ordered, the entire time that he spoke his dark eyes were fixed on me. “Will she be taking over Sarah’s chores?” Lily asked. “No, bring her to me at 9 am tomorrow. She must only serve me!... Oh and Cara don’t you ever lie to me again. I hate lies.” he commented, making it known that he knew I was lying about ‘not checking him out’. “Yes Sir, I am sorry. It will not happen again.” I explained. “I haven’t introduced myself. I’m Alexander La’Vardo.  Xander for short. To you, I would be Mr. La’Vardo, so you can stop with the ‘Yes Sir’ ‘No Sir’ act for now.” he said before disappearing upstairs.

“Hi, I’m Cara” I introduced myself, looking at the blonde hair and green-eyed girl, hoping that we could be friends. “Follow me!” She said coldly. She turned and walked back in the direction from which she came. Following her, I noticed that the exquisite marble floors have ended and plain wooden ones have begun. I wasn’t complaining though, all of this was still better than what I had back home. However, my heart sank a bit, the beauty and elegance that the main part of the mansion held how I wanted my house to look. Not the two-bedroom house that I came from, but the house that I would buy with my own money which I would have earned from being a Doctor, I was only a year away from my success, but just like how my father’s life was snatched away so was all of my dreams.

“Hi,” I said to the other females, they all seemed to be getting ready for bed until they stopped and stared at the new face which entered the room which made me feel extremely awkward. “Cara, this will be your bed,” said Lily as she walked to the last bed in the servant quarters- dormitory. “You can store your belongs here” she gestured to a cupboard which was next to the bed. “Thank you,” I said with a smile. “You have 20 minutes to shower and get ready for bed” her cold words were the only thing I got in return for my kindness.

Unpacking my clothes in the space provided, I took the quickest shower that I had ever taken and crawled into bed after making sure that it was clean. I laid in bed as the lights were turned off, my head on the pillow, I wasn’t sure about how my heartfelt. Was I excited about this new job? Was I still sad about being here instead of fulfilling my dreams? Was I proud of myself for the sacrifices that I had made? Should I be proud of myself, knowing that somehow these sacrifices were my duty as a bigger sister to  Joyce and as a daughter to my mother? …What will my chores be? Will I be happy here? How can I be happy when I will be treated as someone who is uneducated?...what will he be like? Will he be nice? Will he give me really hard chores? …What would this new life be like? …Only time would tell.. was my last thought before my eyelids grew heavy and sleep took over my busy mind