Chapter1

COFFEE WITH ANDY

I have been Adrian's maid for just a week, and what I can say is, so far so good. Angel is such a disciplined young girl and for this one week, she hasn't given me any trouble. There is also not as much work as I had speculated. It's just preparing Angel and taking her to and from school, which is easy because we have a driver, and tidying the house. With a washing machine that took me two days to be able to use, washing is so lenient. Also, especially because we eat ordered food from outside. I never get to cook and I don't know why Adrian doesn't want me to. They have an elegant modern kitchen with all the utensils but no cooking is done here. I kinda feel like my passion for cooking will be a waste here. Most of the time I'm just idle.

"Hello!" Adrian's voice startles me, and I stand up from the couch to go grab his backpack.

"Hello! Welcome, sir Adrian." I say as I stretch my hands to take his bag, but he doesn't let me. Right, that skipped my mind again!

"How many times do I have to tell you that you only take care of Angel, and not me?" He asks with a tinge of fury in his voice.

I keep forgetting that no matter how many times he has told me. It's becoming a daily lullaby.

"Sorry, sir!" I say, stepping back, bowing my head a little.

"How do you want me to explain it to you, Tania? Because I am tired of reciting it over and over again."

"I got it now, sir! I won't repeat it." I hope my servant's tendencies won't kick in every time I see him walking in through that door.

"You better not, because I am not going to repeat this. Where is Angel?"

"I have just put her to bed, sir!"

"She only sleeps this early because of the cold weather and school. In favourable climates and school holidays, she goes to bed late." He explains.

"Okay, sir!"

"I'll go see Angel. And Tania, that sir is annoying! Drop it!"

Huh?

He walks upstairs after that, and I sit down to resume the program I was watching on TV, but darn! It has ended. I switch off the TV and relax on the settee. I should make a note of all the things that Adrian doesn't like. He is a man of few to no words, and making him repeat one thing to me over and over every day is making me look incompetent and dumb. "Okay, Tania. No sir, and no helping him, no sir and no help..." I keep repeating that for I don't know how long until Adrian startles me again, making me almost jump from the couch.

"And want are you doing?"

"Reciting the don'ts so that they stick in my mind," I answer, trying to act composed but I know I am failing. He just shakes his head and walks to the kitchen.

With this cold, I miss coffee. Can't he allow me to make even just coffee? I stand up and follow him to the kitchen.

I knock and wait for a reply.

"The only door you are expected to knock on before coming in is my bedroom," Adrian speaks from inside, and I drag my feet inside. He is just parked on a stool scrolling his phone, perhaps checking emails or something. I scan the kitchen, and I spot a tin of Nescafe coffee on one of the shelves, and I just can not control the urge for my lemon and honey coffee. My!

"Aah... Andy? Can I...?"

Shit!

Double shit!

What name just rolled out of my mind, huh? I slowly turn around to face him, and I meet his dark brown eyes looking at me. I was expecting to see a shock or a disappointed look on his face, but he is just there, emotionless.

"Sorry." I quickly apologize.

"I will punish you for that." He says with a raised eyebrow, his expression changing in a flicker. Punishment? Damn!

"Anything. But don't fire me, please!" I can't afford to lose my job barely a week old. The condition of my family back home can't even allow me to become jobless.

"Your punishment is, you will not call me any other name. Just Andy." He winks and stands up.

Wow! Did he just wink at me? So he jokes, aside from with his daughter? He has been always cold and quiet to me since I came here. This is so new to me. So freaking new!

"You are okay with that? I mean, isn't it too casual for a boss and employee?" I ask.

"I like it, and that's final. It's a million times better than that annoying "sir" of yours. What were you saying?"

"Okay. I wanted to ask if you can allow me to at least make coffee. Even just for today."

He eyes me for quite a while, then he shakes his head.

"This kitchen hasn't been used for years. My wife never liked being in the kitchen. We are used to eating outside, and I don't want my daughter to get attached to things that won't last, Tania. So, no!"

No? Come on, Andy!

What kind of wife will not cook for his family? I mean, I understand that there are days one would feel exhausted and all, but not even a day to cook for your family? I think whatever transpired between him and his wife hurt him, a lot because he suddenly looks lost somewhere in a dark jungle.

"Well, I...I respect your decision, Andy, but it's just coffee. And I am not in a haste to leave, by the way. My family depends entirely on me. And our condition back home doesn't allow me to become jobless any time soon." I try to push my luck, fingers crossed in the hope that he doesn't yell at me.

After breathing out heavily, he speaks.

"Okay. You can make coffee. You know how to use the coffee machine?" He asks, and I shake my head. How can I know how to use a coffee machine if I have never seen one? I am yet to get used to this modernized life of the wealthy. I hope I will be able to, though, because it's like the rich and the poor don't live in the same world as I thought. Everything is so different, including the aura they breathe. Theirs is fresher than ours, and I think it even has a scent - a sweet scent.

"Can I first go out to buy lemons and honey?" I know it is stupid of me to ask because it's almost nine at night, but I can't have coffee without lemons. And I can't send my boss to the stores, right?

"Tell Mark to get you lemons and honey from the market. Buy as much as you want." He says and hands me some cash from his pocket. I run to Mark and come back immediately.

Mark doesn't take long to come back since there is no traffic at this hour, but within that short time, Andy has shown me how to use the coffee machine. With Andy settled on the kitchen stool still on his phone, I make coffee peacefully and with solace, and I make a lot of it. I don't care if I will battle to sleep after consuming two or three mugs of coffee at this time. I just miss it so much.

"Here, try it.", I utter, positioning a mug of tdon'thot steaming coffee on the table and he sniffs it. I take mine and start walking out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" His voice stops me in my tracks, turning to him.

"To have my coffee."

"There is a lot of space here." He says, putting his phone down and pulling another stool and patting it. I don't move, because I don't want to misunderstand the gesture. He wants me to sit beside him? "Am I that scary that you don't want to sit with me?" He asks.

"Aah.. no! It's just that...nothing." I walk back and sit on the stool after pulling it away from him a little.

"I don't bite, for your peace of mind." He says, taking a sip of his coffee, and another, and another, then he gulps the third sip looking up and tilting his head slowly from side to side.

As he faces up with his eyes closed, I look at him. I hadn't had time to have a close look at him since I met him. He leaves early in the morning and comes home late and exhausted. Even now, his face looks so tired, and the way he is rotating his neck is a result of tiredness.

"Don't stare too much." He says and opens his eyes, his hand grabbing his mug of coffee again, not looking in my direction.

How embarrassing! I know my cheeks look like a tomato right now. He caught me staring at him. I hope he doesn't think ill of me. I take my coffee and sip slowly, enjoying its taste down my throat.

"Who taught you how to make this?" He breaks the silence. Looking at him, I realize he is taking the last sip of his coffee. That was fast!

"My mom did. She also taught me how to prepare different kinds of dishes. You like the coffee?"

"It's the best I have had in my life." He says, and for the first time, he glimmers at me. Adrian smiling, huh? He must have had a very beautiful day at work to act like this. Or maybe he went on a blind date that turned out well? Damn!

"There is more. You want some?" I ask, shyly smiling.

"Sure."

I bring the remaining coffee and pour him a full mug and fill mine too. We drink until the jar is empty, and I am glad that he at least looks a bit glossy in the end. There was nothing much said and that puts me at ease.

"Thank you for the coffee," Andy says as he stands up to leave.

"Welcome." I take the cups and walk to the sink to wash them.

"Can you make some for Angel tomorrow after school, please?" He softly asks, standing beside me.

Why is he requesting? I thought bosses are supposed to give orders. To command. But he is kind of different.

"Of course. I will gladly prepare it for her. I hope she likes it."

"She certainly will. I'm sure." He adds with certainty and pats my shoulder. "Goodnight." And walks out of the kitchen, leaving me here blushing like an idiot.

I didn't know this side of him, but I like it already. I finish washing the utensils and drying up the sink, hoping that I will see myself cooking in this kitchen someday. There is no harm in keeping hope alive, is there?

Just when I am about to lock the kitchen so that I can retire to bed, I hear Adrian's phone buzz from where we were seated. Did he forget his phone? I didn't intend to, but I happened to see the caller. I swear, it wasn't intentional. Ambrose, Andy's PA is the one calling. Well, at least it's not this other gender. Sigh!

I grab the phone and lock the door quickly, and run upstairs to Adrian's room on the right, next to Angel's. I knock thrice, and I was about to leave when the door opened, Andy standing in front of me with only a towel wrapped around his waist. He was taking a shower, and men, he looks so damn hot. So hot and cute. His tight muscles on display and his flat broad chest are bewitching my mind. And those wet lips, ooh gosh!

"You brought more coffee?" He spoke when I just stand here like a zombie, ogling him like a piece of meat I can devour in a flash. It must be the effect of seeing a man like this for the first time. Yeah?

"Coffee? Y..e..s... I mean, coffee! Aah...no, sorry! I mean phone. Yes. I brought your phone because you forgot it in the kitchen and Ambrose was calling and you..." His eyes and raised eyebrows stop me, making me realize I have been ranting nonstop. What is with me?

"Oookay...Thank you." He says, taking the phone.

"Aah... I'll go now. Bye... I mean, goodnight, Andy." I say and walk as fast as I can to my room.

I can't be tempted to look back because I know I have made a total fool of myself back there. Jeez! What is he thinking of me right now? Good job, miss Tania Lawson, for embarrassing yourself!