Maid for Me (14 page)

*TEN*

Later that afternoon, Jaiden, Mina, and Kaila returned to North Uptown.

“Welcome to my humble abode,” Jaiden said as he led a gasping Kaila into his manse. Mina plodded behind them, lugging Kaila’s suitcase and looking like a depressed zombie. She had been silent during the limo ride from UMC to the manse. Jaiden had noticed a red mark on her face-her eyes were puffy and red. Like him, she probably didn’t sleep much last night.

Jaiden snapped his fingers in front of Mina’s face. She didn’t flinch.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, tapping Mina gently on the forehead. He almost thought her head was hollow when she didn’t reply. Mina shrugged and carried the suitcase up the spiraling staircase.

“She’s a space cadet sometimes,” Kaila said. “Always in her own little world.”

“Your daughter has quite a personality.” Jaiden grinned like a rogue. “Sometimes, she’s like a firecracker.”

“I agree-she takes after her father.” Kaila cast her eyes downward, fondly thinking about her husband. He wasn’t handsome, but he always knew how to make her laugh. And he took care of her. He cooked, cleaned, and worked. When he was alive, Kaila remembered she never had to worry about anything but looking pretty.

The day she married Brian Lin was the happiest day of her life. And the day he left was the darkest.

Kaila smiled and said, “Anyway, I’m so excited to be here. Please show me around your home-it looks like a movie set. Amazing.”

“Why thank you, Mrs. Lin. It’ll be my pleasure to give you a tour.” Jaiden gave Kaila a quick tour of the manse before they bumped into Bunion, who walked out of the kitchen with strawberries in his mouth. Jaiden introduced the two before he left Kaila to Bunion.

“Please show Mrs. Lin around. Take good care of her-she’s Mina’s mother,” Jaiden added.

“Yes, Young Master.” Bunion bowed before he froze up like a shy statue in Kaila’s presence. His tanned cheeks blushed and he stammered when he said, “Let me show you the gardens, Mrs. Lin.”

“I’ve always depended on the kindness of strangers,” Kaila drawled like Blanche DuBois, hooking an arm around Bunion’s muscular one.

Within seconds of meeting the gorgeous lady, Bunion fantasized about her in a white gown walking down a church aisle with doves flying everywhere. Disoriented by his sweet fantasy, Bunion walked straight into the pool, making a large splash. Kaila giggled, slapping her knees and pointing at Bunion’s muscular flailing arms before she jumped right into the pool.

~*~

That night, at a quarter to ten, Mina stared at the phone on the nightstand in her new bedroom-a room larger than the entire first floor of her house. She shared a king-sized waterbed with Kaila. Kaila, after discovering the
non-gambleholic
card games the house staff played nightly in the kitchen, became fast friends with Bunion, Chef, and Head-Maid. If Mina knew her mother had jumped into the pool earlier, a few hours after she had been discharged from the hospital, Mina would forbid Kaila from befriending Bunion.

Mina’s hand itched to grab the phone-her forefinger could dial Kit’s number in seconds.

I have to tell him what had really happened. I have to warn him about Alyssa.

Mina reached for the phone, dialed the South Uptown area code, before she slammed the phone back down onto the receiver.

Forget him
, she told herself. So much had happened in the past few days and yet he knew nothing. He wasn’t there when she discovered her mother unconscious on the floor. He wasn’t there when Jaiden almost ran her over. Where was his shoulder when she cried all those tears?

Despite all of this, she knew she could not erase five accumulated years of love and affection with an emotional purge.

“But you can do it, Min-Min!” To distract herself, she grabbed her mother’s loan contract to show to Jaiden. Halfway down the hall toward his bedroom, the entire manse blacked out. A loud thud-sound led Mina creeping along the walls to Jaiden’s room. Asides from sight, every other sense she possessed became heightened. The streaming water down the walls, her soles on the plush carpeting-every sound boomed in her ears. Mina closed her eyes, uncomfortable to see nothing but pitch-blackness with her eyes opened. Her hand reached a doorknob she assumed belonged to Jaiden’s bedroom and shoved open the door.

Jaiden, also lost in the darkness, pulled his bedroom doorknob. One pushed and the other pulled. Mina, strong like a bull during the most inopportune times, pushed the door along with Jaiden. Jaiden stumbled backward, landing on his bottom. Mina walked into the room and tripped over Jaiden’s leg. Jaiden’s body broke Mina’s fall-all one hundred and thirty five pounds of her landed atop him.

“Oof.”

They lay down on the floor, chest to chest, belly to belly, and lips to lips.

In the dark, every sensation in their bodies seemed amplified. Jaiden closed his eyes. Mina instinctually puckered her lips, eyes closed again.

Jaiden kissed Mina, pulling her closer to him. His kiss lingered and was filled with urgency and knowing.

The lights flickered and a nanosecond later, the entire manse became well-lit again. Mina rolled off of Jaiden and her entire body shuddered. Not from possible cooties she could have gotten from the lip-lock-yes Mina still believed in cooties-but from the way her heart thumped. A pleasant prickling sensation ran across her lips.

He kissed me. That wasn’t an accident. Or pretend. He kissed me, hard.

And the worst part about it all—Mina enjoyed the kiss. Despite this, she scrubbed her lips with the back of her hand.

Jaiden sprang to his feet and ran into his bathroom to brush his teeth-three minutes this time and returned to stand next to Mina, ears reddened, from excitement or anger, only he knew.

“What are you doing here at this hour?” he asked, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

“I wanted to show you something. And I heard a crashing noise,” Mina stuttered.

Jaiden pointed at the textbooks scattered by his desk. “I was carrying the books to my desk when the blackout happened.” Jaiden didn’t tell Mina how the sudden blackout made him jump and drop all the books. “Thank you for your concern, Super Woman.”

Mina glanced at the textbooks-economics and finance mumble jumble.

“You read textbooks at night? And what happened to She-Hulk?” Mina wiggled her brows. Unlike the Hulk, She-Hulk was strong, beautiful, and smart. Jaiden’s intended insult was thus a compliment to her.

Since he acted like the kiss meant nothing to him, she imitated his nonchalance and waved her mother’s loan contract in his face.

“My father runs a multi-billion dollar company, Mina. I’m expected to take over for him when the time comes.”

“I thought you wanted to be a doctor.”

“Well, even I can’t always have what I want,” he said.

Mina shook her head. “You should do what you’re passionate about. It’s your life.”

“True. What are you passionate about?” Jaiden’s eyes moved from Mina’s eyes to her lips. “Fighting? Sabotaging guys to kiss them?”

What? He kissed me!
Blushing, Mina stuck out her tongue. “That was a freak accident.” His mention of kissing made the pit-patting of her heart go crazy. She turned away, her face and neck still hot. “Anyway, I like architecture. One day, I’ll be the most famous architect in the Uptown.”

Jaiden raised his left brow. “Really? I’d like to see that.”

Not giving her a chance to rebuke, he grabbed the loan contract out of her hand and studied it.

“A loan contract?” He scanned the written content and grinned. “A lot of repercussion for the borrower for mere pocket change.” He handed the document back to Mina and walked over to his desk. Sitting down, he reached for a fountain pen and his checkbook.

“Fifty-grand, coming right up,” he said, dotting his Is and crossing his Ts. He waved the check. “Here’s your payment in advance. But for this, you’ll have to accompany me to the charity ball this Saturday and put on a good show. Madison will be there of course.”

That was easy, Mina thought.
A little too easy.

“There must be a catch other than going to the ball with you.”

“Well, you’ll just have to keep me happy. Otherwise, you’ll have to repay me and I’ll slap on a thirty-percent interest rate.”

I can do that. Besides, I still have the Contract to protect me if his demands are inappropriate.

Jaiden didn’t look like he was joking. Mina took the check and kissed it. “I can keep you happy. Balls, soirees, parties-no problem, Moneybags-I mean Boss. As long as I don’t have to dance.”

Give Mina a pair of glass slippers and she’d be dancing on glass shards in no time. During freshman year, she had a ballroom dance class. Her partner was a two-hundred pound kid who danced with the grace of a weightless ballerina. Mina stomped on his feet during every class, forcing her to drop out of the class and he ended up in a wheelchair.

“You’ll have to dance,” Jaiden said.

“You’ll regret it,” Mina replied, fanning her face with the check. First thing tomorrow morning, she would have Kaila send the check to the loan sharks.

Mina walked out of the room. “Thanks for the moola, Boss. Good night!”

Jaiden grinned. “You’re welcome. Good night.” He doubted he knew a person zanier than his newest employee and friend. He admired her unique personality, though she had violent tendencies and a sailor’s mouth, she was simple and real.

All his life, people who wore masks surrounded him-his parents, relatives, and friends. Someone like Mina was a refreshing change-he especially loved the way she overreacted whenever he kissed her. Just to make sure she believed he didn’t enjoy their two lip-locking incidents, he brushed his teeth. He remembered how soft her lips were, like sweet rose petals. He just couldn’t help himself when she fell on top of him, her lips conveniently atop his. Jaiden grinned.

Just to see her react like a firecracker one more time, he might just have to kiss her again.

*ELEVEN*

Saturday morning at the crack of dawn, Magic the hair stylist crept into Mina’s bedroom in a Michael Jackson-tribute getup, diamond glove and all, with a pair of sharp scissors in his right hand. He inched toward Mina, his footsteps soft like a mouse’s, and raised his hand in a stabbing position. Mina, a light sleeper unlike her snoring mother, opened her eyes and shot up in bed. She felt dazed, like Cinderella on narcotics. Sensing danger, she rolled out of bed and kicked her foot upward, sending the scissor flying out of Magic’s hand. Magic flicked his snapped wrist and pouted.

"Magic just wanted to surprise you and give you a makeover in bed!"

Mina squinted, recognizing the man who had styled her hair earlier in the week. Time had flown. Just last week on the same day, Kit had broken her heart on her birthday and Kaila had surprised her with a fifty grand debt. The last few days in the manse seemed like a dream-Jaiden’s maids catered to every one of Mina and Kaila’s needs. Kaila stayed in the manse and acted like a privileged socialite. She had caviar for breakfast, bird’s nest for dessert, and real shark fin soup with abalone for dinner. Though Mina feared her mother would become spoiled, she was happy Kaila didn’t sneak out of the manse to go East Uptown to gamble. Bunion, whose crush on Kaila grew faster than mold on spoiled cheese, left Head-Maid in charge of the manse so he could “babysit” Kaila.

Mina had noticed Bunion had treated her differently lately and this made her paranoid. Everyone in the manse, except her Jaiden, Jameson, her mother and herself were suspects until the real Stalker was caught.

The Stalker had stopped sending messages ever since he/she trashed Jaiden’s car. Despite this, Mina was still on her toes.

Never underestimate the enemy
. The Stalker, being in the shadows and silent at present, made things feel eerily like the calm before the storm.