Maid for Me (8 page)

Jaiden, you’re a genius
, he thought.

“Me, your pregnant girlfriend?” Mina rubbed her nose
.
“No way.”

“What do you mean, no way? This sort of stuff works all the time in movies and on TV.”

Mina arched her brow.
Maybe he should write movie scripts.
“I’m not pretending to be your girlfriend, pregnant or not. Besides, no one would believe we’re dating.”

And how dare he spoil my good name? Besides, I’ll probably be a virgin for life.

Jaiden covered his eyes. “True, but love is blind.” He grinned. “Do you know who Madison Helwick is?”

A spoiled, bratty, princess.
“Nope.” Mina’s eyes narrowed into slits. Any smaller and she would fit the stereotype about Asians having small eyes.

“She’s the daughter of Michael Helwick. CEO of Helwick Incorporated? The Uptown Mayor?”

“Oh, yea, I know him. Our Penguin Mayor,” Mina said.

Jaiden chuckled. “Yea.”

“Is Madison adopted?”
How could someone so hot pop out of the Mayor?
Mina scratched her head.

“Nope. Anyway, Madison is so angry because I refused to marry her,” Jaiden said.

“So why don’t you just marry her? I would if I were a guy.”

Jaiden coughed. “Let’s not get carried away discussing your sexuality, Mina. I can’t marry her-she’s pregnant.”

Mina clicked her tongue. “Let me guess. You knocked her up and now you don’t want to take responsibility. You suck, jerk.”

Jaiden waved his hands. “No, I didn’t knock her up. Would you just let me speak before you hound me again?”

“Okay.”

“She hooked up with five random guys at some party and doesn’t even know who the father is,” Jaiden said.

And she called me a slut?
“So she wants you to eat the dead cat?” Mina tapped her chin.

“What?” Jaiden expressed his confusion with his brow wrinkled. The gibberish Mina had blurted, however, curled his lips.

“She wants you to take the blame. Be a scapegoat. Eat the dead cat is a Cantonese saying.”

“Oh. That’s right. So you see where you come in, right?”

“You could always tell her you’re gay,” Mina said.

Jaiden coughed. “You have a problem. I’m friends with a famous psychiatrist-if you need a psych evaluation, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

“Ha ha ha. Don’t forget you’re asking me for a favor.”

Jaiden stretched his neck. “Don’t forget you need money. And that you attacked the Comptroller’s son earlier. You’re also technically still trespassing on private property.”

Mina fisted her hands by her sides.
Unless I can sell both kidneys for twenty-five grand each, I can’t lose this job. Who says no to money, anyway? It’s not like he’s asking me to really be his girlfriend.

It’ll all be pretend, Min. I can do pretend.

“I’ll give you until tomorrow to think about it. You won’t regret it-it’s just pretend.” Jaiden patted Mina’s shoulder.

A perfect plan in Jaiden’s book in fact-for one, he knew he would never fall in love with his maid, even if he had to spend every waking moment in her presence for the next month or so. She wouldn’t fall in love with him either since she probably liked the fairer sex.

“But until then, you’re still my maid.” Jaiden put his fisted hand by his mouth as if it were an intercom system. “Clean up in the White Piano Room please.”

Mina rolled her eyes and dragged the vacuum cleaner out of the bedroom, running over Jaiden’s feet in the process. She would have done worse to him for stealing her first kiss, had she a pair of scissors handy.

Jaiden cussed beneath his breath-his crazy maid brought out the worst in him. He looked down at his toes to make sure they were still all intact.

Crazy girls were the bane of his existence. He could bet half his inheritance a girl had sent him the bloody knife and doll head picture. After all, he had rejected at least a hundred girls ever since he hit puberty, with Madison being Miss Hundred-and-One.

Jaiden walked over and retrieved the plastic bags containing the knife and his cell phone. This wasn’t an act of extortion or blackmail. It was a serious death threat aimed at himself and his father. Jaiden picked up the black phone on the nightstand by his bed and dialed Detective Graham’s number.

Detective Graham had helped Jaiden on numerous occasions in digging up information regarding his estranged mother. And thanks to Graham, Jameson received juicy facts he used in his smear campaigns against other Comptroller candidates four years ago.

Jaiden walked down to the basement to check footage from the manse-wide security camera system to see if the person who had left the knife was caught on tape.

Unfortunately, the only two strange people taped were Mina and Mary the real maid. The footage proved neither was the one who had left the knife.

Neither looked good on tape either.

At one part, the tape blacked out for a split second.

Must have been a glitch.

Suspicion growing, Jaiden wrinkled his brow.
Or an insider-job. But who? Bunion? No. Chef? The other maids? Driver?
Jaiden kneaded his throbbing temples before he called his father to warn him about the threats.

~*~

Mina returned home on her bike around six at night with the sun still out and bright. Bone weary ache made her yawn. She stepped into her house and spent the next hour in the kitchen making dinner from ingredients she had stolen/borrowed from the Daniels’s kitchen. Once dinner was ready, Mina walked upstairs to her mother’s bedroom, assuming Kaila was taking a late-noon nap.

She knocked on Kaila’s bedroom door. “Mom, dinner’s ready.”

No answer. Mina opened the door to find the bedroom empty, the bed unmade, dirty clothes on the floor around the hamper, and the shades drawn.

“When will she learn?” Mina had no doubt in her mind her mother was out gambling again-gambling away the five hundred bucks Mina had given her yesterday.

After stuffing herself with delicious dinner, Mina climbed up to the rooftop to wait for the sun to set. She looked down and saw Kiterin walking home. Like a puppy excited to see its owner coming home, Mina sat up. About to call out Kit’s name, she clamped her mouth shut when she spotted Alyssa waltzing behind Kit.

Mina squeezed her eyes shut. Like an ostrich, she figured if she couldn’t see the happy couple, they couldn’t see her either. To her dismay, Kit said, “Hey, Min.”

“Hey Mindy!” Alyssa added.

Firetruck.
Mina opened her eyes. “Oh hey guys. Back from a date?” She planted the most genuine smile she could muster on her face and probably looked like a psycho-tard.

“We just watched a movie and Kit’s making me din-din now. Oh it’s so wonderful to have such an awesome boyfriend.” Alyssa hugged her arms around Kit’s torso and smirked. Kit beamed.

“Did you eat, Min?” he asked, walking toward his house with his girlfriend’s arms still attached around his waist like fat leeches.

“Yes. I even have some food left over if you need any.”

“It’s okay. Alyssa is very picky.” Kit smiled at Mina.

“That’s right. You are so good to me, pooki!”

“So I’ll see you later? Want to hang out tomorrow?” Kit scratched his head. “I get off work early.”

Mina waved her hand in the air. “No, it’s okay. I have to work tomorrow.”

“Really? You found a job?” Kit opened the door to his house. Alyssa ran inside, squealing like a happy, sugar-hyper banshee.

Mina had a million things she wanted to tell her best friend. Before she could even tell him one thing, he said, “We’ll talk later. I’ll call you.” He winked and disappeared inside his house.

Mina arched her neck back, letting gravity pull her tears back into her eyes. Mr. and Mrs. Forrests were away on a business trip, leaving Kit alone in the house all summer. The sun disappeared completely, the moon and the stars came out, and mosquitoes pretended to be vampires-looming over Mina’s carotids.

He’s not going to call me.

Her eyes could crack-she stared at Kit’s house for hours.

I guess Alyssa is sleeping over tonight.

Mina jumped off the roof like a stuntwoman, landing on the grassy lawn with a thud. Though her ankles felt like they had shattered from the landing, she practiced Mina-Jitsu, perfecting a scissor-air kick. With all her energy focused on martial arts and facing Jaiden’s proposal tomorrow, Mina forced her heart not to break.

Not that it could break any more.

Always a fighter, Mina however was still not giving up on Kit.

Not yet at least.

*SEVEN*

The next morning, Mina arrived at the manse a minute before nine. She wore the same outfit she had worn yesterday. Bunion, with his expression sourer than a lime soaked in vinegar, opened the front door for her. He said nary a word, leading Mina to believe her new boss was still asleep in his bedroom. After not finding him in said room, Mina wandered around the manse until she found him swimming in a man-made waterfall pool by the gardens.

Mina sat by the edge of the pool and splashed water around with her hand to catch Jaiden’s attention. Jaiden pulled himself out of the pool, his dark blue swim trunks plastering to his toned thighs. His body glistened and water dripped from his face. He ran his longer fingers through his wet hair and shook his head, water splashing onto Mina. Mina threw him a white towel she had grabbed from the poolside. He wiped his face and showed Mina how happy he was to see her with a Colgate-Total-worthy smile.

Mina removed a folded sheet of paper from her pant pocket and shoved it at Jaiden’s face.

Jaiden motioned for Mina to follow him to the patio table. He wrapped the towel around his body and sat down before he took the paper and unfolded it.

“
You wrote a contract?” Jaiden grinned, reading the rough contract his new maid had written, grammar-mistakes, sloppy-script and all.

After practicing Mina-Jitsu, Mina hastily prepared this contract, getting the idea from all the loan contracts Kaila had brought home over the years. Jaiden chuckled as he read the makeshift contract.

I, Jaiden Daniels, will not do anything a guy does to a girl when Mina Lin is posing as his pretend girlfriend. I will pay her $50,000 when her duties are fulfilled. I will not do anything that makes her uncomfortable and will not make her do anything that makes her uncomfortable. I also have to agree that Mina will not really get pregnant. I will sign at the dotted line.

x…………………………………………………………

Jaiden cleared his throat. “First of all, not doing anything a guy does to a girl-what about speaking to her? Looking at her? Laughing at her? Emailing her? Please specify. As for doing anything that makes her uncomfortable-that’s very subjective, don’t you think?” Jaiden ripped up the contract before Mina’s eyes.

“Hey!” Mina gathered the shredded bits of paper and murder shone in her eyes. “I spent all night writing that!”
And thought it was lawyer-material worthy!

“Before you pummel me, hear me out.”
Sheesh. What kind of steroids does she pop?
Jaiden raised his hands in defeat-mode. “Let’s draft up a more sensible contract together, okay?”

“Fine.”

Half an hour later, they created a new, “more sensible” contract together.

THE REVISED CONTRACT

1. Mina Lin will pose as Jaiden Daniels’s pretend girlfriend for as long as she is needed.