Chapter 5
Chapter 5 L’affaire Au Pair
Moana
I woke up at 4:30 the next morning — a bit earlier than I needed to, probably, but I wasn’t taking any
chances with this job. I spent the next hour practically scrubbing myself raw in the shower, fixing my
hair, ironing my clothes, and taking extra care to make sure that there wasn’t a single stray hair or
speck of dust on me, because today was the first day of the job that would change my life, and I had to
be perfect.
I then spent the final half hour of my preparations pacing and staring out the window, willing myself with
all of the strength I had to not bite my nails, as I waited for the car that Selina had mentioned. Lo and
behold, as soon as the clock struck 5:59, I saw a ck car slowly pulling up out front, and I practically
flew out of my apartment and down the stairs so that I was opening the car door by 6:00 sharp.
“Hmph,” Selina said, looking at her watch as I mbered into the back. “Six o’clock on the dot. A little
out of breath, but at least you’re here.”
“Sorry,” I said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear and buckling my seatbelt. “It’s a bad
neighborhood, so I didn’t want to wait outside.”
Selina didn’t answer. The driver pulled the car away from the curb and started heading down the street.
“We’ll be stopping to sign your contract with thewyer first,” Selina said, her voice t as she looked
out the window with a modicum of disgust on her wrinkled face. “Then, you’ll get a tour of the
penthouse apartment where you’ll be spending most of your time. I suspect you won’t be needing to
return to your old home to collect your things?”
I thought back to my apartment and its contents.
“Well, I have some clothes and things there–”
“Your employer will supply you with anything you need: clothes, toiletries, books, and anything else you
might need or want. Unless you have sentimental belongings you need to go back for, I wouldn’t
rmend wasting your time and energy on such a move.”
I nodded, clutching the tiny silver locket around my neck. That locket was the only sentimental thing I
owned, and it was always around my neck. Everything else in that apartment could burn, for all I cared.
“Very well,” Selina said.
We spent the next several minutes of the car trip inplete silence. Although Selina was seated
directly across from me in the back of the expensive town car, she didn’t turn away from the window to
look at me even once. I didn’t let it get to me, though; growing up human in a world dominated by
werewolves prepared me for this sort of treatment. There were many werewolves who saw humans as
equals, but there were even more who saw us as an inferior race. Selina was likely one of them.
The driver eventually pulled the car over in front of a brownstone withrge bay windows with a sign
over the door that read “William Brown, Esq.” Selina got out of the car without a word and started for
the door — I did the same, standing behind her as she rapped on the door with the brass knocker.
The door swung open a few momentster, and a young woman led us in. The office smelled like a
sicklybination of mahogany and burnt coffee, and it was eerily quiet. Neither Selina nor the woman
said a word; the woman only shut the door behind us and gestured toward a half-open door at the end
of a short hallway, and when we entered, there was an old man sitting behind an enormous wooden
desk.
He was asleep.
Selina cleared her throat loudly and sat down in the chair across from him, and when he still didn’t
wake, she swiftly kicked him under the desk.
“Wake up, William!”
“What? Oh!” the old man eximed with a start as he was unceremoniously awoken. I stifled augh
as I stood in the doorway, but my smile quickly faded when Selina abruptly turned around and gestured
with her head for me to sit.
“Right,” William said, putting on his sses with shaking old hands as he opened a drawer and pulled
out a stack of documents. “Now, let’s see…”
The cuckoo clock on the wall behind him ticked in time with my racing heartbeat and filled my ears,
driving me practically insane, as the elderlywyer licked his fingers and flipped through the
documents. Finally, after a painstakingly long time and a curt “ahem” from Selina, he produced the
packet of paperwork for me and set it down in front of me with a pen.
“You’ll just have to sign this basic contract and an NDA,” he said.
I leaned forward and picked up the pen, scanning over the contract. My eyebrows raised as I noticed a
couple of interesting uses thrown in: one mentioned that I was not allowed to be romantically
involved with my employer at any point, and another stated that I was prohibited from bing
pregnant with my employer’s child without permission.
“Um… What are these uses for?” I asked, pointing to them. William leaned over and nced at
them, then waved his hand dismissively.
“All very standard.”
“But I–”
“Just sign the agreement,” Selina growled under her breath. “Unless you think you will break the
uses…”
“No, no,” I said, quickly scrawling my signature down on the dotted line and sliding the contract back to
William. “I would never. I was just curious.”
Selina let out another “Hmph,” and stood, smoothing down her skirt.
“Well, that’s finished,” she said, nodding politely to William, who seemed already exhausted from our
brief interaction. “Let’s go, Moana.”
…
We arrived at the location where I would be working and living a few minutester. It was vastly
different from the Tudor-style mountain mansion I had visited the day before, but equally as massive
and beautiful. Selina and I walked through the marble lobby and took the elevator up a few dozen
storeys beforeing out into a gorgeous entryway with cherry wood parquet floors andrge, arched
windows that were reminiscent of an expensive Parisian apartment.
E was waiting for us when we arrived. She looked much more put-together and far less feral than the
night before, wearing a prim baby blue dress with ruffles and a bow in her hair.
Much to mine and Selina’s surprise, E threw her arms around me in a tight hug and then took my
hand, leading me away from Selina and around the massive apartment on a tour — which took over an
hour since the ce was sorge, and I was thoroughly exhausted by the time it was over. E’s
bedroom alone was bigger than my old apartment.
Finally, after she introduced me to the twin maids, Lily and Amy, E led me to what would be my room.
“This is your room!” she said, pushing open arge set of double doors with her tiny hands. I stifled a
gasp as I saw how spacious and beautiful it was, with even a small balcony that overlooked the city
below.
“This is… mine?” I asked, unable to contain my disbelief.
“Mm-hmm,” E said, climbing up on the bed and bouncing a bit. “Come feel the bed!”
Smiling, I walked over to the bed and sat down next to E.
“Wow, it is bouncy,” I said, to which E giggled and flopped onto her back, arms outstretched. I took
the silence and the fact that we were alone as an opportunity to get to know E a bit better — as well
as to pry a bit for information on this mystery father to make sure that he wasn’t aplete weirdo.
“So, can you tell me anything about your parents?” I asked. “Do you have a mom?”
E shook her head, stillying back and staring up at the ceiling. “Nope. I never met my mom. She
died when I was born.”
“Oh,” I replied, my voice faltering. “I’m sorry.”
E merely sat up and shrugged, hopping off of the bed to walk over to the dresser and y with the
ornate drawer knobs. “It’s okay. I’m happy with just my daddy. He’s always nice to me… I just wish he
could spend more time with me.”
I stood and walked over to E. She turned and looked up at me, her eyes just as blue as they had
been the night before. “I’m sure he wishes he could spend more time with you, too,” I said.
…
That evening, after spending the entire day together ying games, E and I were sitting on the living
room floor while Amy and Lily prepared dinner. I was watching as E drew a picture with crayons,
helping her to draw things that she couldn’t quite figure out yet for herself, when I heard the front door
click open.
E jerked her head up and suddenly dropped her crayons, jumping up and running out into the foyer.
“Daddy!” she yelled. I took a deep breath and stood, smoothing down my shirt and quickly fixing my
hair as I prepared to meet my employer for the first time.
“Hey, princess. Did you have a good day?”
My eyes widened as I heard his voice.
Belongs to (N)?vel/Drama.Org.
It seemed I already knew this wealthy, handsome father I had heard so much about.