365 Days with the Celebrity

Chapter 19 - The One Night Stand

Ariel woke up with eyes still red and puffy. She kept replaying last night's quarrel while hastily showering and getting changed. She took in a deep breath and walked out to the kitchen and forced herself to work as usual, not letting yesterday's incident affect her concentration.

Ariel's heart raced when she heard footsteps from the staircase, thinking that it was Leon. Rolling her eyes up without lifting her head, she paused when she saw a tall, beautiful woman with messy bleach-blonde hair clad in a small, tight chrome dress with its straps falling off her shoulders and swelling cleavage. She carried her Christian Louboutin stilettos across her left shoulder as she staggered slowly down the stairs.

Another one of his one-night stands...

Leon's bodyguards would usually escort his one-night stands away immediately after they stepped out of his room, but for some strange reason, none of the bodyguards did so.

Ariel eyed the woman suspiciously as she stumbled, her gold hazel eyes framed within rings of smudged eyeliner were half-opened, and the lipstick smear across her cheek was still visible on her heavily made-up face. She seemed to be murmuring something before she tripped.

"Careful!" Ariel rushed to her aid, preventing her from falling down completely.

"Oh...," the woman said with slight grogginess. Ariel could smell the faint breath of alcohol. She realised that this poor lady was still suffering from a hangover from last night, although she looked fully conscious at the same time.

"I need to...head off home now," she said with her head flopped to one side.

"I think you're not well enough to go off on your own," said Ariel. She slung the woman's arm over her shoulder and helped her to the sofa, then rushed to pour a glass of water for her.

"Aw...you're so kind," the woman remarked and drank the water Ariel offered her.

"I'm hungry. Do you have anything to eat?" she asked. Ariel hesitated. Leon never allowed any of his one-night stands to linger in his house for this long or ask favours from his employees. Till now, not one of them had spoken to her nor sought her to heed their requests.

"Oh, and take these and clean them for me," she passed her stilettos to Ariel.

"Sorry, I'm not the-"

"Aren't you the maid? Just DO what you're told to do!" the woman snapped at her. Astonished by her swift change in mood, Ariel maintained her calm, "You're not feeling well, so why don't you just rest and -"

"Oh %#$@#," the woman cursed with her eyes rolled. "Are you deaf and dumb? Stupid Asian!" she scorned and hurled her shoes at Ariel, who raised her hands in defense but they managed to strike her left jaw hard.

Thunderstruck by her racist abuse, Ariel lost her cool and shouted back, "Listen! I ain't gonna tolerate your SICK racist abuse, so LEAVE before I call the cops!"

"Go ahead," the blonde woman scorned, "don't you know who I am?"

"I don't know and I don't care," Ariel spoke back.

Upset, the blonde woman hurled her arsenal of curses at Ariel when both ladies froze at the sound of a thundering voice. "What IN THE WORLD is going on?!" Leon shouted with eyes brimming with fury, clad only in his pants from last night and he walked down.

Ariel felt embarrassed looking at the toned muscled upper body that stared back in full view. She did not want to imagine how they must've done it last night seeing the current state they appeared in. She opened her mouth to explain but the blonde woman cut in.

"Oh honey," the woman threw herself at Leon, "that crazy Asian maid of yours just bullied me."

Ariel's jaw dropped at the shameless lie that this woman accused her of, gritting her teeth at the smirk that flashed back at her. "That's not true, Mr Waltz! She's lying! I was helping her but she racially insulted me and threw her shoes at my jaw," Ariel insisted, rubbing her painful left jaw.

"Don't believe those beneath us. She was the one who threw my shoes at me and threatened to have me jailed," the woman sunk her head in his chest and faked a cry.

Ariel seethed unblinkingly, throwing an angry stare at the woman. First, she was insulted by her boss, now she was insulted by his date! If Leon Waltz chose to believe that crazy racist's lies, so be it! She'd rather get fired than endure another day of madness!

Leon looked at Ariel for a while before returning his gaze to the woman.

"Mia," he said to her.

"Yes?" she purred with a silly smile.

"I'm not a fool. Get LOST!" his countenance bleaked.

Mia's smile vanished, "Leon darling, you can't kick me out. You know who I am. Surely you don't wanna mess up our contract. Didn't we make amazing love last night?" She ran her finger along his chest, but Leon did not respond to her touch.

"Oh yes, I can. This is my house, and the lady you just insulted is my chef, the one who won competition that was watched by the world. She's to be respected, regardless of her status or skin colour. You bullied my staff, which means you've just disrespected me. I'm not your darling. And no, we did not make love, we ****ed. I'm terminating the contract, so GET LOST!" He dragged her to the door and ordered his bodyguards to escort her out.

"You can't do this to me, Leon Waltz! I'm Mia Marlene! I can take you down! I'll destroy you, you *&%$@#!$..." Mia screamed out a stream of invective hysterically as two bodyguards grabbed each of her arms and dragged her away.

"Don't forget these!" Ariel threw her stilettos at her and shut the door, annoyed at the insults that continued behind closed doors until the elevator took her down. Still rubbing her painful jaw, she walked briskly past Leon before being stopped by him. He pulled her towards him.

"You alright?" he held her jaw and scanned her face with eyes filled with concern.

"I-it's fine," Ariel stammered, trying her best to fight off the tears from flowing without looking at him in the eye. Being racially bullied and assaulted was the worst.

"No, it's not," he rubbed on the bluish-red bruise with his thumb. Ariel winced, biting her lower lip to stop herself from screaming.

"Stay here," Leon motioned her to the sofa and rushed to grab an ice cube from the fridge. He held her chin up and dabbed the ice on her bruise. Ariel squeezed her eyes shut as he nursed her wound. His half-naked body was so close to her that she could feel his warm breath on her face. She peeked at him through the corner of her eye but his eyes sat focused on the task.

"Feeling better?" he brushed a stray hair from her face.

"I think so," she replied softly. She immediately distanced herself, too ashamed to face him.

Leon flinched the moment she pulled herself away from him. He felt more awful now after what had happened with Mia on top of yesterday's quarrel. He ran back up to his room and a few minutes later, returned to her. He passed some cash to her, "Here, take a day off."

"What's that for?" her eyes widened with a questioning look and tried to return the money but he pressed the cash in her hand. "Take a day off. This's my sorry to you," he said, firmly closing her hand with cash with her hands. In truth, he was more worried about her sneaking the incident to the media than anything else despite the ironclad NDA she was bound to. Experience had taught him that nothing was entirely foolproof unless some form of bribe was exchanged.

"But I don't need this -" before she could finish, he already hurried back to his room. "-cash."

Ariel looked down at the rolls of notes in her hand and gulped when she counted the total - a whopping $1000!

Who does he think he is? Is he sorry for last night or for Mia or for both? He could've said it in a nicer way! As if a bad mood can only be mended by money...

Ariel sucked in her cheek in disgust at first, but later felt uplifted that at least he compensated for the wrongdoing in a way. She was excited that a day off meant that she could visit Andy and Rita today, and perhaps surprise them with a sumptuous dinner tonight.

However, Mia's threatening last words crept into her and made her ponder what she meant.

What kind of contract does he have with that Mia anyway?