Ego's Trap | ✔

02 | It's an Order

☆☆☆ Chapter 2 ☆☆☆

It's an Order

I recall several days back when I first arrived here that I swore things wouldn't get too weird here since I became Daniel's personal maid instead of my older sister Teresa, but boy was I far off and totally wrong. Daniel made me put on a freaky 'uniform.' Aside from having to wear bunny ears and a ridiculous set of five-inch high heels, I had to also wear a short black dress that was definitely made to show off my back and outline my melons. Honestly the fact that Daniel had said the dress was made specifically for me on my first day on the clock should've prepared me for that.

I have been putting on a shirt underneath that dumb uniform as well as a pair of loose pants to save my dignity and pride, and I pride myself in that. I mean, I know I'm eye candy (more than that too, unlike Daniel) but it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm just gonna show myself off to the world like a stripper to rub it in to others── I already do that without doin' such low and desperate measures.

So far what I've been doin' on the job is nothing but follow him like a pet, tending to his needy self; pouring drinks, making sure he doesn't overspend like the spoiled brat he is, having dry conversations, fetching the TV remote for him, sucking his toes a bit (just kidding there, if he tells me to do that one day I'd rather bite them off) and I even brush his teeth sometimes. Gross. I think he hired me to be his personal playboy model or nanny rather than a maid. The money this privileged creep's giving me is basically just being thrown at me without me really doin' much. I haven't even wiped a counter or scrubbed the floor yet, and maybe I never will, but what would be the point of being a personal maid if I'm not even doin' the job that's clearly described in my contract?

That obviously makes me jealous of my sister── she's actually doin' the job of a maid. She works for the money and therefore earns it. I'm even jealous of her uniform, it's wholesome! It's a simple Victorian maid dress with a pair of comfy loafers. It's so beautiful and I just know it's bein' put to waste on my plain sister 'cuz I'm the one that has the curves and that outfit will definitely shine with me. Why couldn't I wear that instead? Oh right, it's because Daniel thinks I'm his stupid doll!

Damn it will I really be able to survive this?

"You, Mister 'Master,' are so lucky that Teresa's staying, 'cuz if she wouldn't have, then I would be long gone by now," I finally heard myself snarl. "Actually, maybe I would still stay. But you should know that I would mainly do it for the money."

Daniel frowned, but then shut it down with a light scoff instead. "What are you going to use it for?" He began. "You already have a roof over your head, full of food, with the best company a straight woman── hmm, a gay man, and just anyone that digs me── could ever ask for."

That's the reverse of something I would say about myself, he shouldn't copy me.

"Shut it, dummy," I warned, staring at that stupid nose of his that somehow perfectly fit with his face. It annoyed me. Everything about him did. How can someone be on par or at least somewhere centimeters below from my own physical beauty, yet lack the personality for it? Or is the issue here that I'm the only one in the world that is beautiful inside and out?

"Why?" He asked, tilting his head and expecting an answer, blinking a couple of times. There he went, with his gorgeous eyelashes and all. Ugh.

"I can't stand to look at your face," I said, a little too loose-lipped. I knew I couldn't help it though, he's annoying. Annoyingly attractive, too.

Daniel grinned, giving me a wink that I swear rushed several rays of sunshine out of his eyes. "That's what they all say," he said, now flashing his pearly white teeth at me.

I'm not sure if he meant that for how he looked or from the locals' disgust with the reputation he maintained.

As if by pure impulse, Daniel rushed to hold my arm with one of his delicate hands. My heart stopped beating, shook to the core by it. The way he held me was slightly rough. It wasn't a pleasant or awkward feeling this time, it made me feel a familiar pang of panic instead. A quick taste of it, really.

"D-Don't touch me!" I barked, squirming away from his touch. My limbs felt a little heavy.

"Ane, I saw── uh, what was── "

"Shut up!"

And so he did, for a whole minute. For sixty seconds, he watched me in silence, waiting for me to calm down. It was the oddest thing, I didn't think he would listen. As soon as that one minute passed though, the silence was disrupted. Daniel didn't look angry or irritated. It wasn't blank, either. I couldn't really read his face there, honestly.

"I'm your Master, Imani Ane," Daniel said, loud and clear. "Show me some respect, if you will. It's an order. Being nice goes a long way, but this is not just some common advice from me. You have to be nice, or you'll get fired. I know you don't want to go to university, though I have to admit I do not know why, so you better listen to me and respect me if you don't wish to go there. Not many people want to hire you, now isn't that true?"

I bit my lip. "H-How'd you know 'bout that?"

"Believe me, I know many things about you from years of experience," he replied, briefly looking down at the floor in thought. At that moment, I wondered if calling the police was the best course of action, but the only telephone nearby was on his desk. "But I know not of some things about you, such as... this." He successfully held onto one of my wrists, this time fairly gently, and rubbed some bumps and ridges on it with his thumb. "What are these things, and why are they there?"

Almost immediately I felt like screaming. I felt my sweat run cold from the back of my neck and all the way down to my lower back. I didn't have to look down to know what he was talking about. I felt it. I looked at his face instead. It was the first time in days that I made eye contact with his emerald-green eyes. They were profoundly deep, with such intensity in them that I had to look elsewhere within seconds, so as not to get lost in them.

He was expecting an answer from me, again. He didn't blink this time.

I pulled my wrist from his hold, ready to walk out of his study room. "Sorry, you won't hear or see me like that again. I'll be nice, I'll even call you Master Daniel, but right now I just need some space," I heard myself say for the sake of my sanity. It didn't do much. I still felt like screaming. Yes, I felt like screaming. True, it was true that I felt like screaming. I felt like screaming, screaming, screaming. I felt like── I felt like my throat was in a knot. I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs, to quickly vent out my feelings, to not have to think about his question nor the answer, to cut the knot to pieces and let it all out.

Daniel's sigh snapped me out of my thoughts. "Thank you for that, but it doesn't answer my question. Why are those scars on your wrists? What happened?" His eyes were onto me, his whole being was. I felt it. "I overlooked the one on your face thinking it may have been from some accident, but those on your wrists are different. I can't overlook them, they're── "

At that, I immediately stopped walking. "Shut up, alright? Just shut up. They're nothing, okay? Nothing. Just let them be."

Daniel and I shared a moment of silence again, staring right into each other's souls with the sternest of faces, 'til he decided to give it up with a shrug. A whole thirty seconds had passed by then.

"Fine, then, I won't push it," he breathed out, folding his arms. His eyes told me he didn't give up, but his words said otherwise. It released a strong sense of relief within me.

And so, I continued my way out, making sure to latch onto the part of me that warded off the demons. "Okay," I said, reaching for the door now.

"Hey, w-wait!" Daniel exclaimed, grabbing my attention. "Before you go── you do know I was kidding about firing you, right? Right, sweet-buns?" Daniel cooed, his smile once again present and flashing his perfect teeth, as if nothing had happened. "I'll never fire you, you're way too valuable. You're one-of-a-kind; I'll never find a bigger set of boobs!" His stupid, pretty eyelashes teased me with a wink. "Your little fluffy bunny tail looks really good on your backside by the way."

That damned pervert── I really need to slap his face again! Does he not know of any shame?

Hell, I'll repeat myself, again: he really does annoy me!