"Don't you think everyone here is in a hurry today?"

Rylie narrowed her eyes as she looked at the men running here and there as if there is a fire in the mansion then she shook her head and continued cleaning the vase.

"You don't?" Carefully, I kept the flower vase on the table and faced her. "Well, I think something is either wrong or something is going on."

She shrugged and grabbed another vase to clean. I did the same and started humming.

She shot me a look.

I stopped. "What? Can't a girl hum while she cleans a four storey mansion?"

She shook her head very slowly. Oh, poor Rylie. I can clearly imagine her scribbling and complaining nonstop about my happy mood or maybe she thinks that I had hit my head somewhere before I joined her to our work without pay job, so that's why she must not be asking me any questions about my tardiness today.

"Whatever." I muttered to myself and continued wiping the vase.

Soon, I was done cleaning the last vase of the first floor and placed it on the top of the shelf.

"I am so hating this punishment right now."

This is exactly what happens when you spend hours smooching and moaning and gasping for air until the first ray of sunlight touches your skin and you finally end up sleeping in the balcony with someone who is much better than your super fluffy queen size bed only to wake up late in the afternoon, in your bedroom, alone. You get a punishment from superior for tardiness and my punishment is to clean all the flower vases of this goddamn mansion without breaking any of it. Not to forget that I don't have my evening and night free today because I slept throughout the morning and the afternoon.

I am doomed! My life is doomed! All the vases are doomed by my hands!

Damn that grandma to hell. I have really started to hate Louisa.

"Rylie, I really appreciate you for helping me, but you should go enjoy your break." I said as we made our way to the second floor.

She shook her head again and took out her notepad and pen.

'I'll get bored if you are not there so I rather stay here with you.'

"Aw, that's so sweet." I cooed and pinched her cheeks. "But I would like you to go and let me do my job."

'I am not leaving.'

"Leave, Rylie." I yawned as I picked up a flower vase and started wiping it. Jesus, I am still exhausted from last night activities.

She grinned mischievously and started scribbling something on her notepad.

"What the hell are you writing and why is it taking so long?" I asked, irritated.

She ignored me and kept writing.

I shook my head in resentment and continued doing my work.

After what it felt like hours, but in reality they were minutes because I was still stuck with the same flower vase and I was definitely pissed off by it, Rylie threw her notepad on my face.

"Ow! Goddammit woman, what is wrooo... Are my lips that swollen and red?!" I gasped and my face paled in a very unimaginable pace as I read what she had written.

Oh my goodness. She knew it all this time. She writes that my lips are way too swollen and red as if I had got an allergic reaction only on my lips and I am recovering from it. Along with my lips, my cheeks as well as my eyes are red and puffy and she asks me the number of times I did the 'smooching business' with my neighbour last night, and she also demands me of full details.

The question did linger in my mind... how many times have we done it now? The first time was when I was drunk. Was I drunk before he kissed me or was I drunk while he was kissing me and I became sober after that or was I sober all along and became drunk after he kissed me or was I sober all the time?

Now that is really confusing.

The second time was to simply shut me up. He had said it so, but he had also said that he wanted to do that for some time. Last night was absolutely with no reason and it was damn good. I eventually lost the count.

"I am so tearing this page off and burning it away." I grumbled and tore the page then I faced the not-so-innocent brown doe eyed woman who was wiggling her eyebrows at me. "And you are not getting any details."

Her face fell in an instant and she stomped her foot in a childish manner which made me laugh.

"Why are you so interested in knowing the details? This is the big bad Agostini son we are talking about. The same person you had to face the anger of when I landed on him."

She shrugged as if saying, 'why not? Can't a woman get some details no matter who the person is?'

I sighed in exhaustion. "I am not going to tell you anything, Ry. So whatever you are thinking, get it out of your head. Even I am not thinking of anything and it's for the best."

As if on cue, the door of the office which was a couple of metres away from us opened and around five men whom I recognised from the dinner walked out of it.

Behind them was the capo himself, talking on the phone while signing some papers which the men were holding in front of him while taking a few sips of water from a bottle on his other hand.

Talk about multitasking.

Subconsciously, I licked my lips as he cuts the call and starts gulping down remaining water.

That's one lucky bottle to get in touch with those lips...

Get a grip, Amy. Get your priorities straight and get to work!

Think about happy thoughts, Amelia. Happy thoughts. My grandma's lost sock... my dead cat... my brother dry humping a mailbox... shopping for underwear... drinking milk from the carton... Leonardo drinking milk from the carton... milk dripping from his chin... milk on his lips... licking the milk off his lips... biting those lips sensually over and over again... kissing those lips... sliding my tongue... gripping his hair... pulling his tie... running my fingers all over his bare chest...

I blinked rapidly and shook away those thoughts when I saw Rylie waving her hand in front of my face, looking at me in concern.

"I'm fine. I'm fine. I am totally fine!" I grinned and showed her my thumb.

I really need to set my mind straight and focus on other things. Things like classes and this so-called duties of a housekeeper.

Oh my, how the times have changed. I used to focus on running away from here and now I am focusing on working and studying here.

"You know what, Rylie? Let's make this day the best day of my life by cleaning these vases and you are going to help me. Come on!" I grabbed her arm and pushed her ahead.

She shook her head in amusement and walked. I giggled and followed her, but stopped when I felt the familiar jolt of electricity run down my spine.

Very slowly, I looked over my shoulder and my breath caught in my throat when I saw him.

Leonardo Agostini was already staring at me.

*****

Forget what I said about making this day the best day of my life.

Today is the worst day of my life.

It all started back when I caught capo staring at me. My poor self started panicking like a teenager who lost her earring so I ran and ended up toppling a flower vase which gained the attention of everybody present on the floor and they stopped running here and there. This made Louisa go nuts and she started rambling in her country language which I did not understand at all. Maybe she was talking about how amazing, hardworking and devoted I am? I'll never know. After what I did with the flower vase, Louisa removed me from the cleaning post and sent me to the mansion's garden to fetch the trash and throw it in the garbage chute because our gardener suddenly went MIA, but when I reached there, I screamed at top of my lungs when I saw him and our new chef, John making out behind the bushes. I had screamed so loudly that John got scared and pushed away his lover with such a force that he crashed into a flower pot and sprained his back.

Louisa got super angry and it was not because of me being the cause of our dear gardener's sprained back, it was because I had not picked up the trash at all. I swear I could clearly point out the veins which were going to pop out of her neck and she went into full grandma mode with me which means more rambling in Italian and believe it or not, I might have actually learnt a word or two from her. She eventually got tired of me and concluded that today is not my day so she sent me to my favourite place, kitchen. Yay me.

"This really was the best day of my life." I muttered sarcastically. I heard a giggle beside me and my head snapped in her direction.

Oh, and one more thing. Rylie enjoyed watching me in misery. A lot. That woman had got the special front seat to watch me suffer.

"One day, Ry." I grumbled. "One day you will suffer the same thing and I will laugh at you. You better mark my words."

She muffled her laugh and kept a dried plate in the cupboard above her.

"Yeah, yeah. Keep laughing. Hope you enjoyed the show because it will be over soon. More ten minutes and then I'll be welcoming sleep with open arms."

We kept doing our work when suddenly the kitchen door burst open and Louisa came running in.

"It's done! It's done! It's final!"

Everybody including me stopped doing their work and gathered around the woman who was panting heavily. Rylie quickly grabbed a stool and helped her sit while one of the maids gave her a glass of water.

"I haven't run like that in ages." Louisa laughed. Her face was red and she was sweating profusely.

"Then the reason better be good, signorina." Carina, the one who handed the glass of water to Louisa, said with a small smile. I recognised her. She killed Leo the lizard and the poor girl had no idea.

Everybody patiently waited for her to catch her breath and when she did, her face broke into one of the biggest smiles I had ever seen from her.

"I was summoned in capo's office."

That did catch my attention.

"Which one?" I asked. "The young one or the old one?"

Louisa chuckled. "The young one, silly girl."

"And?" I asked warily.

"It's done! It's final!" She squealed in excitement. Whatever this woman knows is surely making her act like a child.

"What is done? Louisa, I would really like it if you could just spill the beans." I said, getting impatient.

"Capo is giving up his title to his son." She revealed. There were low murmurs and gasps among us.

"When?" Carina asked in excitement.

"This December, on his twenty sixth birthday."

The murmurs became more louder and I frowned. "Louisa, December is almost six months from now. What's the big deal?"

"Amelia, there hasn't been a party in this house in ages! The last time a party was held at this mansion was capo's fourth birthday. I remember how beautifully it was celebrated so this is a very big deal and we have to start preparing! We have to decorate the whole mansion, bake a very huge..."

Everybody was listening to Louisa very intently but I didn't pay any attention.

For a man who kicked out his wife when their son was only a four year old boy, it sounded weird to learn that the same man is giving up everything to his son who actually hates him for what he had done to his Mama.

It didn't felt right.

Nevertheless, at least somebody had a better day than me.

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