She awoke with a start the next day, humiliation still fresh on her mind. She briefly considered telling George she was sick and needed a day off but the risk of being fired would be too big. Besides, she loved this job.

At least, she did until Mr. Chastain came back.

But he would have to leave eventually, right? He was a busy man with things to do, he couldn't hang out in his mansion in the woods forever. Or so she hoped.

She'd just have to suck it up and get dressed or she'd miss breakfast, and she wasn't going to be hungry until her lunch break. After quickly freshening up and getting dressed she joined George and Lauren for breakfast.

"Good morning, miss Romero," George greeted her. "I heard you served Mr. Chastain and his guests yesterday, how did it go?"

It was amazing really, how fast he could ask the one question she'd hoped no one would ask her today. But she also knew she didn't want to tell him the truth or she'd die of embarrassment.

"Good morning, I did. It went well, I think. I only served them drinks," she replied as steadily as she could before taking a bite out of her croissant. George nodded in thought, "that's good to hear. I know it's not really among your duties to do so, so I apologize. I don't think it'll happen again but I'm glad you were able to step up when needed."

Ava didn't really know how to reply to that so she just silently with a small smile before taking another bite. Lucky for her, Lauren picked up the conversation from there and moved it away to some topic Ava wasn't interested in.

As soon as she finished eating she put away the dishes and began her daily rounds by first stopping by the storage closet to grab her supplies. Today, she'd vacuum the hallway floors and then mop them which was a task that would take up the whole day.

She didn't look forward to it though, she was known to get back pains from this kind of work. But it's literally what she gets paid to do so she couldn't simply not do it, especially since Mr. Chastain now actually uses the place which meant everything would have to be spotless.

Vacuuming the hallway was easy enough, there wasn't much traffic coming through this particular one so there wasn't much to pick up. After wiping some sweat off her brow she set off to fill her bucket with some water before returning to mop the floor.

She was almost halfway done when the thudding of footsteps filled the hallway, causing her to look up. Unfortunately for her, it was Mr. Chastain. And he was looking straight at her.

Bracing herself for getting berated for how she'd acted the day before, she put away the mop and clasped her hands together in front of her. She hoped he wouldn't yell. That was something she couldn't deal with too well and it'd be even more embarrassing to cry in front of him.

Today he wore more casual clothes than she'd ever seen him wear. The usual suit was traded for a simple black shirt that hugged the defined muscles in his arms and sweats which hung low on his hips. He looked as if he'd just finished a workout and she briefly wondered if he had his own personal gym on the estate. It definitely wouldn't surprise her.

"Hey," he called out casually, like they were old friends.

"Mr. Chastain," she replied politely. She knew that no matter how she was addressed, she'd always have to remain professional.

He stopped just a few feet short of her and she appreciated the distance, it made it easier to breathe for her. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other and if he hadn't carried himself with the confidence that he did, she'd almost think that he was uncomfortable.

"Look, about last night, I'm sorry. You were right about it not being your job and I shouldn't have asked you to, and I'm sorry for the things Mark said to you," he told her, much to her surprise. She'd never had any employers apologize to her for anything. People rarely apologized to her at all.

She didn't quite know how to reply but luckily she didn't have to as he continued, "And I think I forgot your name."

At least that's something she was equipped to react to, and she was happy he was interested in learning her name but she didn't quite understand why.

"I'm Ava," she replied with a small smile. "And it's fine, don't worry about it, sir."

"Ava," he repeated as if he were testing the feel of it. "Would you join me for lunch, Ava?"

The question was so unexpected that her brain basically short-circuited. No one ever asked her to have lunch with them before, so why would he? Did he have ulterior motives or did he ask her out of guilt from the behavior of his guest the night before?

The thought of sitting before him for the duration of a whole lunch made her stomach fill up with anxiety but she knew it was probably extremely insulting to him to be turned down. He was kind enough to ask her, so she didn't want to spit in his face with a rejection.

"Um, I still have to finish this whole hallway..." she said before trailing off.

"It's fine," he shrugged, "I'm sure your boss won't mind."

She let out a soft laugh at that and was glad he did something about the tension in the air around them. After thinking about it for a second longer, she eventually gave in with a small nod. This seemed to please him as he gestured for her to follow, making her leave all the cleaning supplies right there in the hallway.

She followed him down the stairs and took this opportunity to stare at the back muscles that became visible whenever he moved in a certain way. She couldn't deny that he was attractive but that didn't mean she could let her guard down. If anything, she would have to be even more careful since beautiful people were used to getting what they wanted and she wasn't sure yet what his intentions were.

As they entered the dining room it became clear that Lauren had already set up his lunch, but she was nowhere in sight herself. The table was only set up to accommodate one person and Ava wasn't sure what she should do next.

"You can sit there," Mr. Chastain said as he pointed at the head of the table, the only place where the table was set. Ava hesitated, the head of the table had a symbolic meaning, she knew. It signified who was the head of the household and therefore should be Mr. Chastain's place to sit.

"Oh, um--" she started as she turned to him, but he didn't hear. He'd already set off towards the door where she knew the kitchen was, leaving her no choice but to do as he said. She tentatively sat down on the comfortable dining chair and folded her hand in her lap while waiting for him to come back, which he did a few seconds later.

In his hands, he now held another plate and some cutlery which he set down in front of the chair to her right before plopping down in it. The table was set with all kinds of sandwiches and fruits and Ava wondered if this was always served to him because it seemed way too much for a single person.

"So, how long have you been working here, then?" Mr. Chastain asked her while grabbing one of the sandwiches laid out, causing Ava to mimic him and grab one of the sandwiches closest to her. To her delight, it turned out to be a turkey sandwich. One of her favorites.

"Just a few weeks, now," she replied, finding it hard to keep eye contact with those intense brown ones of his.

"Are you from around here?" He asked her while furrowing his eyebrows. "I don't think I've seen you around town before."

So he didn't just stay cooped up in this big mansion of his when he was in town. He seemed to actually know what was going on outside of the estate.

"No, I'm not. I saw that this estate was in need of a new maid in an online job posting and I'd just left my previous job, so I moved here," she explained quietly. Moving here implied that she had a place to stay before, but she didn't want to go into the details with him.

He nodded as he chewed on his sandwich, and Ava quickly took a bite of hers as well. For a while, they just ate in silence. But it didn't feel like an uncomfortable one, they were just too busy eating to talk.

"You like being a maid?" he asked suddenly. The question threw Ava off as it came out of the blue and she needed to take a second to reflect on it.

Did she like being a maid?

It was all she knew how to do, and she'd never done anything else. But did she like it? She didn't know. But she wasn't about to tell her boss that, so she gave him the standard answer.

"I do," she said with a small smile. But he just stared at her. Either he didn't believe her or he thought she was stupid for liking her job. But he didn't comment on it further, prompting Ava to gather the courage to ask him something in return.

"So," she started while already losing confidence. What if he didn't want her to ask questions? What if her question in particular offended him? But she'd already started and it was too late to back out now. "What makes you spend your holidays here?"

She just hoped the question wasn't too vague, she'd usually start stuttering as soon as someone would ask her to clarify something she'd said.

But he seemed to understand what he meant, why would someone who could be anywhere in the world spend his time on the edge of a small town surrounded by woods? "I grew up here," he explained while gesturing to the mansion around them. "I feel the most relaxed when I'm out here and the people back in town leave me alone for the most part."

She nodded but didn't quite understand what he meant by people leaving him alone. "Do people usually bother you a lot, then?" she asked. She knew he owned some companies but she didn't know anything specific about his work.

The corner of his mouth lifted up ever so slightly before replying, "You could say that, yeah. But it's because th--"

He never got to finish his sentence as out of nowhere the shrill ringing of a phone startled them. After fishing the phone out of his pocket and checking the caller id., he threw her an apologetic look. "I'm sorry I have to take this, but it was nice talking to you, Ava," he said before raising the phone to his ear and getting up to leave the room.

Ava couldn't do much but stare at the man in confusion. Why was he being so nice to her? She'd learned absolutely nothing of his motives during this lunch but then again maybe the phone interrupted before he could try anything.

Yet, she had to admit the lunch had been nice and he was easy enough to talk to. She just hoped he wouldn't do anything to ruin her opinion of him.

----------------------------

The best thing about new stories? The fact that I have the motivation to write about a chapter a day, lol.

Mr. Chastain doesn't seem too bad, now does he? Yet Ava can't help being suspicious of him all the time, but who could blame her? The girl has been through it.

Let me know what you thought of this chapter and I'll talk to you later!

xx May