3 Chapter Three

Alex woke up to a soft knock on the door. He stirred on the bed, rubbing his eyes. He sat up on the bed, checking the time. It read 9:12 am.

"Come in," he grumbled. Good thing the shoot starts later in the day. For now, his assistant had to manage things on set.

"Good morning Sir," a maid greeted. He ignored her and typed away on his phone, texting his assistant.

"The Chairman seeks your presence at the table Sir." The maid said shyly. He nodded his head, stretching. He dismissed her with his hand. Sometimes he wondered if they lived in the medieval period or something. He sighed, getting up from the bed towards the ensuite to wash up. He took out a shirt and a casual jean from the closet. He strutted out of the room to the dinning area downstairs.

"Good morning father," he greeted his father sitting down. "Surprised to hear you are still here," his father said chewing. "This is my father's house, am I not allowed here?" Alex joked. "You always use work as an excuse to leave."

"I got tired". Alex simply replied. "How are you mother?"

"Never been better, son." His mother, Olivia answered.

He cocked his head to the left, staring at her. "You seem to be in a good mood this morning."

"The ball was a success." She gave a dramatic pause, sighing softly to add effect. Both men raised their brows eager to hear what she had to say. "I got a call from Ryan, and he should be coming home in two weeks time." She was beaming with smiles. Alex just gave a tight smile and went back to his breakfast. His father just grunted in reply.

"What's with the mood? I just said Ryan would be coming back soon." "To think he would have actually called me, that little rascal," Alex muttered.

"What was that son?" Olivia asked. "Nothing," he grumbled.

"It better be nothing Alexander. I can't believe you could actually be so inapt about your brother's arrival."

"Jeez, mother. Are you really doing this right now?" "Olivia!" His father called out in warning.

"James,it's his brother for crying out loud."

"And I'm not against my brother coming back." At this point Alex was filled up. He lost his appetite to eat. His mother huffed in annoyance, but didn't say anything.

"I'll be on my way," Alex said throwing his napkin on the table.

"You barely touched your food," Olivia told him in a less annoying tone.

"Well guess what mother, you made me fucking loss my appetite." "Alexander!"

He stared at his father but didn't bother offering up any apology. He left the dinning room wordlessly. He could hear the faint voice of his mother complaining as he walked out.

In no time he arrived at his apartment. Stepping into his apartment he noticed the place was unkempt. He groaned remembering that he had fired his previous housekeeper. Maybe fired wasn't the word to use, considering the fact that he didn't exactly fire her. He only let her go.

Dialing a number he had collected earlier from the producer, he called a cleaning agency. He knew he should have called earlier, but he was too tired to even remember.

"Hello," he heard a grueling voice from the other end. "Am I on to J.J's cleaning agency?"

"The one and only," the voice said unenthusiastically. He wondered why an establishment couldn't pay someone with a more sultry voice to talk to potential customers.

"I'm afraid I'll have to seek your services," he said disappointedly. By the sound of the person's voice, he was sure it was a roadside agency but he was too tired to look for something that suit his taste.

"We'll be of service Sir." Alex had to endure through the boring long minutes of the procedure. By the time he dropped the call, he was mentally drained. He sure as hell hoped it wasn't an old lady with bent back that walked through the door. He walked into his room to change into a T-shirt and beach shorts. He checked the time, he still had a few hours to kill before he left for set. He lounged on one of the chairs in the living room scrolling through his phone.

He raised his head, when he heard the doorbell ring. He walked to the door and pressed the telecomm.

"Who are you?" He asked.

"I'm from J.J's cleaning services Sir," a girl said. He unlocked the door, stepping aside for the girl to come.

He eyed the girl struggling to come in with her tools. "These are totally not necessary."

The girl looked down on her tools confused. "It's company policy that I come with them. Besides what am I supposed to use if I don't come with them?"

Alex pinched the bridge of his nose. "First of all, if you're going to be working for me you're going to have to follow my rules, which means no cheap things in my house."

"But.." the girl protested. He shut her up raising his index finger. He stared down on her name tag.

"Listen here Kimberley."

"Just Kim please," she interrupted. He narrowed his eyes at her.

"What? I just hate being called by my full name especially from strangers."

"If you hated it so much you should have have used Kim and not Kimberley on your tag."

"It's not like I didn't tell that mothe..., " she looked up at him knowing she

was about to cuss.

"I don't care," he said in anger. "I don't have time to banter words with a mere cleaner. I don't care about what your cleaning agency says, but no cheap stuff in my house. If you want to keep this job you have to follow my rules."

Kim nodded her head. "Got it, follow your rules".

He took a step closer to her intimidatingly. On impulse, she stepped back. "Rule number one, no talking back at me. I hate people with smart mouths, especially stupid ones. So if you care about your job, I highly suggest you keep your mouth shut." He stared at her wanting to get her reaction, "understood Kimberly?"

He watched her bite her lips, probably restricting herself from saying anything. He nodded in satisfaction.

"Follow me," he instructed. She did so wordlessly. "This is my lounging area, I expect it to be clean at all times. Not a single pillow out of place. I'm allergic to dust so I do not want to see any at my place".

"Got it Sir," Kim said nodding. He gave a side glance but chose to ignore her as he made his way to the kitchen.

"There's no much work here since I barely use it," Alex said his hands at his back.

"Right! Typical rich folks syndrome," Kim muttered. "What was that?"

"Nothing Sir."