Cleaning Job Mystery

The afternoon passed by with me cooped up inside the studio again. A few minutes pass 7 o'clock, I went out to the hallway cracking my neck side to side.

"Are you coming down for dinner now Sir?"

I jolted in surprise. Ow! I think a vein just snapped.

Ms. McCrae is coming out of my room with the familiar looking caddy and vacuum cleaner.

"I'm also done with cleaning Sir. But I need to change clothes before joining you for dinner."

"Okay. Alright," I grimaced at her, massaging my nape.

"Are you okay?" she frowned.

"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll go ahead Sir."

She passed by me and I watched her disappear into the bend.

Still massaging my nape, I walked towards my room.

I let out a 'whoa' when I walked into my bedroom. The duvet and the pillows are arranged like how it is done in hotels. My charger and earphones are not littering atop the bedside table anymore. The lampshade stood alone on it. I pulled open the drawers and saw the charger and the earphones neatly coiled.

I frowned however, at the dirty white curtains when my eyes strayed to the windows.

I fished out my phone and dialed her number. It's still saved under Senti's name.

"Hello Sir?"

"Please change my curtains to another set of black ones. I don't use any other color in my room," I told her.

"Okay Sir. I will bring it right up," she responded and ended the call before I could say another word.

Tsk. This woman.

I gave the curtains another look of distaste before moving on to my closet.

I walked in to see all of the drawers pushed back properly. When I pulled each one of them open, the watches, neckties, belts, and sunglasses are organized impeccably. Not one is placed in an odd position. And the shoes, caps, and hanged clothing seemed arranged with measured distance from each other. 

I swallowed a lump in my throat. This is a little scary. Her attention to detail is something else.

Thankfully, she did not go through my folded clothes too. Well.. it looks organized already. Leila arranges them whenever she puts back my washed clothes.

I went on to the bathroom, expectant and a bit uneasy. The bathroom is a lot messier compared to my closet. The toiletries are in constant disarray and my worn clothes litter around the laundry basket. They don't go in neatly whenever I shoot them in.

Embarrassment crept up on me knowing that she saw how disorganized my bathroom is. Ugh. Why did I not tidy up my littered clothes today out of all days??

I slid the bathroom door open and felt a sinking feeling on my stomach when I saw all of my dirty clothes inside the basket.

Yes... she made her way here also.

I first noticed the towels on the towel cabinet. They are now arranged by color.

Then, on either side of the mirror above the sink, my grooming items were also arranged. The toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, and dental floss are on the left. The electric shaver, razor, aftershave, comb, and cotton swabs are on the right.

I stared at the mirror, wondering what changed. Then it struck me.

Water stains! It's gone.

To my right, the glass partition of the shower is also wiped clean of all water stains. 

Mind- blown.

I'm mind-blown at the moment. My bathroom is cleaner than most hotels.

Did she study housekeeping??

The scrapings from outside signaled me out of the bathroom and I saw her dragging a sofa towards the tall glass windows.

"Ms. McCrae I'll do it," I said, rushing over to her.

I took over the sofa from her and she looked at me with mild protest. I ignored her and carried the sofa over to one end of the curtain railing.

"Where else did you clean?" I asked her as I climbed up the sofa.

"Besides your room and the family room Sir, I also cleaned the library and the dining room," she answered.

I took the railing from the hook and the curtains slid off to the end I'm holding. I took it off the railing and handed it to Ms. McCrae.

"You must have de-stressed well."

"Yes Sir. But it also made me tired." 

She took the dirty-white curtains from me then handed me the black ones.

"I am looking forward to a good night's sleep."

"That's good. All that work will be paid off well by good sleep."

I slid the curtains into the curtain rod. When I was done, I placed the rod back into the hook and got down from the sofa. Ms. McCrae arranged the folds of the curtains while I carried the sofa back to its place.

"I'm afraid you will have roommates starting tomorrow. Would it be alright?" I asked her as she looked over the curtains. 

She smiled at her work with satisfaction before turning to me.

"I never had roommates Sir so I don't know. Maybe it would be okay. Maybe it won't."

I raised a brow.

"You never had roommates? Ever?" 

"Ever," she said with a thin smile.

My jaw dropped a fraction.

"I've slept alone for as long as I can remember but I think this will be a good experience. It's nice to take on something new for a change."

"Hm. Okay. But if you are uncomfortable, just tell me or Leila. We have a spare room downstairs."

She gave me a small smile and nodded.

"Now let's go down for dinner."

She picked up the curtains from the sofa and we went out of the room together.

"You can clean," I told her as we made our way towards the lift.

"I used to clean condominiums Sir."

"No kidding."

"I'm not kidding Sir. I had a cleaning job for three months."

"Was that when you just migrated to America?"

She nodded.

"You came a long way. You have become an account executive before this job. You must have struggled before finding your way to the top."

A smirk passed by her lips.

"Not really Sir."

Yeah. I know. You are a rich man's daughter. So why and how in the world did you have a cleaning job?

She cannot be stranger than this. How can she have a cleaning job when she was raised with billions? I'm raised with no millions and yet I have not learned how to clean my room the way she did.

We took the lift down and no one said another word.

"You go on Sir. I have to put these curtains back in the spare room," she told me when we exited to the ground floor.

I nodded and turned right into the kitchen.

She turned up a few minutes later.

"Oh. Kuurdak," she said with delight as she took her seat.

I looked at her, amused. Even the food she eats surprises me. 

"You must have had kuurdak before," I said as I turned the handle of the serving spoon to her direction.

She held the spoon and took some of the meat, transferring it to her bowl.

"Yes Sir. Senti took me out to a Kazakh restaurant before."

"You know what it is made of?" I asked, taking hold of the serving spoon in turn.

She nodded then ate a piece of meat.

"Leila cooked it better than the restaurant we went to," she said with a satisfied smile.

"Leila is an awesome cook. She's not here to hear your compliment however."

Her eyes roamed all over the room then it landed back to me.

"I didn't see her when I got here," I told her.

She nodded then went back to eating with gusto.

We finished our hearty meal in silence. We both rode the lift to the second floor and bid each other good night before splitting to opposite directions.

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