028 Do I look Like The Help?!

Eden hauled the cleaning supplies back to the apartment entry way with all the grace of a royal jester, it had been a longer walk than she had expected but the good news was they did have a delivery line.

This would be the last time this happened after moving here.

George held the door open for her, allowing Eden to step through the glass entry way. Eden flashed him a thankful smile and began lugging her supplies and plastic bags towards the stair way she would use to get back to the apartment.

"Uh, excuse me! Excuse me! You can't go in there," A feminine voice said from behind her. A woman had come up behind Eden dressed in a white fluffy blouse and tight pencil skirt. The woman had her hair tied in a tight bun and a scarf around her neck.

She tapped on her clipboard as she gave Eden a fake polite smile.

"I'm sorry that stair way is only for tenants, the help is required to use the stairway at the back of the building,"

"Check your clipboard for tenant registered at 222," Eden said, resting her hands on her hips in a sassy manner.

"I don't think that has to do with-"

"Do it," Eden commanded with the power of exhaustion.

The woman looked through her clipboard and read out the name 'Eden Marshall' She narrowed her eyebrows and looked back at Eden who was already holding out her ID card and her keys.

The woman immediately realized her mistake and started apologizing profusely.

"I-I'm so sorry, I just assumed based on the cleaning supplies-"

Eden lifted her hands and shook her head. This was not the first time she had been treated this way by someone. Even though she had come from a wealthy family, no one ever assumed she was from one. This moment may be her chance to find out why.

Just what about her made it seem like she wasn't someone who lived at this type of apartment.

"I just need to ask you something," Eden said seriously.

"Of course," The woman said hesitantly, she hugged the clip board to herself and waited for Eden to ask her question.

"What about me made you think I worked for the building? Why didn't just assume I was a tenant?"

"I apologized already miss, I meant no offense,"

"I know that but I need to know, what stood out about me?" Eden said.

"Well firstly, no offense but you dress cheaply. It's different from the other tenants I've seen," She said straightening her bun.

"Cheaply?" Eden asked. She looked down at her white T-shirt and overalls. "So what if I do?"

The woman sniffed.

"How you dress is how you are addressed, I'm sure this isn't the first time you've been mistaken as lesser. That's why you're asking isn't it?"

Eden nodded.

"Make no mistake, dressing cheaply doesn't mean you have to wear costly clothes, I thrift clothes that look good on me. I truly meant no offense, I have to get back to work now," She walked away, Eden watched her cute pumps strut away back to work.

"I dress cheaply huh?" Eden said dejectedly. Before she could let her emotions run their course, she picked up her cleaning supplies and walked back up the stairs to her new apartment.

----------

After a few hours of cleaning she looked around the new place with a tired sigh. Eden walked over to her bed and threw herself down on her comfortable mattress, burying her face in the pillow.

"Ugh finally," She sighed. This would be the part where she would call up her friends and tell them about the new apartment. But she had no one her age to call. Her sister was a terror who would rather see her fail and her fiancee had broken up with her.

She picked up her phone, scrolling through the call logs. So far the only one she had, had been Daniel who abided by his mother's wishes and had gotten rid of her.

"This isn't the time to mope, I should be drawing up plans on how I'm going to get into the local toy scene. What kind of toys am I going to make?!" Eden said, rolling over to lay on her back.

But something else was on her mind. The words of the apartment receptionist haunted her persistently, she mulled it in her head over and over again how her appearance affected her.

Did Eden really look so cheap? Her clothes were durable and that was all that mattered to her but clearly that was affecting her much more negatively than she thought.

Eden didn't know anything about fashion or style and even then those clothes looked uncomfortable to her. It all seemed like such a hassle to do things like that.

Her phone rang.

It was Rose.

"Hey Rose, how was your gala?"

"Oh my dear, it was wonderful. So many different guests came, you should come with me next time," Rose said over the phone.

"I would but apparently I found out I dress cheaply so I probably would look out of place there wouldn't I?" Eden said.

"Ah, you've been hit with the 'how you dress is how you are addressed' line, well Eden dressing cheaply is not a crime,"

"But don't you think I should dress better in public Rose?" Eden asked in worry, she wondered if her Godmother thought the same thing about her dressing badly.

"Eden I would go anywhere with you in public and secondly what I think about your outfits don't matter. If you want to start dressing differently, that should be because it makes you feel good,"

"Oh Rose, I've never had the time to think about image, always locked up in the Estate. But now that I'm out and about I see girls and women my age flaunt their figures. They're so beautiful too,"

"And you don't think you're beautiful?" Rose asked sadly.

"Well I've never felt beautiful, Rose," Eden said, she was tearing up. The conversation with the apartment receptionist had opened a horrible wound Eden thought she had closed up years ago. She had asked for it, but her peace of mind was not the price she expected to pay.

"Don't cry Eden, let's start from the beginning,"