Chapter 2: Chapter 2 : I'm Much More Interested In You
Mia is at a loss for words. There is no way she really made this bad of a first impression on her boss…right?
She finds herself staring, taking in his features as she tries to remember the correct way to string words together in any form of meaningful combination.
His dark hair is pushed back out of his face, styled in such a way that it could have taken him an hour or five minutes. She can make out a faint natural wave that makes his hair curl up at the nape of his neck.
The strength of his features almost surprises her. She had expected that people with money would look like delicate, perfect porcelain dolls pumped with whatever injectable was in vogue. What she didn’t expect, however, was his prominent slightly hooked nose and hooded eyes. It brings a fierceness to his face that is not reflected back in the playful twitch of his mouth.
Before Mia can respond, Sabrina’s fingers lace around her wrist.
“I apologize, Mr. Dahan! This is her first day, she doesn’t seem to understand her place yet.”
Mia’s eyes are wrenched away from the man in front of her as she looks back at Sabrina.
“It won’t happen again, I promise,” Sabrina concludes.
Elon’s eyes flick over to Sabrina briefly, before settling back on Mia.
“That’s not what I asked, is it?” he chides, and then in a gentler tone, looks Mia straight in the eyes and repeats, “Name?”
“Mia…Rodriguez,” Mia manages to choke out.
“Mia,” Elon parrots back. The sound of her name on the lips of a man who has more money than she will ever see in her entire life makes her itch.
Elon turns around and starts walking in the opposite direction. “I’ll be seeing you around then, Mia.”
The two women behind him stand in complete shock until he disappears from sight.
Mia tries to laugh, but it comes out as more of a nervous squawk. “I can’t believe I just did that. Just my luck, I guess.” She smiles at Sabrina, who still has her thin fingers wrapped around Mia’s wrist.
Sabrina’s face darkens with every word that Mia says until her expression is unrecognizable as the friendly woman who had greeted her earlier.
“Sabri—”
Sabrina’s fingers tighten until Mia flinches. “What was that? I don’t know who exactly you think you are, but your behavior reflects me. I have worked too hard for you to come crashing down everything I’ve—” Sabrina closes her eyes for a moment, a beleaguered huff escaping from the back of her throat.
“We have no room for maids here that don’t know how to behave. If I see anything like that happen again, there will be consequences. Am I making myself clear?”
Mia yanks her wrist back and immediately covers it with her other hand. “Crystal.”
She tries to look for some sort of reasoning in Sabrina’s eyes, but all she can feel from the woman is rage.
“Good. Now come with me, we haven’t even started yet.”
After a grueling two-hour explanation of every single duty that Mia will be undertaking as part of the maid staff, she is given a reprieve. Sabrina leaves to personally bring Elon what she calls a “post-breakfast snack” which appears to be what Mia recognizes as jamón ibérico on top of some fresh bread.
Without Sabrina breathing down her neck, Mia decides to take another look around and get familiarized with her new workplace. Nothing about this mansion is recognizable to her; this extravagant lifestyle seems almost too lavish to be real.
After a quick google search, Mia learns that Elon Dahan is one of America’s richest men, a CEO billionaire known for his deep involvement with his company’s management.
She can respect that. It seems like it would be easy enough for a man like him to hire anyone he wants to run his company for him. He could be hands-off for the rest of his life and never work another day.
From what she reads, it seems his father passed away when he was a teenager, leaving the entire Dahan legacy on Elon’s shoulders.
What is he like, she wonders. Not just the face he puts on for the public, but who is really behind those sharp gray eyes.
Mia is pulled from her thoughts as she looks up to realize that she has no clue where she is. She had never been great with directions, but it dawns on her that she really should have paid more attention to the tour.
Mia stops walking. The last thing she wants today is to make someone dislike her so quickly, and in one fell swoop she managed to achieve that twice. She didn’t know if she was just rusty or what, but she always had a reputation for being a likable person.
She will be damned if she lets the issues in her personal life leak into her new job. At that moment, Mia makes a promise to herself to not let her emotions ever get in the way of her job again.
Determined, she flings open the door to a random room without knowing what’s inside.
As the door swings open, Mia sees a sitting figure jump slightly and turn to look at her.
Mia is face to face with Elon Dahan again.
“Mia. I wasn’t…expecting to run into you again so soon.” Elon is behind a large wooden desk, hunched over a pile of paperwork. He straightens the papers and looks up at her, eyebrows lifted in a look she could only describe as caught off guard.
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Dahan. I think I just got turned around. I’ll get out of your way.” Mia immediately starts walking backward, hand already on the door handle.
“No, please, stay.” He stops for a moment to chuckle. “And, if you don’t mind…I really dislike being called Mr. Dahan. That’s what I called my father, not exactly a parallel I’m comfortable with.”
“I’m sorry. Sabrina—”
“Ah… Ms. Reyes. It might be…better if she doesn’t hear you call me by my first name. But when it’s just the two of us?”
Mia smiles a bit, against her better judgment. “Elon.”
“You’re a natural. May I ask, did someone send you here?”
Mia shakes her head. “No, I was just looking around. I don’t think I would be capable of finding anything on purpose in this place yet.”
Elon nods emphatically. “Yes, I’m intimately familiar with that feeling myself. As far as I know, I’m the only person to have truly mastered the layout. I grew up here, so discovering all its secrets was a hard-fought battle. There are a few who’ve got it mostly figured out…” Elon grins mischievously. “But I keep them on their toes.”
Mia can’t hold back a bemused chuckle. “Do I want to know what that means?”
“It means,” Elon stands, making his way to the other side of his desk, mere feet away from Mia. “That despite appearances, I am actually quite fond of having a moment of peace and quiet without someone coming by to spoon-feed me caviar and ask me questions about…curtains or what flowers to plant for the season.”
Mia tries to hold a neutral expression, but a quiet huff of laughter manages to make its way out of her throat.
“That being said, I do actually enjoy my work.” Elon leans back on his desk, straightening a glass paperweight without looking back at it. “This house has six fully functional offices. I switch which one I use every day. Unless, of course, the staff does manage to track me down.”
Elon flashes her a dazzling smile. “In that case, I just switch again.”
“Your employees have nothing better to do than chase you around all day?” Mia takes a step closer without realizing it, drawn in by his poised demeanor.
He seems different than he had in their previous interaction; the rigidity in his posture is gone. His eyes lack the sharp hawk glare, replaced with a curious intensity that makes Mia feel like she is losing her balance.
“To be honest with you, most of my employees don’t bother with me. I’m pretty boring in real life. The shine wears off quickly.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Mia says, almost under her breath. How could a man like him be boring?
Elon shrugs. “I’m much more interested in you, Mia.”
Mia raises her eyebrows. What does he mean by that? Why would he be interested in her?
He clears his throat. "I mean, you're clearly not from here, judging by your accent. Am I right to assume you're not from the US?"
“Yes, I just arrived from Colombia.”
“Well, I think your accent is just as lovely as you are.” He flashes her a smile, causing Mia's cheeks to redden instantly.
“You really know how to charm someone, don’t you?”
Elon chuckles for a few seconds before staring back at Mia. “Can I confess something to you?”
Mia shrugs. “Sure.”
Elon closes his eyes for a second. “It doesn’t come naturally.”
Mia watches him lounging against his desk, the hem of his shirt lifting ever so slightly to reveal the smallest strip of skin.
“I’m antisocial at heart, but that’s not exactly good for the brand.”
“Now, why would you confess this to me?” Mia quizzes, curiosity nipping at her.
Elon stands up straight, decreasing the space between them incrementally. Mia's eyes widen a bit as she wonders what he's doing.
“I don’t…know. I think it’s something in your eyes. It’s like you’re looking for something, not from me, but from life. Truth, honesty, something real from anyone. I wanted to share that with you, for some reason.”
Mia looks up at him, feeling unsure of how someone she just met can see her so clearly. “I think I should get back to work.”
Elon nods and steps back, clearly disturbed by the way the conversation turned into something serious all of a sudden. “Of course,” he says, walking back to his chair.
Mia backs toward the door. It is more than clear to her that their chat is over. She steps out into the hallway and closes the door behind her, feeling like a teenager with sweaty hands and an unsteady heart.
***
As Mia drives home that night, her mind is racing. She taps her fingers mindlessly against the steering wheel, ignoring the red callouses starting to welt on her hands. After her encounter with Elon, she had thrown herself into the most physically demanding tasks to keep herself distracted.
Which worked out just fine, since Sabrina seemed doubly frustrated with Mia after not being able to locate Elon, which she continued to attempt every, what felt like, twenty minutes.
Mia didn’t see Elon again during the day, even though it had gotten dark hours before she managed to pull herself away.
She pulls into her grandparents' driveway, puts the car in park, and throws her head back on the headrest. Her eyes drift closed as she finally lets herself sit in silence.
Mia’s head swirls with so many thoughts that it’s hard to keep track of them all. She doesn’t know why Sabrina’s attitude has changed so drastically, but it looks like nothing Mia does can bring back the possible friend she thought she was on the way to making. That saddens her more than she can say, because she could really use a friend in this new country.
The job itself doesn’t worry her; there’s something rewarding about the way manual labor makes her mind go blank that appeals to Mia right now. Of course, the kind of opulence surrounding her does put her slightly more on edge. One mistake can destroy something that’s worth more money than she’s ever seen in her life. It’s something that she’ll have to stay aware of.
Speaking of awareness… Mia is more than a little conscious of her new boss too. The way he speaks to her makes her feel like every nerve is being electrified. He’s kind, but with an intensity that would make most people feel intimidated.
He makes the effort to treat Mia as not just a maid, but a person. Most people with his level of wealth wouldn’t so much as learn her name, but something about Elon is different.
She doesn’t know if he’s like that with everyone, but she holds onto the irrational thought that maybe she’s special; for no reason other than the way it makes her stomach fill with butterflies.
It’s a dangerous game she’s playing, letting herself be swept up by her feelings like this, but she can’t seem to help it. She needs to keep some kind of guard up around him, or else risk being drawn right back into the same kind of thing that she has just escaped from.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone