THE MAN

Don't be ashamed to appreciate all the little things, sweetheart.

***

CHAPTER I

*****

I COULD AGREE with most people when they said I was a bad person, but I wasn't so bad to deserve this. Or at least I didn't think I was.

The man standing in front of me, much to my dismay, was decent looking with bright blonde hair and captivating blue eyes. He seemed to be in his forties, but looked damn good for someone his age with a tall and fit physique. He seemed like the type to take good care of himself.

If only he had the personality to match.

In his defense, though, any other girl may not have found annoyance in the things he was saying. But that's where the problem came. I wasn't just any other girl. I was Araceli Constantine Cruz and my undeniable love for my boss, Daniel, had rendered me incapable of seeing hope in any other man. All I ever wanted in my life was Daniel. Nobody else.

Looking at the man, I couldn't help but feel genuinely bad for him. I could tell that he liked me and even though he could use a little bit of freshening up with his sweet talking, he was actually kind of okay if not just a tad bit too persistent. And old, but if two years between Daniel and I was just a number, then twenty between Vincent and I was no different.

It sucked that I didn't like him back. It's not like I didn't want to; I just couldn't. Out if the four years that I had been in love Daniel, he had never paid attention to me. This man, on the other hand, upon just meeting me was already showering me with his devotion, falling at my feet. My head was telling me to entertain him at least but my heart yearned for someone else.

"Tell me, beautiful," he said, snapping me out of my thoughts, "what's your name?"

"Araceli." I answered plainly.

I really wasn't in the mood to exchange pleasantries with him. It made me feel like I was just leading him on, but I couldn't abandon him. I was a maid after all, and this was my job. He had purposely requested that I - and only I - should serve him.

Leaving was just me signing my resignation letter and I couldn't do that. Not in this economy.

For a second, I considered speaking any other language I had a basic knowledge of and pretending that I didn't know English so I could get out of the confrontation. I mean, it wasn't like he would've been able to tell bad Japanese from good Japanese. Not that I knew Japanese at all, but he didn't have to know that.

Instead, I decided to respect myself and thought against it when I weighed out the possibility of the man talking about me to Daniel. I could practically hear him saying, 'that beautiful black girl that speaks Japanese'. And Daniel would be like 'who?'. What a bust.

"Ah, Araceli." There was something in the way he said my name that made me want to roll my eyes in dislike. There was nothing particularly wrong with his pronunciation, but it still felt off coming from him. Perhaps it was because I felt I was not only wasting my time, but his as well by being forced to entertain his incessant flattering due solely to obligation. "A beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

"Thank you, sir."

"You know, when I first saw you sitting by that window, I knew I could not live another day without knowing your name."

Then drop dead.

I pressed my lips into a thin line and nodded. I wasn't sure which was more extreme: his words or my thoughts, but I knew it was about time to wrap this up before I said or did something that would get me in trouble.

"Is there anything you would like right now, sir?" I asked, not actually really caring. I just wanted to help him and send him on his merry way so I could go back about my business.

"Please, just call me Vincent," he said, rolling his chilling blue eyes at me and raising a dismissive hand. "And if I were to tell you what I really want from you right now, you'd be running for the hills."

If only he knew how far I was running mentally. I couldn't help but reel back in disgust at his words. I wasn't sure why, but they unsettled me greatly. Why did he even think that was an appropriate thing to say?

Before I could finally lose my patience and start giving him a much needed lecture on how to speak to women, the front door to the foyer swung open and I watched, completely captivated, as the beautiful man that was Daniel walked into the house.

He looked like he had been working hard in the sun as his clothes were drenched with sweat and his curly, brown hair was clinging to his clammy forehead. His tanned, muscled arms flexed as he closed the door behind him and his deep brown eyes searched the open living area until they found mine. Furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, he turned to look at the man beside — Vincent — and then something in his demeanor changed.

I had been in a Daniel-induced trance that Vincent didn't think twice about breaking as he spoke loudly and walked closer to him.

"Ah, Daniel! It's good to see you again," he said, taking his hand and shaking it as Daniel just nodded his head in return.

Daniel didn't seem as irritated by him as I was, but he also didn't seem overjoyed either. Maybe somewhere in the middle.

"Likewise," he replied unenthusiastically. "Excuse me while I go freshen up. You've taken me by surprise," he said politely to Vincent before meeting my eyes and causing my breath to hitch in my throat. "Araceli." I think I just died a little bit. "Please show him to the office."

I nodded my head in response, unable to find my words and Daniel, upon my confirmation, made his way up the stairs to get changed.

I closed my eyes and rolled them behind the hidden security of my eyelids before opening them and plastering on a fake smile. "I'll show you to the office, sir."

***

Vincent wanted me to stay.

Daniel didn't. He didn't want me present and listening into their conversation which I was grateful for because I didn't want to be there either. There was nothing I found more boring than having to listen to a conversation that I couldn't add my own two cents into. If I had a mouth, best believe I was going to use it.

"So, who was asking for you earlier today?" Emma asked as I shook two pills out of the bottle into the lid and handed it to her. I waited until she downed them and drank half the glass of water before I responded.

"Just one of your brother's business partners."

"Of course. That's why he cancelled the plans he had with me today. For business," she complained under her breath as she rolled her eyes and made her way into her bathroom in annoyance.

I cursed myself out, realizing that I probably shouldn't have told her that but searching for a way to remedy the situation. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"Don't apologise," she said rolling her eyes at me too as she walked out of the bathroom. She threw herself onto her bed and buried her head in her pillow, letting me know that she most definitely was not okay, but I knew better than to pester her.

Emma needed a friend and I was the only person she let in. I couldn't have her pushing me back out again because I was treating her like a child.

"So, how are you doing?" I asked in an effort to change the subject but of course she saw right through that.

She snorted and looked at me. "You mean my health, don't you?" she asked, making me redirect my gaze down to my feet. "No, my heart is not giving me any problems if that's what you're asking."

I only rolled my eyes at her very obvious bad mood and took a step back to give her space.

She hated it whenever people asked her about her illness and how she was coping. To her, she was perfectly capable of handling herself and she was, but whenever anyone saw her it was like they were completely looking past who she was as a person and was only seeing her condition, her crippling mental health and her multiple suicide attempts. Of course, she was doing better now but the worry was understandable.

All this she's relayed onto me because I was the only one that spoke to her like a person. To be honest, I probably would've treated her like a fragile China doll too if I had known about her condition. But alas, I didn't and so I backtalked her to hell and back and she surprisingly warmed up to me.

Checking the time on the wall clock, I heaved out a sigh and took more steps towards the door. "I'm going to have to go now, Em. Or else I'll get shit from La Bruja for 'neglecting my duties'. Again."

"You're always so busy these days," she sighed, making me roll my eyes.

"Blame La Bruja for that. She tries to keep me so busy, so I no longer have any time to fight." It seemed to be working too but that was only because I had become so hard to reach, none of the bitches that bothered me before could ever find me.

Emma didn't bother hiding the amused smile that stretched onto her lips at my words, but didn't bother acknowledging them because my issue with fighting was a whole other topic. Instead she changed the subject. "On one of your days off you have to come into town with me."

I smiled, quick to nod at the proposal because she never left the house and I supposed going out would be good for her. "I'm free on Sunday. I'll talk to you later."

"See you," she groaned before collapsing back into her bed and picking up her phone.

Upon reaching the kitchen, I was surprised to be met with a heavy silence instead of the usual chatter and shouting I was so used to. I looked around the quiet room to find someone who would spill the tea yet to my surprise, everyone already had their eyes focused on me.

"Have we all become jobless or something?" I asked, being the first one to speak up.

Suddenly, Lola, a colleague I didn't have the best of relationships with approached me. "What did you do this time?" she asked, making me roll my eyes as I walked past her.

"You must have forgotten to take your crazy meds this morning. You're talking rubbish again."

She scoffed and folded her arms over her chest at my words. "I'm talking about which bitch did you fight this time?" she said, making me turn around to her with a smirk.

"I don't quite remember, but if you want you could be the next one."

"You're a baby compared to me, Araceli," she said as she took a couple steps towards me but a maid had grabbed her arm to stop her from fully approaching me. "Don't think that just because your brother is a higher up that you can talk to me like you run shit. Compared to me, you're nothing."

I stood a few inches from her and laughed in her face. Just as I was about to insult her and her whole generation on top of that, The Witch — La Bruja — walked into the kitchen and gave us all a sharp glare. "What is going on here, ladies?"

We all muttered sounds of profanities as she had just ruined a fight that I was sure I was going to win. I was just itching to lay my fist into something and if it was Lola's horrendous face, then even better, but here she was, ruining my joy.

"What did I tell you about fighting?" she lectured us as we went about ignoring her and doing whatever we had to. We realized long ago that that was the best way to ward her off when ever she started her lectures instead of fighting back.

La Bruja, less commonly known as Margaretta, was chief maid so she oversaw all of the work that had to be done. Unfortunately, that led her to believe that she oversaw everything that went on in our personal lives as well. She was overbearing and her power kept getting to her head.

"Anyway, Araceli," she said, making me cringe and then turn around to look at her. Too many times had I been on the receiving end of her hour long lectures and I was not in the mood for it today. If she didn't want to be mouthed off by me, then she had to keep herself at bay. Luckily, lecturing me was the last thing she had time to do. "Mr. Reyes says that you should meet him in his office when you have time. There's something he wants to talk to you about."

Everyone's eyes were on me again. That's probably why they were staring at me earlier. I may have done something so bad that boss personally wanted to punish me for it. Maybe kick me out of the house and fire me.

I mean, I did get into a few fights that week, but I didn't start them this time! Or at least I didn't start all of them. Well, it was nothing out of the ordinary anyway, so I didn't know why he would suddenly feel the need to intervene. Usually, Pablo diffused these situations before they even got to Daniel's ears. Daniel himself didn't even fully care. This made no sense.

"Don't bother," a third voice joined the conversation makinh all of us snap our heads over to the doorway and after taking in who it was, the atmosphere in the room changed drastically.

I could feel the intimidation rolling off him as he scanned his eyes around the kitchen until they met mine for the second time that day. At this point, with the way my heart was beating erratically in my chest, I didn't think it was only Emma with the heart condition.

"You," he pointed at me briefly, "Be ready by ten this Saturday. You'll be coming with me on a business trip." And without even checking for my cooperation, he left because he knew that there was no way I could object.

As soon as he left, the noise in the kitchen became deafening as the girls started gossiping about me right in front my face, but I couldn't find it in me to care. Even through the poisonous and jealous glares, or the harsh words, I found a smile growing onto my lips.

Because he knew my name!

*****

What do yall think of Araceli and Daniel? Do we already have Danaceli shippers or what? Because she wishes we do.

Anyways, yall have a good day and don't forget to drink your water. Especially during these heatwaves because wtf? Wear sunscreen too.