The Butler

Chapter 15- Coping Mechanism

When I was high school, I always imagined my reunion with Damon to be more exciting and possibly romantic. We would have rushed into each other's embrace, and we would look into each other's moistened eyes. We would have slowly leaned into each other's kiss and fireworks would have exploded in the background.

But, I am thoroughly unimpressed. A simple greeting would be welcomed, but Damon just kept staring at me but not really seeing me. Maybe he didn't recognize me? I did lose a lot of weight, and I got Lasik surgery to improve my problematic eyesight. I, even, have makeup on. My blonde hair is now halfway to my back in luscious soft curls. 

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, but there was this cold aura around him. He just looked, dare I say, bored during the interview.

The knowledgeable man cleared his throat that distracted me from examining Damon further. "And my name is Henry Goldier. The normal tasks of a butler are greeting guests, serving meals, setting tables for the meals, being knowledgeable with gourmet cuisine and alcohol, cooking if there are no chefs available and lastly, managing the interior of the house and staff. Do you have any staff members to introduce to us, madam?"

"I will be hiring a maid tomorrow. I also have a guard who actually does not stay at my home."

"That's fantastic. Tomorrow, I highly suggest you introduce the chosen butler to the rest of the staff, so that he or she can lead them to your comfort," he excitedly told me.

He must really love his job.

"Will do. I've actually chosen my butler already."

He looked disappointed. "But madam, some of these butlers excel in different tasks. May I at least inform you on those choices?"

I kind of pitied him. He was looking at me with puppy eyes. I nodded.

His eyes lit up. "Starting from left to right again, Mr. Stockholm is the best chef here. He actually went to culinary school, but eventually decided to get butler training. Mr. Anderson is the most social. Ms. Park is great at managing staff. Patrick Anderson's younger brother, Max Anderson, is great at cleaning and setting tables. Mr. Sallow is knowledgeable of all types of cuisine and alcohol."

I smirked at the talent of Damon. I bet. All he ate was gourmet cuisine from all around the world, and his dad had the largest wine cellar around. His dad was a wine collector.

"Okay. Well actually, I'll be cooking. I'm pretty social, there's not a lot of staff to manage and we will be having a maid around for cleaning," I said to hint who I wanted.

"So, Mr. Sallow is the butler you desire?"

More ways than one.

"Yes. Thank you. So when can Mr. Sallow move in?"

"That's up to him. He'll have to move in unless you don't want him moving in," he said dubiously.

"No. I have a guest room upstairs, so he can move in there as soon as possible. Damon Sallow, when will you be moving in sir?"

"Tomorrow, ma'am," Damon said without looking at me. It hurt a little to see him treating me coldly. Did I possibly do something to upset him? I really tried to search for him, but I guess because his name changed, I couldn't find him.

"Sounds good. Thank you for taking your time for this interview. I'm sure my assistant asked to send someone so they can familiarize me," I smiled.

He bowed slightly and left with everyone. Back into the van.

I washed up and laid in my mattress. I didn't have a headboard or a frame. It was just my mattress that I bought with money I saved up from working multiple minimum wage jobs. 

Now I thought about it, he was a lot skinnier than before. He used to have a football athlete body. A body like Liam. He was extremely muscular, but now he lost some of that muscle mass. Don't get me wrong. He's more muscular than the average person, but he definitely didn't look like the old Damon I knew. He also had terrible dark circles as if he hasn't been sleeping. He always slept well, no matter how worried he was about a game he had. Were they overworking him? Also, what happened to his personality? He's not like the Damon I knew who was kind and always the center of attention. A person who you gravitated towards, but now he seems to have an aura that made you wary of him. I had to get to the bottom of this. I tried to get a few hours of sleep as I saw that I was worrying about Damon for a good two hours. 

Maybe I should text Nia. She was also one of the few people I have shared about my past including Damon. She would love this drama. I debated for a while and realized I wasn't even close to falling asleep. I grabbed my phone and texted her.

"Hey, you up?"

Nia responded a minute later, "getting into bed. What's up?"

"You won't believe this, but I hired Damon as my butler"

"Who's Damon," Nia asked as her short term memory was triggered.

"The hot guy who was actually my best friend but disappeared without a trace?"

"Oh right. Wait. This is like so romantic. Did you guys hug?"

"No. Actually, he acted like we've never met. I made a fool out of myself trying to examine him, but his exterior and aura was cold as ice."

"Was he still hot?"

"Yes. BUT FOCUS," I said with a smirk as I rolled my eyes.

"Right. It was during the interview. So did you choose Damon?"

"Yeah, but I don't think he cared. I don't know what happened to him, but he's so different from the past."

"Probably something bad happened to him that made him change like that. A coping mechanism, perhaps?"

I read the last message Nia sent. I turned off my phone screen and kept repeating it in my head until I fell asleep. A coping mechanism for something bad that happened to him.