DEALT ( saving his soul )

Chapter Nine

Jonathan looked at the clock on the wall for the fifth time and his brows creased in confusion. It was almost thirty minutes past eleven in the night and no sign of any food tray in his room. He could feel anger growing within him at the maid's inefficiency. This was the fourth mistake only in a span of three days . He wondered if she was naturally dumb not as to understand simple instructions of what was expected of her or if she derived some weird sort of pleasure by getting into trouble.

Huffing as he rose from his bed he felt exhausted. Jonathan had had a long day with the boys. They had watched the game until six p.m then each took it upon himself to perform silly dares: Frost being the first to somersault over a table, Gregory decided to hang up side down , his two hands supporting his weight and Lan decided to spin on the floor like a ball while he just watched , a shake to his head at his friends' activities. When they finally got bored and tired, they left. Frost took up all the chocolate bars in the bowl and announced they were for the love of his life. Yes, the love of his life as he was a married man with two children despite his childish mannerisms. Gregory said he had to pay his girlfriend a visit so Lan and Jonathan were left in the house as usual.

Jonathan locked up himself in his room for a short rest then woke up two hours later then sat idly on his bed watching the television until 10 : 30 p.m when he expected dinner but nothing. Now almost an hour later, he was forced to go in search of the maid and listen to another reason why she could not fulfil her duty. How he wanted to fire her but he knew he could not.

Perhaps she fell asleep.

The thought made him slowly walk to her room then knocked the door twice. After receiving no answer he pushed open the door only to find it empty of her presence and with a new wave of anger , Jonathan went to the kitchen. With slow but angry steps , he walked in ,ready to deal with the figure hovering over the cooker but a panicked Lan in a flowery apron stopped him short and Jonathan ended up glaring at the wooden stirring spoon in his right hand as he made a pathetic attempt at smiling at a fuming Jonathan.

" Boss, I'm making lasagna ," he tried to smile .

Jonathan narrowed his eyes , " Where is she ? "

" Errr...asleep. I didn't want to wake her so - "

" Lan ? "

" Boss ? "

" I'm no fool, " his lips tightened.

" Certainly not boss, "

" Where is she ? "

" She ...she might have left, "

Jonathan could feel panic settling within him , " She quit ! "

Lan sighed, " I wish she did but no boss. "

Jonathan understood why Lan made the statement. The maid was in serious trouble that she was better off if she did indeed quit.

" Then where ? "

" She requested to go out. I never thought she'd stay this long , "

Jonathan glared, " Lan ? "

" Boss ? "

" She's only allowed ...out on Sundays ! "

" It seemed urgent - "

" Enough not to ...tell me ? "

" She's afraid of you ! "

" Regardless...I'm still Boss ...not you Lan , "

" Not my fault she's scared of you , "

" Oh ! But she likes ... you ! "

" Boss - "

" You're so kind... pretending to be ... at least ...so that she ...may like you , "

" Blue ,she can't ever be free with you if you don't take it upon yourself to communicate with her, "

Jonathan released a harsh laugh, " So that she ...may run when...she realizes that...I'm a damaged ...man who can't...construct full sentences ! "

" How do you mean Blue ? If I didn't know better I'd think you are falling for her ," Lan kept quiet and assessed the dilated mismatched eyes of his boss and friend, " Which I actually think is the case. "

Jonathan heard him whisper the last bit . He could not deny it, hell he was supposed to beat him for it but he could not do it and Jonathan did not understand why.

" If she's hurt..." Jonathan trailed off , the threat heavy in his raspy voice and glared at him before banging the door as he left the kitchen.

Jonathan plopped down on one of the cushions in his sitting room facing the front door. He could not shrug off the feeling of worry that something may have happened to his maid. Jonathan would never forgive Lan if anything of that sort happened .

Or she's with a lover?

The question transformed his features into a scowl with new hatred for the unknown lover and an urge to beat the man to a bloody mess filled him.

Looking again at the lovely clock on the wall as it struck midnight , the feeling of worry grew stronger within his heart and he decided to make an attempt of calling her. The cell rang thrice but no one answered the call , a situation that only heightened his worry and fear. He thought of waiting for a few more hours then he would try to search if the girl did not show up.

Maybe she was hurt by the comments and ran away. The thought struck him with guilt and he severely swore to himself to make sure Lan would apologize for the boys' misconduct that happened earlier when ' Kayla ' returned, that is , if she did return.

Jonathan settled that ' Kayla ' would never be allowed a day out ever again. He could not risk losing her , it was selfish but again Jonathan had lost a lot of things and he had a lot of trouble sitting around and letting this one go. Whether a lover was involved or not, 'Kayla ' was never going out again because she was his maid and that simply meant she was his.

He thought about Lan's point that Jonathan scared Kayla. He sighed. The woman was not scared but guilty and he wondered if he had anything to do with her look.

" Boss, she's back , " Lan's voice suddenly snapped him from his deep thoughts as the man rushed past him to open the door. He must have zoned out completely not to hear the door bell.

He rose quickly and hastily followed the man out, fast enough as his cane would allow. Jonathan expected , at the very least , a guilty maid pleading that he may have mercy not to fire from her job , if not, then an injured maid but what he saw was an oddity that highly baffled him.

Brightly illuminated by the compound security lights, awkwardly stood Kayla, in a dirty white coat, a boot missing from her right foot , arms stretched wide into the sky as if to relish in her glorious drunken stupor.

She made a step forward , stumbling and fell then threw the bottle in her left hand at the guard who tried to help her up.

Jonathan raised an arm and waved the guard away , leaving Lan to run to help her up.

" We don't need no dance - dance floor ! Fire fire fire , fire fire fire, fire fire fire tara , parararampampampam! Even if he - he , [hiccup ] , he fires me...I don't need no - no dance floor...para para mpam , you- you Lan ! Take me , so he may - may fire me !!! Then , I won't ne - need dancefloor ! "

Jonathan watched her slur and awkwardly walk towards him using Lan as a human support. Jonathan hated drunks and no matter what he had gone through in his life he had never drunk himself into foolishness such as the one he was witnessing in front of his eyes , strangely however disgusting the act and those who perpetrated it were to him, he could not find it within himself to be disgusted at Kayla.

" Why boss so bouncy today? Fire , fire ,fire fi- fire me and we won't need no dance floor... Paratampapapa...ramtampap! " She sung in an off beat tune as she held a finger in front of Jonathan's face.

He sighed and watched Lan literally drag the giggling woman in the house.

" Lan ? "

" Boss ? "

" Leave her, "

" B- but ? "

" Leave her , "he rasped sternly.

Lan stared confused but eventually let her lay on the couch near his boss then left the room.

" Always in a damn ma - mask ! Well , I'm waiting for you to fi-fire me !"

Jonathan crouched in front of her and creased his brows. The woman was practically begging him to fire her , but why ? Anyone would reason that she was blubbering nonsense but Jonathan somehow saw through the surface.

" Hey! Stop bo- bouncing ! Bouncy face ! "

" Kayla ?" He gently called.

" Ugly name ! [hiccup]" She countered causing Jonathan to frown.

" Fire you ? "

She giggled , " Yeah ! Parampampampam! "

"Why ? "

" So I can dance with no dance floor , "

He smiled, " And ? "

She giggled again , "tarararara ! Tarararara ! Pampampampampampam!"

" What shall I , " he paused, "do with you ? "

" Fire me ? " She casually suggested.

Jonathan sighed and got up. He struggled to remove her dirty coat but noticed her loose dress was not exactly warm. Jonathan went to his room and came back with a warm duvet then covered her up.

He stared at her face as she begun dozing off. Jonathan knew he was supposed to fire her at day break. Her act was unacceptable but he could not bring himself to do it. As he stared at the striking and most adorable face he had ever seen , he knew he was helplessly falling for her. Jonathan could not understand why she yelled , " fire me ! " in her drunken state and this was confirmation to him that the woman was actually hiding something. It made her mysterious and Jonathan was drawn in with the need to unravel it .

Jonathan shook his head and locked the door . With a final glance at her , he turned to leave the room.

" Too good for your own good, " the voice so soft he would have missed it ,stopped him cold that he looked behind him to stare at the lightly snoring Kayla on the cushion.

With a frown and deepened thoughts, he retired to bed.

*****

Jonathan contentedly sipped his tea as he watched the money stream into his bank account after a science firm implemented one of his projects. He heard a knock and he sighed tiredly . He knew his maid would be late that morning so he prepared his breakfast and shut himself in his office with a vain attempt of avoiding the maid.

Kayla pushed the door open and cautiously walked in. She held a tray in her hands , her uniform in creases and her face tired.

" Good morning Sir ? " She croaked and Jonathan did not miss the tremble in her arms.

" I'm sorry about breakfast, Sir - "

" Where were you ? "

She blankly stared at him then blinked, " I'm sorry - "

" Answer the question, "

" I came back drunk, what do you think ? " She smirked and Jonathan could see it was a bold stand she took to talk to him in that manner.

" Have a seat, "

She faltered but sat down , the tray on her lap.

" Where we you ? "

" I told you - "

" I heard , " he tapped his finger tips on the table, " I'm no fool. "

He watched her swallow.

" Where. Were . You ? "

" In a club. In a club across the street, "

He smirked , " It's name ? "

Her lips trembled , " I forgot. "

" I see, "

"Is that all , sir ? "

" No, "

" But - "

" You're lying , Kayla , "

" What ? "

" There's no club, " he paused smirking victoriously, " across the street. "

Jonathan watched a foreign sparkle in her eyes .

" I'm not telling you sir. What will you do ? Fire me , "

He realized that Kayla had lied to purposely get herself into more trouble. The devious little thing.

" No, I won't ,"

" B- but - "

" Dismissed, "

" What ? " She stared at him in confusion.

" Resume your duties , "

Kayla frowned and Jonathan could tell she was inwardly seething . She tried to place the tray on the table but he shook his head.

" Earlier next time, "

She huffed and turned to leave.

" You're too transparent , " he rasped ,his voice filled with mischief .

Kayla slammed the door and Jonathan chuckled wickedly.