FOUR: DISTRACTIONS.

Alex walked out of the living room with extremely slow steps. Though, he had successfully postponed his wedding, he still wasn't glad.

He wasn't a workaholic but he spent most of his time at the office. His personal assistant was literally his personal assistant. They spent almost all the time at work together and had gotten very comfortable with each other at that.

Changing his personal assistant wasn't going to be that much of a big deal. But changing it to someone who's presence he tried to avoid was a big deal.

He exhaled, as he made his way to the garden. It was a Sunday and he was spending the last day he had before officially resuming back to work at home. Dominique was home and though his mum was on a business trip, he could only imagine how she was handling things..

He didn't want to believe his dad when he said he had told her about it already thus he couldn't bring himself to call her and ask. Though it was mainly a business trip, she was also on a vacation and deserved nothing but rest throughout.

At least, until she got back to the hellhole they called a house.

"Alex?"

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his name. He didn't need to think twice though, he already knew Dominique was the one who called him.

"Dominique," he acknowledged his presence. "What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way to meet you," he said to him. "It has been a mess these past couple of days, has it not? I've heard all about it."

"All about it?"

"Just forget that for now," Dominique flashed him a suspicious smile. "You're on your way from your dad, right? Were you able to convince him to postpone your wedding?"

"Yes," Alex replied with a smile. "For as long as I want infact."

"Are you serious?" Dominique asked, wide-eyed. "Woah, how's that possible man? I thought you and your dad were both just going to scream at each other. How did you get him to agree with you?"

"By accepting to have his little mistress work as my personal assistant."

"What?!" Dominique literally exclaimed. "Elaine's going to work under you? Dude, that's insane."

.

"It is," Alex arched an eyebrow. "You seem to know a lot about this. You even know her name."

"I also know how you pretty much confronted her yesterday," Dominique nodded. "What was the reason, Alexander?"

"Excuse me?" Confused was an understatement for how Alexander felt. How did Dominique know about him talking to her and just what did he mean. "What do you mean?"

"I mean there was no reason for you to confront her pretty much scare the shit out of her. She did nothing wrong."

"Are you listening to yourself right now Dominique?" Alex felt irked. "She did everything wrong. She's the reason all of this is happening. The only reason for this madness. If not for her, my dad won't be thinking of getting married so suddenly-"

"When would you stop bothering yourself with your parents' problem?" Dominique cut him off. "If your father wants to get married, let him. He isn't a kid so don't you think you're being a bit ridiculous thinking she's the cause? Actually, I think you're just trying to look for someone to blame for your parents' sour relationship. When would you learn to leave them the fuck alone and worry about your own life?"

"This is also about my life," Alex retorted. "Because of her, my dad is getting me married."

"Oh, come on Alexander don't be silly," Dominique shook his head. "We both know she isn't the reason for that. It was always bound to happen. You're the first son and the heir to the Xavier family so of course your parents were going to force you to get married to someone they wanted whether she existed or not."

He looked away, trying to not make sense out of what Dominique was saying. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't working.

"If anything, you should be grateful to her right now," Dominique continued. "She's the only reason your dad was nice enough to have you postpone your wedding. I mean, if not for her you'd probably be trying on various wedding suits right now and sighing and whining like a lost puppy. So just get rid of your ego for once and realize the favour she's doing you."

"No," Alex replied. "She isn't doing me any favour and I'm not going to feel any ounce of gratitude towards her "

"Have it your way, cousin," Dominique pat him on the shoulder. "But you'll be working together with her from tomorrow. I believe it'll be better to put your hatred for her aside for a while."

Not giving Alex a chance to reply, he walked away.

"Ughh," Alex groaned. It was in such moments, Dominique proved to be older than him. And such moments were the types he hated the most.

He shouldn't have blamed her? If anything, he was to be grateful towards her?

Absolute ridiculousness.

Almost as he was about to finally take a temporary break from his thoughts, he stepped into the garden to spot Elaine sitting in it, few meters away from him. His first instinct was to turn and leave but for some reason he couldn't help but stay and stare.

She was seated on a chair with a table in front of her. Dressed in a rather fancy gown with her hair braided to the back, she had a plate of beef in front of her.

He scoffed at the sight. If she was that hungry, she could have eaten inside or inside her room most preferably.

He walked closer to her and noticed she was not actually eating. Arching an eyebrow, he walked even closer trying not to make a sound as he walked.

With a fork in her right hand and a knife in her left hand, she struggled to cut the beef. He looked at the plate and saw some irregularly cut beef laying on it.

He paused to watch her. She was trying to use the cutlery properly and was failing terribly at that.

He rolled his eyes and mentally sighed. Was that was he was about to get used to? Was that the type of person he was about to get used to working with every day?

Shaking his head, he turned to leave but stopped as he heard a cutlery drop to the ground. He turned and watch her bend to pick up the knife, still unaware of his presence.

Was she that lost or was she just purposely ignoring him? Wondering, he stood to watch her for longer.

She continued fighting with the cutleries in her hand, this time grunting every time she lost. Strands of her hair were slowly freeing themselves from the grip of her braids, falling in her face every time she moved. The beef on the plate now had several stab marks as she hit it with the fork even harder with every new attempt.

She was really clueless.

"What are you doing?"

He watched her jump at his voice. She got up, slightly bowed at his presence and dropped the cutlery.

"Young master," even her voice was unstable as she greeted. She could barely maintain eye contact as her eyes wandered around the garden. She seemed to be scared of him and he could only think back to him yelling at her less than twenty-four hours ago and feeling a tad bit guilty.

"What are you doing?" Alex repeated his question.

"Just," she pointed at the cutlery and then began fidgeting with her fingers.

"Eating? Are you hungry?"

"No, not at all," she replied in a hurry. "It's just that- Um, actually I-"

Alex could hear her breath quicken from the distance. She swallowed, pressing her lips together and still couldn't bring herself to say meaningful words.

"Do you not know how to use the cutlery?"

"I do," she replied, plopping into the seat. Nervously, she picked the knife with her right hand and shifted it to her left hand, the fork slipping into her right hand.

Alex shook his head.

"That's where you are getting it all wrong," she sat next to her without her permission. Watching her almost squirm, he yanked the fork and knife out of her hand and dragged the plate closer towards him. "Here. You place the fork in your left hand and the knife in your right."

"Oh," she muttered, looking at her hands. "I-"

"Then hold unto the part you want to cut with your fork and then cut with the knife in your left hand," he demonstrated, giving her quick glances as he did. "Then kindly guide the beef into your mouth with the fork."

"Oh," she muttered again, looking at the finely cut beef on the plate. "Oh."

"You're welcome," he got up, wiping his hands as he did. "Try it yourself then."

"Yeah," she sheepishly shifted to his previously occupied position on the chair. She grabbed the cutleries and tried.

"Fork on your left," Alex cautioned as she quickly switched the fork's position.

"Sorry," she said as she stabbed the beef. "I'm more comfortable using my right hand for a lot of things."

"I didn't ask you," his gaze was fixed on the beef. "Yes, like that. Cut."

"Oh my," she exclaimed and then heaved a sigh of relief. "Finally, it cut finely."

He watched her smile at the piece of beef on the plate. Her smile was short-lived though as it quickly disappeared as their eyes met.

She looked away, quickly fixing her gaze on the beef. He looked away too, mentally exhaling.

"Thanks for your help, young master," she finally spoke up. "I'm grateful."

"Don't mention it," he said with a cold voice and began walking away aware of her gaze on him as he walked.

---

"Elaine!"

Elaine raised her head up in anticipation of who called her name. It wasn't hard to guess who would call her with such enthusiasm.

"Lacy!" Her voice had equal enthusiasm as she waved her hand. "Hi!"

"Woah, what's that," Lacy said, holding her hand to stop it from waving. She looked at her hand and realized she was waving her new phone at her. "Aw, you got a phone?"

"Oh, yeah," she placed the phone in her lap as she sat next to her. "It's a new model. I barely know how to use it."

"Then ask!" She excitedly took the phone from her lap. "Who got it for you? The master or young master? Why am I still asking. Of course, it's the Master."

"Yeah you're right," Elaine replied her, watching goosebumps crawl on her skin at the memory of their earlier encounter.

It was barely thirty minutes after Young Master Alex had corrected her on her usage of cutleries. It was unexpected and strange of him to meddle in her business like that. From their previous encounters she could already tell he strongly disliked her so him having a somewhat normal encounter with her was so puzzling.

Still wrapped up in that confusion, Frank had called her to his chamber. That time, to inform her of her new job. She was glad to finally get something to do rather than staying at home uselessly but her happiness was only short-lived as Frank quickly added that she was going to be working under his son. Under Alex. Alexander Xavier!

Alongside his 'good news', he gave her a new phone and had her save his number. With a smile, she collected the phone and thanked him for giving her an opportunity to work.

"Ouu it's the newest model," Lacy stated the obvious, interrupting Elaine's thoughts. "Cool."

Elaine simply raised her eyebrows in reply.

"How are you though?" Her attention finally shifted from the new phone. "How's it over there? How are all those rich people treating you?"

Elaine paused to think knowing she couldn't give her a dishonest answer. Ever since she moved in into her fancy room with a closet filled with every fancier dresses, it all just felt weird. "Fine? I don't know, honestly. All these just feels weird."

"Right?" She pat her on the shoulder. "And how's the young master Alex? Did he confront you again ever since?"

"Confront? No," Elaine laughed at her friend’s choice of words. "Our paths have barely even crossed ever since."

She purposely skipped the part of him helping her earlier. It was still so surreal and she definitely didn't want to talk about it. Especially knowing how dramatic Lacy could be, she knew it wasn’t going to end well.

"That's a relief," she smiled. "I hope your paths don't ever cross. At least, until his anger calms down and he's finally able to wrap his head around it all."

"That's impossible," Elaine smiled in return. "Apparently, I'm going to be working as his personal assistant starting from tomorrow."

"What?!" Lacy’s voice was the loudest Elaine had ever heard. "What in the world? Oh my God."

"I know right," Elaine bit her lip. "It's real crazy."

"It's real cool," she went on. "I mean you're going from working as a maid at the Xavier Mansion to working as the personal assistant for the heir to the Xavier Group. I mean, it's insane. You're literally living the dream of every girl here. You'll be-"

"Oh, Elaine," she paused on noticing Elaine's expression.

"Yeah," Elaine nodded. "If I was just a maid, it'll have been cool. Not a maid he plans on getting married to. I'm literally going to be getting married in few months, Lacy. To a man that already has a wife and a son who hates me. A man that-"

"Shh," shushing her, she moved closer and hugged her. "Let's look at the brighter side of things, okay? Who knows, this might be just for the best so let's be positive, okay?"

"Alright," Elaine slowly hugged her back. "I will."

More than anything, she was scared. But as she looked at herself in the mirror before going to bed that night, she assured herself she was only going to look at the positive side of everything happening.

If there was any.