CHAPTER 4

I don’t know what we’re feeling right now, Jenifer and I feel so mad of what situation we have right now.

I can’t breathe anymore because of the nervousness.

“Astrid, right?” said the Mayor.

“Y-yea ma’am,” I replied.

“No, yes ma’am!!” she shouted.

Jenifer giggled because the old lady said the wrong grammar.

“What’s laughing, ha!!” she said.

We both burst out laughing. When she dragged us inside, she immediately made us sit on the sofa and started interviewing us because she said she would explain what we were supposed to do in this huge house.

“You’re so naughty!! You, you!! Ah, just don’t laugh!!” she said angrily.

“We’re very sorry ma'am,” I said while laughing and tearing up because of what she said earlier.

“You have no manners, Samantha was right when she said you don’t have any manners!” she added.

We calmed ourselves down because we promised we wouldn’t go back to the province to clean the pigsty for the piglets—it was too dirty.

“So listen, you two!!” she shouted while pacing back and forth with a stick in her hand.

She looked scary when she got serious.

“You two are not allowed to be lazy here!! Don’t act like princesses because you’re just maids here!! I’ll repeat, you are MAIDS here!!” she told us.

I frowned because of what she said. So what if we’re maids here? She’s a maid too.

“You must wake up early, at 5:30 in the morning you should already be awake, wash your face, take a bath early because you’ll be the ones cooking breakfast,” she said.

Jen and I widened our eyes.

“No-no please, not breakfast,” I said because we didn’t know how to cook.

“And why not?” she asked us.

“Because we’re not good cookers, duh!” Jen said.

“Fine, then you’ll mop from the first floor up to the third floor, that’s where the handsome—uh, I mean, the boss’s room is!” she said.

“You’re too old to flirt,” I told her.

She glared at me and pointed her stick.

“That mouth of yours should be sealed with a zipper and brick because you talk too much,” she said irritably.

“So let’s move to the second rule,” she continued.

I took a deep breath, afraid this would be worse than the first rule about waking up early. Oh my God, I’m not used to waking up at 5:30; my exact wake-up time is 10:30 for my beauty rest.

“Second, you’re not allowed to go out at night. We don’t want you wandering around because you might get pregnant out there and get run over by a raging jumbo hotdog of a man, and then Samantha will blame us,” she said.

“It’s boring if we can’t go out. Are you going to lock us up here forever? There aren’t even any handsome guys here in this house, just your face every day,” Jenifer complained.

“True, I agree,” I said while crossing my legs.

“You’re spoiled brats!! Do you want me to hit your faces with this stick?” she threatened, so Jenifer and I went silent again.

We didn’t speak anymore—it was dangerous, she might really hit us with the stick. Samantha wasn’t here yet, so we couldn’t complain to her.

“No cellphones allowed, and by 8 PM you should already be asleep. No makeup here, and no complaining if you’re given a lot of tasks,” she said with her arms crossed.

“Everything ordered to you must be followed, and you must do your jobs well because you’re being paid,” she added.

“How much is our salary here?” I asked.

“15k a month, and you two live here for free,” she said.

Jenifer and I felt cheated because the work was so hard.

“You’ll mop, do laundry, clean the dog’s cage, fix the boss’s room, deliver his food, and if there’s no one else, you’ll cook his breakfast,” Mayora told us.

“Omyg!! This can’t be happening! And the salary is just 15k!” Jenifer complained.

“True,” I agreed.

“That’s even bigger compared to the other maids here who only start at 7k,” she said.

I sighed deeply at what she said, afraid she might reduce our salary to 7k.

“Okay, that’s it, please don’t add any more tasks,” I told her.

“There’s more—you’ll also be the personal P.A.s of our boss because he’s busy with work. Astrid, you’ll carry his things, and Jenifer, you’ll arrange them,” she said.

Jenifer and I looked at each other, feeling like we’d die early because of all the work this old lady was piling on us. I just wanted to leave and wander the streets instead of listening to her endless orders.

“And oh, you two will also do the grocery shopping every Saturday. That’s all, and I’m sure you understood because I explained it clearly,” she said.

Jenifer and I didn’t speak anymore because we started crying. I wiped my tears, realizing my eyeliner and mascara weren’t waterproof.

“And why are you crying?” she asked with a frown.

“It’s because there’s too much work and we won’t have time for spa, shopping, or partying at the bar. Omyg! I didn’t expect this,” I said, trying to calm myself because I felt like I was about to faint.

“Stop it, you two, you’re so dramatic! By the way, the boss isn’t here yet, he’ll arrive tomorrow, so the house must be spotless. Don’t forget what I said—write it down if you need to,” she reminded us.

“Sharmaine, show them their room,” she told a fair-skinned woman with curly hair.

“Yes, ma’am,” Sharmaine said. When Mayora left, Sharmaine approached us.

“Sorry about that, that’s just how Mayora is—she’s old already. You’ll just have to adjust,” she said.

Jen and I didn’t speak because we still couldn’t move on from the workload. I couldn’t believe this was what awaited me in Manila.

“Here’s your room,” Sharmaine said. When she opened it, Jen saw cockroaches—three of them!

“Omyg!! Cockroaches!!” Jenifer and I screamed.

Suddenly, everything went dark and we both collapsed to the floor.