The five rooms where Flora had already taken the drapes down and pulled the sheets and blankets had been more or less the same. Flora could tell, however, that they were designed to have different personalities, as if they were designed for specific people. At first, it felt weird as she entered each room. They were roughly of the same size and layout. The types of furniture were also similar to each other. Yet, as she entered each one and did her inspections before taking down the drapes and removing the blankets and sheets, she felt as if she were entering a new house. It felt like she as if she were seeing the room of a different person, as if the room had its own personality. She had worked briefly in a hotel as a room attendant where the rooms were almost identical and, in a way, she also expected the same in the mansion. However, each of the rooms felt much different to the others and Flora sensed that different personalities could have possibly designed each room. Why that was s

Flora did not know what to do and she stood frozen by the dresser, staring at the strange vision of the young man reaching out a hand to her from behind the curtains. The young man's eyes looked dazed as if heavily intoxicated. His hand gripped the edge of the bed as he tried to pull himself up. He made a soft gasp as he emerged from between the curtains. Then, a white slender arm reached across his shoulder while another went around his bare chest like tentacles. The man looked at Flora with his dazed eyes. He lost his grip on the side of the bed and with his mouth gaped open, he slid backwards into the shadows behind the curtain.Flora stood there by the dresser for just a few moments, but it felt to her like long agonizing minutes as she did not know what to make of the scene that she just saw. Then, flabbergasted, Flora left the room in haste, trying not to make any sound. She was embarrassed at having entered the room that was still occupied with Mr. Dante’s guests and she realize

Flora wiped her face dry and was about to take fresh blankets and sheets from the storage room when she realized that she had not taken the old ones from the other rooms of the south wing. She realized that it would be more practical to finish her task of taking out the old sheets, blankets and drapes with Eva before cleaning the rooms and providing them fresh blankets and sheets.Pushing the cleaning cart in front of her, Flora was accompanied by Eva who seemed entranced at the opulent display of artwork and other artful displays in the south wing. Flora did not speak while she walked, concentrating on walking on the rich carpet and carefully pushing the cart. She avoided looking at the paintings that they passed along the corridor as she found the mysterious stares of the portraits uncomfortable. On the other hand, Eva seemed to love staring back at the portraits and marveled at the sight of the intricate details on their clothes and dresses that could have only been worn by the weal

Eva looked up from her phone and stared at Eva. “What do you want me to do?” she asked, before gluing her eyes back to her handheld device. Her face was lit by the light coming from her cellphone.“You can stay here to load the dirty items or you can be at the laundry room to unload them from the dumbwaiter,” replied Flora as patiently as she could. Then, Flora waited for Eva to reply.Eva did not reply but tapped on her phone screen excitedly as if replying to a message. She smiled as she read the text on her phone. After a moment, Eva straightened her back and was about to lean on the wall when she noticed that Flora was still looking at her. It was then that she remembered that Flora had asked her a question.“Oh, you’re still waiting,” said Eva. “I didn’t realize that you’re waiting for me to answer. I thought you’ve already decided.” Eva went back to tapping on her phone and then asked

Flora could not believe what she just heard Eva say, but she stayed silent. It was not the first time that she found herself in a similar situation. It was frustrating to say the least, but Flora believed that speaking up for herself would just exacerbate matters. She could only hope that Rosa could see through Eva and know what to believe. In the past, Flora would cry when she experienced such injustice: co-workers taking credit for her work and spreading lies about Flora while flattering and praising their managers to make themselves look good. Flora would cry, however, because she could not believe that people could do such things. For someone who believed that people are intrinsically good, she could not believe that there are individuals who could knowingly and willfully spread lies in order to lift themselves up and make themselves good in front of their managers.Flora finished peeling the vegetables and left them on the table for Eva to slice and chop. She then found