Daphne was ruminating over what Dion might have meant the previous night. She had asked to keep her job, but Dion was not exactly clear on his decision on her request.
………………………….last night nemory…………………………….
“I depend on this job, sir. I don’t want to lose it.”
“You got me out of bed for this?” scorned Dion. He hated that he had to get the door for Daphne, when she had only petty matters. “GET OUT!!!”
Daphne did not waste any time, she bounced instantly. Shut the door behind herself as soon as she was out.
…………………………………………………………………………………
“I mean, what did he mean by that” Daphne pondered. “Do I keep my job? Or do I move on?” She was the kitchen. Daphne could not sleep the previous night—she was very anxious about her job and so, she was the first house-help up that early. She was supposed to get started in making tea for her fellow house-helps so that all of them would be energized for the day’s work.
However, Daphne’s mind was not at work. She did not want to have to work and only find out later that she would not be getting paid. Daphne was not a charity worker.
“I must go back to him and ask again.” She was sure of her decision and then the next minute, she curled up, “Oh, but what if he gets mad again?”
She had to shake her head over again, “No, but that’s impossible. I’m pretty sure he had a good night sleep. He must be in a good mood this morning. Hey, I could go and fetch his laundry, and let’s see how he responds to that.”
She had knocked again on Dion’s door. This time the door was answered by Liam, the butler. “Is Dion in?”
“He’s in the shower. How can I help you, Daphne?”
Daphne could see that Liam was not about to let her in, voluntarily. And so, she squeezed herself in. In that very moment, she saw Dion walk out of his shower. He was dripping wet, with a towel covering his lowers privates.
“What are you doing in here?” Dion asked. He held an intimidating gaze at Daphne.
Now, Daphne felt so wrong for walking in like that, and having to walking in on a man who was undressed. She could almost hide her eyes in her palms, but Dion had pulled himself closer. She had to keep her eyes looking out for herself. “Who are you and what do you want?”
Daphne was caught off guard. Did he really not remember her?
“Little miss, are you going to speak or you are going to get out?”
“Oh, um,” Daphne now, realized something. It appeared that Dion did not remember her or that he had fired her. She had to remember the stories she had heard about Dion randomly firing people almost all the time. He probably, fired people and not remember it again. The said people would usually rush to get going; however, Dion would often forget firing them.
“Um, I was… I was just here to collect the laundry, sir.”
…………………………………………………………………………………..
The other helps could not understand why Daphne was still around. “He often forgets who he fires,” she told them. “People just panic and start packing the moments he sends them off.” It was not easy telling them how she had a sound conversation with Dion because they would not believe it. “He is not that difficult, actually. He just likes keeping up a face in public, that’s all.”
They made her prove her story. She was to replace Mrs. William on the golf trip. The golf trip was Bowman’s idea. He wanted to take his son out for golf, it was part of the activities he had planned for his son’s visit. Those were one of the moments he felt like he was bonding with his son.
However, Mrs William was not liking the idea that Daphne pitched to her, she felt that Daphne would mess things up. As head of the helps, Mrs. William felt that it was her responsibility to ensure smooth running of things on the golf outing. Each time things fell of the waggon, she felt it was her fault. “Please, Mrs William,” Daphne begged, “I promise I won’t mess up!”
“Daphne, stop! Leave the basket alone, young lady!” she finally managed to pull it from Daphne. “Maybe next time and I am not sure if sir Dion will be quite pleased to see you again. He fired you in front of everyone.”
“So, you don’t believe my story? He knows I’m still around, I promise!”
“What noise is this?!” came the intruding voice of Dion, making way into the room. With his head high, arms held back and back straight, he descended the stairs. Behind him, stood two people. The most usual people; Liam-the butler and Thandi-the personal maid.
He had caught Daphne and Mrs. William pulling the basket from each other. They each had their head bowed and held silence, now. Dion had neared already, “You again? You seem to cause trouble everywhere you go.” He was talking to Daphne. She was first in the line. “How you got here in the first place is just beyond me. You have gotten to a wrong place, ma’am. This place is not a zoo.” That shook the poor girl so hard that she could cry. “When I return, I wish to not find you here. Will you make my wish come true?”
Tears started pouring, she nodded to his request. He hurt her so much. Bowman was too late when he showed up. It was only after Dion said all that he could dig out of his system that Bowman budged, angrily, into the room, “Dion! I am waiting. What’s keeping you?”
He noticed the two people in the room, his mood was healed. It was Mrs. William and Daphne. He loved them. He loved all of the helps in his mention. They were his family when Dion was not around. “Mother William, you are looking good today.”
She smiled, “Why, thank you, Mr. Bowman.”
“You must be going somewhere fancy looking like that.”
She was going on the golf picknick with them but it seemed Bowman had not realised that. He saw Daphne all dressed up as well, and he assumed that it was Daphne who would be joining them at the picknick. “Daphne, is that you?”
She had wiped her tears by now, she faked a smile for Bowman, “Yes. In flesh and in bone.”
“I thought it goes, ‘In flesh and in blood’. You always have your ways with words.”
Bowman was acting nice and polite with workers who scrubbed their toilets. Out of disgust, Dion was walking out already—he could not stand what he saw. He felt that his father was only embarrassing himself, talking to ‘peasants’. He was making way to the car outside. It was a big van. It could carry five people and some load at the back. Bowman loved it green. Dark green.
“Come now, let’s go, little princess. We don’t want Dion leaving us behind now, do we? You and I have a lot to catch up on.” Daphne was hesitating. “Come!” Like that, she accepted the basket from Mrs. William and ran along. Bowman was driving. Unlike his son, he loved driving. Dion sat in the front seat with him. Thandi and Liam sat in the back seats, the personal maid and the butler, respectively.
Daphne soon joined them, behind at the three-seater. Dion did not seem pleased with her. “What is she doing here?”
“Who?” Bowman was starting the engine.
“Her.”
“Daphne? Oh, she’s coming with us. Why’s this mirror like this,” Bowman pulled it in to adjust it to his liking, “That’s right,” and then he slot his arm back in. “The clouds were thicker yesterday… Today seems promising. Who would want to play golf under rain?” Bowman remembered something, “Oh, yeah, my princess likes the wind. Why don’t you remind me, Daphne?” he pressed a button and a window to her side went down. “Is it alright now, dear?”
There was an incredible silence. It caused a sudden tension in the car. “Daphne? You are too quiet. Are you alright?”
“Oh, um. Yes, yes, sir. I am fine.”
“I’ll believe that for now, okay? So, Dion. What are you grumpy about today?”
Bowman knew his son to be grumpy, almost all the times. He saw Dion sitting very quietly in the car. He may had been quiet but surely, his mind-space must have been loud. He could see the frown on Dion’s eyebrows. Bowman was in deed curious on what was bothering Dion this time, “So, Dion. What are you grumpy about today?”Dion did not feel the need to answer that, he only looked away. He looked into the scene through his window. Not that he was admiring, no. He never admired anything. Not even nature itself. As far as he knew, he was perfection itself, and nothing compared. Admiring other things only lowered his standards, the way he saw it.They were far from home by now. The journey was quiet and Bowman did not like that. He thought he should break the silence. Actually, he thought he should ask Dion what had been bothering him ever since they left the mention. “So, tell me, why is there Mr. Liam and Miss Thandi following?”“Protection and maintenance.”“And the people in the car be
Bowman made sure he took his son through all the activities he had planned but Dion would not do the garden and there was no convincing him otherwise. Often, Liam would curse each time Dion called on him. Liam hated his job entirely but it paid him well and he got to see Daphne. He thought that was enough reason for him stick around.One morning, Daphne was hesitating on Dion’s door. She had to return his clothes after doing the laundry. It was unfortunate that Liam was nowhere to be seen that morning. Allegedly, he went for his morning jog. She couldn’t get him to pass on the clothes to Dion. And Daphne knew that Thandi would never help her out.Finally, a knock. He opened. He saw her. He tried to close but she pushed it open. The door hit him bad on his face. She had pushed quite hard. The extra effort was just so she could be sure he that didn’t overpower her.“Ow, I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” she tried reaching for him—“Don’t touch me!” he helped himself up.“I’m here to return your
Dion saw the things written about him on tabloids. His name was tarnished yet again. He had to remind himself that some people really wanted to destroy him, even mere maids. But Daphne’s case was not that at all. It was only ‘one thing led to another and another to disaster’ type of situation. He did not want face Daphne again; he only wanted the next day to come so that he would leave for his country already.The next day came faster than expected. It was the early hours of the morning. Dion was all packed and ready to leave that darned place. Liam and Thandi would follow him as usual. All of their bags were already tossed into the boot. Bowman was rather shocked when he saw the news. It was nothing new to see his son on the news but this time, it had gotten widespread. The people were even boycotting Dion from ever being the next CEO of his father’s company—the International Transport Service Unit (ITSU). That company employed a lot of people and these people were worried for their
Dion walked the halls of the big building, in Metallic Wholesalers. He was too excited. He couldn’t wait go there and show his face as the new CEO of the company. The respect that the people gave him was shockingly amazing. Most, if not all, of the functional managers went rushing out of their offices to welcome the only son of Master Bowman Hill. Sadly, not one of them had a shake of his hand. All Dion did was flash through the passage and look down on every hand that made way towards him. His goal was to get to his new office and there was nothing to stand in his way. They could only try and convince themselves that he was a very busy man, but little did they know that a terrible storm was rumbling above the dark clouds.In his office he found his PA. She was happy to introduce herself. Shoulders back, chest out and a broad smile, she was confident, “Terresa Fourie, your personal assistant.” She had her hand stretched out for his grip, “How are you, sir?”Dion only chose not to ente
Dion entered the premises and it showed. Every person in the building got on their toes. It was jitters and nerves. And perhaps fear. The big ITSU, that took up the largest land of Johannesburg. It was the first branch that Bowman built. He had extended it many times and renovated it many times to finally be as worthy for nominations as one of the land-markers of the town. “He’s back!” cries had begun.“What’s he doing here?”“Oh, no. What if he’s been told that I came in late five times last week? I am sacked!”“What if he knows that Brian and Zack had a fight again?”“What’s he doing here!”It was panic. As he walked through, they made way for him. They sat at their desks and each one as serious as though doing their work with passion. He paid no attention to them this time. He was on a mission. He was meeting Gabriel Wilson, his mentor. Gabriel Wilson was the marketing manager and he was previously appointed by the CEO Bowman Hill to work closely with Dion. This arrangement was don
Felicia was always jealous of Thandi—the personal maid to Dion. She had ideas of him falling in love with her. It was common for billionaires to fall in love with their maids. Dion took Thandi everywhere he went. This was for professional reason, but Felicia did not believe so. She always wanted to get rid of Thandi—she just hadn’t figured out how to.“You went to see your father. Did you take off with her?”Disgusted by Felicia’s insinuation, Dion scoffed, “What?”“She’s pretty. You don’t pay attention to me. Do not be surprised by my insecurities.”“She may be what you say, but she’s not my standard. I don’t go for those.”Thandi was taken aback by Dion’s response. She had no romantic interest in Dion, but it did sting hearing what he said about her. Dion did not care, he had no filter at all. Liam did laugh at her, it was a mimed laughter and he
It was hurtful for Liam realise how Dion did not really care for his sickness. Dion was worried about how he would look keeping a ailing employee working. A tear fell from Liam’s eye. Dion did not care, “Go away, Liam.” Dion said, “Who knows? It could be contagious,” and he walked out of the room.Thandi joined Liam at the table. She received her make-up kit back from him, “I won’t be needing these anymore. He caught me.”“I am glad he did.” Thandi said, “I was getting worried, Liam. It’s not easy seeing my best friend play around with his life like that for some person who doesn’t deserve his sacrifice.”“Don’t hate him. He doesn’t know any better.” Liam had to promise Thandi that he would go home and focus on getting better.They hit fists and she ran out to get back to her work. She found the couple—Dion and Felicia—talking in the car
“Felicia! So, you steal from him? You father has the monies, why would you do any of that?!”“Tasha, relax. Dion has given me his cards to use as I like, so I have to get constructive. My dad won’t do anything for me anymore because I am too ‘lazy and dependant’ he says. Until I prove myself to be constructive, I am all alone. Tasha it’s tough out here. Luckily, my useless boyfriend has become useful now. I just need to act fast before he catches on. I’ve also ordered some cosmetics, I’m opening a salon, slash beauty shop.”……………………………………………………………………Dion was ticking off the delivery list. He was personally training the new operation manager. He was avoiding the mistake done by the former manager whom he had fi