Million Dollar Maid ✔

Chapter 12

She had every intention of returning the phone during breakfast. It was the only time before lunch when she was sure he wasn't busy working in his office, where she knew she couldn't disturb him.

She walked past the servant's dining area and into the hallway to Mr. Chastain's dining area while practising what she wanted to say in her head. It would be a lie to say that she wasn't a little scared of how he would react. Would he take it as an insult? She hoped he'd just silently accept it so she could move on.

She stopped just short of the dining area before knocking on the door but no reaction came. So she knocked again, in case he hadn't heard. No reaction again.

She debated on opening the door but that would only result in two scenarios. The first one was that he was simply ignoring her and therefore didn't give her permission to disturb him. In that case, it could be bad to open the door. The second scenario was that he simply wasn't eating his breakfast in there, in which case there was no point in opening the door.

With a sigh, she turned around to take the small box back into her room. It would have to be returned another time, then.

The only time she was guaranteed to see him was tomorrow when he'd give her a ride to town. She put the box on top of the stack of books so she wouldn't forget and turned around to go have her breakfast when a sound stopped her in her tracks.

It was a strange buzzing and it took her to realize it had come from the box. Curiously, she moved to open it only to read 'Sébastien' on the screen. Wait, was he calling her? A slight panic set in while she debated whether or not to pick up.

In the end, it seemed rude not to, so she swiped the slide to answer before bringing it to her ear. "Er- Hello?" she answered. It wasn't that she didn't know how to use a phone, that'd be stupid. She just wasn't very good at calling in general because she never knew what to say.

"Ava," Mr. Chastain's calm voice came through the other side. "What time did you want to leave tomorrow?"

"I'm supposed to meet with my friend at ten. If  that's alright for you?"

"It's fine, we'll leave at nine-thirty then. See you then."

"No wait!" she said hastily before he could hang up. "I, uh, wanted to thank you for the phone, it's super nice of you and it's a great phone but I can't accept it."

"Why not?"

"Because I-- I can't," she closed her eyes while silently reprimanding herself for not being able to come up with a better explanation.

"Alright, but look at it this way; I'm your boss and I have to be able to reach you. Consider it a work tool," he explained calmly.

"A work tool?"

"Yeah. What if I need to tell you something? I can't walk around the house just to look for you, now can I? It'd be easier for me to just call."

"Right."

"Right," he confirmed. "So just keep it, will you?"

"Alright, but only because it's for work, then," she confirmed solemnly. She still wasn't sure about it but decided to keep it for now.

"Sure. See you tomorrow."

And with that, he hung up and Ava was left to stare at the screen of the brand new phone. Her brand new phone. The shiny screen reflected her dumbfounded face back at her while she thought of what to do with it.

She was scared if she kept it on her it might break while she was working, but at the same time, she had to keep it on her in case he needed to call her. After weighing her options for a bit she decided to slide it into the pocket of her uniform dress before continuing on with her day.