His Woman (18+)

Chapter I

THE MAN

Don't be ashamed to appreciate all the little things, sweetheart.

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CHAPTER I

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I COULD AGREE with most people when they said I was a bad person, but I wasn't so bad to deserve this. Or at least I didn't think I was.

The man standing in front of me, much to my dismay, was decent looking with bright blonde hair and captivating blue eyes. He seemed to be in his forties, but looked damn good for someone his age with a tall and fit physique. He seemed like the type to take good care of himself.

If only he had the personality to match.

In his defense, though, any other girl may not have found annoyance in the things he was saying. But that's where the problem came. I wasn't just any other girl. I was Araceli Constantine Cruz and my undeniable love for my boss, Daniel, had rendered me incapable of seeing hope in any other man. All I ever wanted in my life was Daniel. Nobody else.

Looking at the man, I couldn't help but feel genuinely bad for him. I could tell that he liked me and even though he could use a little bit of freshening up with his sweet talking, he was actually kind of okay if not just a tad bit too persistent. And old, but if two years between Daniel and I was just a number, then twenty between Vincent and I was no different.

It sucked that I didn't like him back. It's not like I didn't want to; I just couldn't. Out if the four years that I had been in love Daniel, he had never paid attention to me. This man, on the other hand, upon just meeting me was already showering me with his devotion, falling at my feet. My head was telling me to entertain him at least but my heart yearned for someone else.

"Tell me, beautiful," he said, snapping me out of my thoughts, "what's your name?"

"Araceli." I answered plainly.

I really wasn't in the mood to exchange pleasantries with him. It made me feel like I was just leading him on, but I couldn't abandon him. I was a maid after all, and this was my job. He had purposely requested that I - and only I - should serve him.

Leaving was just me signing my resignation letter and I couldn't do that. Not in this economy.

For a second, I considered speaking any other language I had a basic knowledge of and pretending that I didn't know English so I could get out of the confrontation. I mean, it wasn't like he would've been able to tell bad Japanese from good Japanese. Not that I knew Japanese at all, but he didn't have to know that.

Instead, I decided to respect myself and thought against it when I weighed out the possibility of the man talking about me to Daniel. I could practically hear him saying, 'that beautiful black girl that speaks Japanese'. And Daniel would be like 'who?'. What a bust.

"Ah, Araceli." There was something in the way he said my name that made me want to roll my eyes in dislike. There was nothing particularly wrong with his pronunciation, but it still felt off coming from him. Perhaps it was because I felt I was not only wasting my time, but his as well by being forced to entertain his incessant flattering due solely to obligation. "A beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

"Thank you, sir."

"You know, when I first saw you sitting by that window, I knew I could not live another day without knowing your name."

Then drop dead.

I pressed my lips into a thin line and nodded. I wasn't sure which was more extreme: his words or my thoughts, but I knew it was about time to wrap this up before I said or did something that would get me in trouble.