The One Night Stand Returns

The next morning was one heck of a day! The morning alarm went off as early as 4 am and everyone had thirty minutes to take a shower and get dressed in their uniforms and be on their way to the living area where their roles would be distributed.

Hazel could hardly keep her eyes open during the shower.

The shower is a huge bathroom with several shower heads hanging from the walls. The lights were dim and this place was for the females only.

While others were chattering in excitement, Hazel could barely stand straight, talkless of keeping her eyes open.

It was that bad.

"Back to earth Hazel!" Chole snapped

Hazel's eyes flew open in shock. Her roommate was taking her bath already in exile she stood there, dozing off.

"When was the last time you woke up this early?" Chloe asked

"So long ago that I can barely remember hazel yawns

"Of course. You should be the first to leave miss assistant" Chole reminded

Like some word of motivation, Hazel hurries through her bath, finding her way out of the bathroom before anyone else.

How could she forget something so important? She's to assist Gwen with the distribution of chores or be the first to arrive in the living area.

This is such a huge responsibility as the other girls were watching her even if she had no idea…

Hazel puts in her uniform. A white and black dress that stops a few inches above her knee but is not too short to create chaos.

Hazel ties her hair up in a neat and firm bun before finding her way to the living area.

Much to her luck, she was the first to get there asides from Gwen who stood on the stairs, hands behind her back.

"Good morning Gwen" Hazel greets

"Morning. Good to see you woke up early" Gwen teased

"I had to" Hazel muttered

The rest of the girls join in, batch by batch, all dressed in uniforms and hair pulled away from their faces.

"Good morning everyone. I hope we had a lovely night" Gwen asked and the girls nodded

"Great. You all will be divided into groups. A group with ten members each. One would be assigned to the kitchen, another for cleaning the ground floor, another for the exterior of the mansion and the last group for the top floor. " Gwen announced

"To my right if you want to work in the kitchen and the ground floor cleaning. To my left, on two separate lines for the top floor and the exterior of the building"

In a matter of two minutes, everyone joined the group of their choice. Chloe and Lauren took to the kitchen. They've always loved cooking and this would be their chance.

"Lauren, Orna and Zeal, pick a group to head. I'll be heading to the kitchen so pick a group" Gwen announced

Hazel felt bad, now she has to move to another group. The only group with a head is the one dealing with the top floor.

Crap!

How is she supposed to avoid that crazy man now? Not like she knows him or anything but she had a bad feeling about heading that group.

Just great!

"Now that I think about it, Hazel, go to the kitchen, I'll check the top floor for myself," Gwen said after catching mischievous looks from the girls heading to that floor.

These children are always heading for one mischief or another.

Hazel sighed in relief as she headed back to the kitchen group. Chole was happy for her too. They both know Hazel had the lowest kind of tolerance for bullshit.

"Now that is decided, take to your stations"

Everyone heads towards their assigned stations, ready to start the day in welcome of the new house owner.

Gwen had handed over a food timetable to Hazel, as written by the new boss.

Half the meals were Italian

"Prosciutto di Parma, Lasagne, Gnocchi Risotto. Looks like our boss is Italian" Hazel muttered

"That shouldn't be an issue, right? We all had to take catering classes before we could join the agency" Chole pointed out

Hazel remembered how stressful it had been to join the agency.

They had to take six-month classes on catering and they had to top the class no matter what. During that six months, they learned a lot. Both foreign signature dishes and awhile a lot more. Hazel would have passed for a restaurant chef but her contract with the agency had forbidden such. Agency taught her all she knew and had to be used for the agency alone. Another six months on courtesy and how to stay 'submissive' to whoever your boss happens to be.

"Okay, let's get to work at once! For lunch, we have pasta, chicken, and dessert. We have three meals to plan now, let's get to prepping" Hazel instructed, rolling up her sleeve. All the girls put on aprons and a cap to cover their heads.

A huge amount of foodstuff was brought in yesterday and sure enough, the pantry was overflowing with foodstuff and the refrigerator with drinks of every kind.

Most especially wines dated as far back as 1800.

The wine room was fully stocked with exquisite wine glasses and a deem light, almost too deem to see anything in the room.

The kitchen had two spaces, the front end, which is visible from the dining area and the living space.

All it has is a floating island that works as a breakfast bar, two face burners and a huge refrigerator with double doors.

Then they have the back end of the kitchen where the main cooking is done. The back end is no different from that of an intercontinental kitchen. Long floating islands right in the middle of the room. Washing basin at every point and several burners on both slabs in the kitchen.

Knife slamming on the wooden boards could be heard as well as all the sizzling sounds you could daydream of.

Cooking was going on well and Hazel was of help too. She went around to inspect the peeping and taste the meals as they cooked to finish.

The red buzzer went off…..

The new boss is around.

"You all can go on. Chole is in charge while I'm gone"

Hazel washes her hand in the basin and finds her way to the front door, taking off her apron and hat and straightening her sleeves.

She had no idea how much time had passed but it was noon for sure.

The rest of the girls were lined up at the front door, heads bowed and hands In front of them. Hazel joins in quickly as the new family walk in with an unbelievable number of security men in suits.

Hazel couldn't see their faces but she could easily tell by their shoes. She counted a total of twenty men. Two lady's shoes, and a man's.

"Who heads the staff here?"

That voice made everyone shiver in fright. It took a while for Gwen to brace up and raise her head to respond.

"I am. My name is Gwen."

The man was silent.

Goodness! What Hazel would give to see what is happening but she knew they dare not break their code of conduct!

"I suppose you know your job very well, as your next breath?

"Y..yes" Gwen assured

"Good. I would love to fire the head staff and send everyone a note of warning" he gritted

"I assure you, there will be no need for such" Gwen assured with a smile.

Another silence. This is so nerve-racking!! Could someone tell them to raise their heads already?

"Dad, can we go upstairs already? My legs are killing me" a young probably teenage girl whined

"Italian"

Hazel could swear the girl pouted in annoyance.

"papà possiamo andare di sopra adesso?" She muttered

"Si.Vai a riposarti e scendi a Cena"

"Can someone show her to her room?" He asked

Gwen taps one of the girls who is to lead them to their room.

Footsteps disappeared up the stairs and vanished.

"Matteo, have all security measures taken and report back to me."

"Si"

Another striking male voice.

Another round of footsteps. All the guards were gone.

"Heads up everybody "

Finally! Hazel wanted to scream as the back of her neck was starting to ache badly.

Shit

Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!!!

NO. HELL NO!

it can't be!

Hazel wished she could just disappear into the air, never to be seen again!

It was that man from that night….

That night that haunts her dreams for a while now…. And here he was….

And he looked even more handsome in the broad daylight…

Their eyes met, startling the life out of Hazel, she blinked in confusion, not sure what to do.

Vincenzo moved closer to her, his cold expression piercing into her soul.

"I want lunch ready in five minutes. Dismissed" he ordered

Everyone scrambled all over the place, getting as far away as possible from this scary man. Hazel turns to leave.

"You"

Hazel froze in place, unable to move.

"To my library. Now"