Chapter 4 : Quiet in the Library

As Mia holds her first paycheck in her hands, she’s struck by an overwhelming feeling of relief. She is no stranger to the demanding expectations of a service job. While she attended college, she had a year where she was an assistant manager at a high-end clothing boutique. The biggest difference between the two is that when put all her time and energy into that job, she was rewarded with a meager payment that could hardly cover keeping the lights on.

With this paycheck, however, Mia will be able to contribute to her grandparents' monthly mortgage and still be able to put seventy-five percent of it directly into a savings account.

Sure, Mia is bone tired every night, but she can handle much worse if it means this level of security.

In the past few weeks, Mia’s adjusted fairly well to the workload. Sabrina is still…not Mia’s biggest fan, but she doesn’t seem to have any complaints about her work ethic either. Mia hasn’t seen much of Elon after her first day in the house, which isn’t hugely surprising. He seems to keep to himself for the most part, so far as she can tell.

Now that she has passed the initial panic of not knowing how she would be able to survive each month, Mia can actually take a breath and reconsider her next steps. It might not have been the most rational move to accept the first job that stumbled into her path, but she chose to be grateful it worked out in the end.

That being said…with the new wave of calm hitting her, she can feel the realization dawning that this job has to be a temporary solution. Mia hadn’t spent years getting her degree in her field, taking the most grueling internships, and leaving her dream job behind just to be a maid for the rest of her life—no matter how good the pay is.

She is determined. Whatever it takes to claw her way back to the top, she will do it.

It started sending out her resume to any potential businesses in her area. But when she realizes that she hasn’t received any bites, she wonders if it’s an issue with her resume.

Of course, she’s well qualified and educated, but if Mia wants to stay current, she will have to do a lot more than just carefully select the perfect font for her resume, however. She knows that this mentality is slowly starting to affect every element of her life, but she firmly believes that if you have a dream you have to chase it.

In this exact case, this belief led her to spend a lot of time in the Dahan Estate’s library. She had accidentally come across it in her second week and promptly fell in love.

Not only was it the most comprehensive home library she had ever seen, but it was immaculately organized. She found more first-edition printings of rare books than she could count. Not to mention, books that had to have been decades older than Mia, in absolute mint condition.

The maids had a list of rooms and every task that needed to be completed in said room daily, and Mia always volunteered to take the library. No one else complained since the mere idea of being on the hook for accidentally knocking over a million-dollar book that would instantly crumble at the slightest touch wasn't attractive.

Since none of the maid staff had a reason to enter that room, it served well as a place for Mia to do some light research when she had a few minutes to spare.

After all, since every room is cleaned spotless on a daily basis, it really isn’t the most intensive task… The hardest parts are really the hours of standing on end and surprise inspections by Sabrina, who always seems to be able to see dust particles from the way she hounds Mia over something she can’t see.

None of the other maids take Mia's side, but none of them seem to pile on either, so she feels grateful for that at least.

Mia pulls a book from its spot and studies it. It is a guide for the best ways to navigate the gap between employees and their bosses, written less than twenty years ago; a soft cover that’s spine had been thoroughly flexed already that lets her instantly know it isn’t an antique. The summary on the back seems like it should make for an interesting read. After a quick survey of the hall, she takes a seat at the desk and opens the cover.

She can see a handwritten inscription above the title page that reads, “I believe in you, kid.”

Mia smiles to herself and thumbs to the introduction when she hears someone clear their throat. Her head snaps up to see Elon with both hands resting against the desk, looking down at her.

She closes the book gently and stands up, her stomach twisting aggressively. “I am so sorry, I was just taking a breather. I didn’t mean to—”

Elon shakes his head. “A little early to be slacking on the job already, aren’t we, Ms. Rodriguez? Shouldn’t you save that for at least a year from now?” His eyes are light, but despite the joking tone, she knows that there is some truth to his statement.

“It won’t happen again, I’m sorry. I just couldn't help it. I used to be in human relations before I moved here and I’m really trying to get back into that field, so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t getting rusty–”

The raise of his brows makes Mia stop mid-sentence. She profoundly wishes she could just speak to this man without immediately sticking her foot in her mouth.

“Not that I’m quitting," she tries to explain. "I just— Well, this was never supposed to be a permanent thing in the first place. I’m a maid with a bachelor’s degree, that doesn’t…” Eventually, her mouth runs out of words and she opts instead to simply look down at her feet and listen to his lecture.

“I’m not here to scold you, Mia. I delegate that kind of thing.” He motions for her to sit back down. “What were you reading?”

That isn't what she was expecting. She hesitantly sits and holds the book up for him to see.

He chuckles to himself. “What are the chances? You know, this library was my father’s. None of the books in this room are part of my personal collection, except—” He reaches out and takes the book from Mia’s hands. “For this one, right here. I’ve been looking for it for a few weeks, someone must have put it here by accident. It’s purely sentimental to me, at this point. It was a gift.”

Mia calms herself a little. “From your father? I saw the inscription, it’s really sweet. My mom used to call me that too.”

Elon opens the book and touches the inscription. “Not exactly. My mentor from my college years wrote this. He may not have biologically been my father, but he was the closest thing I had to a dad if that makes sense.”

“I’m sorry for assuming. I’m really not doing too great in this conversation, huh?” She rolls her eyes and stands up, ready to leave this room and return to her chores.

“You do seem a little on edge, though I can’t possibly imagine why.” Elon gives her a sly smile.

“I must be the worst person you’ve ever hired.” She laughs grimly.

“I think that award has to go to a young woman who was secretly collecting my hair to make a doll of me, actually.”

Mia’s eyes widen in feigned shock.

“Darn, there go my weekend plans,” she jokes. She has no idea where it comes from, but every time she's in the same room as Elon, it's just easy to act more like herself and less like his employee.

It's a struggle to balance that. For a few weeks now, she is always polite and formal with him, but Elon manages to chat with her so nonchalantly – flirtatiously even – that it's impossible for Mia to ignore.

Elon laughs. “I like it more when you’re funny. It makes me feel less like I’m talking to a caged animal.”

Mia scoffs. “I am not like a caged animal!”

“You clearly haven’t seen yourself then. Which is a shame, because I fear if you do, you may just become narcissistic, forever staring into your own reflection.”

“I can’t tell if that’s meant as a compliment or an insult.” She frowns.

Elon stares directly at her as if he's trying to tear her soul apart. The atmosphere is suddenly hotter, and it is hard for Mia to ignore the way her heartbeat quickens. “Compliment, definitely.”

“I’m a vain animal, got it. Flattery will get you nowhere then.” Mia makes her way around the desk to stand at a neutral point in the room, a few feet further away from the man in front of her.

“That is a shame, Mia, because I plan to flatter you until you stop acting like I’m going to pounce on you at any given minute.”

“Are you not?” She narrows her eyes at him.

“Not unless you want me to.” He is watching her with such intensity, that Mia wonders if he is trying to read her mind. She can feel her face getting hotter by the minute.

“A generous offer,” she responds. It is dangerous waters, she knows that much. Like playing with fire, but she can't hold herself back when Elon flirts with her like this.

“If you’ll permit me to ask, what exactly did you do before you ended up on my doorstep?”

Mia tucks a lock of hair behind her ear nervously. He seems genuinely interested in her life.

“I did a few things. I’ve always been interested in administration, but I sort of ended up in human relations. There was some crossover, but I think I ended up falling in love with it. I’ve always been better at individual communication than big groups of people. I feel like I have the room to really listen to people this way. Whereas, too often people’s needs get rolled over when you’re at the top.”

“So, let me guess, you’re bad at telling people no?”

He is right. Mia has a bad habit of wanting to please people, often to her detriment.

“I wouldn’t say that. I had to tell people no all the time,” Mia interjects, feeling annoyed he can read her so easily.

“Sure, but that decision didn’t come from you, right?" Elon sounds sure of himself. "Someone complains, you say you'll see what you can do, but eventually you have to say no because it isn't really up to you. Does that sound right?”

Mia crosses her arms, feeling the bitterness on her tongue. “You think that being the CEO means you don’t have to listen to anyone’s opinions but your own, right? You could be the best boss in the world and still not know what your employees need. It’s not exactly like they can just walk into your office and tell you what they think you’re doing wrong. Does that sound right?”

Elon tilts his head to the side, clearly intrigued. “You may have me there. Most employees are much too intimidated by me to tell it to me straight. Though, if we’re being completely honest with ourselves here…is that not exactly what you just did?” He sounds amused, but Mia should've known better.

Mia’s eyes go wide with realization. “Right. Well, clearly I’m an outlier because no other sane person would try that if they valued their job,” she says apologetically.

“And do you? Value your job, that is? I know you aren’t here that long, but I hope at least our talks are starting to grow on you.”

Mia gives him a look, unsure of what to say. “I promise, in the future, not to read your books on your dime. It won't happen again.”

“I would never ask that of you. Who do you think I am?” He hands the book back to her. “Let me know what you think, will you? I’m interested in hearing more of your thoughts about how I’m failing my employees.” Elon winks.

Mia takes the book, holding it as if it is made of pure gold. “Are you…sure?”

Elon shrugs. “Maybe when you’re done with that one, I can give you another. We can start our own book club. You’re a very passionate woman, Mia. I’m interested in seeing what else you have such strong opinions about.”

“You aren’t wrong there,” she murmurs to herself, louder than she intended.

Elon seems curious and lifts an eyebrow at her.

“Hit me with one.” He crosses his arms, breaking their intense eye contact to look up at the ceiling, holding back a grin. "A good strong opinion about something you've seen here in the past few weeks."

Mia thinks about it for a second. “Your art sucks.”

Elon breaks, bending over to cackle hysterically.

“I mean, you have all this money and you don’t have a single art piece in this house that says anything meaningful. Don't get me wrong, I know I’m an amateur, and even I can tell that each piece is made by incredibly famous artists… But none of it is saying anything real. Does that make sense?” She pauses her rant, her serious tone starting to crack as Elon continues laughing. “Stop laughing, you asked me to give you my honest opinion.”

Elon shakes his head, attempting to compose himself. “You are the strangest woman I have ever met.”

Mia grimaces. “The flattery never ceases.”

“Never.” His eyes darken as he focuses back on her.

Mia’s words get stuck in her throat.

“Mia, I—” Elon starts, before the door to the library flings open.

The two instinctively step back from each other as Sabrina steps through the threshold, her eyes flitting over between them.

“Mr. Dahan… I hope I didn’t interrupt anything important.” Sabrina’s words are sharp and Mia can't pretend she didn't see the way the woman's eyes judged her briefly.

Elon clears his throat and turns to look at her. “No. What is it?”

Sabrina seems to consider something before she focuses back on her boss. “Your brother is here.”

Elon sighs deeply and Mia fights the urge to ask him anything about it.

“Of course he is.” He looks back at Mia with a brief nod and walks out without another word.

Sabrina looks down at the book, clutched in Mia’s grasp, and shoots her daggers with her eyes. “Back to work,” she snips, before closing the doors behind her.

Mia holds the book a bit tighter, standing alone in the silent library, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with questions. Why did Elon seem uncomfortable with the news of his brother's arrival? Why is Sabrina constantly looking at her as if she's an unpleasant disease? And why does Elon treat her as if she's the most interesting and entertaining person in the world?