Chapter Six

William stared at the pile of laundry he had gathered. He was being cruel, too cruel, but it was hardly his fault if only she had apologized the other day, he would not be here thinking of ways to frustrate her life. He felt stupid playing these games, it was not like him, he was always the good one, the calm one, but he had never been lenient with anyone who had stepped on his ego, and she would not be an exception.

"Yes Sir," Emily announced her presence in the room.

"Laundry," he muttered, pointing at the pile of clothes on the floor.

Emily excused herself and came back with a basket. She picked up all the clothes and left without a word.

Willam had to admit he liked her. Not that he liked her, but he enjoyed the fact that she did not worship him as the other maids do. It made all his evil plans more effective.

He had planned more heartless things, but Katie took a liking to her, hence his resistance to getting a snake as a pet and making her take care of it.

He scoffed and frowned. He hated being bad, but he had to go through with the things he had already started. He had no idea how long he was there, but Emily's unannounced entrance made him edgier than he already was.

"For god-damned sake, when will you learn to knock?" He did not tell, he never yelled, he only spoke to her in a low hateful voice that was set to make her shiver with fear.

Emily sighed wearily. "Sorry, sir," she mumbled. "The laundry is done."

"Hand iron them," he instructed.

Emily opened her mouth to complain but decided against it. She took the basket of neat laundry and started towards the door.

"Where are you going?"

Emily did not turn, she shut her eyes, trying to contain the anger bubbling in her. "To iron your clothes," she replied, still not looking at him.

William laughed humorlessly. "I am not that stupid, I know what you maids do. Iron them here, where I can see you."

Emily didn't speak, she turned and walked to the center table to drop the clothes.

"Do it on the floor," William's voice called. "I don't want you messing up the table.

Emily still didn't look at him. She moved to a corner of the room and began ironing.

About half an hour later, William asked her to get him a glass of orange juice.

She took in a deep breath as she made it to the kitchen with none of the Reeds stopping her on the way.

None of the other maids were in the kitchen, which she took as a bonus. The maids had been asking her questions upon question about how being the personal maid to William felt. She was glad to take a break from all their giggles.

"It's not like he is going to take it," she grumbled as she sliced the orange in two.

She squeezed out the juice with her hand, added sugar, and water, and then stirred with her right index finger. "It's not like he is going to take it anyway," she mumbled again and made her way back to his room.

She remembered to knock this time. He was sitting on the bed, his legs stretched and crossed. Working, probably, on his laptop. As she had expected, he asked her to drop it on the center table.

She did as she was told and then engrossed herself in the laundry.

"What the hell is this!" William's voice yelled after almost an hour of ironing in silence. She had never heard him raise his voice. It amazed her how his voice was still beautiful, even when he shouted, it sounded like a choir melody.

It took her a minute before she noticed why he yelled. As much as she feared she might have just lost her job, she found it funny. She coughed several times to cover the laugh.

William was staring at her, his eyes screaming in panic and fear.

"Are you trying to poison me?" He lessened the volume, but it was still loud, louder than his usual tone.

Emily knew she panick, that was the sane and normal thing to do, but she couldn't do it. She decided to enjoy the show now and face the consequences later.

Williams walked over to where she was and pulled her by her arm. "I said what did you put into that thing?" Emily twitched her lips to avoid smiling. His voice was back to the normal calm voice she knew.

"Answer me!" He whispered through clenched teeth, jerking her.

"Nothing! I didn't put anything in it," she said.

"Then why does it taste like," he stopped to think of a word. "Like you!"

Emily cringed her eyebrows and sighed. "I thought you were not going to drink it," she mumbled, looking away from his eyes.

"So?"

"I did it the wrong way," she mumbled again.

"Say it!"

She tried to wiggle her arm out of his grip to no avail. "I squeezed the orange in the cup without filtering it, I added sugar and stirred with my finger," she said in a rush.

She looked up at him, his face held no emotion and every emotion. "You are crazy," he muttered and let go of her arm. "You are a maniac... Go,"he said, pointing to the door. "Get out of my room."

Emily glanced at him one last time before leaving. She might be sad but, she could not bring herself to it yet.

She was startled to see Katie at the door, ears dropping. Katie quickly pulled her out and shut the door.

"Emmy," she whispered, giggling.

Emily wasn't sure why. Do they smile while firing their employees here?

"You are so funny, why would you do that?" Katie asked as she pulled Emily to her room.

"I thought he was not going to drink it." Emily panicked. The reality of what had just happened hit her.

She had just lost her job. She blew the only chance. Her mother was much better yesterday. The Reeds family money enhanced her mother's treatment. She had blown it just like that.

"Katie, what am I going to do?" Emily held tight to Katie's hand. "I didn't mean to, I thought he wasn't going to take it! I would have made it better, Katie."

"Relax Emily, you just stepped on William's ego, he will not let you go so easily. Besides, he wants to make your stay here miserable, not leave you jobless or something."

Emily's eyes softened. "Are you sure?"

Katie chuckled, "Of course silly," she assured Emily and chuckled again.

"What's funny?" Emily asked puzzled.

"It's just strange how you and my brother hate each other and yet you are just a reflection of each other."

Emily frowned. She does not like the idea of being similar to William. "What do you mean?"

Katie let go of Emily's hand and went to sit on her bed. "You both are prideful, willful, petty, and extreme. Well, except for the part where you are considerate, and he is a perfectionist." Emily smiled. "But then he is graceful, and you are clumsy." Emily's smile fell.

Emily began walking towards Katie. "Okay, first off I am not clumsy." She was still speaking when she tripped on nothing and fell.

Katie raised her eyebrows in mockery. "You were saying?"

"Okay fine, maybe I am a little clumsy, but you cannot argue that I have anything in common with William. We hate each other!"

"Yeah, it's crazy, right?"

Emily stood on her feet and was ready to launch into a full explanation of why and how she and Williams had nothing in common. When the door burst open. She almost groaned out loud when William's face appeared there.

"Katie," he called.

"Yes Willy, Emily and I were just catching up," she said with a broad grin.

"I bet you are," he mumbled, shooting a glance at Emily. "Can I borrow her for a minute?" He asked.

"Yeah sure, just treat her the way I will treat her," she replied.

"Bye Emily, see you soon."

"Bye," Emily said softly, and followed Williams.

'I wonder why he will not let me rest. He has been in my face forever.' she thought. "My whole life chapter is not about him," she grumbled out loud.

Williams turned to look at her but did not speak.

When they were in his room, he turned into his study chair that faced her and sat on it.

"I figured, since you do not like wasting your cooking effort, you should take everything you bring me starting with this drink," he said with a wicked smirk.

Jane stared at him in horror. He couldn't possibly be serious. But his face said it all. She picked up the glass of cushion she made in the name of orange juice. She drowned it in one shot.

"Good," Williams said ruthlessly. "Now pick those clothes you ironed and trash them, I do not need them."