Chapter 2

When you hate something, but you have no choice but to adapt to it, especially if adapting to it would play a significant role in your survival, you adapt to it. Life simply gives you no choice but to adapt to it.

I wasn't a morning person, I hated the mornings, and I didn't see it as all flowers and sunshine, not at all. I saw the morning as a cloudy day, ready to pour down its wicked rain on me, and on a typical day, I would do anything within my power to avoid the rain. To avoid mornings, I always slept in, at least I used to sleep in.

When I got the job of caring for Camy and cleaning the house, I could no longer avoid the mornings because that was when my work started. I adapted to seeing the mornings.

Just like me, Camy hated the mornings, but there was no hope of her ever getting used to waking up in the morning. The school didn't affect her schedule as she still slept till 10 and got to school by 11; call it rich father benefits. For two years, I never made the mistake of waking her up until at least 10 am, but this day, she wanted to be woken up earlier than usual.

I wasn't ready to see a little ball of sunshine turn into a bit of a ball of a tantrum, but if she wanted to get up early, then who was I to complain. It was the last day of school, and she wanted to spend as much time as possible with her friend. Her wanting to get to school so early was a win for me; I could take the rug to the dry cleaners as soon as possible and get it before the clock struck 7 this evening.

Camy looked like an adorable and angry mess. Her eyes were red and puffy like she had just cried from one very horrible breakup, only she didn't. Her hair was messy, falling over her face, and her lips were set in a frown.

"Anna, leave me be." She whined out, a ring of tears lining her puffy eyes. "I just want to sleep." I was almost moved to give in to her and let her sleep, but she had requested that I shouldn't give in to her no matter what she did or said.

"You have to wake up."

"No!!!" She yelled out before plopping on her bed. "Go Away." I dragged her up, so she looked straight at me as I gave her a stern look that she didn't seem to like.

"I know you did not just use that tone on me," I whispered, hoping to affect her, and I did. She let out a sigh and scrubbed her eyes with her fist to wipe her tears and the dirt, and I knew I had gotten to her.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was light and low.

"It's fine; let's just get ready so that you can have enough time with Troy." I got up with a smirk.

"I don't like Troy, and I want to spend time with my best friend, not Troy." Just like that, I was able to get her out of bed and run around.

My day after this was not very exciting. I made breakfast and made sure that Camille ate to her fill before getting her dressed. I dropped the little girl at school, then I had her driver (yes, her father hired her a driver and got her a car too) take me to the dry cleaners from there, after which i came back. I cleaned up the whole house, made lunch and then I went to sleep again. I was sluggish, and even if I didn't let it show, all I wanted to do was sleep. The only thing different was that Camy had a play date after school and I didn't have to pick her up until 7:30pm. I was going to spend my free day wisely, and I would sleep.

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For Camille, her father was her number one hero, he was the best and even though he was never there, she still kept him on her high pedestal. Whenever she had the chance, she spoke of her father with the amount of pride a little child would, and I knew that he didn't understand that. He did not even know that. Because of this, when she saw a little opportunity to spend just a minute with Mr. Evans, she took it up without a care in the world. Even though it made her father angry.

I'll take a step back so you'd know what exactly happened. After getting the rug from the dry cleaner (it was cleaned but still didn't look as great as it used to), I picked Camy up from her play date's house and then brought her back home. She was too tired to do anything, even eat, so I put her to bed. Not having anything to do and not feeling sleepy, I scrolled through my phone, getting lost in the Instagram fashion reels that called out to me. I had no idea how long I spent going through Instagram, but I knew that Mr. Evans coming in had been the one thing to bring me back to reality by the time I was done.

"Welcome back, sir." I stood to my feet for courtesy's sake; this man was the person paying my salary. He gave me a grunt and walked towards me, unbuttoning his suit. My head was down, and my leg kept quietly hitting the floor beneath me. I had managed to catch a glance of him, and it had me drooling. It was no doubt that I had buried feelings for the man, and even if he had no idea, it seemed like he used his presence to tease me every time. Mr. Chris Evans was like something that I really wanted to have but couldn't because of how expensive it was. We were not in the same class, I was just a maid who couldn't manage to go to university, and he was the owner of many hotels and a chain of restaurants.

"Do you want anything?" I looked up, briefly catching a glimpse of his green eyes before looking back down. I was never one to look another in the eyes, neither was I one to hold a conversation, and Mr. Evans's intimidating presence was not rendering any help. I couldn't deny how captivating his eyes were and how much they tempted me to stare and get lost in them. His eyes were as green as the grass in my mother's favorite field. And just like the grass would call anyone to lay on them, his eyes drew you in.

"No, don't bother. I'm..."

"...Daddy?" He was interrupted by a sweet and tiny groggy voice coming from the stairs. We both looked up as quick as lightning to see the little girl rubbing her eyes open.

"Camy! You are up? Let's get you to bed." I moved to get her in my arms and back to sleep, but before I started climbing the stairs, she had begun sprinting away.

"No! No!! Daddy is here, I have to show you my drawing. The teacher gave it an 'A.'"

She ran towards her room, not stopping to notice that her father had not even said a word. I knew the picture she was talking about, she had worked so hard on it and I wished her father didn't mess this up. Talk of the devil, I thought to myself as Mr Evans let out a grunt, shook his head and began walking up his stairs, definitely to his room.

I watched in disbelief as he didn't spare a glance in the direction his daughter had run to, but went the opposite way to his own room. It was like he was trying very hard to avoid the little girl. I heard the door to his room shut, and I could only shake my head. Even though I liked Mr. Evans, I couldn't deny that he acted like a big annoying fool most of the time. I would have to tell Camy how her father was too tired again to check out her achievements. My legs moved me up the stairs and towards her room, although I didn't even get there before she came out.

"Where's daddy?" She looked behind me and then over the railing to see if her father was still down stairs. My eyes filled with tears, watching her long for him. When she couldn't see him anywhere, she looked up at me with so much innocent curiosity.

"Where is my daddy?" I cleared my throat, readying my heart for another shattering lie. I seemed to be doing it a lot when it came to explaining Mr. Evans's woes to his daughter.

"Camy darling." I started softly, as my knees found their way to the floor so that I could be at the same height as she was.

"You know your daddy works a lot right? And he gets exhausted...." "No!" She stomped her feet on the floor in anger, tears filling her eyes as they did my own.

"Daddy has to see my picture and see it now." And with those words, she was off, running down the upstairs hall and towards her father's room. These were the times when her bratty side came out and she got what she wanted, or all hell was going to break loose. I knew Mr. Evans wasn't going to approve of her disturbance, so I chased after her, calling for her in the process.

"Get back here, Camille," I whisper yelled at her but even if she heard me, she paid me no heed. The slippery wooden floor almost had me falling a couple of times but I managed to stay on my feet. It was one thing that a little girl was outrunning me, but it was another that I tumbled to the hard ground in an attempt to catch her.

"Daddy!" She yelled as she ran towards his room.

"Daddy come see." She was now in front of his door knocking on it like a policeman would do to the door of a murderer.

"Daddy! Daddy!!" Just as I got there, the brown mahogany door yanked open from inside and out came an angry-looking man with only a pair of trousers on.

"What the hell is going on here?" He growled out, looking from me to his daughter, then to me again. I was going to get it. I also wanted to smack his head for cussing in front of his seven-year old.

"I pay you to take care of my daughter, can't you do just that?" He was very rude and I really wanted to bang his head on the door just the way I wanted to kiss him, but I refrained from doing either of the two. He spoke like his daughter was a burden to be given away to another with the promise of a good pay

"Daddy look here, I drew this just for you." Her pale hands held up the drawing so her father could see just how talented she was. The drawing was of a man and girl sitting on a green grass and pointing out to the sun. It was of her and her father and I only hoped that seeing the picture would soften his heart and reduce his anger; it didn't.

"Go to bed Camy. I'm tired." He turned to leave but she didn't let him.

"No!! You are always tired daddy. Please don't be tired today. Just take one look." He looked straight at me "Take her to bed."

"No, just tell me what you think please." Her voice was shaky but still very loud and I knew she was not ready to back down. I couldn't believe he was being so difficult, refusing to spare a second to look at his daughter's art work. Did he even know just how important her art was to her?

"JUST TAKE ONE LOOK!"

"CAMILLE."

"Don't yell at her!" My voice wasn't as loud as theirs, but it surely was loud enough for him to get stunned.

"Excuse me?" I suddenly wished the ground would open up and swallow me, or better still, I wished the time machine my brother was always working on actually worked so I could go back in time and shut myself up.

"She's right, you are always tired and never have any time for her. Camille needs a parent and it is like you forget you have a daughter." I was going to lose my job but it didn't matter, I would happily be a maid somewhere else, as long as I didn't have to see him neglect his child in such cruel way.

"Do you forget?" Camy's naive question took his bitter green look from me for only a bit. Her eyes were filled with tears.

"You are crossing the lines." He didn't even have the guts to give his daughter an answer.

"Well I'm sorry this kicked you hard in your ego sir but you need to remember that you fought for the custody of your daughter and you got it so that means you have to be there for her. You have to be her father not just with your words, but also with your actions. You have to be there and not just throw her into the arms of a nanny. I'm not her parent, but I know more about her than you do. I am really sorry if telling you the truth is crossing the lines Mr. Evans but you should really sit up and act like a father."

I picked up Camy and began speed walking to her room, not giving her father a chance to speak. I was done for and immediately I was done tucking this beautiful girl in, I was going to pack my things. Mr. Evans would probably kick me out first thing in the morning. A part of me regretted what I had just done, but the other part had it up to my neck with his nonchalant behavior. I would go to bed and in the morning, I would go back to my mother's house.