Still keeping her back to the camera, Lulu said, “My button was loose, and you saw it without saying a word. Is that respect?” Zachary reclined against his seat, perhaps exhausted from work as he rubbed his temples.
Still, he said, “But I saw nothing… Or was there something I was supposed to see?”
He did not mean it.
Moreover, he was a normal, physically healthy man, and she was the woman he loved-he certainly had some funny ideas!
Something would be wrong with him if he was unmoved!
Lulu bit her lip to repress her displeasure for Star’s sake-she just had to be more careful from now on.
As she still kept her back to the camera, Zachary got upset and said, “You’re working for me. What’s the issue with doing as I tell you?”
Lulu was speechless-she certainly was being paid as a babysitter and should respect her employer’s request.
In fact, why was she so repulsed, as if she could not take even a minor offense?
Holding tightly onto Star, she slowly turned around, keeping her head down and refusing to meet Zachary’s eyes.
Zachary stared at her without missing a beat, intent on her making her respond.
Lulu refused, however, and kept her head down.
The stalemate lasted for minutes, and Zachary eventually gave in. “Thank you for taking care of Star…”
“It’s nothing. It’s just my job,” Lulu quickly said.
“Get some rest.”
With that, Zachary disconnected the video call.
As the screen darkened, tears trickled out of the corner of Lulu’s eyes.
Star seemed to sense her mood and stopped squeezing her rubber duck.
“Ba… Yaya…”
Lulu composed herself as she held her, whispering under her breath, “Mommy wants to watch you grow up…”
With that, she took Star for her bath, read her a story, and patted her belly, coaxing her to sleep.
As endless darkness arrived, Lulu was struck with a sense of loneliness like never before.
She only found an anchor when she held Star, her loneliness caused because of her baby’s presence.
She stared at Star’s little face, which was fleshed out with soft pudginess and looked especially adorable in her sleep.
Lulu could feel warmth all over her heart seeing her little frame, and slowly closed her eyes.
She managed to sleep soundly that night.
Time slowly ticked past, and the darkness faded as dawn arrived over the horizon.
Thud, thud, thud-
Vivian was knocking on the door early in the morning, waking Lulu up.
She glanced at Star, ensuring that she was still asleep before getting the door. Vivian was cutting a miserable figure even as she stood there, her cheeks red in frustration to see Lulu standing there comfortably in her pajamas!
“You’re really lucky, aren’t you?” Vivian growled through her teeth.
Lulu frowned, perplexed-why did she ont have to vent her frustration on her?
“What’s got your goat?” Lulu asked.
Vivian promptly spilled the beans.
“What a jinx! traveled all the way to South City just to get Mr. Slate’s favorite food, and it was such am taxing journey, but Mr. Slate wouldn’t even see me! It’s killing me how could he do this to me?! This is too much!”
Lulu stared at her, speechless.
Did she not understand the principle of doing unto others as you would govem do unto you, or thate too eager never rworked?
Not bothered by Vivian’s outburst, Lulu turned back into the house.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Vivian demanded furiously, feeling that Lulu was being dismissive of her. “Stop right there, Wendy Jones!”
Not interested in upsetting her, Lulu turned to look at Vivian pointedly from head to toe. “Don’t try to vent all your frustrations on me because Mr. Slate refused to see you. I’m not at fault-and how did you end up like that anyway?”
“You had to ask?! My car broke down on the way back, and it turns out that my phone was out of juice when I tried to call for a tow truck! I had to stay in the car the entire time and didn’t get to wash my face or brush my teeth!”
Lulu inhaled deeply. “Then go wash up before going to bed. I’m going to change too.”
“Hey!” Vivian was too frustrated to let this go, just as she dared to unleash her frustrations on Lulu and no one else. “Who do you think you are to tell me what to do?!”
Lulu was at once speechless and not interested in responding, but she scowled as Vivian kept snapping at her. “It’s very early, so you best be quiet. Otherwise, I’d have to tell Mr. Slate that you behaved poorly by yelling and waking Star from her sleep.”
Vivian’s face contorted in rage, and she was not about to calm down when she was being threatened.
Stamping her feet in frustration, she bellowed, “You’re complaining to Mr. Slate? How dare you!”
Lulu studied her calmly in turn. “Men prefer delicate, vulnerable women who depend on them, while here you are shouting like a fishwife with your face contorted uglily. And you were saying Mr. Slate refused to see you? He’d have long since fired you if he saw you like this, don’t you think?”
Vivan calmed down right then, since Lulu’s words hit her where it hurt.
She certainly had more to say but had to give up as she considered Lulu’s advice.
Whatever… she just had to consider that she was building character!
As Vivian turned quiet and soon went to bed since she was basically up the whole night, Lulu was afforded peace to wash up and take care of Star.
She certainly loved the peace of Vivian’s absence.
Star had woken up and was bawling, uncomfortable in her diaper since she had soiled it.
Lulu had long since observed that it was a pattern for her baby and brought water to wash Star’s little rump after changing her out of her diaper.
Star stopped crying soon enough, probably because she felt more comfortable.
Little teardrops still lined her reddened eyes, and Lulu thought about it before giving her a peck on the cheek.
As Star giggled happily, Lulu changed into fresh clothes and made milk for her.
The baby soon fell asleep again after being fed, and Lulu took the time to cook. After having a simple breakfast, she started to clean the house.
Fortunately, with Zachary not around, she did not have to waste her time pretending to be someone else.
Moreover, she slept well last night and felt recharged.
Still, that was when Vivian woke up since she felt too hungry.
She frowned when she saw Lulu finishing her breakfast. “How selfish you to have only cooked your own En portion and none for me?”
“If I recall, you came to help with housework,” Lulu retorted bluntly com “Would Mr. Slate keep you around or let you stay in his house, for that matter, if he knew that you were slacking off?”
Vivian was left speechless again, and she gritted her teeth as she om restrained herself and stormed off to the kitchen!
The doorbell rang again just then, and Vivian’s eyes lit up-could Zachary have returned?
She happily answered the door, only to find Ken Dawson standing outside!
“Y-You again?!”
Ken actually felt a migraine from how she used ‘again’.
Pursing his lips, he decided that he had to do something and chase her away!
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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