Chapter 23

“WOW!” Penelope blurted out as soon as she got out of Nicholas’s pick-up. “I didn’t expect your house to be this simple and huge.”

Justin hauled out all her luggage from the backseat. “Is this all your things?” he asked as he pulled the large trolley bag. “What’s inside those bags? All your appliances?”

Penelope looked back at him with a glare. “I’m a girl. What do you expect me to have in my luggage? A couple of shorts and blouses? We’re not like men to just have a few clothes in our closet. We have brassieres, underwear, innerwear, and anything that could protect our body!”

Justin’s brows furrowed. “Why do you sound so defensive? I just asked you what’s inside your bags.” He shook his head. “With all these luggage bags, it looked like that you don’t have plans on leaving my house.”

“Excuse me?” Penelope arched her brow at him. “Why would I want to live with an arrogant and demanding man like you?” She crossed her arms on her chest. “If not for your son, I wouldn’t even talk to you.”

It took Penelope less than four days to train her new beauty consultant, and with the help of Grace, her clinic was more than prepared for her absence. She won’t be bothered that Grace might not get along with the new staff while she’s away because she promised to be fair and considerate to the newbie. After her duty, she packed all her things. She called Justin immediately, who showed up in front of her apartment after nightfall.

“Do you think I wanted to talk to you, too?” he smirked. “I don’t talk to a crazy woman like you.” He pushed her trolley bags towards her. “Bring them inside. I don’t have housemaids here.”

“Wait, don’t tell me that I’ll do the house chores too?” she asked with furrowed brows. “That’s not part of our agreement.”

“I know. Our agreement is also a secret, and nobody knew that I hired you to be my son’s nanny. And about Vince, the public doesn’t know anything about him.” He paused, then heaved a sigh. “But, I have a housekeeper, and she’s been working for me for almost a decade. I can trust her.”

Penelope fell silent. Yeah, right. Why did she forget about it? Justin is a known celebrity bachelor. And having a secret son could make his career lead to downfall. He can’t just trust anyone, yet he chose her to share that secret. For what reason again? Because his son got too attached to her on their first encounter.

She raised an eyebrow. “So, you have a housekeeper who only comes in?”

Justin locked his car and pulled her two luggage bags towards the vast front door. “She comes every three days. She’s a single mother of three children. That’s why I can’t ask her to stay here or come daily.”

Penelope followed the man when he walked towards the door. Instead of taking out house keys, he knocked on the door. After a couple of minutes, the door opened, and a woman who looked in her early forties held the door open for them with a warm smile on her face.

“Good evening, Sir Justin,” she greeted, then turned to her. “Welcome, Miss Penelope.”

“You knew me?” Penelope asked in surprise. “How come? I’m not a celebrity.”

Justin snorted. “I already told her that Vince’s babysitter is coming tonight,” he said, gave the luggage bags to the woman and urged her to step inside. “Laura, where’s Vince?”

“He’s in his room, watching his favorite kid’s TV show,” she said and looked at Penelope again. “Vince is excited to see you, Penelope.”

She smiled. “I’m excited to give him my presents,” she said and raised the paper bag in her hand. “Can I see him?”

“Later,” Justin said. “Let’s put all your things first inside your room. Vince would surely stick on your side and never leave you if he saw that you arrived.”

The old woman laughed. “That’s right. Vince kept asking me all day when you will arrive.”

“By the way, Penelope, this is Laura,” Justin introduced the woman to her. “She’s my housekeeper for almost…” he narrowed his eyes as if not sure of the right number of years and looked at the old woman. “Is it eight years?”

Laura chuckled. “Ten years, Sir Justin,” she corrected. “You’re just a college student when I applied to be your housekeeper.”

Justin scratched the back of his head. “But it feels like twenty years,” he said and laughed with the old woman.

Penelope watched Justin transformed in front of him. From an arrogant, snob, and demanding man, he changed to an ideal type of man: Light-hearted and kind. The way he talked to the old woman; it was as if she sees a different side of him: Justin, not a celebrity but just an ordinary man.

“I cooked the dinner,” Laura said and took the luggage bag from her. “I’ll bring your bags to your room. You and Sir Justin should eat first before going to Vince’s room.”

“But I’m not yet hungry,” she said, then turned to Justin. “Can I see him? It’s already nine p.m., he might be very sleepy now, and I want him to see me before he went to bed.”

“Okay, try to put him to bed, then join me on the dinner after,” Justin said and went to the stairs. Before he took a step, he looked back at him. “What are you waiting for? I thought you wanted to see Vince?”

Penelope blinked twice. Why did she always feel dumb every time Justin talked to her so casually? Join me at the dinner after… His words echoed in her mind. ‘Fuck,’ she thought and shook her head. When she looked at him again, his brows were furrowed while looking at her.

“Ah, where’s Vince’s room?” she asked, trying to be neutral despite the heat on her cheeks.

She heard Laura giggled beside her. “Your room is next to Vince’s room,” she said and walked towards the stairs. “Follow me, Penelope.”

There are three rooms on the second floor. According to Laura, the middle door is Vince’s room, and the two on the side are hers and Justin’s. At the end of the hallway was a door leading to the terrace. And there are indoor plants everywhere, making the hallway relaxed and comfortable.

Penelope stopped in front of Vince’s room. She knocked twice before she pushed open the door. Cackles of children on the large screen filled the room. There are toys everywhere, and on the left side was a king-sized bed. As soon as Penelope saw Vince lying on the bed, her heart jumped in excitement.

“Vince?” she called him. “Vince, Aunt Penelope is here.”

Vince moaned and tried to lift his eyelids, but because of so much sleepiness, he failed. “Mama…” he said and raised his arms in the air as if hugging her. “Mama…”

Penelope smiled. The child has fallen asleep while waiting for her. She sat on the foot of the bed and watched him sleep. She doesn’t understand why she felt happy just by looking at him. She put the paper bag on his side and kissed his forehead.

“Good night,” she whispered and decided to go into her room to change for dinner. But when she stepped out of the room, she can’t remember which room was hers. “There’s a snake plant behind my door…” she looked on both rooms and groaned to see that both the doors have a big pot of snake plants on the side. “Maybe this is mine because the doorknob looks unused.”

Penelope opened the door and peeked inside the room. Nothing was inside except for king size bed, couch, wall-attached bookshelf, and study table. So, Penelope thought that it was her room because it looked vacant—no personal things inside.

As soon as she shut the door behind her, the door on the toilet opened, and Justin stepped out in slow motion. Droplets of water are dripping from his wet hair down to his well-sculpted nakedness.

***