Chapter 18 Close Contact
She continued, “This is rather good you see! Once you find that easy, cleaning his room should be easy!”
Comprehending her sentence, Isabella turned to her, “what?!”
“What do you mean what?!”, Mia asked as she gulped.
“What do you mean what do I mean?!”Isabella asked back.
“Oh! I guess Madam Paula didn't tell you then!”, Mia said out of realization.
“Tell me what??”, Isabella asked, confused.
“The Don ordered that you be the one to clean his room from now on!”, Mia said.
“What why?!”, Isabella asked, her heart beating faster.
“I don't know!”, Mia shrugged as she continued with her food.
“But, you used to clean it before! Wait did he decide that as I came downstairs?!”, Isabella asked.
“No, Madam Paula told me that when I came downstairs earlier!”, Mia answered.
She continued, “Come on! Your food’s in the microwave, eat up!”
As Mia urged Isabella to eat, Isabella sat transfixed on why The Don had made the request.
She had made up her mind to steer very clear of him and his business in the mansion, however, cleaning the room landed her in his business.
"Come farò a sopravvivere?" Isabella said to herself.
“What was that?!”, Mia asked.
“Nothing!”, Isabella said as she stood up to take her food.
She might as well have strength to do the work expected of her.
The days that followed, Isabella went with Mia to Luciano's room after his departure from the house to clean his room.
Mia was helpful enough with her explanations, Letting her know the things that needed to be done and how she should go about them.
“Mr Rossi doesn't like when you arrange stuff!”, Mia warned.
“What does that mean?!”Isabella asked, not getting the point.
“I mean he doesn't want us moving around stuff in the room. He likes everything in their original position!”, Mia explained.
“Okay! This should be easy!”, Isabella said.
“Yes it is. He’s not even in his room when you clean!”, Mia said as they changed the bedspread.
Following Mia’s explanation and warnings here and there, the day had finally come for Isabella to go up to The Don’s room and clean it alone.
She entered the room, setting the bucket down beside her legs as she closed the door behind her.
She looked up to see that Luciano hadn't made a mess, thus, she wasn't going to do much.
She made use of the vacuum cleaner, the napkins and the wipes to clean the room.
She mopped the floors soon after, sighing that she hadn't messed it up as it was just her.
Knowing just how clumsy she was, she thanked her stars that she didn't do anything wrong.
Or so she thought…
Just as she was about to step out of the room, so happy that she was doing her job well, she hit one of the vases by the water dispenser.
A mild crash was heard as she tried but couldn't save the vase.
She quickly dropped the bucket filled with water as her heart literally dropped.
“Oh God! Oh my God!”, Isabella said as she dropped to the floor on her knees right beside the broken pieces.
“How! How am I going to pay for this!?”, Isabella wondered out loud as she stood up.
Her palms suddenly turned sweaty, thus, she rubbed her hands on the side of her uniform.
“Mia!”, Isabella called out as she ran towards the kitchen, leaving the bucket and the mess she had made.
“Mia!
Mia!
Mia!!!”, Isabella called out as she kept checking the usual places Mia would normally be.
“In the kitchen!”, Mia said from a distance.
Hearing this, Isabella rushed to the kitchen.
However, her heart dropped even further seeing Madam Paula in the kitchen.
Calling Mia over and over already made Madam Paula suspicious, thus, she turned towards the entrance of the kitchen like Mia.
“Spit it out!”, Madam Paula ordered, seeing that Isabella suddenly went quiet.
Pointing towards the first floor, Isabella struggled to find words for what had happened.
“I I, something happened!”, Isabella started, getting the attention of the ladies.
“Talk to me Isabella! What happened!?”, Mia urged.
However, Isabella felt very guilt ridden that she didn't focus on what Mia was saying.
She continued, “...I broke a vase in The Don’s room!”
Mia’s eyes widened as a result of Isabella's sentence.
“What did you say!?!”, Madam Paula was the one to ask as she dropped what she was doing and approached The Don’s room.
“How did it happen?”, Mia asked, walking past her and following Madam Paula.
“It wasn't intentional!”, Isabella tried to defend herself as she wiped the sweat on her forehead, following after both women.
Isabella arrived to see Madam Paula surveying the mess she had made.
“This vase…!”, Madam Paula started, panting from the running she had to do.
“This vase was bought in an auction for a million dollars!”, Madam Paula said as she turned to Isabella.
It had been an unintentional act, but Isabella's actions just made Madam Paula dislike her even more.
“How, I'm, I didn't!”, Isabella tried to find words to refute but Madam Paula just looked at her with disdain before she faced Mia.
“Clean this up!”, Madam Paula ordered.
“Yes ma'am!”, Mia said as she looked at Isabella with pity.
“You, go stay in your room, and you stay there until The Don comes back!”, Madam Paula completed as she left the room.
Stopping in her tracks, she turned towards Isabella and said out of spite, “Try not to break anything on your way back!”
Tears starters brimming In Isabella's eyes as she held the sides of her uniform tightly.
She really hadn't intended to break the vase, but she hadn't been careful enough.
“I really didn't…!”, Isabella started as warm tears rolled down her cheeks.
“It's okay Isabella! Just do as Madam Paula said. Don't worry, I'll take care of the rest!”, Mia said to Isabella as she wiped her tears.
“Go on!”, Mia urged as Isabella left the room.
~
Having dreaded what would happen to her the entirety of the day, Isabella's mind was finally put at ease when Mia came to call her out of her room.
She had given herself a pep talk after she stopped crying.
She was going to accept whatever punishment she was going to get from Luciano.
“Are you okay?!”, Mia asked as Isabella closed the door behind her.
“I will be!”, Isabella said.