All the characters in the story are above 18 years of age.
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"Not again!" Mrs. Mason the housekeeper looked at Ellen the new maid with frustrated eyes.
It was the 4th time in 2 weeks that Ellen had dropped the picture on the mantelpiece and broken its frame. The picture had the smiling face of Alex Raymond plastered on it on whom Ellen had developed a huge crush knowing very well he would never give a second glance to a girl like her. Ellen sighed as she was pulled out of her reverie by Mrs. Mason who ordered her to wipe the glass as she got a new frame from the storeroom.
Alex Raymond was a heartthrob young, smart, exceedingly handsome and extremely wealthy. He was the only son of Mr. John Raymond and Mrs. Maria Raymond and industrialist couple who owned the largest chain of hotels in the northern hemisphere in addition to many other companies.
Girls swarmed Alex as bees swarm honey ready to spread their legs for him at a moments notice, but he was used to it and dated only decent and smart girls keeping gold diggers at bay.
Though extremely wealthy, the Raymonds were deeply religious and had not forgotten their humble beginnings.
They had raised Alex to be down to earth and humble since childhood. He was given a very reasonable allowance in childhood as any other middle-class kid, In high school, he had worked in his father's construction company during summers to support expenses his parents termed as unnecessary. He drove a normal ram 1500 truck and had taken admission into Harvard on his merit from where he would be graduating summa cum laude in business administration this year.
His mother was a devout Christian and had clearly instructed Alex to save himself for marriage and had made it clear that if he was ever caught bedding a girl out of wedlock she would make sure to get him married to her. What she never told Alex was that it was not purely out of the religious belief that she did this, she wanted to save him from some gold digger who would try to get pregnant with his child to claim a share in their fortune.
Ellen, on the other hand, came from a middle-class family but circumstances had forced her to work as a maid. Her mother died giving birth to her and she was raised by her father and stepmother but as fate would have it, her father died 2 months back in a car accident and her stepmother took a complete u-turn banishing her from the house and she was just allowed to take her clothes however managed to sneak out 1000 dollars along with her laptop and mobile phone.
Ellen had secured the only decent paying job she would get as a maid in the Raymond mansion which helped her sustain herself and enabled her to save for a part-time online degree course in the future.
She worked as a maid in the Raymond mansion and stayed in the servant quarters, the other staff especially Mrs. Mason was extremely nice to her and helped her in coming over her dad's death. She had accepted her reality and started to like her new independent life.
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Ellen's POV-
I was sitting in the garden late at night, watching the video lectures of the fashion designing course I had applied for. I was really lucky surrounded by such nice people who were genuinely concerned for me, the staff especially Mrs. Masons were very nice, they often invited me for dinner in their quarters and even did some of my assigned chores so I could focus more on my studies and finishing my degree.
I was sitting in the huge garden swing as I watched my lectures on my laptop, completely engrossed in my work when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and making me freeze from fear until I heard a very sweet voice behind me.
"I guess you are busy with something dear?" the person behind me spoke and I turned around to see Mrs. Maria Raymond standing behind me smiling.
I immediately got nervous shuffling to my feet as I started packing my stuff apologising at the same time "I'm sorry madam, I was not aware of your arrival," I said freaking out and trying to pack my things into my bag clumsily at the same time, "This won't happen again, please don't fire me, I would starve!" I said on the verge of tears.
"Relax!" she said in a calm but authoritative voice and then smiled looking at me.
"I'm not going to fire you, just sit down," she said very kindly pointing at the swing.
"O-Okay madam," I replied still very nervous.
"I presume you are the new girl?" she asked me, sitting down beside me on the swing.
"Yes madam, I joined two one and a half months back," I replied calming down a bit.
"So how old are you?" She asked again looking at me.
"18 madam" I replied.
"Why are you working as a maid at such an age?" she asked with concern in her eyes.
I told her all about my father's death and how I was thrown out by my stepmom, her expression was unreadable and I thought what was going inside her mind as I told my tale.
She looked at me with teary eyes by the time I finished my tale.
"You are a really sweet young woman, I can see how hardworking you are and I'm sure you will succeed in life," she said as she clasped my shoulder affectionately.
"Thank You, madam," I replied conscious of the fact that I was heavily blushing.
"Now go to bed, you must be tired and feel free to work here in the garden if you want," she said as she got up and left.
"My employers are nice people." I thought as I left for my quarters.
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What Ellen did not know was that Mrs. Raymond was thinking about her when she went back to the Mansion.
Mrs. Raymond's POV-
"She is such a sweet girl." I thought as I headed back towards the house. She was exactly the type of girl I wanted for Alex, I had seen the type of girls that surrounded Alex since he hit puberty and I was always worried that he would bed one of them before marriage, I would never want those girls as son's life partners. But I trusted Alex, I knew he was into dating but never slept with a girl, I was proud of my boy that he kept his promise.
I saw Lucie mason our housekeeper and a friend cum confidant of mine instructing the servants in the hall when I entered the mansion. Though she was my employee we had been very close since the time she was Alex's nanny, widowed very young she never remarried and was childless and treated Alex as her son. She was my friend and there were no inhibitions between us.