Chapter 6

• I quickly pulled my head up and felt offended by his words, "My ass is fine, thank you." I mocked.
• His eyes gazed over my hips, "It is not really flattering."
• My mouth opens in shock at what he has answered and I knew he was talking straightly about my ass. I clip my mouth together as I feel my cheeks a little warmer than earlier while I try to ignore his remark. I study his face, how can he keep that impassive expression on while looking at me after he was mocking my ass?
• I gasp inwardly, did he mean I am flat?
• I clear my mouth and tried to recover, "Anyways," I chirped. "I would love to discuss with you, as a parent, to talk about the needs that I can provide to your child," I added, trying to figure out how many children he has.
• Tricky question, but not for a man that is as educated as him.
• Kieran’s penetrating eyes are glued on me as he is silent for a second before he answers, "I am very particular and strict when it comes to the aid and care of my children, Miss Winchester."
• Ch... Children?
• D-Did he really say, children?
• He has children?
• Holy shit.
• "I..." I cleared my throat. "I understand that all parents are equivalently the same when it comes to their kids, Mr. Tiziano-Vetrelli." I answered with a forced smile on my face. "But I am very much knowledgeable and experienced when it comes to handling children. In fact, I love kids and it makes me feel like I am still a child at heart."
• "Good because I do not want someone who is a loafer. I want someone who is hands-on in taking care of and tutoring the kids. Carol here knows well what I am talking about." He glanced at her with strictness.
• Wow, he exudes so much.
• Carol gapes and chuckles softly as I am noticing that she is still standing there, "O-Of course. Mr. Tiziano-Vetrelli only wants what is best for his kids that is why we only give the best nannies."
• Kids.
• So he does have more than one child.
• "Before I leave you two with your private meeting so that you can discuss more things, here are some hot tea." Carol mentions as she sounded like she was in a hurry.
• It was evident that Carol acts differently in comparison to how she did yesterday. She is much on the edge compared to my interview. Right now, she seems obviously frightened and nervous to be in the same room with him. I mean, I could not blame her, being in front of this intimidating man with such difficult expression to read aside from his influence and wealth, would most definitely make you clumsy.
• "Sugar?" She glances at Kieran and then back at me as she keeps a smile on her face.
• There is silence among the three of us as I keep moving my eyes back and forth from Carol and then to Kieran then back at her. "Thank you, Carol ." Kieran breaks the silence. "But we can take care of everything from here."
• Carol fixes herself, "Well, brilliant. I will be leaving first and I shall have a discussion with you Miss Winchester after your client meeting. Would that be alright?"
• I answered with a nod, "Of course."
• "Miss Lane will be in this room." Carol gestures to the woman who’s sitting distantly behind me on a desk where she has propped a laptop and a recording device. "She is going to be monitoring and jotting down notes about your meeting, like a secretary. You do not really have to worry about her being in the room. Everything will be recorded in order for us to have proof of evidence in case something judicial is going to happen in the future."
• I nod vigorously as I shift myself to face Kieran again who is still looking at me intently and he seems to not have listened to what Carol had said. I clear my throat again as I look away from him while Carol finally takes her exit from the room. I was not expecting that I will be left here in this room face to face with him. If I knew that he would be my client, then I would not have been this clumsy and this surprised.
• "Tea?" Kieran’s voice catches my attention as I am now staring back at him. "Do you like sugar?"
• Say something, stupid. I scolded myself.
• "I... I do." I finally found my voice. "I really like something sweet but I would politely decline tea for now," I answered, finally something decent came from my mouth. "Thank you, sir."
• He nodded his head subtly, "I see you are a college student, how would you be able to juggle being a nanny and a tutor while looking after my kids?"
• "I have had a fair share of multitasking Mr. Tiziano-Vetrelli so I do not really see my studies as a hindrance to my work, most especially now that I do not have many classes since I am in my senior year."
• "You work as a bookkeeper?" He asks, far off from my answer.
• I answered with a firm nod, "Yes, part-time actually. It helped me a lot in researching for my schoolwork."
• "You mentioned you are a graduating student…" He asks calmly. I answered with a nod and chirped a yes. He tilts his head to the right as he questions, "How sure are you that your internship is not going to hinder your work as a nanny and a tutor to my children?"
• Damn, I still can not get over the fact that he has children.
• Children?!
• What, like seven of them?
• "Wouldn’t you think it would be a hindrance?" He asks coldly.
• I take a pause before I finally questioned him out of the blue, "Have you ever starved Mr. Tiziano-Vetrelli?"
• His eyes were inquisitive but cold, "But of course, after long hours of meetings."
• "Not that," I answer right away, not trying to mock him as I see the woman jotting down notes looking at me with a surprised expression on her face. "I did not mean that kind of hunger."
• "Enlighten me."
• "You know like, insanely starving." I explained politely. "Starved to the point that all you could do was cry yourself to sleep because you are too poor to buy a single piece of bread."
• He did not answer as his brows are now subtly knitted in the middle of his forehead. Of course, he has not experienced that, he is too rich to be too poor.
• "Of course not." I chuckle softly as I continued to say, "A rich man like you would never know the real meaning of starvation until starvation itself makes you feel the poorest in the world."
• There was silence as we were staring at each other for a few seconds.
• He breathes, "And where are you trying to lead this conversation, Miss Winchester?"
• "You know Mr. Tiziano-Vetrelli," I gather my thoughts as I try to be brave in front of him. "As much as I want to focus on one thing in my life right now, just to be selfish for once in my life, I can not." I lower my head as I stare at my fingers placed on top of my thighs, "One step at a time would get me nowhere so I have to study and work hard at the same time for extra cash. Hell, I would even do it for a dime and that is not only for me. I am not doing all these for me.. but... but for…." I stop myself from what I was going to say before I can start weeping in front of him. I take a deep breath in and breathed out instanstly.
• There was silence again.
• I pull my head up as our eyes meet again as I exhale heavily, "When you have other people depending on you because you are the only one they have, you can and you will do anything for survival. You can and you will do anything to have some food on your table and a roof on your head."
• I purse my lips before adding, "I have been juggling everything at such a young age and with all due respect sir, if you are concerned that my internship is going to be a hindrance to my job as a nanny and a tutor to your kids, then I assure you that it most certainly will not."
• I smile at myself feeling proud of everything that I have been through, "I have been slaving myself work after work for years just to survive Mr. Tiziano-Vetrelli. I have honed my skills in time management and multitasking from everything that happened to me. It is a cruel world out there when you are poor."
• His eyes glancing over the paper that he is holding and I assume that he is reading my file. "You go to the University of Wilsherton, right?" He ignores my amazing speech, which makes me realize that it was not even worthy of anything at all.
• But I gulp as soon as I am reminded of how I interrupted his speech and ran out like crazy.
• "Yes, sir." I answered softly.
• "Ah." He places the paperback on the table, "They offer other options for students who cannot find any companies to have their internships and to students whose schedules are far too hectic. Especially those students who are double and triple majoring."
• "Excuse me?" I muttered.
• "University of Rushton could offer you extra classes if you would not want to have your internship."
• "W-Why would not I want to have my internship?" I chuckle humorlessly even though he is looking at me with serious eyes that could kill me. "That is basically one of the best experiences someone can have in college. I mean, being able to try hands-on activities and situations that we have studied for years would be extra memorable."
• I take a pause in silence and as soon as I did, everything he is insinuating causes me to analyze what he is trying to put out on the table, "Are you implying that I should not have my internship?" I chirped instantly.
• He blinks at me before he answers, "Yes." He takes a pause as he pushes an envelope towards me, "I can offer you that amount of money that is in that folder. Hell, I can even pay you more than that."
• I grab the envelope which was labeled ‘Initial Payment’ and the moment I opened it, my eyes widens to the number of hundreds in it. "Two thousand dollars." He speaks as I pull my head up to face him. "That is your payment for the first fifteen days of work as a trial nanny and tutor, excluding the bonuses."
• Wow.
• Holy shit, wow.
• I have never held such an amount of money before.
• "If the kids will like you then you will stay for fifteen days more and you will get paid on the twenty-ninth with the same amount. So how does four thousand dollars a month of salary sound to you?"