My name is Kyuui. Last, last Sunday was my 21th birthday, and yet, the only difference between today and that day was that I got half of the day off. But that's only because it happened to land on a Sunday this year. Otherwise, I'd be cleaning and doing the laundry and dishes just the same. There's not much to celebrate in my pathetic existence anyway, but I guess I'm lucky, though. I'm a maid for the Kaiba household. You see, the only thing us maids can do is compare our masters; their families, furniture, lifestyles, those things. We can't help but be big in gossip; after all, what else is there to do when one's not cleaning?

All my friends say I'm lucky. No young kids running around, making a mess the second you finish cleaning. No snobby uptight wife demanding this and that, sending you on errand after errand, giving you dirty looks if you just happen to interrupt the master. Nope, I was a maid for a bachelor and his brother. But that didn't mean things were easy for me. No, Master Kaiba is one strange man. If anything doesn't go his way, then take cover. Seriously, he has a temper worse than a pregnant woman's. The problem is, it'll never go away, unlike just the short duration in which women carry their children.

I've seen him fire so many servants that I'm surprised I'm still here. It's been five years almost, since I've been here. I still remember how I got this job. I remember because it was the most frustrating experience I've ever been through. I had heard from one of my maid friends that Mr. Kaiba was hiring. He had fired a young woman after she confessed that she was madly in love with him. That was the only thing they told me. I had recently been discharged and was living off of charity when I heard the news.

How was I fired, you ask? Well, let's just say I got into a bit of trouble with one of my employer's obnoxious kids. Can you blame me for smacking him after he left a whole ton of paint on the white carpet after I did some extensive vacuuming? I was furious. It takes ages to vacuum a whole room, especially one big enough to be its own house. He couldn't even paint, let alone well, for crying out loud, so why even bother? All that ever came out was a blob of nothing, looking horrible, and yet they were treasured. Well, I just went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, and when I came back, he had made such a huge mess. I refused to clean it, because, I just did. I threw a rag at him and filled up a bucket of water and told him to scrub it. He was ten; big enough to do that kind of work. I started cleaning at that age. But no, he had to start wailing, so I reprimanded him and smacked his hands when he wouldn't. You can deduce what happened next; so that's the end of that.

So, I went to the Kaiba household by bus. I didn't bring anything; since I had no idea he was actually going to hire me. Well, in the interview, he asked me a few questions, the routine stuff. It was going normally, until he told me to clean his brother's shirt. I was rather confused, but when he brought it out, there was this huge black stain on the white shirt. Still hesitant, I asked if he had other whites so that I could put them into the washer all together, not to waste water. He just repeated what he said before.

I was brought to the laundry room. There I found exactly what I thought I needed: bleach. So, I poured it on the shirt and stuck it into the washer. When it came out, to my dismay, the stain hadn't budged. I went over to his office again, escorted by the butler, and asked him how new the stain was. He responded with, "Are you here to tell me it won't come out?" That would have been horrible to answer yes, I mean, I was to be doing laundry, if I couldn't even do something as easy as get out a stain, then, what business did I have as his maid? I repeated my question and he responded with a quick 'yesterday.' My eyes bulged out. Something that recent wouldn't be so much trouble to get out. It didn't even fade, not slightly.

He noticed my reaction and raised his eyebrow and asked, "Is there a problem?"

I rushed to deny it whatsoever, but in the process revealed my insecurity and the fact that everything wasn't going fine. He actually seemed amused by my nervousness. In my stuttering and random playing with my hair, cut to my shoulders, he was smirking. He enjoyed people frantic and unnerving states, which bugged the crap out of me. This was not a good first impression.

There was nothing to do but to go back and try again. I tried everything. I put it in the wash five times. I tried pouring hydrogen peroxide on it and scrubbing it. Still, it wouldn't come out. I couldn't give up. To do such a thing would crush my pride, something I couldn't bear to do. If it were just created recently, then it had to come out. I spent the whole day trying to remove that stupid stain. My interview was at eight o' clock in the morning, and I was getting hungry. Looking at my five dollar watch, I noticed that it was almost eight. I had skipped lunch. I had spent 12 hours wasting my time in no success in getting rid of the stain. I decided that if nothing changed in two more cycles, I was giving up.

Actually, it was rather stupid. I knew it wouldn't matter. I knew I couldn't do anything. I just couldn't face telling him I couldn't get it out. It was like saying, Hey, I can't do my job, but hire me anyway. So, I took the shirt, still wet, and went to his office.

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that there's no way that this stain was from yesterday. I can't get it out. I tried a million times, but it didn't work. Sorry."

He looked up from his work and said, "You're still here?"

I told him sadly, "Well, after trying everything and failing, I'm giving up. Sorry to waste you're time. I guess I'll be going now."

"If you don't get a call within a week or so then you don't get the job," he said indifferently.

Then I knew I was in for quite some anxious waiting time. I needed a job, soon, and this was a great opportunity. Being his maid would have been like a promotion. Well, anyway, I obviously got the job, but I ended up getting more than I bargained for.

I had heard from others that he was so handsome and incredibly easy to fall head over heels for. I was rather disgusted by some of the details. I actually never, to this day, really thought about getting married one day. I'm going to get old. Be alone. I truly am going to die an old maid...

What I found about Kaiba was a bit disappointing. All he would ever do is work. His brother was much more sociable. We're not really friends, but at least he appreciates my hard work. Kaiba, on the other hand, blew up at me several times for something petty, like when I tried to clean in his office when he was there. He claimed I was making too much noise, but I was only dusting. It said in our contract that I had to clean the whole house. Since I was new, the other maids forced me to do it. He was in there practically 24/7, so how was I supposed to have time to clean it? Did he seriously expect me to wake up at two o' clock to clean his room?

The biggest thing that bothered me was the way he treated everyone. I knew I was a servant, but he didn't have to speak in such a demeaning manner to me and the others. He constantly kept an air of superiority around everyone. Sure, I understood he was CEO at a young age, and still is young. I believe he's one year older than me. His brother was finishing high school soon, but that wouldn't affect my job. It wasn't like the house was shrinking so he needed fewer maids.

The only thing, well, two things that kept me from not outright hating him, were the fact that he was an orphan and his good looks. Okay, maybe three, my job. I was saving up for my own house someday, after I figured out what else I could do for a living. At least I didn't have to worry about spurting out feelings of love for him.

I practically avoided him. Even though he worked at home, it's not like it was hard. I wasn't the cook. I wasn't the butler. I wasn't the bodyguard. I wasn't supposed to hang around him. Plus, my presence wouldn't be wanted; for fear that some of my unworthiness might be in too close of proximity for him, his royal highness, to bear. I swallowed my pride and cleaned his damn office when he wasn't there, two in the morning.

But once in a while, things around the house were amusing. Several times I went in to his office, early in the morning, and found that he was soundly sleeping on his desk. It was the cutest thing, but you never heard me say that. He snores, actually, rather loudly I might add, but you didn't hear that from me either. Anyway, I continued to clean, and I always looked forward to seeing him sleep on his desk. It was my way of knowing that he's not perfect, even in the business world, although he puts off differently.

On a different note, so what if I'm of lower class than him? He's a person just like me. But today, I'm mad. When I turned 21 and wanted to do something fun, something wild, I couldn't. I deserved to act selfishly. My birthday went by like it was nothing, like I was nothing. Maybe I am nothing. But I didn't want to spend my money. I've been stingy all my life. I wanted to indulge and yet I wanted to have the excuse of my lousy job as a reason to not celebrate. I wanted a reason to not have told anyone here my birthday. I didn't want to talk to my "friends" in the park.

Sitting in the kitchen right now, I'm prompted to think of the reasons behind my rash actions and the consequences resulting.

I missed my parents. They didn't even know that I worked for Kaiba. I haven't written them in years, but they probably still live in the same apartment. I wanted to visit them. My mom's birthday was a week from mine. I thought...Maybe I should get her a present. I'll make a surprise visit. But Kaiba probably wouldn't give me the day off. He doesn't care. I'm just a maid. He's a huge CEO. There's no room for understanding between us. I could sneak out and he wouldn't even know. That's what I'll do. I've got to tell the other maids. No. I don't speak with them much or see them much. It'll be fine.

I left two days ago. I thought everything should be fine. For my mother, I bought flowers earlier that morning and a diamond bracelet earlier in the week. It was her big 50. I actually wasn't sad to see that money spent.

After a few hours of a bus ride, I reached the apartment. Knocking several times, I smiled at the fact that everything was the same as it used to be.

My mom opened the door.

"Happy Birthday Mommy!!" I cried and shoved the flowers and jewelry box in her face.

She responded, "Oh, thank you! What a surprise! You've grown so much!"

That's right. She hadn't seen me since I got my first job as a maid. I was never angry or ashamed that they didn't have enough money to put me through school. I had to work and chip in so that we'd have food on the table, so I never made it through high school.

Upon opening the box, her face brightened and she exclaimed, "It's beautiful! How did you afford it?"

"Kaiba had much money to spare."

"You mean you're working for the Mr. Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corp?"

"Yeah. Oh, this is for you too," I said and gave her an envelope containing all the money I would have sent her if we hadn't lost touch, "Don't open it until I'm gone."

I stayed for a wonderful dinner and talked all night about everything with my mom. The next day, I visited my favorite music store. They would let you listen to the CDs, so I would always stay in there for hours and listen to free music when there was nothing to do. It's not like I had friends, so that's all I could do.

I decided that it would be best just to sneak back in at night, so I spent the rest of the day window shopping with my mom, since she was able to take the day off. Her masters were kind enough to give her a few days off for her birthday, and to even care.

Before I left, I promised that I would write her every week. We would stay in touch. She and dad would be all I have.

I stepped onto the bus at eight, the last round the bus made yesterday.

It was pitch black on my way back to the house, well mansion; and just my luck, it was raining. I had to walk quite a ways. It was pretty amazing that I actually made it back.

And then, I let out a huge yelp, "OW!"

STUPID ROSE BUSHES!! Was I bleeding? Reaching down to my leg, I felt blood and it started to sting. Damn. Just my luck.

Well, after successfully sneaking back in, I was rather thirsty from the long trek up, so into the kitchen I went. Turning on the lights, I inspected my wounded leg. Yes. Wounded. I'm rather dramatic. The blood trickled from below the knee to mid calf. With a wet paper towel, I dabbed the cut and rested my leg up on another chair. I sat here, thinking of my current predicament.

Deciding that after that adventure, I deserved some food, I prepared some toast. The cook wouldn't miss it. Nah. He's probably sound asleep, along with everyone except Kaiba, who's probably working away like a busy bee. Does that man know no end?

"Kyuui?"

Whoa. How coincidental.

"Oh, what a surprise Master Kaiba, good evening."

"You're dripping wet," he said, clearly expecting an explanation.

"Oh, I was just out for a walk. Stumbled on some rose bushes."

"Huh."

I started feeling guilty about leaving without telling.

The only noise was the pitter patter of rain.

When I finished my bread, done ever so slowly I might add, I say quietly, "Well, I guess I should be going to bed...uhm...good night, Master Kaiba." I started to slightly limp away, not wanting to make it bleed again.

I showered and dried myself, but as I lay on the bed, sleep didn't come.

Does he know? Did he notice I didn't clean his office? I better clean it. Let's see...three hours. There's not much to do until then. Sometimes I regret not giving the job to a newbie, but no, I'm too nice. I'm already used to waking up in the middle of the night to do that, so why should I put the burden on someone else when I'm already accustomed to it? It's practically routine. Two o' clock, I get up and take a shower to wake myself up. Two thirty I'm done, get a sip of water in the kitchen and go clean for half an hour before drying my hair and then I'm back to sleep. I don't even have trouble returning to sleep like I used to.

I opened my eyes this morning.

Hey...they sun's creeping in. I haven't watched the sunrise in ages.

CRAP! Did I fall asleep? No! It's seven! NO NO NO! What happened? I thought it was routine! Just one night of going back to sleep without cleaning ruined the whole thing? I'm sure to get fired now...but you can't fire who you can't see. But then what if he thinks I'm not doing my job? Damn. I hate times like these.

Other than that...so far everything was routine today...

I just finished dinner when Kaiba approached me.

"Kyuui."

"Hmm? Oh, yes Master Kaiba?"

"May I have a word, in my office?"

Ever so timidly I followed him into his office upon his request.

"Why didn't you clean my office the last two days?"

"...how...how did you know?" I faltered and hesitantly looked up at him.

"I may be busy, but I'm not ignorant."

I had no idea what he was talking about.

He continued, "Every morning when I enter my room, it smells like some air freshener and that only started when I first hired you. By the end of the day, it's pretty much gone. So I can tell whether you're doing your job or not."

"Well, that's very insightful."

"So why weren't you doing your job?"

I kept in mind that lies grow bigger and bigger with time.

"Okay, well, uhm...it all started with my birthday."

He looked at me strangely.

"Uh, yeah, and that got me thinking of my mom's, which was just about a week from mine. So, well, I haven't, um, well, seen her in a really long time, and it was her 50th birthday, and so...I went to visit her. I meant to clean last night, but then, I think I was really exhausted from the long bus ride that I couldn't wake up."

He didn't say anything.

"I am so, so sorry. You can deduct it from my pay. You see, I didn't mean to bother you, and wasn't planning to really spend the night at my parents, it's just that there wasn't a bus that went around that late, and I couldn't afford such a long taxi ride."

"You could have just asked me."

"But..."

"I'm not entirely heartless."

I was rather unsure how to respond to such a statement.

"But since you assumed otherwise, I am going to act that way. I am not giving you the benefit of the doubt. I expect you to be gone in two days."

"Two days?"

"I'm merely acting as you expect, am I not? As a cruel, insensitive man?"

That sounded rather bitter, actually. It was time for my second round of recklessness to kick in.

"Well, what was I supposed to expect? You go around here, treating us like we're lower than dirt. Now that I'm no longer under your employment, let me give you a piece of my mind. I work harder than all of the others, okay? They take breaks and giggle and do nonsense like that. I've been cleaning your office every night. You know I wake up at two in the morning just because you can't stand my presence so much that I can't even clean your damn room when you're there? It's my routine now. I'm practically breaking my back for you, and you can't appreciate that."

"You're just a maid!"

"No, I'm a person, just like you, but I guess you're too high up there, wherever it is, to see that. Good luck finding another person who cares about their job as much as I do, who isn't infatuated with you. I'm sick of your big ego. I'm sick of all your other businessmen who come in here, have a lousy meeting, and leave the place as if it were a dump."

"I was going to spare you this, but if you insist, you're FIRED!"

"Bite me. It's not like you care anyway, and it's not like you're actually going to take to heart what I'm saying. I bet you'll never get married, since you can't really think of anyone but yourself."

"I'm not looking for anyone."

"One day, you will, one day, you'll be all alone, old, and alone, and you'll wish you had someone. Someone to share your life's experiences, someone to talk to. You can't go on being a CEO all your life. One day, you'll be too old to handle things, but if your ego doesn't give way, someone will take over and you won't even know. You can't see that, can you? There won't be someone to take care of you, someone to spend the days with, to laugh and love. You'll feel so alone that you'll think there is no reason to live...just like me. Funny, the only difference between our futures is that you might still be rich. See, if you just look at the things that matter, we're just the same..."

"Please, we are nothing alike, and you know nothing of me."

"Whatever Kaiba," I spat with attitude, and left his office.

So here I am, in the kitchen.

But I know what I said was true. I just hope he doesn't think that I should be there for him, hell, I'd rather be alone. Tomorrow, I'm gathering my things and I'm going to move in with my parents. Now that I think about it, that's probably where I'm going to spend the rest of my life...

so, tell me what you think by reviewing. thanks.