Daniella’s laptop does not have a password. In fact, Sandy doesn’t think it has ever been opened nor used at the time of purchase since she had to set up everything when she opened it. Either that or it has been reset to factory settings. And luckily, the house’s wifi doesn’t have a password so she was able to connect to the internet without having to think of ways on how to get that from The Nan.

 

As she had promised Charleen, she logged into Messenger and sent her a message.

 

I got in. Send me a message when you see this so I can call you. I don’t want to disrupt your work time. Or better yet, I’ll call you at around 6 when you get home. Talk to ya later.

 

She waited for a couple of minutes in case Charleen responded but it looks like she is too busy at the moment to check her phone. Sandy closed the laptop and returned her attention to her MP3 player as she stood up. She switched the song to the one she used to dance to, faced the mirror with determination and started to dance the steps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh my god, she is hopeless! This body is hopeless! Sweat already formed on her forehead and trickled down her face. She had spent a good two hours trying to break in Daniella’s body in the hopes that she would still see the graceful her. But no. Her body is still as stiff as ever. She can’t even do a simple body roll without looking like a log trying to sway to the wind.

 

She let out a loud sigh and made a face at the mirror. Well, I won’t give up. If I’m going to be inside this body, it’d better know how to dance. No matter how long or how short of a time I have. Maybe she can’t concentrate because she needs a speaker instead of just dancing to it through her earphones. But she doubts Daniella Romero even listen to music, much less own a speaker. I need a break.

 

She wiped the sweat on her face with a towel and stepped out of the room, the earphones still on her ear. She just hoped Nan wouldn’t be hanging around and standing guard at the kitchen door because she really really wanted to at least get herself something to snack on.

 

She got on the groundfloor and momentarily forgot her need to raid the kitchen when she looked around. Come to think of it, she never had any chance to actually explore the house. It was a classic house, probably built during the Spanish era, where the interiors are classic and elegant but Sandy believed some parts of the house were already renovated to be modern. She would’ve loved to see the original structure of it.

 

Fascinated, Sandy strode towards the direction of where she thinks the living room is and she marveled at the sight. It is bigger than her entire apartment, that’s for sure. And the tiles alone looks expensive. Not to mention the sectional sofa… the chaise lounge… the big wide screen TV perched on the white stucco walls… the chandelier… the bookcase… the ceiling to floor windows with curtains that Sandy believed to be a Thermal Block out Curtains which is one of the most expensive curtains that she had ever come across in a store as according to that sales guy, it comes with an acrylic coating on the back which effectively blocks out incoming light. She had joked that it would be the perfect curtain for vampires but apparently the sales guy didn’t find it funny. Probably figuring out she doesn’t have any money and he’s wasting time with her.

 

What she would give to have her grandparents live in luxury like this.

 

She was examining the bookcase, sifting through the titles to see which could be interesting to read when she heard a sound through the music on her earphones. She looked around and saw a girl… a child… hopping in the living room singing something unintelligible. Sandy gawked at her before removing the earphones out of her ears. There’s a kid in the house?

 

The child kept on hopping, playing by herself but she stopped when she caught sight of Sandy standing by the bookcase gaping at her. She gave a Sandy a wide smile before greeting, “Hello.”

 

Awww. She loved kids. That’s partly the reason why she took up Education in College because she wanted to be a teacher to kindergarteners. She approached the child and bent down to be on her height. “Hi. What’s your name?” The girl is probably around 4 or 5.

 

The child put a finger on as she looked at Sandy with her wide big innocent eyes. Before Sandy could ask where is her mother, a sound came from an open door inside the living room which she hadn’t noticed earlier. “Jana, don’t wander off!”

 

Sandy watched as Kelly came out of it balancing a stack of books in her arms. Four books fell and Sandy immediately went over to her. “Let me help,” Sandy said picking up the fallen books.

 

“Miss Daniella!” She was so startled of hearing her that she dropped all the books, one or two hitting Sandy on the head. “I’m sorry, Miss! I’m sorry!” She looked flabbergasted as she immediately scrambled to pick up the fallen books.

 

“It’s fine. Calm down,” Sandy told her as she picked up the scattered books. Most of them are thick and in hardbound cover. “Why are you carrying all these books all at one time anyway? These are heavy.”

 

Kelly was too much in panic to even answer as she gathered up all the books in her arms. Nan had told her to return all the books Adrian had scattered in his office back to the library. The child ran over to her while calling, “Mama, mama!”

 

Kelly’s face paled and immediately pulled the child to her side. “I’m sorry miss. I did not mean for my daughter to roam around.” She looked absolutely frightened. Sandy noticed there were some bruises on Kelly’s arm and she felt sorry that she had to work this hard.

 

“Oh, is she your daughter?” Sandy said with a smile. “She’s very cute. What’s her name?”

 

Kelly paused for a moment before answering, “Jana….”

 

“Jana,” Sandy repeated. “That’s a very pretty name.” She turned to the child. “Hi Jana. I’m San…. Well… why don’t just call me Big Sis?”

 

The child whom Kelly had pulled behind her back just gave her a big smile with two of her front teeth missing.  Kelly managed to get all the books and stood up and Sandy followed with the other books in her arms. “Let me help you with that,” she again insisted.

 

“No Miss. I’m fine. I can—”

 

“C’mon, Kelly. I thought we’re already friends since this morning?”

 

Kelly was just gaping at her again and Sandy sighed before taking two books from the pile she was carrying to add to hers. Kelly didn’t protest this time.

 

“So, where are we taking them?” Sandy asked.

 

“To… to the library, Miss….”

 

“The library? This house has a library? Wow.” Rich people really do have everything. She followed Kelly out of the living room, past the glass sliding doors of the courtyard and into another room with decorative carved wood door. open in awe as she saw rows of bookshelves by the walls and a grand sofa and a recliner seat with a coffee table by the closed window. Kelly placed the books on  nearby table and Sandy did the same. “Wow… this… this is my happy place,” Sandy said in awe as she also put her mp3 player on the table as she looked around. Aside from listening to music, she loved reading anything she can get her hands on. There’s nothing more fruitful than reading something with information that can add to your knowledge.

 

Kelly watched as Daniella went to the nearest bookshelf and looked through the titles with her index finger. She had never seen the woman read with all this time she had worked in this house. Daniella is really really weird now.

 

Well, it’s a good kind of weird. Kelly had thought she would go ballistic upon seeing a child wandering her home. Nan had warned her earlier when she asked if Jana could stay in the meantime as her parents went to the province and there is nowhere she can think of to go. Daniella never liked kids. So she had to make sure Daniella would never see Jana or she would kick her out then and there like what happened to a previous employee who brought her child at the house but did not expect Daniella to come home early. She was fired immediately with all her things thrown out in the street. Daniella is evil but so far isn’t evil enough to hurt a child, thankfully. But only evil enough to traumatize them.

 

Kelly was so busy studying her terrifying boss that she didn’t notice her daughter, Jana, picking up Sandy’s mp3 player and plugging off the earphones. Music came out of its speaker. And though the volume isn’t loud, Kelly jumped and saw in horror that her daughter is holding the mp3 player. “No, Jana!” She snatched the player off her hand and the earphones, her heart hammering. “I’m sorry, Miss.”

 

“Oh c’mon, it’s fine. Children are naturally curious,” Sandy said with a wide grin as she strode over to them. “How old she is?”

 

“Four…miss….”

 

Sandy took the player and turned the volume up. It was a very catchy song from the kpop girl group Blackpink. “Do you like kpop, Jana?”

 

The child is still looking at her with big eyes but she nodded and Sandy was glad she was responding now. “You do? Do you know Blackpink?”

 

The child nodded again and then started to dance in a jumping motion much to Sandy’s delight. “Oh oh oh! So you like to dance?” She put the player on the table and danced along to Jana who giggled loudly. “Oh, it’s a battle now!” She did the body roll.

 

Kelly was holding it in but the body roll… a snort came out of her which she immediately covered with her hand and Sandy gave her an offended look but then she laughed too. “I know, right? This woman doesn’t have any rhythm.” She kept on dancing and did that head flipping move of the dance. “You would be surprised if you see me in my real form. I was the best!”

 

If she wasn’t smiling, Kelly would’ve thought she was having spasms. But here she is, still trying to dance with her daughter. She didn’t realize that a smile was already forming on at the sight as it was just too funny to watch.

 

“I was really good,” Sandy kept on saying as she did another body roll with the wave of her hand. “But this Daniella woman… obviously she hasn’t danced in her life. And singing? I tried to sing earlier, and it was completely out of tune. I used to sing like Mariah Carey, y’know. I can even do the whistle tone. But this… her vocal chords are definitely not being used for singing.”

 

Kelly doesn’t understand what she’s talking about but she just nodded. “Maybe you just need to practice, Miss.” Then stopped immediately. Is that a wise thing to say to Daniella Romero?

 

“I know. That’s why I’m going to practice hard. I’m nothing but a hard worker who is only focused on getting the end goal.” Maybe it was her memory that made her body move that she forgot she isn’t in her real body and it tried to do a split.

 

“Yeoooww!!” She can only stretch her legs quite far and she felt the veins on the back of her knees popping off. “Oww oww!”

 

“Miss! Are you okay?” Kelly immediately helped her get up from that poor attempt of a split.

 

“That was such a bad idea,” Sandy muttered with a grimace as she held on to Kelly for support as she got on her feet.

 

Jana was just looking at Sandy but then performed a perfect split on the floor. Sandy gaped at her then laughed loudly. “Your child is showing me off,” she told Kelly.

 

Kelly chuckled as she looked at her daughter who got to her feet to resume her dancing. “Sorry, Miss. Jana loves to dance.”

 

“I can see that,” Sandy said then started dancing again when the next song came on, this time looking at Kelly. “C’mon join the party. Dance.”

 

“Uh… i… I don’t know how to dance….”

 

“Well, your dancing couldn’t be worse than this one.” She pointed at herself. “C’mon.” She clapped her hands and Jana giggled loudly before doing the same. “See, your daughter wants you to dance too.”

 

Kelly just gave a small laugh before trying to awkwardly move her body. Sandy’s grin got even wider. “Dancing reduces stress. Believe me. ” Then did that point thing with her fingers as she sang to the music. “Hit you with that ddu ddu ddu!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dancing with Kelly and her daughter, Jana, did reduce her stress and she had stayed inside the library after Kelly left to get back to work. Jana went with her mother but she gave Sandy a toothless grin and a wave of her hand before leaving much to Sandy’s delight.

 

And it was a very big accomplishment as she could feel Kelly finally warming up to her. Kelly had brought her an iced tea in the library and a Spam Sandwich with tomatoes and cucumber even without Sandy asking for one. And she was now smiling without that constant fear in her face everytime she talks to Sandy.  That is definitely a big development and she was so happy that she ate all the sandwich in less than a minute.

 

After that satisfying snack, she looked around the bookshelves and went to a section where there are a lot of classic novels. She picked one up and saw the book is probably very much loved as the cover is practically worn out, its spine had visible tears and lines from numerous reading and the pages are now yellowing. You can’t have tears and lines on a book’s spine if it’s left unopened in a bookshelf even after years. She wondered if Daniella owned this book. She plopped down on the reclining seat and opened it. There was a name signed on the front page.

 

Katelyn

 

Katelyn? She wondered who that is. She flipped the page to start reading.

 

She had been so caught up in reading that she hadn’t noticed the time and when she did, it was already dark outside. She yawned and decided to just continue reading tomorrow. She returned the book to where she took it and strode out of the library still yawning widely.

 

She almost jumped out of her skin when she found Adrian standing outside the door with a stony expression on his face. Sandy tried not to fidget as he looked at her from head to toe.

 

“Um… hi?” Sandy just said to break this silence between them. This terrifying silence.

 

“What are you doing?” Adrian asked, the coldness in his voice barely concealing the animosity in his tone.

 

“I… i… I was reading—”

 

“Why are you snooping around in my room?” Adrian cut her off. . He put some documents between the pages of a book which contains all the financial reports of Romeros businesses. The library is one room which Daniella would never be seen in and he thought it would be the safest place to hide every information he could gather as proof to bring down David Romero.

 

“What?”

 

“What are you looking for in my room, Daniella? Are you trying to find something to blackmail me with?”

 

“I… i… wasn’t—”

 

“Cut the crap,” Adrian cut her off again. “You used to be a better liar.”

 

“I really wasn’t!” Sandy insisted feeling so wronged to be subjected to this baseless accusation.

 

“If you’re going to lie about it, make sure you aren’t wearing my clothes,” Adrian said. “I hated you touching my things. Much less taking them.”

 

Sandy could not find any response to that since she did took Adrian’s clothes. But the way he was going on makes her feel like she did something so unforgivable! Is he that meticulous with his clothes?

 

“I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have but I don’t have anything to we—”

 

“Yes, you shouldn’t have,” Adrian cut her off again. “But you did anyway.” He gave a scoff. “You always do whatever you want. However you want. Nan!”

 

Sandy jumped when he shouted and Nan came around the corner.

 

“Make sure the sheets on my bed are changed and vacuum the room.” His eyes did not leave her as he barked his orders. “I don’t want her virus contaminating the place where I sleep.”

 

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