For Better or for Worse

Alex Gaskarth was...underprivileged, well that was the word he prefered to use anyway he hated saying he was poor, but recently things have been a little better for the twenty five year old due to the fact that he had got a job as a cleaner for the Barakats. Alex was more than lucky to get that job seeing as the Barakat’s hardly ever employed new people, and they especially never employed people who had hardly any skills, just like Alex.

The first day Alex started his new job, was apparently a highly important day for the young Master Barakat, as this was to be the day he was going to become engaged to Miss Leydiah O’Brian, and Alex was under strict instructions to stay out of sight everyone as it wouldn’t be proper for the cleaner to be around on such a special occasion; and that was exactly what Alex did. All day Alex was doing little household tasks, which were usually reserved for the female maids, but Alex had been employed purely for. He cleaned everything, from the chambers of the family down to kitchens and the pantry, it was very safe to say that Alex was very good at his job. He had just finished everything when he was asked to go and lay the fire in the drawing room just in case the small party would like to go into the room later on, and of course Alex jumped at the chance of doing so as he wanted to see as much as the house as possible.

Once he had taken everything he needed to the job, Alex made his way to the drawing room and laid the sheet down and started to lay the coals in the fire. What Alex didn’t realise, was that he was going to get completely filthy laying the fire, his hands were turning black and his shirt became even grubbier than what it was during the day but still he continued. He was just about to finish when he heard the door open and somebody walk in, he jumped and gasped and stood in the way he had practised many times that day. His back was straight and his hands were behind his back as he took a few deep breaths, a little bit worried due to the fact that he was told to not be seen, yet that’s exactly what had happened. He bit his lip gently before he started to talk.

“S-sorry, sir, I-I was just laying the fire” He inwardly cursed at his stutter before calming himself down and staying in his professional stance. It seemed like hours until, Master Barakat, Alex had only just realised who it was, dismissively waved his hand and told him to carry on. As soon as the words left his superiors mouth, Alex had turned around and was back on the floor to continue his job of laying the fire. Within a matter of minutes Alex had finished the job and very carefully and very quietly packed away all of the utensils he used to lay the fire. He stood up and folded the sheet he was kneeling on and draped it over his arm. He turned around and bit his lip gently as he looked to his employer.

"Sir?" His heartbeat picked up a little bit as the man looked up, eyes burning into Alex’s skin. He took a shaky breath before he spoke up again. "Tell me to mind my own business, sir, but are you okay? You seem to be shaking your head a lot." He shifted from foot to foot as he looked at rich man in front of him. Alex started to feel the nerves building up in his stomach when Jack only stood staring at him, he almost felt sick when he realised that Jack was taking in his appearance. Alex knew he looked more than scruffy at that moment, he knew that his shirt was grubby and that his boots were practically falling apart, he was also more than aware that his hair was dirtied with sweat and grease from him constantly pushing his fingers through his hair throughout the day. As the man’s eyes made his way back up to Alex’s face, Alex could have sworn that he tasted bile in his mouth, not because he was disgusted by his employer, but because he felt sick with nerves.

“Not really, I've had a very eventful night." Alex could only nod as he listened, of course his elder had very eventful night; he just got engaged. His eyes followed Jack as he got up and went to refill his brandy glass, at least Alex thought it was brandy. "Who are you anyway? I've never seen you here before." At this question, Alex’s mouth went a little bit dry, because surely Mr Barakat had told Master Barakat who he was.

"O-oh" He mumbled, his eyes still on his master, the feeling of insignificance filling his body, he had no inkling as to why he was feeling like this. He had no reason to be, he already knew that he was highly insignificant in this household, and he shouldn’t think any differently. "I-I'm Alexander, sir. Alexander Gaskarth" He straightened up and shook the feeling of insignificance off and looked to his master. He knew his place in his household, but he was determined that he was going to show his employers how proud he was to work there.

His eyes never left his employer as the more privileged man repeated his name and told him to carry on with whatever job he had to do. With a sigh of relief Alex bowed his head slightly before he scurried out of the drawing room, he didn’t breathe properly until he was back in the servants’ quarter. For the rest of the evening, Alex mulled around and did small jobs, although he wasn’t entirely sure why he did, he wouldn’t get extra pay for them, despite how much he needed it.

~~~ ~~~

Later that evening Alex was in bed, watching the candle on his shared bed stand flicker before he looked to his roommate, Zack. “Zack?” He twisted in his bed sheets to get a better look at the other domestic servant.

Zack only looked up and nodded his head in acknowledgement, since he was a man of very few words.

“You know the Masters son got engaged today?” He bit his lip gently, this had been playing on his mind all day and he just had to get it off his chest.

“Yeah? What of it?” Zack’s quiet voice came in reply, suddenly more than interested in the topic of conversation.

“Well, he came into the drawing room earlier this evening when I was laying the fire, and I must say that he was looking very distressed. When I asked him what was wrong, he only said that he had a very eventful evening, so I was wondering what had happened before any of that? Is there a reason as to why he doesn’t seem happy to be engaged? I am sure that anybody would be happy to be engaged to someone as beautiful and as well accomplished and someone as respectable as Miss O’Brian.” He looked to the flame for a few more seconds before looking back to Zack. “You’ve been here for a while, do you know anything about this?”

Zack nodded and bit his lip gently, carefully choosing his words as he didn’t know who was listening and he didn’t want either him or Alex to get into any trouble. “Well, Master Barakat and Miss O’Brian have been friends from a very young age, they have grown up together and I do believe that they are more brother and sister than what they are lovers...” Alex bit his lip and nodded and waited for Zack to continue. “...And I do believe that it was a shock to the system to find out that he would be marrying his best friend.” Alex only nodded and stared at Jack for a few seconds before he laid back on his bed.

“Oh right, I see. Thank you, Zack.” Zack nodded and settled back down in his bed.

Alex blew out the candle before just lying in his bed for a while, suddenly he felt a little sympathy towards the young master, he felt that it must be a terrible thing to find out that you are being forced to marry your best friend rather than someone that you were able to fall in love with yourself. Thinking about this led Alex to start thinking about his earlier encounter with the young master of the house, he recalled the way Jack looked over him before talking to him, and as he thought further into Alex remembered a little something in the richer man’s eyes. He remembered how when their eyes met for a brief second, there an ounce of scrutiny in them, in fact there wasn’t seemed to be a touch of adoration. Alex couldn’t help but to grin a little bit, feeling a little bit smitten. He then remembered that this man was promised to another, he sighed to himself and turned to face the wall. He closed his eyes and drifted off with the thought that this year might be a very interesting one.