1 You Are (Not) Allowed to Be in My House

"Eighteen years ago, I swore to God that I would never ever believe in people again. Because as soon as I have discovered a pearl of kindness in a person's heart, things will go wrong." The twenty-eight-year-old man named Lim kept on brainwashing his own perspective to put his own belief only on himself. But in the end, he had to surrender to be a lone wolf forever. He got his leg fractured due to a motorcycle accident. He had to use a wheelchair for an unspecific time, so he needed someone to help him in doing his daily tasks.

The interview date was come. A lot of people came to his house, excited to be his helper since Lim offered a huge salary. Huge enough to make people at first, suspect that this was just a scam. But after they met Lim in person and listened to the details of the job, all applicants left out of Lim's house.

Leaving behind Miya, a twenty-three-year-old girl who had just arrived when everyone walked out of the house. Eavesdropping on people gossiping about how weird the boss was, Miya almost missed her chance to enter the house. She was rushing to pass the automatic gate before it was fully closed. Her tote bag was pinched on the gate.

As she was trying to forcefully pull out her bag, she heard a creepy CRACK sound coming from the gate. That in her ears, it sounded like the flapping wings of dollar bills. The size, materials, design, and system of that majestic high-end gate were perfectly describing its price.

"SIGHS… Even my bag couldn't afford a piece of the paving block on this house," thought she. Therefore, she left her bag unwanted. She only took out her cell phone and wallet with her. Then she turned around, wished to see a door to be knocked, but she couldn't see the house!

Yes, she could see a garden, a river, a koi pond, and... A jungle…

A JUNGLE?!

But where's the house?

She was walking for 40 minutes when finally, she found a 500 square meters tropical modern house in the middle of foggy woods.

"Really?! It's not even a mansion? What on earth does the owner think of? He buys an entire jungle only to build a tiny house? Is he a werewolf or a vampire? Aaahh… My wish! Perhaps he is just a scientist or an environmentalist so— Ah, I don't care, as long as he's not a human eater… I just need to work and get the money," Miya thought while trying to reach the bell.

Miya started doing her job interview with Lim in a long awkward silence. Each of them was busy solving problems they'd created in their own minds.

"What a warm house!" thought Miya, while her eyes were inspecting the house's interior which was dominated by glass and wooden materials. She speculated on how that man could come up with the idea of providing a $100,000 salary per month for a housemaid.

In her mind, Miya tried to guess her job desk and how much Lim would overvalue each of her work. Frankly speaking, it boosted Miya's confidence and she could visualize how happy she was going to be when doing all of her tasks.

"The amount he offered is $100,000 per month. Perhaps he values my service at $10,000 for cleaning the whole house? This house is so messy. But with that number, cleaning could be as fun as the ASMR house cleaning video done by influencers. Next... Fancy dinner, snack time, tea time, and all services related to food... Maybe he values this service at $30,000? Wah, even a pro chef will find it so hard to get this range. As for taking care of him and his daily necessities, maybe $10,000, and another $20,000 for taking care of his beautiful garden. Hahaha... I will spread the fish food into his koi pond even when the fish are still full if he pays me that big." Miya's eyes sparkled, could not believe her good fortune, "But wait, there's a missing piece in here. Why after mentioning a lot of job desks, the salary seem to be unreasonable? Should I take care of his river stream? And the jungle too?"

"What's going on with this girl?" Lim was observing Miya's attitude, "The size of her eyeballs keeps changing drastically, she's not trustworthy. Her eyes are wild, she must be planning something bad in her mind. She's grinning and then frowning all of a sudden? Huh, it seems like she realized that I've caught her bad intentions. GOTCHA!" Lim tried to diagnose the relevance between Miya's eyeballs and Miya's personality just by using his baseless insecurity approach. He suspected Miya even more, soon after Miya asked, "Excuse me, Sir, why there's nobody in here?"

Lim's eyes squinted, trying to get Miya's intention in asking such a question. Afraid that Miya would attack a helpless man in a wheelchair like him, Lim tried to reach something that potentially could protect his life. Just in case, Miya suddenly hit him like an old gardener he once hired when he was younger.

His memory about how the old gardener hit and tied him up only to steal gold he had, ignited his panic attack.

Lim was fighting for breath.

His eyes were glazed.

Resounding in his ears, his voice begging for his life, "Please, save me… Take everything I have, I just wanna live. Please…"

Miya didn't pay attention to Lim's condition. She was busy with her thought, "I just have 24 hours a day. Taking care of a jungle?! Really?! Even a lion cannot do that!"

Miya stood up unexpectedly, provoking the full-alerted-mode-Lim to grab a cushion near him as his reflex protective action. Lim was ready to attack Miya with that cushion, but stopped soon after Miya screamed, "I CAN'T!"

Lim used this opportunity to chase away Miya hastily, "I cannot allow you to be in my house as well!"

Didn't expect to get fired before even being hired like that, Miya regretted her impulsive reaction. She could envision all of her bills, her bank account balance, and the voice of a nurse who told her that the surgery should be carried out immediately.