The Maid And The Young Master

SARAH Jane Dela Cruz is a 17 year old teenager who dreams of going to college to become a teacher someday. She was born from a poor family and because of this, she works as a maid at the mansion of one of the wealthiest families in Quezon City. She needed the money to support her family and to save up to go to school. She has worked there for more than a year, and was hired because her mother Eva used to work as a maid there too. Her father, Thomas, worked as a driver, but he had a stroke a few years ago and has been unable to work since. He has limited mobility, and because they did not have the money, he could not get the proper treatment for him to get better. Because of this, her mother had to get a job to take care of the family’s expenses. A few months before turning 17, Sarah started working at the mansion because one of the maids got married and left. She did it because her mother’s earnings were not enough to sustain the family’s needs. Against her parents’ will, she started working at the mansion alongside her mother. Aside from her mother and father, Sarah also has two younger brothers, Sean and Stuart. They are 10-year old twins who are currently in 4th grade in elementary school. A few months after Sarah started working at the mansion, her mother had an accident and she broke her leg. She went back to work too soon and was not able to heal fully. Because of this, Sarah’s mom developed a persistent limp, and she has not been able to work at full capacity since. Sarah started picking up the slack until she told her mother to just stop working altogether and stay at home. She wanted to give her mother’s body a chance to fully recover before letting her work again. Sarah could have taken a job somewhere else, but despite working as a maid, the pay at the mansion is not that bad, and her boss even pays for most of her school expenses. Sarah is a bright student, so she was able to secure a full scholarship at Brighton School, which is one of the best private schools in the city. When her female boss found out about it, she was so pleased and gave Sarah an allowance to pay for whatever she might need in school. Sarah works for Jose Mari and Stephania Santiago. Jose Mari is fertilizer business magnate, and has also dabbled into real estate. He is a billionaire and is one of the richest men in the country. Stephania does not work and is considered a socialite with a heart of gold. She started a foundation offering scholarships to less fortunate children. She also helps out victims of abuse and tragedy. Her boss’ kindness made her want to work for them more. The Santiago’s have three children, two girls, and a boy. The two women are older and they both have gotten married and have children. They come to the mansion every now and then. The eldest daughter, Miss Alexandra, is almost as nice as her mother. Whenever she visits, she brings gifts, and she gives some to the maids as well. She has a three year old boy whom Sarah sometimes takes care of wherever they are in the mansion. They rarely see her husband around the mansion since he works at the company owned by the Santiago family as one of the executives. The other daughter, Miss Caroline, on the other hand, is one of the worst people Sarah has ever met. Whenever she’s in the palace, all she does is order the maids around. Her husband is equally disgusting and even harrasses some of the maids when his wife is not looking. She is only 23 years old but already has three children from three different men. Her four month old baby belongs to her current husband. Sarah wasn’t really interested in learning about their personal lives, but she couldn’t help but overhear it whenever the other maids and workers in the palace were gossiping. Whenever Miss Caroline is around, Sarah tries to work as hard as possible to follow her orders. Her husband has been giving her creepy looks but has not really done anything to make her feel uncomfortable or harassed. One time, he asked how old Sarah was, and when he found out that she was 17, he stayed away from her. The other maids were not as lucky. Sarah wanted to tell those he’s harassed to report it to their boss, but they are scared that they will get fired when they do. They said they’re willing to endure it since Miss Caroline and her husband do not stay in the mansion that often anyway. They also kept saying that it’s not that bad. The Santiago’s youngest child is their only son, and Sarah heard that he is currently studying abroad. Since he’s the only male heir, he’s apparently going to take over the family business someday, and that is why his parents wanted him to learn as much as he can, and they feel like he’ll learn more from foreign schools. Sarah had never seen him the youngest child before, but she’s seen pictures of him when he was little around the house. Sarah doesn’t even know how old he is now, but he was such a cute kid. She figured she probably wouldn’t get to meet him anytime soon. Sarah is getting more and more excited as the school year is about to begin in less than a month. She is about to enter her senior year in high school, and by next year, she will be in college. She doesn’t really fit in that well because most of the students in the school are from wealthy families. Despite this, she managed to make a few friends. Sarah was getting ready to go to the mansion when she heard my mom say, “Sarah, Lucas is here. Are you ready to go?” She replied with “Yes, mom. I’m heading down.” Lucas Melencio is Sarah’s best friend, and they have known each other since she was four years old. He’s a year older than her, and they used to hate each other until one time, he defended Sarah against an older kid who was bullying her. Since then, they have become close friends and eventually best friends. When Sarah started working at the palace, Lucas applied for a job there too, and he got hired as a gardener. He didn’t know anything about taking care of plants at the time, but he eventually learned and has now become an expert. When Sarah asked why he wanted to work at the mansion, he said that he wanted to work with her. He’s always been weird and has always been clingy towards Sarah. Her best friend has grown into a good looking man, and many of their younger female neighbors have a crush on him. To get his attention, these girls usually befriend Sarah and tries to get her to introduce them to Lucas. Lucas doesn’t seem too interested in any of them, so they end up hating Sarah and accusing her of sabotaging their relationship. The only response she has for them is, “What relationship are you talking about?” Since they work at the same place and at the same time, they usually go to the mansion together. Now that they’re on a school break, they work longer hours. They start at nine in the morning and leave the mansion at around 5 pm. When Sarah returns to school, she’ll be working from six to nine in the morning and then come back and work from six to nine at night. Lucas will still be working the same schedule since he’s done with high school and decided not to go to college yet. To get to the mansion, Sarah and Lucas need to ride the jeepney once. They chatted happily as they rode the jeepney and psyched themselves for another day at work.