Chapter 8

The woman smiled then hurried into the car silently watching from the rearview mirror as pity and the urge to give some money arose considering that just this afternoon the man had almost fainted from not eating.

"Excuse me, wait?" she called back downstairs and chased after Ferdinand.

"What's wrong, ma'am?" asked Ferdinand when he turned around.

"I'm sorry, before this is for you, please don't refuse, think of it as a service f*e for car repairs," she coaxed, handing over some money.

"No need, thank you," Ferdinand politely declined.

"I'm sorry then I didn't mean to offend, well I'll excuse myself." The bill was put back into his wallet with a somewhat disappointed look.

"If you want to help me just give me a job," said Ferdinand, spontaneously daring to speak like that since he had been feeling uneasy thinking about how to live in this city with the current situation where everyone looked at him like a bum.

"So you're looking for a job? Are you serious?" the woman asked again.

"Yes ma'am," Ferdinand replied sincerely. 

The woman felt more and more sorry to hear it, especially the attitude that Ferdinand had shown since before was so polite that she could immediately judge that this man was really a good person.

"I'm the head nurse at the hospital, we happen to be in need of a janitor to take care of the honorary patient room in the main building, I was entrusted with finding someone willing to fill the position," the woman explained as she introduced herself.

"Can I try to fill the position?" Ferdinand was surprised to hear that he did not expect to get such an offer this way the way to meet his parents could be easier.

"Sure, you can try it, we should talk about this tomorrow, meet me at the hospital early in the morning because I have a lot of work," the woman concluded.

"Okay." Ferdinand was relieved to hear that even though he had never known how to clean a room in his life.

Now only Ferdinand was left alone while staring at his surroundings that had begun to quiet down and there was no other choice tonight he had to experience sleeping on the side of the road like a homeless person.

The sun was shining, making Ferdinand's body, which had been curled up on the ground all night, feel warm, so he had to get up to find a place to clean himself so that his appearance looked more appropriate for applying for a job. 

His two feet stepped into the hospital not far from where he stood, then deliberately waited outside the gate because he didn't dare to enter the yard for fear of getting expelled like yesterday.

"Thank goodness I'm not late," Ferdinand said when he saw the head nurse's car approaching from a distance. The car stopped right in front of him and then opened its window.

"Have you been waiting long?" she asked.

"No, I've only been standing here for about five minutes," Ferdinand replied with a smile.

"Well hurry up and get in the parking lot, it's still quite far!" the woman invited Ferdinand.

"Thank you." Ferdinand sat down and closed the car door.

"This is the building you'll be working in," the woman explained as they pulled into the parking lot.

"Okay," Ferdinand replied.

"Let's go inside and go straight to the janitorial storage room!" she asked.

Ferdinand nodded as they walked hand in hand with the head nurse's footsteps, not seeing many people passing by. Both eyeballs swept his surroundings in contrast to the atmosphere in the main building. The inspection at the entrance was so strict, without the head nurse's help Ferdinand would not have been able to gain access to the inside.

"Lucky I know this woman," Ferdinand thought. 

"Let me show you to your office," he said, unlocking a room at the end of the hallway.

"Yes, Mademoiselle," Ferdinand greeted.

"I was in such a hurry last night that I forgot to ask what your name is?" she asked gently.

"Ferdinand," he said without hesitation.

I thought about not wanting to use my real identity but it didn't seem necessary because his shabby appearance made anyone recognize him even if he used his real name, after all there are thousands or maybe even millions of people who have the name Ferdinand in this world.

"Well Ferdinand, in this closet there are clean uniform clothes that you can use, this is the uniform used by previous employees, you must use it during work," explained the head nurse.

"Okay," Ferdinand said.

"Your working hours are only three days a week, during working hours you can occupy the room next to this room and stay there," she continued.

"Okay," Ferdinand said again while listening seriously.

"You are responsible for maintaining cleanliness from the hallway area to the ward of the honorary patient in this building, to enter the ward you cannot just approach it because you are only allowed to clean the room when the patient is discharged, do you understand?" Ferdinand nodded in understanding.

"So I can only enter when the patient is not there?" Ferdinand tried to clarify.

"Yes, Mr. Levin, who is our honored patient, is very protective of his privacy and does not like his resting time disturbed," he explained again.

"I see," Ferdinand said, masking his surprise.

Ferdinand rushed to change his clothes after the woman left him alone suddenly feeling a little disgusted when looking at other people's used clothes while flipping through the uniform before finally being forced to wear it. Then, one by one, the cleaning tools lined up in the room were held while remembering how the servants worked in his house.

"How do I use all these tools?" she asked herself in confusion. A knock on the door startled her and she immediately put on her mask and hat and opened the door.

"Excuse me, I'm delivering breakfast for you," said a woman in a waitress uniform outside.

"Thank you," said Ferdinand.

"Hold this, do you think I should put it on your table?" The woman roughly placed the tray of food over Ferdinand's hand. The poor man was so shocked for a second that he realized now he was not the young master who was usually served by the servants at home.

"Sorry," he said heavily.

The door was closed again Ferdinand had a hard time swallowing his saliva seeing the subordinate employee's breakfast menu looked so simple that it felt like the food at Margaretha's house was even better than this. Ferdinand tried not to taste it and just swallowed it to fill his stomach so that he wouldn't starve like yesterday, at least he no longer had to sleep on the street like a homeless person.

"Hey, can you open the door?" The knock on the door sounded again when Ferdinand had just finished eating.

"Just a moment," Ferdinand said and rushed to open the door.

"I'm here to get the cutlery you're using, your meal is over!" The woman who had delivered the food barged in and roughly picked up the tray.

"This is not how my servants work in my house," he thought as he imagined the workers in his house all living happily without any pressure.