Maid Captures Millionaire’s Heart Days Before His Wedding — Story of the Day

Esme loves her boss, but then Simon brings his fianceé home, who wants to call immigration on Esme. What happens when she does call immigration, and Simon realizes he was in love with Esme all along?

Esmeralda sat alone at night, savoring churros in her room, avoiding the main kitchen to dodge encounters with Rachel, Simon’s fiancée. Frustrated by the cultural shock after crossing borders for maid work, she pondered returning home and reminisced about her simpler past with a different elderly couple.

But Esme’s current role at Simon’s mansion was better, with no cooking since Rachel hired a private chef. Despite overhearing Rachel’s complaints, Esme believed Simon valued her. While eating churros, she wrote a letter to her mother detailing her mixed emotions. Then her mind drifted to her friend Beatriz — also a maid — who fell for her employer’s son, Benjamin…

Esme was in the kitchen the next morning when Simon entered and asked her for coffee. Nostalgia lingered as they discussed the changes since Rachel’s arrival. Simon didn’t like the private chef’s filter coffee, and Esme offered to make him coffee daily if Simon woke up early.

“Esme, I will,” Simon promised her, and her heart raced. She loved him, but he? She didn’t know that.

Torn by emotions, she avoided eye contact, retrieving butterscotch shortbread as a gesture of affection.

Simon observed Esme, contemplating the changed dynamics since Rachel’s arrival. Wanting to confide in her, he recalled his engagement dinner and the romantic atmosphere Esme had created.

“She’s a lovely young woman,” his mother said when she sent Esme for more napkins. “How did you find her? She’s done a brilliant job tonight.”

“My secretary found an agency, and Esme was the person they sent,” he replied.

“Go and take the night off, Esme,” Simon urged when she returned with the napkins.

“The chef’s bringing his staff. Esme’s been on her feet all day. Let her have the night to herself,” Simon explained.

After Esme left, his mother warned him not to jeopardize the family’s plans — Rachel and Simon’s wedding meant two powerful families coming together. His mother had sensed Simon’s feelings for Esme.

Now, as Esme served him shortbread and coffee, Simon struggled with his unspoken emotions. Before he could talk to her, Esme left to take care of other chores.

While dusting the sitting room, Esme learned of a delivery for Rachel. She signed for the package, yearning for a surprise from Simon. But she had to stop herself. Simon would never be hers. She placed the parcel in Rachel’s room and walked away.

Simon returned home that evening, desiring solitude from wedding planning. He wished to share a moment with Esme. However, he found Esme in the kitchen with Rachel, who assigned her to make Spanish custard tarts.

“I’ve asked the chef to leave for the evening,” Rachel said, and Simon acknowledged Esme’s culinary prowess.

As Rachel left for a bath, Esme felt relieved while Simon acknowledged her return to the kitchen with a smile. Esme proposed reheating dinner for him, and he agreed to dine in the kitchen.

Later, Esme immersed herself in baking custard tarts, hoping to finish before Rachel returned. Conflicted by his emotions, Simon observed her with a longing. The night ended with unspoken disappointments.

The next day, Esme, dressed casually, went shopping with Beatriz. They discussed Simon’s engagement and Benjamin’s desire to reveal his and Beatriz’s relationship to his parents. Beatriz shared the possibility of obtaining immigration papers through a friend.

Esme felt a surge of hope about the prospect of going home. The idea of returning and reuniting with her family overwhelmed her with joy. Esme and Beatriz enjoyed a simple pleasure—corn-on-the-cob—symbolic of their shared cultural connection.

Esme left the market buoyed by the hope of a future where she could potentially go home, a prospect that had long seemed out of reach.

When Esme returned, she knew Rachel and Simon were likely out. She stocked the pantry and planned dinner, then returned to her uniform to start cleaning.

In Rachel and Simon’s room, she found a beautiful veil in the parcel she’d received for Rachel and couldn’t resist trying it on.

But as she did so, her fingers brushed against something soft in the veil. She pulled out a letter hidden inside.

It was addressed to Rachel, and Esme’s eyes bulged when she noticed it was from a man named Michael, who seemed to be Rachel’s secret lover.

Suddenly, in walked Rachel.

“What are you doing?” she yelled as she grabbed the letter and stuffed it in her dress pocket. Then, she yanked the veil off from Esme’s head and slapped her.

“Darling!” Rachel screamed as Simon entered. “This immigrant woman wants to steal my veil and stop our wedding!” She feigned innocence, but Esme knew Rachel was deceiving Simon. It was clearly mentioned in the letter.

“No! The veil…I saw it here when I came into the room to dust. Please, it’s so beautiful that I couldn’t resist,” Esme explained, defending herself. She couldn’t tell Simon about the letter. Rachel would just fire her, and Esme needed to send money to her ill mother; hence, she needed this job.

“All this screaming just because of a veil? Seriously?” Simon exclaimed, trying to diffuse the situation.

“Simon! It’s my wedding veil! Every girl on the planet knows it is a bad omen for someone to try it on!” Rachel fumed, throwing the veil at Simon.

“Come on, Rachel. That’s all just a superstition. Leave the poor little girl alone. Let’s go downstairs. Let’s eat something and forget about this entire thing,” Simon suggested.

“No! You expect me to forget about it? I see how she looks at you!” Rachel accused, turning the argument into a personal attack.

“Hey, Rachel, enough of this! Enough!” Simon shouted.

“Are you seriously yelling at me now?” Rachel screamed. Then, attempting to manipulate the situation, she softened her expression and said to Simon, “Don’t you see? We are already fighting over her.”

Esme, knowing what she needed to do, intervened, saying, “Ma’am, please. I don’t want to–”

“Go to your room right now!” Rachel ordered her.

Esme, fearing Rachel’s anger, rushed to her room. But while leaving, she slipped on the veil, falling to the floor. Embarrassed and in pain, she closed her eyes. Rachel laughed.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Simon rushed to her side. “Hold on. I’ll help you.”

Esme was relieved when Simon assisted her to her feet. Rachel was furious.

“Get out of this house, girl. You are fired,” Rachel declared.

“What?!” Esme cried. “Please, no! I have nowhere else to go! Please, I need this job!”

“No, don’t worry,” Simon assured her, challenging Rachel.

“Simon, decide. Me or her?” Rachel demanded, intensifying the confrontation.

“Sir, it’s okay, really, I’ll go,” Esme said, trying to avoid further conflict. But Esme had decided she would expose Rachel before she left. She loved Simon, and she wouldn’t let him marry someone like Rachel.

Later, Esme stood in her room when Rachel barged in. “Do you really think you can get away so easily?” Rachel threatened.

“Ma’am?” Esme was startled.

“I’ve reported you to immigration services. Get out,” Rachel ordered before storming off.

Esme panicked when she heard sirens moments later. “Not the police!” she whispered, contemplating escape. But the cops were not for her; they were just patrolling the streets.

Esme had to get her hands on that letter and show it to Simon.

Suddenly, she heard someone’s footsteps outside her door and hid behind it. She still feared it was a cop, and in fear, she accidentally pushed a frame off the cabinet behind her. Thankfully, the person in her room was Simon.

“Esmeralda, you’re here!” He found her behind the door. “Stay quiet, and I’ll deal with everything,” Simon assured her.

A part of Esme just wanted him to know the truth. But she didn’t have proof.

“Sir, I can’t. Rachel is here,” Esme worried. “She wouldn’t—”

“Don’t be afraid, Esme. Just stay quiet,” Simon comforted her before leaving the room.

Esme sat, hoping Simon’s actions were driven by love, not pity. While she wanted to expose Rachel, she also wanted Simon to confess his love for her once before she left. Maybe that would change everything, and she would stay. With Simon.

Hours later, Simon entered her room with a tray of food and a lily. He apologized for the delay and shared his conflicted emotions about her leaving.

“Why are you doing all this?” Esme questioned.

“I don’t know,” Simon confessed, brushing a strand of her hair. “When you were leaving, I felt like something was being taken away from me, some part of me that I refused to be parted from.”

As Simon left abruptly, Esme sat on her bed, smelling the lily. He…loved her, too? Days passed with Simon visiting her, bringing meals and lilies – creating a routine. Esme asked about his sudden affection for lilies, and Simon admitted he associated her with their scent.

One day, he leaned in for a kiss, but Esme hesitated, conscious of his engagement to Rachel. Simon confessed he couldn’t handle Rachel after she kicked Esme out, leading to a revelation that he was canceling the wedding for Esme.

Esme couldn’t believe it. He loved her, too! Esme immediately told him about the letter, and Simon made another shocking revelation — he already knew everything.

“I know they’ve been meeting secretly. I learned everything shortly after she fired you, and I knew I couldn’t be with her any longer. Don’t worry, I’m gonna expose her. I will do something.”

Esme fell asleep content, dreaming of her desired wedding with Simon. However, her peaceful moment shattered when she woke to find Rachel cutting her lilies.

“So, he’s already your darling, huh?” Rachel taunted, revealing she knew about Esme and Simon’s affair through the smell of lilies on him. Threatening to ruin Simon’s life, Rachel exited Esme’s room.

Esme ran after Rachel, pleading with her not to hurt Simon. Rachel, unfazed, declared it was too late, revealing she had already taken action.

Suddenly, Simon entered the hallway, finding Esme on the floor before Rachel. It was time for Rachel to repent, Simon decided.

“Rachel, I’m canceling the wedding!” he exclaimed. “And I—”

“That’s fine with me. I won’t marry a criminal, Simon,” Rachel sneered, folding her arms. “Besides, it was fun sleeping with you. You were good in bed, but now that I know this maid touched you, I guessed why not teach you both a lesson before I leave?”

Simon wanted to say he knew she was cheating on him, but he was cut off by immigration officers entering behind him. “We received a call about an illegal immigrant at this residence,” an officer stated.

“It’s a misunderstanding. It’s not true!” Simon said.

“Yes, it is true. Here she is,” Rachel pointed at Esme, who was still on her knees. “And you will both be sitting together in neighboring cells. You won’t be separated,” she sneered at Simon.

The officer informed Simon of his arrest for employing an illegal immigrant.

Desperate to protect him, Esme ran forward, claiming she had snuck into his house. “Please, let him go!” she pleaded with the officers.

“That’s a lie. She’s lying,” Rachel insisted. “Take them away.”

Simon knew it was high time he revealed his feelings for Esme. “This woman is not an illegal immigrant. She is my fiancée!” he declared.

Simon reached into his pocket, pulled out a ring box, and proposed to Esme, who joyfully accepted.

“Sir, if she’s your fiancée, who called us?” the officer inquired.

“It was this crazy woman here. She won’t leave us alone,” Simon pointed at Rachel.

As officers took away Rachel, Simon and Esme hugged each other. Simon revealed he knew about Rachel’s plans to call immigration, so he decided to outsmart her and get rid of her forever. Esme shed tears in her lover’s embrace, glad that she was with him.

Months later, Esme and Simon started a new life together, free from the shadows of Rachel’s manipulation. Simon helped her with immigration documents to avoid complications with the immigration services.