Ruby’s eyes lit up in recognition of the platinum blonde hair. She had seen a woman walk into Nate’s office, she couldn’t see the woman’s face but she was quite sure she was one of the prettiest women alive. She looked like she just walked out of the cover of a vogue magazine, the hair bore a striking resemblance with that of Taylor’s.
Taylor had bullied her constantly that Ruby couldn’t forget the distinct color of her hair. She could feel the throbbing of her heart. Could it be that Taylor was still Nate’s girlfriend? She had heard Taylor moved to Beverly Hills and was pursuing a successful career as a model.
She felt a sickening taste form at the back of her throat. It had been thirteen years since she was last bullied but the memories were still very fresh. She could remember how violently Taylor always yanked her hair even when she yelped in pain.
One particular incident between them had scarred her for life. She couldn’t think of it without almost crying. Taylor was monstrous.
It was on a Friday after school hours, there was no extracurricular activity for Ruby that day so she decided to head home to help her mother with the restaurant. She wasn’t the type of girl to hangout after school hours to party.
“Yo! Ugly duckling” she heard Taylor call out
She pretended not to hear and quickened her pace. Her house was fifteen minutes walk from school, the road wasn’t usually busy so it was only her walking on the pavement while Taylor was driving on the main road. She knew running or walking fast wasn’t going to save her from Taylor as she could always catch up with her car.
The tires screeched and the car came to a halt in front of Ruby. She could spot Nate in the passenger's seat, his eyes focused on his phone.
“Taylor, what do you want from me?” She squeaked as she took steps away from her
“You ugly little thing, do you think you can run from me?” Taylor laughed mockingly and moved to ruby like a predator would move to its prey. Her blue and white cheerleaders uniform complemented her skin and revealed her shapely legs.
Ruby could feel her body shake with fright as she awaited what Taylor was going to do to her. Esme had offered to drive her home but she decided to take a walk, not knowing that she was going to run into Taylor.
“I saw you staring at my boyfriend during biology class” Taylor spat as she flicked Ruby’s forehead.
Ruby stood, rooted to the ground helplessly as tears formed in her eyes, blurring her vision. She knew no one was so going to save her from Taylor so she accepted her fate and allowed Taylor to do as she pleased.
“You piece of shit, can’t you keep your filthy eyes off my boyfriend for a second?”
“I swear, I wasn’t looking at him” Ruby cried, defenseless
“Oh really? I bet you keep a little diary at home where you write your thoughts about how much you love my boyfriend. Don’t you have any shame?”
Ruby didn’t reply, after being bullied consistently by Taylor, she had learnt that replies infuriated her more. She decided to stay quiet and not upset her further.
“Who the heck do you think you are? You’re just a poor scumbag who would amount to nothing in life” Taylor whispered into her ears
Ruby looked at Nate for help but he was too busy doing his thing. Her heart felt heavier that he allowed Taylor to bully her. Now, the tears rolled out nonstop.
“You need to know your place. You're on scholarship and you can’t afford our school fees. You should be grateful that you were accepted and we are trying to accommodate your filth”
Taylor’s words sliced through Ruby’s heart like a knife. Each time she bullied her, she had more and more hurtful things to say.
“Do you really think Nate is interested in you? Look at how ratchet you are, each time you look at the mirror, the reflection you see is the reflection of a dirty wannabe”
Ruby had had enough of her hurtful words.
“If you’re so perfect, why do you bully me all the time?” Ruby cried.
She could see Nate staring at her but she couldn’t tell what his facial expression was.
“I let you bully me all the time and I’m tired of it. You can have Nate all you want! Yes, I don’t stand a chance with Nate so why don’t you leave me alone?”
Now, the clouds were darkening and the thunder rumbled.
She was still hoping for some sort of intervention from Nate where would save her or at least scold Taylor.
Taylor laughed, jeering at her. Her laughter filled the air.
“Look at who is speaking for herself now” she clapped her hands and then placed them on her slender waist
“I’m shocked and I admire the little courage you mustered up but it doesn’t change the fact that you belong below me”
The rain began to drizzle lightly. Ruby thought of so many options on how to get away from her bully, Taylor was stronger than her and could easily overpowered her. She hoped silently that Taylor would leave her alone since the rain was going to pour soon.
“I don’t want to ever see you six feet close to Nate” Taylor warned, her voice low and dangerous. With that, she pushed Ruby against the pavement, sending her crashing into a thorn of roses. Her glasses broke, she had to change her glasses quite a number of times after they ended up broken when Taylor or the other girls gave her a beating.
Ruby remembered laying in a bed of roses, the rain pelleting against her skin and Taylor driving off. She had sustained injuries and had to skip school for the rest of the week.
The clicking of heels against the tiles disrupted her train of thoughts. An angry blonde woman left Nate’s office, her pretty face was twisted in a malicious scowl.
Ruby’s mouth fell open, it was Taylor!
Her guess had been right. She felt a little shiver run down her spine. Years later, she was still kind of scared of the wicked things Taylor was capable of doing.
It was her first board meeting in attendance with other workers. Seeing Taylor after all these years had disoriented her so much that it felt like she had to withdraw to her shell again. She was well acquainted with some of the workers, most especially Ethan with Cassie by the side running her mouth as usual. The workers were seated in the boardroom as they waited for Nate. Ruby would have rather sat far from Cassie but she needed information on why Taylor was in the office so she took the seat between Ethan and Cassie The steaming mug of coffee in front of her warmed her up, lately, she had been feeling some type of way especially with the whole Taylor thing. “You look so pale”Cassie commented Cassie had now earned the name ‘hawk eye’ because she never failed to miss anything.Ruby ignored her comment as she sipped her coffee, just like Ethan, she had learnt to ignore and accommodate Cassie. “Did you hear about Mr. Jacobin's girlfriend?” Cassie said to Stacy who worked in th
The dinner table looked like it had been carefully put together by an artist. Grilled turkey sat right in the middle of the table. Mrs Wyatt had put together so much effort into the dinner. She ensured the expensive chinaware plates were placed carefully. The room was well decorated with candles lit in strategic corners of the room. A harper played at another corner, releasing soft melodious tunes. Nate overheard one of the servants say Mrs Wyatt flew the harper all the way from Ireland. That was how much extra she was.One Christmas when she was hosting a party, she invited ballerinas to grace the occasion and had real swans in the hall. One of the swans got flustered, causing a tray of food to topple over. Nate resisted the urge to laugh at Mrs Wyatt’s efforts. She was so extra when hosting dinners and made it look like she was hosting a royal event. Ever since he was in high school, it was always the same routine with Mrs Wyatt inviting his family over for fancy dinners. She
Ruby decided to spend her lunch with Ethan and Cassie at the cafeteria. She now enjoyed spending time with her colleagues and getting to know them. Some of them were impressed by how she won the contract and how she got the biggest office. For the first time, she didn’t feel left out or awkward, almost everyone got along with her or at least were formal with her.They were seated at a table at the corner of the cafeteria. They ordered a couple of burgers and soda “I heard Reynolds company and co is going bankrupt” Stacy said, bringing up a topic of discussion She was now used to the gossip girls of the office, she rather found them interesting and listened to them when they talked. “I heard so too” Cassie remarked“I heard Reynolds was jilted and duped by his soon to be wife which led to the bankruptcy”Ruby had heard about it from Esme, it was a sad story. Reynolds' company was doing just fine until the whole thing happened. It saddened her that people were heartless and were ou
After an eventful weekend with Taylor lashing out at him and him ruining dinner, Nate was back to work. He had sent flowers to Mrs Wyatt and Taylor, apologizing for ruining dinner. He was rather offended by their actions but brushed it aside. He didn’t believe in long term commitments or love and wished they could respect that. Taylor’s persistence over the years was the only thing that had kept their so-called relationship going.There was no actual bond between them. He pushed his thoughts of Taylor aside as he reread an email that caught his eye. He had received an invitation from an association of businessmen to attend a conference in Florida. He was asked to bring a plus one, preferably a coworker. He frowned, he couldn’t think of anyone. Taylor wasn’t an option because she was going to stir a lot of drama and he didn’t want unnecessary attention from reporters. As for the workers in his company, the only person he could think of was Ruby. There were other people who h
It was another sunny day at the office with Nate passing orders, Maggie running helter skelter looking disarrayed, the gossip trio laughing at something while Ruby sat at her desk, trying to finish working on a project. Ruby had little or no time to hang out with the girls and Ethan. For some sort of unknown reason, Nate kept loading her with work everytime. At first, she thought it was because he was angry she brought up his marriage with Taylor, then she realized he was just tormenting her even though he was going overboard. She hadn’t seen or heard about Taylor around the office which was a relief for her. The previous week, she had Cassie and Ethan help her clear some of her work but now Cassie was busy and Ethan took a two days leave because his pet was sick. Her stomach growled as she reminded herself she had nothing to eat all day. She had to live off coffee and junk food as she was always tired whenever she got back home from work.Her stomach let out a low grumble ag
Ruby applied another coat of lipgloss, she wished Nate had informed her about the meeting earlier on so she could put on one of her best blouses. She let her hair fall loosely past her shoulders as she assessed herself in the mirror and hoped Anderson didn’t find her glasses funny like other people.Talking to Nate had helped relieve almost all the stress she felt. She had seen a part of him she had never seen, a part that made him so sweet and vulnerable. She couldn’t control the butterflies that danced in her tummy, all her worries about Taylor were gone, at least for a moment. She packed up her things and moved to the limo Anderson sent. The fact that she was going to be the latest gossip in the office excited her a little. She had always worked extra hard and it was finally paying off. Nate paid her a very decent amount of money, with that, she refurbished her house and was able to support her parents' restaurant. Just two months ago, she was worried about how she was going
The crashing of the waves and the sunset was the perfect therapy ruby needed. After working for Nate for the past two months, she had been through a lot of emotions and needed a well deserved break. She sighed, it was only two months but it felt like forever.It wasn’t easy sharing the same space with someone who she had loved for years, the same person who had hurt her a number of times. She smiled as she watched some kids build sand castles and chase the waves. They looked happy and free, something she lacked in her childhood.Unlike other kids, she had to grow up faster than her age. She was taught by her parents that if she wanted to survive, she needed to work twice as hard, study twice as hard and be twice as strong as the other kids. Her father, Ken, had worked at a firm while her mother ran a little restaurant. He was paid a meager salary but the upside about it was that the owner of the firm provides shelter for his workers and that was how she ended up living in the ric
Ruby stared at the salad without appetite. Everyone seemed to be chatting happily about her meeting with Anderson. Ethan was now back to work which gave her some kind of comfort. “Come on, stop holding back the details” Cassie cajoled her into talking about what had happened. “He’s so dreamy isn’t it? I bet he asked for your number, didn’t he?” Stacy commented and the girls giggled happily “I’d rather not talk about how everything went down, at least not yet” Ruby said quietly It occurred to her that one of the people seated at the cafeteria had given Anderson the information. She was only friends with a few people at the office and formal with the others so she couldn’t vouch for them. “You know we won’t stop bugging you until you tell us what happened” Carla chimed in eagerly Ruby breathed out as she poked her salad. One thing with the girls was that they never took a hint, they couldn’t tell when someone didn’t want to talk and be left alone. “Mr Anderson is just