Chapter five.
Anastasia's POV.
I spend the rest of my evening in my room, stocked up with streaming on N*****x. I just feel odd, not wanting to explain anything to Kyra. Although, I think the reason for my actions are plainly differently reacted to.
I feel like there's a cloud of thoughts in my head, hovering. I stop the movie I'm currently watching when a mail drops on my laptop. Opening it, I gasp. What the heck? I was expecting Olivia's mail, not his, definitely not Mr Nicholas's.
Why would he mail me when Olivia could?
My heart thuds for unexplainable reasons as I read through the message.
Subject: Contract Approved Plus Details That Might Need Your Attention.
From: Nicholas
To: Anastasia Sanusi.
7 mins ago. View details.
Hello Miss Sanusi,
The contract has been approved, and you are encouraged to be seen tomorrow in the company, as have been told in the contract.
By the way, I hope you're having a nice evening. I am not. The kids are really in need of care, which I hope you can offer when you resume. I had them order pizza tonight. Just so you know.
Nicholas,
CEO, Eclipse Publishing company, Inc.
Oh, why would he tell me that? I mean, why-why...
Sadly, my toxic trait is telling me that he's trying to make a conversation with me.
When I'm done reading, I press on reply and think before typing.
Subject: Kids in need of a RESCUE
From: Anastasia Sanusi
To: Nicholas
3 mins ago. View details.
_ I'll do as my job requires of me.
_ Your kids really are in need of a rescue. Pizza is surely not an option they would want, but don't worry. I'll soon be there to take care of that now. L. O. L. Here, I'm yet to prepare myself dinner. Just so you know.
Anastasia.
As a new mail drop, I open it right away. The subject made my breathing hitch and my insides seem to erupt into tiny, nice bits.
Subject: In need of you
From: Nicholas
To: Anastasia Sanusi
Just now. View details.
The fact that you got that right is astounding, but then, I am not expecting less. And I'll be needing your "take care of."
Try to eat early. It's scientifically proven to be healthier.
Nicholas,
CEO, Eclipse Publishing company, inc.
I shake my head and hit reply again.
Subject: Affirmatively taken to notice.
From: Anastasia
To: Nicholas
Just now. View details.
I appreciate your concern, boss. It is taken into notice.
Anastasia.
I crack my fingers as I await his mail, that is, if it'll come. Just when I hear the drip sound of another entering, a snapping sound emit from the outside. It caught my attention, so I stand and near the opened window, breezing in the cold night air.
Out of the blue, something— like an image— fast blurs past. I can't say if it is my imagination or something real. I try to listen deeper but hear nothing. Everything is in silent until, Kyra opens the door all of a sudden, hurriedly, almost snapping my heart into two.
"Hey, when do you plan on coming out and cooking for us?" I shake my head as I huff.
"We are not cooking." What did I just say? "I—I am not cooking."
"I have a movie to watch, and I can't watch movies without having something to eat." And there goes one of her toxic traits. She always has to eat while watching a movie, so she won't get bored or maybe she's the one who thinks so. Whatever. I go to close the window.
"I'll get us popcorn, and we are watching whatever movie it is together." I say and close my laptop before heading out of the room, leaving Kyra behind.
She scoffs, "oh, since when did you become the rogue in this friendship?"
"Thank God you said friendship, so don't act like you're a-splash-my mom."
"Ah," she fakes a heart attack, adding effect to it by putting her hands on her chest and having a pained facial expression. I laugh at her ridiculousness.
"That's so touching, brutally touching." I know. I know. I just insulted her not to act like my mom, whilst also making it known that she's no mom either.
"I'm sorry."
"You better make me eat the most of the Popcorn." She says, pouting and going to sit on the couches to turn on the television.
In the kitchen, as I pour the popcorn into a ceramic bowl, I hear a distant unidentifiable sound and looking out of the window, my eyes caught a glow. Wait, is that a glowing eyes? My, oh, my. Just when I thought, my imagination couldn't go any worse.
The figure shifts, but its eyes isn't staring elsewhere and that's when I realize I might be going crazy. I can't even make sense of the figure, but I can tell it's huge, probably the size of a lion and has the growl of a wolf. It's weird to even explain it to myself.
I blink my eyes. The creature is still there. I don't think this is imaginative. Just then, Kyra walks into the room.
"Babe, what is delaying?"
"Kyra, are you seeing that?" I ask her and not wanting to look away, I use my hands to gesture for her to come closer.
"What?"
Hurriedly, I shift my gaze and call her to come and when I return my gaze, I see an empty, mute street.
Jeez!
"What is it?"
"I thought I saw a cute rabbit, but I think it's just a shadow or something." I lie oddly comfortably. It's nothing: I try to lie to myself, as well.
Kyra narrows her eyes at me. Laughing, I wave her stare away and walk to the living room with a plate of popcorn and two cartons of milk in my hands.
The rest of the night is spent streaming movies. When I start to feel sleepy, I make a mental note to remember responding to Mr Nicholas's mail, but eventually, I sleep off without doing that.
The next morning, I wake up on the couch...again, but nicely on Kyra's laps. She's snoring lightly, and I'm watching her with amusement on my face. Her hands move out of the blue, and she catches me watching her.
"Pervert..." She's having a nice time drawling that word and clearly putting emphasis on it.
I giggle and stand up, readying myself for the new day. When I check the time, I realize I have just two hours and seven minutes before I get to the Eclipse company.
With that in mind, I begin to arrange the room. Kyra sleeps throughout until when I finish and wake her up for tea time. She mutters a "thank you," and cups herself on the couch and presses her phone.
I head to the room to take a shower. In the room, I make a mental evaluation of how today will go. I would learn new things from Olivia. I might meet Sebastian Hunter, oh, maybe I'll ask Olivia why the first son of Mr Cole Hunter, the Third, will be working under Mr Nicholas. Or, maybe I will not. I think I should just ask Sebastian, himself. And then, in the evening, after work, I'll leave with Mr Nicholas to his house and see his kids. I wonder what they look like and their attitude.
An odd vibe tells me they will be loving of me, but I can't be sure. I just want to be optimistic with my day.
After I'm done dressing up after many delays of what to wear, I settle for an orange gown that stops below my knees, curvaceous in every part and elastic to the touch, and exposing a bit of my cleavage.
I had applied light makeup, so when I think I'm ready to leave, I pick a matching, silver chained bag and drive Kyra's car to the office's building again.
As I get down and stare at the towering building, I release my nerves from spiking up and walk inside. Here goes everything.
Chapter Six.Anastasia's POV.A just so you know: entering into the building, it all went like the last time. Blonde number one checked me in before asking me to take the elevator to the second floor. In the second floor, blonde number two checked in for my appointment with the CEO, Mr Nicholas, before she told me to take the elevator to the twentieth floor. Unlike the last time, I'm calm and less intimidated with their exquisite choice of dressing. I get into the elevator and just when I thought the door would close, a leg stops it. My eyes shift from it to its owner. Zeroing my eyes on Mr Nicholas himself, my mind got all shaken up and all of a sudden, it's like I can't think again. I manage to compose myself on the outside as he enters with a daunting smirk on his face. He watches me from the corners of his eyes, as he lowly says, "Miss Sanusi, good to see you early today." I think he's realized I am not about to answer after the smile I return to him, and so he adds, "to my flo
Chapter Seven. Anastasia's POV.Sebastian Hunter, son of Mr Cole Hunter, the Third in media. Sebastian. He's really proved to be a confusing one, because of his actions towards Olivia. The way he had addressed her when he asked for my attention. I mean, after he came to meet us, he and Olivia had a little chat that didn't quite last long and sadly enough, I barely heard anything. Then, he asked to see me, to which Olivia agreed to when he was pestering. I am currently leaning on the cool iron rails before the glassy part of the building, waiting for Sebastian to talk. He's been standing next to me for the past five minutes or so, and I can't take the silence anymore. My head's booming, and I'm tired of looking out into the distance. Just knowing I'm close to the glassy area is scary enough. "So, what's to talk about?" I say and look at him. A smile forms on his face right away, before he winks. "I was waiting for you to start up the conversation, and you did." Okay, that's weird
Chapter Eight.Anastasia's POV.The road is busy at this time of the day. When I check my phone, it's one minute past three in the afternoon. Wow. I'm glad time went fast today. Entering the small shop after Hillary, my eyes flare at the waiting line. There are too many people here, meaning it'll take long before it gets to our turn. "There's too many people here." I say out part of my thought, only making Hillary chuckle. "Ana, go find us a seat. What would you like to order? I'll get yours and mine." He sounds so cool once again, like it's not enough to be panicky about, even in the least.I chew the inside of my mouth softly, as I think about it. "I want cold chocolate tea, please, make it thick with some cupcakes with banana icing on top." He smiles a ghosty smile, "I like that order. A woman that knows what she wants." Him, saying that word, I blush right away and instinctively, my fingers go to my hair to brush it to the side, exposing my right ear. I leave him to do my par
Chapter Nine.Anastasia's POV.I had just placed my phone back into my bag when the door opened and Mr Nicholas walks in. Raising my gaze up to meet his, I find myself almost losing control and gasping right away. My eyes flare, and on the inside, it's like it might pop out any time from now, for staring too much. He looked away from me for a moment, and I take that chance to admire the handsome fellow that he is. He has a sour facial expression, like he's tired or something, but to me, it doesn't very much seem like it. His hair is sprawled around his head, so he's using his left hand to rake it, but sadly enough, the strands wouldn't do as bid and I feel the urge to want to help him out on that. Oh, my God. This usually happens to my female leads in my novels. How could I be also feeling the same?Mr Nicholas's hands swipe down at his coat to remove wrinkles just before he gets to my front. "You stayed, Anastasia."Of course, I would... especially after having seen this gorgeous
Chapter Ten.Anastasia's POV.The walk to the play room for Nicholas's kids is spent in silence. I keep roving my eyes around the space, watching at the fine materials that made up all these eclectic decorations. Oh, my... I can't get enough. Plus, I'm going to be living here, in this paradise-like place, and I'm sure I'll be having a lot of fun. Jeez! I've got a lot to talk to Kyra about. Oh, yes, I'll do a video call with her to show her all these. I shun my train of thought when we get to a door. Nicholas takes a second to breathe in and then, turn his eyes on me before he opens the door. "Prepare yourself." He murmurs...to whom? Me? Of course, it's me, stupid: I tell myself. He can't possibly be talking to Kira.As the door opens, and I take a glance of what's inside, I could have sworn for the first three seconds, my mouth dropped to the rugged part of the floor. The kids did a mess to the inside. I watch my steps as we walk inside. The whole place smells of mint candies, piz
Chapter Eleven.Anastasia's POV.A cheeky Kira in media."Did I mention it earlier that I like you, too, right back?" Kira's voice says to me and I smile. Her accent is American, by the way."Thank you, Kira." I reply. "You make it simple-ish. And you made a good first impression once again." Nicholas chimes in with a smile that makes my hand, unconsciously, brush my hair behind my ears, as I blush faintly."I told you. I have my ways with kids.""Nah, you did not.""Did I not?" "You did not.""I don't believe it. I thought I did on my first day, on the interview day.""I have a good memory, trust me, and you did not.""Can you two stop stupidly arguing and go check up on the boys, like right now! That bathroom is about to regret ever being built in the first place." Kira says, although funnily, when I am sure it's not. I know kids, and they don't do a little mess. Fast-forward: Nicholas says I won't be cooking any more today, since it's late, so we just get the kids to sleep after
Chapter Twelve.Anastasia's POV.*In media are majorly Kira and Kyra.*The next morning: I wake up to the sound of birds, chirping in the background. They voice sounds so angelic and so smooth that I smile at the tone. But wait, apart from that, my ears pick up the sound of waves, like at the ocean. My consciousness confused, I rub my eyes with my hands.My eyes open slowly at first before it snap wide, and I bolt out of the bed as in front of me is a wave, and I'm suddenly in the middle of an ocean. Jeez! My body feels like it's wet, and I can't see any bed here anymore. Oh, no! It must be a lucid dream! Not a reality, please.I scream, but then, stop when like a reverse, everything is back to normal. I feel like a psychopath right now. Like, insane!There's now a bed. There's now a room. There's now a wall, surrounding me. I'm back to the actuality I was in last night. Oh, shit! My brain dings and I yell, "Kira!""I'm sorry..." Her voice is tiny, like that of an adult that's known
Chapter Thirteen.Anastasia's POV.It's so easy: cooking breakfast is so easy in this house. At some point, I cannot even decide if I'm allowed to still call here a house. It feels more like a wizard dwelling place. There's everything that I need and the fun part, I repeat, the fun part, is that I don't need to bring out the oil myself before it's being brought out for me. Basically, Kira controls it all and since she now knows that my best friend's name is close to hers, she's been extra nice. I think she's trying, in her way, to strengthen a bond of friendship between us. It didn't take me that long to finish preparing the pancakes just the way that I want it and yes, the kids loved it. Nicholas brought them in a few minutes, right after I was done with cooking. I'm so glad when they say that they want me to keep me, as though I was some property of theirs, but I understand. You know, kids language. Nicholas gives me an I-am-impressed-look abreast, and it melts my heart: the fac