EPILOGUE“Kol, this doesn’t look right.” Kol pulled the Christmas tree to the left again. I could see his veins about to pop as I shook my head. We’d been at it for almost 30 minutes straight and Kol was getting tired.“A little…” He groaned as he moved the tree a little to the right. There!“Perfect.” I huffed like I was the one doing all the work. Kol collapsed on the rug for a few minutes, probably thinking of new ways to most like strangle me and then stood up.“Baby, I’m sorry.” I kneaded his shoulders, his body relaxing under my touch.“It’s fine.” I placed a kiss on his back hoping to relieve his muscles but he turned rigid instead. I didn’t stop kissing his back though.“I think you should stop. Your dad will be coming over in a few hours and I would prefer the house smelling like hot chocolate and cookies.” He spun around to face me, grabbing my jaw.“Not wild s*x.” He always had a way of leaving me w*t and speechless every d*mn time.Now I wanted the whole place to smell like
“Sent!” I sighed.“girl! You finally did it… after weeks of postponement.” Cynthia or Thea as she preferred, my roommate and best friend, was beaming at me. It was because of her I was able to apply for a product design role at Drestech.Co. “Now I just have to wait for them to call me… or not” I looked at her apprehensively. I had worked with Jaskey Technologies for five years before they stabbed me in the back and let me off. It was also there I met my ex-boyfriend who cheated on me with one of our coworkers. I could say with absolute confidence that Jaskey Technologies was the source of most of my sadness. “Toria, I’ve seen what you can do. There’s no way you aren’t landing this job.” Thea was a source of my comfort. She helped me through the pain and I’d forever be grateful for her. Despite being the owner of Moore and More, a high end fashion design company, she was the most down to earth person I knew and she spoiled me silly.“Hey! Earth to Toria.” fingers snapped in front o
“Toria, what is it?” I didn’t answer“What does it say dam**t?” she didn’t wait for my reply as she grabbed the phone from my hands.She looks up at me and back at the phone.“You got the f**king job!” she screeched. I was going to puke. I ran to the toilet and emptied my stomach or whatever was left in it into the closet.“I’d forgotten how you get when you’re nervous. Sorry.” She rubbed my back. My nerves usually got the best of me at the most inopportune times. I couldn’t really stomach certain kinds of information."I'll be fine." I said."You should go to work. You'll be late.""Right. When I get back, we'll have you prepared for your first day" I groaned. Thea could get real bossy when she wanted and I hated being on the receiving end."Fine!" Knowing she wouldn't budge whether I complained or not. She smiled and left.***By the time Thea got back, I was coffee-in-hand ready for her. I needed the energy."Okay. Let's do this."4 hours later and 15 dresses tested, we, well she,
This was an indication that things weren’t going to go well for me. This was bad.His eyes stayed on me for a few seconds and moved over to the rest of the room.I swallowed hard. Maybe he didn't recognize me, maybe he was looking at someone else."But his friend sure did recognize you." My subconscious spoke.Fudge! I didn't swear. It just made me cringe on the inside."Not at all, Mr Drey. Just something we're about fixing." Alfred answered his earlier question. I could see a slight sheen of sweat forming on Alfred's eyebrows as he answered nervously.He had that much power in his gaze."Then we can start?" He asked."Of course, sir." Everyone else rushed to their seat. Luckily, Dara came just in time with a flash in her hand. The atmosphere eased a little as Alfred started with the presentation slides.We were making changes to the app but I had completely zoned out looking at the man in front of me.The way his lips moved as he spoke.His arms extended in front of him as he flip
During the night, I had heard Thea come in and check in on me but I didn’t turn. I was in no mood to answer any questions regarding work. Sleep came late but I was up again by 6am. Even if I was going to be fired today, there wouldn’t be any added reason to do it, I told myself.I was at my building in no time. The structure loomed over me, regarding me as insignificant in the grand scheme of things. I held my bag tightly as I walked in. I was quite early as only the receptionist was in the lobby unlike the day before. I greeted her and she smiled in return. ‘phew! Okay. One down, many to go. I’ve got this!’ I tried to assure myself. I got up to my floor. No one was there so, I got around to the business of the day, going over files from the previous week and not missing a thing. While checking out the MOD project, Jeni came in. She was my team lead and I was going to be the bigger person. So, I greeted her first.“Hi!” I smiled. She only raised her eyebrows in return and went to he
My eyes widened in surprise. Mr Drey. I hadn't seem him all week and now that I was, I was on all fours on the floor.Realising I wasn't in the best position my employer should find me, I quickly scrambled to my feet, dusting myself. "I uhm... I was looking for uhm...a flash drive fell.""That doesn't explain why you're on my floor." Oh, that floor. Wait, was I not supposed to be on this floor?"I had no idea I wasn't supposed to be here. I was told you requested a progress report." His face scrunched up in confusion."I did?" "Yeah. Jeni said - oh." Realisation dawning on me. "Nevermind." The she-devil. She had sent me on a fool's errand. "I'll be on my way now." My body itching to increase the distance between us. I hated him with every fibre of my being but I still feared him as my boss regardless. I turned around."Is this what you were looking for?"He held the flashdrive in his hands."Yes." I replied going to get it from him but he raised his hands out of my reach. The move
She hadn’t even tried to be subtle to use my idea. She used the entire presentation verbatim, only changing my name. She obviously had no shame. The finger tapping had stopped. Mr Drey’s eyes zeroed in on the screen. “What is this?” “Just something I came up with sir.” Jeni smiled nervously. As she should. The fudging liar. I hated that I could not swear without feeling uncomfortable but slowing, this girl was changing everything about me. “You came up with this?” It was hard to tell what he was thinking but I assumed there was an atom of disbelief on his face. There were murmurs all around. People whispering quietly beside me. He changed the file in his hands to the one she extended towards him and flipped through. There was a slight relaxation of his brows. That must’ve meant something good. “She did that? Wow. No wonder she’s the team lead.” Someone who was seated right next to me said. No, she didn’t. I did. Me. Mr Drey motioned for her to continue and the room quieted. Sh
My name was boldly typed across the screen on the last part of the presentation. I couldn't believe she didn’t edit that last part or cut it out. If you were going to steal from someone, then you should be wise enough not to leave your prints. Thievery101 people. Now I was in a tight position. No matter how badly she behaved towards me, I couldn’t out her like that because I was either going to get her fired or demote her. Even in the tech world, snitches also got stitches. I was still healing from Jaskey Technologies so, I decided to play dumb. It was the biggest mistake of my life. “What about it?” “What about it?” He scoffed. “Why is your name on here?” “I was trying to play a big prank on Jeni. She’d been messing a little with me all week.” “Really?” Not even believing me for a second. I nodded. Not trusting myself to say anything further. I was a terrible liar. I made the mistake of looking directly into his eyes. His deep blue eyes drew me in, making me flustered. I felt und