CHAPTER TWO

“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, found the perfect dress.

A green shirt and white slacks paired with black flats. She said the green brought out the colour in my eyes more.

"You're so beautiful. I don't know why you don't show it off more." Growing up, I learned to focus more on what my hands could do, rather than my legs. So, I didn't spend a lot of time thinking

about how I looked. I wished I did though. I wished I could do my make-up or style myself to look all dolled up. I always wondered if that was part of why Michael cheated on me. Maybe because I didn't put a lot of effort into how I looked.

I shook my head. I promised myself never to dwell on the past because it was the past.

She pushed a box into my hands.

"What is this?" I asked.

"You'll know if you open it." I opened it and gasped. It was a tiny engraved bracelet spelling out my name.

My eyes watered. "Thank you...and not just for the necklace. For everything you've done for me so far"

I sniffled.

"Meh... it's all right. You deserve everything good this world has to offer." I leaned forward to hug her tightly. "Let up... can't breathe." She patted my back frantically. I let her go.

"Besides, I feel like this will help you with your plan you know..." She glanced at me. I'd told her about it. My plans to see if Drestech.Co was a company to be trusted. I had come up with an idea for an app but as they say, 'once bitten, twice shy'. I'd put my all for a project at Jaskey Technologies and got nothing in return.

I knew I needed all the help I could get because it wasn't something I could do on my own but I couldn't make the same mistake twice. I wouldn't.

"It's going to be hard to get to know your boss if you can't even get his attention in the first place." She continued. The plan was to get close enough to see if they could be trusted with my idea. If he could be trusted. I was confident about my idea, that it would generate a lot of revenue for his company.

"I know... and I've heard so much about him. Drestech.Co's CEO, Nicholas Drey, that I'm not sure what is or isn't true."

"I think I might have seen him once when our worlds crossed at some exclusive event. He doesn’t appear on cameras. So, I doubt there are recent pictures of him, if there are at all. I might have the memory of a goldfish but I remember him being cold though. Devastatingly, wickedly, handsomely cold." She winked.

"Ew.. that's my new boss we're talking about. Get your mind out of the gutter. " I scrunched up my nose in distaste. It was no news that Thea was active and very open about her midnight endeavours.

"Besides, you know I'm sworn off men at work" I gave her a knowing look.

"That b**tard Michael, I hope he caught chlamydia or something." I laughed. The first time I'd openly felt an emotion other than sadness or pain about him since he cheated on me.

"I hope so too..."

"but circling back to my boss, I would prefer if he noticed me for my skills instead though" I bit my lip thinking out loud.

"You're beauty and brains. There's no telling which he'd notice first."

"No, let me rephrase that. He's a guy. Of course he'd notice beauty first. It's only normal albeit stereotypical. However, depending on the kind of person he turns out to be, one wouldn't really matter to him"

She was right even though I didn't want her to be. I wasn't overconfident about my looks. I knew I wasn't bad looking but I wouldn’t want to get noticed based on it.

"Look, I know you don't like what I'm saying. All I'm just trying to say is, if your looks get you noticed and then he finds out about how incredibly skilled you are later, don't feel bad about it. Okay? You were blessed with that face and body." She ran her eyes all over me.

Wishful thinking could only get one so far.

***

Monday had come by so quickly but I was prepared for it. I had woken up by 5am to get ready. I double checked everything from the direction my hair was styled, to the file in my hand.

"You look absolutely stunning." She said as she fixed my dress. I was lucky to have her. People paid thousands of dollars to be styled by her. All I had to do was prepare her favourite parfait and she was barking orders the next minute.

"Thank you." I checked all my documents once again to make sure I wasn't missing anything.

"I'll be on my way now." I hugged her and picked up my bag. Another gift, courtesy of Thea.

"They grow up so fast." She sniffled.

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that." I yelled back and left the apartment.

***

The building was so easy to spot as it was a high-rise building with over 34 floors. It was something of an architectural wonder. I took a deep breath and walked straight up to the receptionist. She was typing away.

"Hi. Good morning." She looked up from her computer.

"Hi. How may I help you?" She asked

"I was asked to resume today by 8am. I was just granted a letter of appointment. Here." I handed her my file.

"Okay. Have your seat. Let me confirm this with the HR department."

"Miss Trisha?" I looked up at the mention of my name.

"Yes?"

She handed me back my papers with a smile.

"Someone will be here to show you around and take you to your work station. Welcome to Drestech.Co."

A minute later someone came around to take me to my cubicle. She had introduced herself as Jeni, my team lead. From the way she spoke, I could tell she had a mean streak about her but I just nodded to whatever she said and followed her. We took the elevator to floor 7, the design floor.

By 8 o'clock, I was already settled in at my desk busying myself with the day's work.

More people trickled in as it neared 9 o'clock. By 9, I'd introduced myself to every team lead and team member there was on our floor. Most were welcoming. Others, not so much but it was okay. I was there for me and I was going to do my best regardless.

"All right. It's time for our meeting. Design team, let's go." Alfred, the team manager said as he looked at his watch.

"Last week was a bad week. Let's not make it worse, okay? You know how he can get." He? I assumed the person we'd be having our meeting with.

We all filed in after him and took the elevator to the second floor. It was a large conference room capable of hosting about 30 attendants.

The projector was being set up by the time we got there.

"Josh, take over. Make sure that everything is correctly placed and the files are all on the system." Alfred snapped his fingers quickly.

'Something must've happened the week before I got here,' I thought to myself.

Josh was on the programming team. He seemed nervous as he walked back to Alfred.

"The MOD file is missing. I can't find it anywhere on the system." Alfred's head snapped to Josh’s face.

"What do you mean it's not on the system?" He moved towards the computer. After minutes of searching fruitlessly, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Who was in charge of sending the files to the system?" Nobody answered. "Who?" He shouted.

"It was me." A squeaky voice replied.

I looked towards the sound of the voice. I couldn't remember her name but she was on my team. We shared the same space.

"Dara..." He moved towards her. 'Dara' I mentally noted down.

"What happened to the file?"

"I... I don't know. I know I sent it to the system on Friday night. I'm sure of it." She seemed so small

shrinking back from Alfred's gaze.

"Well, it isn't there." He gestured towards the laptop on the podium.

"I should still have the original file. It should be on my system in the office." She answered.

"Well... what are you waiting for? Go get it."

"All I asked was that we have this meeting today without hitches. Now we can't find the actual file we need for the meeting. What's the point of the meeting without the reason we're meeting? Must I do

everything m..."

"Is there something wrong here?" My head snapped to the deep baritone voice that echoed throughout

the room and the office fell to a complete silence.

No... That voice. I knew that voice. The man at the bar. Kol. The lighting was poor enough to obscure some of his features but that voice, I could never forget it. Not even if I tried to.

There was no mistaking that this was the CEO either. I could see him in better light and my God, he was beautiful. I took a sharp breath in. There seemed to be nothing about him short of perfection. Not his staggering height nor his toned complexion nor his smooth skin.

The voice and face matched perfectly. It was extremely rare to categorize a man as beautiful but he was. This man broke so many laws I didn't even know existed. The audacity to look so good and yet so unapproachable at the same time and his eyes… the eyes that unsettled me. It wasn’t as dark as I remembered. It was light blue. So light blue they were almost gray.

As if he could feel me staring, as if my thoughts had somehow called him, his eyes moved scanning the entire room until they fell on me.

My lips widened a fraction as I remembered what he had said the night before. How Thea and I had both embarrassed ourselves, in front of him and his friend, who also all of a sudden, seemed to notice me, his eyes slightly widening in surprise.

Oh God please, now would be the best time to strike me or something. Any of the 7 plagues, I’ll gladly take it.