เข้าสู่ระบบ"You look tired. Are you sick?" Lucius asked abruptly as Alura placed his usual cup of coffee on his desk the next day.Alura blinked, her hand freezing midway back to her side. For a second, she genuinely wondered if she'd heard him wrong. She stared at him, genuinely shocked, did he just ask a personal question?Her grumpy boss was asking if she was sick?"I--No." She stammered. "I just didn't sleep well during the weekend. I'm fine, Sir."Lucius leaned back slightly in his chair, his gaze lingering on her face longer than usual.Long enough to make her painfully hyper aware of how her face looked.The concealer she had used that morning suddenly felt useless beneath his eyes. She resisted the urge to touch her face, already imagining the dark circles sitting under her eyes like bruises.God.Maybe she should have used a thicker layer. Maybe she looked so horrible and it was easily noticeable.He frowned slightly, a faint crease appearing between his brows. "You look exhausted."The
Lucius had walked into the office with a very grumpy mood, like a man who had not slept in days, and had made a personal decision to take it out on everyone within a five meter radius. Nobody breathed comfortably around him all day. Alura honestly would have cared more if her own life wasn't already actively collapsing. But after a long day of torture, he finally left earlier than usual, abandoning her to sort through the chaotic aftermath of his bad mood. Alura scoffed in annoyance, "He thinks he's the only one who had a terrible weekend." She pulled her phone from her purse and opened the chat thread with Lou. Seventeen messages. She had sent seventeen desperate messages over the weekend explaining the real truth about the misunderstanding. All of them were marked as read, but completely ignored, not even a single reply from him. Her chest tightened more. She thought about the email from his lawyers. The divorce papers that were being prepared and would probably be sent today
Meanwhile that same evening, across town at west Cedarville Alura was actually at her old apartment, not the one she lived in with her dad though, it's the one she once shared with her roommate who later became her friend, Nessa. She stood in the middle of the one room apartment and looked around slowly, as memories hit her. After graduating she had to leave her father to find a job, but she needed a place to stay while job hunting. That was when she met Nessa at a job interview. Luckily they both got the job and Nessa offered to accommodate her at the apartment, but Alura would have to pay part of it since Nessa was struggling to pay it alone. Alura had willingly accepted. So that's how they became roommates and eventually best friends. They had spent two years in this place, two years of working three part time jobs because the salary wasn't enough, and eating instant meals almost everyday, and counting coins for bus fare. Now she was packing the last of what remained in th
Two weeks later. It was Saturday and Lucius decided to meet his unknown wife for the first time.Lily was still a stranger, and it bothered him more than anything else. Even though he had allowed Grandma Mabel to orchestrate it, he still needed to see the face and appearance of the person who was legally bound to his name.The reason wasn't due to sudden curiosity or due to emotions, after all he had already made it clear, and she seemed to understand perfectly. The problem was that family events would eventually come and the board also had eyes everywhere. If Lily showed up anywhere close to Hunt Corp or attended events with him and embarrassed him, it would reflect on everything he had spent years building. So he needed to meet her personally, at least to see the face behind that sharp tongued text partner.Lucius' lawyer sent him the address of her new apartment, a building in downtown Cedarville. His grandmother had arranged for the apartment, and he approved, but he had been too
It was finally Friday and Alura had made it through the entire week without being fired, without crying in the bathroom, and without poisoning Lucius' coffee.... though the last one had crossed her mind twice. She was sitting at her desk outside Lucius' office, still in one piece.While sorting through the afternoon's emails, a new one landed at the top of her inbox. The sender's name made her stomach drop immediately.Lucius had sent her an email and it was very unusual, especially since he would just use the intercom if he needed to send her on an errand or request for something. Her finger hovered over the mouse for a few seconds, then she finally clicked it before she could overthink it. Already bracing herself for another carefully worded humiliation dressed up in formal language, or even worse a sack letter. But the words that stared back at her made her blink."Your first week's salary will be sent to your account, along with a performance bonus. It's been a week and you're s
"My daughter lives here! This whole floor should be grateful. My girl is going places, You think someone like her would just live anywhere?" Alura who just got back from work already tired and frustrated froze. The yelling was coming from her floor. She heard it before she even reached her floor and she definitely knew that voice. She would recognize that voice anywhere, even in her nightmares. She got to her floor and there he was, her father Robert, he stood in the middle of the hallway in a wrinkled shirt, gesturing widely at Mrs. Henderson who lived in the next apartment, She looked like she deeply regretted opening her door this evening. "Sir, I'm telling you, you can't just stand in this hallway making noise, else I'll call security." Mrs. Henderson said firmly and folded her arms. "I don't care who your daughter is but some of us are trying to rest." "Rest?" Alura's father scoffed and puffed up like a man who had never been told No in his entire life, which was not







