Chapter 5

Calmly, I kept my gaze fixed on Levi, but on the inside, I was shaking in my shoes, afraid of how he had the power to take away my newfound dream of working for the most successful company ever created.

Without saying a word to me, he reached for the folder again and opened it, looking at the sheet, his expression serious, and my nerves grew stronger.

After what felt like an eternity to me, I watched as Levi put the paper down and looked at me again, his gray eyes boring into mine as a small smirk played upon his lips.

"You are hired." He announced calmly.

For a couple of minutes, I couldn't comprehend what had just happened, and it took all my strength to keep my mouth shut. So I could only stare at Levi in shock, and I blinked a few times, unsure about what was going on.

"You are seriously hiring me?" I repeated, hoping that somehow that might make everything seem more real,

"What? Do you find yourself incompetent to be my secretary?" Levi asked, looking straight at me, his eyebrows furrowed.

Now I was seriously freaking out and confused because I applied to be an intern and not to become a secretary for a multi-millionaire CEO.

"Huh! but.., but I applied to be an intern, sir!" I stuttered, almost in disbelief as I stared back at Levi in skepticism,

Levi sighed softly, and he leaned back in his seat, folding his arms, his eyes still focused on me as he replied, "And you got a promotion as my secretary."

"But... why?" I asked, still unable to wrap my head around what was happening, and I wanted very much to understand exactly what he had meant by this.

Seeing that I was still clueless about the entire situation, Levi raised a brow, stood up, and came over to stand right before me, sitting on the edge of the desk as he looked straight at me, causing goosebumps to raise on my skin.

"Look, Melania..." He paused briefly, taking a glance at the ceiling before continuing. "My secretary just retired... She said something about her being pregnant and moving across the country with her boyfriend to get married, so I need someone to fill in right now.”

Is there such a thing as good luck? Why me of all the applicants? After such a bad breakup, was this my new beginning? It felt too. real to be true, but when I finally accepted it, I felt a sense of relief wash over me as a wide grin spread across my face.

"So, Miss Bishop, are you accepting this offer or not?" Levi asked, raising one of his dark eyebrows as he continued to gaze at me curiously.

"Yes, sir! I will gladly accept this job, sir." I blurted out eagerly, trying to ignore the butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

As expected, Levi's dark gray eyes narrowed on me as he studied me intently for a while before replying, "Good. You start tomorrow.

Trying to act professional, I smiled politely and uttered, "Okay. Thank you very much, Mr. Austin, for this opportunity. Is there anything else you need from me today?"

For a quiet second, Levi stared into my eyes. And, despite being somewhat intimidated by his penetrating gaze, I refused to give him any quarter as I met his intense store head-on and waited for him to speak.

Finally, after another long, drawn-out pause, Levi lifted his brows slowly and said in an oddly pleasant tone, "No. All the paperwork would get done tomorrow. Go home and rest because you have a busy life after today.”

Gosh, he was right. New World incorporation is such a huge company, and working for its CEO would be stressful and difficult. But I didn't care because I was way too excited to be starting a career here!

With that thought, I stood up and offered Levi my hand, watching the casual look in his eyes as he lowered his gaze and placed his hand into my soft one, and I felt a spark shoot through me.

"Thanks so much for allowing me to work here," I exclaimed happily, smiling widely and gazing deep into his beautiful dark gray eyes,

A moment later, when I got outside of the building and inhaled the fresh air, the sun was setting, turning the sky an orange shade, and I exhaled loudly.

As I stood there admiring its view, smiling like some fool and mumbled, "I am an employee of New World Inc!"

Though Levi told me to rest, I knew I had to go shopping, then reality hit me as I remembered, and I immediately opened my purse, desperately digging through my things for my ATM card, and a sense of relief washed over me when I realized that my bank card was safe and sound in my wallet.

After retrieving it from my purse, I walked towards the main road, where I hailed a cab, and instructed him to take me to the nearest mall.

After a fifteen minutes drive, the taxi pulled into the entrance of a large department store roamed Tiff & Co., which had a sleek modern design in all of its glass and marble glory.

"Thanks," I muttered gratefully, stepping out of the cab after paying him and slamming the door shut behind me.

When I got into the store, I still had that sense of excitement as I approached racks, scanning through aisle and aisle in search of something that would suit my new life well.

After wandering through countless racks of clothes without finding anything that caught my eye, I stopped near a rock of blazers, and as I was about to reach for a navy blue one, a lady tried to snatch it, but I was quicker and grobbed it first, leaving her glaring angrily at me.

"What?" I mumbled, hugging the blazer to my chest, and I scowled right back at her.

Looking extremely annoyed, she snapped her mouth shut, her glare becoming more intense, and then she blurted out, "I saw it first! So you should give it back to mel"

Feeling slightly irritated because she was acting like a rude little kid who had been denied something, I shook my head in disagreement, held the blazer even closer, and teased, "If you wanted it so bad, you should have been faster in grabbing it."

There was a long pause as she contemplated her next move until suddenly, a grin spread itself over her pretty pale features, and she stepped close to me as she sneered, "I know you..."

A frown appeared on my face as I stared back et her, wondering what she could mean by that statement, and she rolled her eyes dramatically as she stated, "You are that crazy, obsessed fan of actor Like, who humiliated yourself on live tv!"

Just like that, her words caused a whole other set of memories to surface and cause the smile on my face to disappear as I looked away awkwardly, my face heating up due to embarrassment.

This is why I have locked myself inside my house every day, away from everyone and everything that reminded me of the humiliation and heartbreak of that night and the pain it caused me to endure.

"What a clown! Did you not feel embarrassed for being so pathetic?! You know that you are nothing special, right?" The woman sneered and continued, "Just give me my blazer back!”

Suddenly, she tried reaching for me, but I moved aside so quickly that she collided with my shoulder and fell onto the floor in a heap, groaning loudly, "Fuck!"

Looking down at her, I sniffed back my tears and gave her the middle finger, smiling sadly as I added, "Go screw yourself!"

Before she could reply, I turned away, heading toward the dressing room, wanting nothing more than to hide.

And that is exactly what I did, locking the door behind me as I slid down on the wall, placing my palms against my closed eyes and attempting to stop my tears from falling.

How could I ever let a stupid comment like that hurt me this boldly? And yet, it did. Because it made me realize how much I loved Luke that I would act like a fool for him.

Since the breakup, I have been wondering if Luke missed me as I did him, or if he was still thinking about me. If, perhaps, he was crying himself to sleep as I have been doing so many times when I thought about him... because he has always had that effect on me

"Why did it have to happen like that? Why couldn't we have stayed together? Why did you leave? Just tell me... why did you do this to both?" I whispered as I held my knees to my chest as I sat there on the ground.

this to us both?" I whispered as I held my knees to my chest as I sat there on the ground.

The silence in the dressing room was calming, and I felt a bit better, but I wasn't completely convinced that I was over Luke... because he still existed in my heart, somewhere, and I didn't want to forget him, I truly didn't want to!

"Oh

my God!" I whispered, my eyes widened as reality hit me. "Has Levi seen the video of that night?!”