Chapter 01

Rosé sat at the dinner table not particularly hungry playing with her food waiting for this insufferable dinner to be over with. Her dad kept ranting on and on trying to convince her to accept the proposal to marry Adam the son of a wealthy friend of his.

‘This will be good for you’ he continued, ‘Adam’s a nice kid, he’ll treat you well and take care of you’, ‘but I don’t even know him’ I said getting tired of hearing the same thing over and over again.

‘That’s not a problem, you don’t have to get married immediately, you could just be engaged and spend time together to get to know each other, tell her darling’ he said looking over to my mom. She contemplated; she knew how I felt about all this and understands me but she hates fighting with my dad and plus thinks that this might help me break out of the shell she said I’ve placed myself in.

My mom is like my best friend, no, she is my best friend. I tell her everything so she knows me more than anyone, which is why I was disappointed when I heard this ‘I think you should give it a try’ she said, my dad was beaming when she said that ‘see even Anne agrees’ he said ‘so when shall I schedule the meeting’ he said.

‘What meeting’ I asked confused.

‘Well we do have to meet with Paul and his son to discuss how we are to go about it’ he said still with a smile plastered on his face.

‘I am not going to meet him’ I said, his smile faltered a little.

He sighed ‘listen chipmunk’ he said calling me by the nickname he gave me since I was little, ‘am only doing this cuz I want you to have a secured future, I tried so hard to give you the best education, put food on the table, buy you whatever you needed, now my job’s done its time for someone else to care for you and give you way more than I did’ he said trying to guilt trick me into agreeing but I’ll stand strong.

‘and I want the best for you, I mean you tried then fell for that idiot Douglas and looked what happened’ he said and those words lit a fire in me, I hated it what he spoke about him, that douche bag I never should have fell for.

He continued, ‘I never trusted him and told you time and time again to leave him because he’ll hurt you one day’, don’t you dare say it, I thought, ‘then he cheated on you with that friend of yours’, he said it.

‘If you had listened to me, you wouldn’t be in this state right now so reconsider’, he said in that his sweet voice.

‘Dad I get that you’re doing this for me but am fine, I don’t need a man to take care of me, I can do that myself I’ve already got a job as a receptionist at walker’s tech, I start tomorrow, so even if you can’t provide for me, I’ll do it myself’, I said.

‘Am glad you got the spot’, my mom said, ‘thanks mom’ I said, meanwhile dad kept looking to and fro from us.

‘When did this happen?’ he asked, ‘I applied for it about a week a—why was I not informed?’ he asked raising his voice a little.

‘I did over dinner last Monday, you would have known if you ever listened to me’ I added.

‘Don’t get smart with me’, he said. ‘Okay let’s all just calm down’, mom said trying to calm us down, but I wasn’t having it.

I snapped.

‘I am tired of you not listening it’s like you don’t even care anymore!, you don’t care about what I have to say if it’s not me agreeing to marry some dude I don’t even know, I am done trying to reason with you, am not going to marry some guy just because you said so, if you want to get rid of me you don’t have to, I’ll just leave!’, and with that I stood up and went to my room upstairs and left my parents staring after me in shock.

I have never raised my voice against them before, and was actually feeling bad I did but I had to stand by what I said, I knew that my welfare wasn’t the only thing he will get out of this I overheard my dad and Mr. Paul Wright talk about some business investment my dad will get from me and Adam getting together.

I can’t believe that he will do all this just to turn a profit. I was mad at him at least tell it to my face instead of making up all this “for my own good” crap. It was getting late and I was about to go to bed when I heard scratching at the door. I opened it to reveal rainbow my adorable German shepherd.

It’s like she always senses when I was down and comes to comfort me. Through the open door I heard my mom trying to calm my dad down, saying I’ll come around. *Scoff* like that happen.

I climbed unto my bed, rainbow climbing in after me i snuggled with her thinking about my job starting tomorrow, then exhaustion over took me and I fell asleep.

*Beep beep* my alarm clock rang signaling it was 7:00 am. I groaned as I got up, said my prayers and was on my way to the bathroom.

It takes about an hour for me to get ready; after I had worn my clothes applied a little makeup which consisted of just lip gloss and mascara. I don’t really like makeup, too much baggage on my face, anyway I grabbed my purse went downstairs to eat my breakfast; I took a light breakfast just cereal I also poured some dog food and water for rainbow.

My dad walked in while I was eating to make coffee, and there was tension in the air, none of us said anything. Then I decided to break the silence.

‘Good morning dad’, I said, ‘morning’ he replied. I knew he was still mad at me for not cooperating and because of my outburst last night, I didn’t say anything else. When I was done, I checked the time it read 8:15 and work is at 9:00, with nothing else to do I ruffled rainbow’s fur telling her goodbye, my mom came down while I was grabbing my keys, I told her bye and kissed her on the cheek. When my hand was on the front door knob my dad called out to me ‘have a nice day’ while smiling, I was surprised I thought he was going to ignore my existence until I accept the dumb marriage. I smiled back.

‘You too’ I said then left.

I opened the door to my ash colored Toyota Prius that my dad gave me after I graduated from college, we were really closed back then but now he brings up that marriage at every conversation, anyways I won’t let he bring me down today I arrived at work with 20mins early. I stared at the five story building in front of me, this was going to be my new life coming here weekday to make a living and when I had enough saved I would move out so I don’t have to deal with my dad attempts to marry me off.

I entered the building and went towards the manager’s office. The manager’s name is Wayne I met him last week during my interview, he told me to come earlier than the work time so that he can brief me on my responsibilities.

He showed me my desk and told me what they were;

There was a telephone on the desk, he gave me a paper consisting of all contacts of various divisions of the enterprise for when the need arises for me to relay information, or confirm appointments.

He told me, that as a receptionist, am the first employee that the public or customer has contact with. Therefore am responsible for making a good first impression for the enterprise so I should always be polite.

She should also keep current information for those who come to inquire about their services.

He also mentioned some other responsibilities I’ll uphold. Man this is not going to be easy.

The first few hours weren’t as bad as I thought it will be. It was 12:30pm now and Wayne came over with a girl who he introduced to me as Lacy, and told me I could take a one hour break and come back by 1:30.

I asked lacy where the restroom was, and went to relive myself I came out and not looking where I was going I bumped into a man dressed in a black suit.

‘I’m so sorry’ I stared at the man I had just encountered; he has to be the most attractive man I have ever seen in my life. He had dark brown hair, a strong jaw, stubble from lack of shaving but seems to fit well with his appearance, her gaze travelled to his eyes, those bluish green eyes were so mesmerizing she felt as if she could get lost in them. Then the words from the mysterious man broke her trance.

‘It’s you’ he said coming out like a breath