Betrayed enormously, and feeling very down, she doesn't exit the room and just stays on the bed all day, thinking over and over again about the unfairness that had been meted out to her.
What could she have done?Mark was her lover and boyfriend for years and now that they are about to marry, her own family comes in her way? The same family that was fawning over her not up to twenty four hours before?Samantha kept moving and turning over and over again. When food delivery came in the afternoon, she didn't open the door for them to come in because, partly she had not even heard the door ring and food was most certainly the last thing on her mind at that moment.Towards the evening, she stands up from the bed, wears her pink gown again from the night before and sets out to get answers to her questions and truths to what seems to be lies at the moment.She earnestly wishes it's all just a silly prank that would be over as soon as she shows up at home. That her family will all just laugh and ask her if she had fallen for that prank but somehow, she just knew it wasn't possible.The night stand with that man had been real, her fuzziness after that drink was all too clear and even the TV couldn't have been programmed to show a live conference at that particular time.She takes a taxi, holding only her phone as that was the only thing that she had been in that room with. She pays the taxi man through a bank transfer and enters the mansion.Walking into the gates, it seemed like her one night not at home had changed a lot of things.For one, there were tons of canopies being erected, chairs and tables arranged underneath them.The garden in front of the house transformed into a flower arch and a small pedestal laid under it.It was obvious that a wedding was being planned.Could it be...?Ei. It was not possible. Not everything could have changed in that one night she had been absent.But her eyes were not deceiving her.She meets the eyes of her mother from afar. She stiffens and walks to meet her."Mum...? What's going on?"Her mum stares at her for a second and raises her right hand and gives Samantha a stinging slap, calling the attention of everyone around outside in the garden."What? Mum? You're not my daughter anymore. Infact, you were never my daughter you whore."Her mother's words hurt even more than the slap that has turned her small pale face red.Samantha staggered backwards.Words failing her, she struggled to find the words to express how hurt she is from the manipulation and mind games and then getting blamed by the world for something she didn't do or rather, something she was induced to do.Just then, Taylor came out of the house in a red flowing gown."Mum? What do you think about this one for the feast or..." Her words trail off when she notices Samantha in front of her mum. "What are you doing here?" She asks with a face masked with disgust."This is my house as much as it's yours. Why would you ask me that?"Taylor scoffs. "I guess you haven't heard the news yet. You've been disowned. Sam, you're no more a Stiles. Even if you still claim to be, you're no more a Stiles of this family."Samantha frowns. She had seen the conference but didn't want to believe it."Where's Dad? Dad will take my side and get rid of the lies you two are forming.""Aw. Cinderella wants her Daddy. Well, your Dad is in the living room. You can go meet him if you like."Samantha scoffs and leaves for the house. As soon as she enters, the smell of delicious dishes being cooked in their large kitchen just makes her smile.Who would have thought she'd miss home this much after leaving for just one night in the middle of this situation? It is comforting to be back home for Samantha.She inhales deeply and enters deeper and sees her Dad reading the paper of the day. She smiles widely and walks up to meet him.Her Dad looks up and sees her. His sudden facial expression makes her take two steps back in fear.Samantha usually doesn't care whatever people say about her as long as her Dad believes her and this time, she wasn't expecting any difference."What are you doing here? Why don't you go spend the night with that man whore of yours?"Samantha looks dejected at hearing those words from her Dad."Dad... What's happening? You have to believe me. It's not what it looks like." She pleads earnestly, hoping for her father's trust."Really? We all watched the CCTV camera as you entered the room of that man. I don't even want to know of the sins you committed with him.""I was going to Mark's room. I didn't know I had the wrong room.""Really? Am I supposed to believe that? Also, when you discovered it wasn't Mark, why didn't you come back out?"Samantha had no answer and just sobs."See? Get out of my house this instant. I never want to set my eyes on your face again. The next time I do? God help me to not do what no father would do to his child. Out!"Samantha drops to her knees. "Believe me Dad...""OUT!" He yells again and Samantha runs out of the house.Outside, Taylor and her mum stands side by side, laughing at her.Taylor beckons her to come."Hey Sam. Do you want to know something?"Taylor reaches out to her, holding a cream coloured paper in her hands. Reluctant, Samantha takes it and reads it.As soon as it's in her hands, she recognizes the document as the invitation letter that she had been handing out to invite people to her wedding.But this one, her name had been crossed out and it was now Taylor Stiles."Do you think you could have Mark? I've had a crush on him ever since you first showed him to us on video call while you were in college." She pauses and fakely dusts her red gown."Today's the feast, tomorrow is the wedding. Same time, same venue but sadly, you can't do anything. What Taylor wants, Taylor gets."She laughs along with her mum."Ah. Your things will be shipped to you wherever you are. We'll be happy to get rid of your traces in this house." Her mum chips inSeeing them together, Samantha was completely confused.What had changed in this family? They all used to be so happy...Dejected, Samantha exits the Stiles mansion and leaves the compound entirely.She had one more stop before she could totally give up.Visiting Mark Fisher.By now, he would be at work.She hails another taxi and gets inside.Her phone vibrates.Any news right now would be appreciated because anything that could help her gain understanding of the situation is paramount.She checks her message and sees its a credit alert from her bank.Puzzled, she clicks on it and gasps.Someone had sent her thirty thousand dollars.What?!Her phone suddenly starts to ring.She almost bursts into tears as she picks up the phone."Hello Sam?""Renee...""I just heard what happened? Are you okay? Where are you?""I'm in a taxi on my way to Mark's office.""What? No. That's a pathetic thing to do. You know what, get down in front of his workplace, I'll come pick you up.""Thanks so much Renee. You're all I have left.""You know you're all I have too. I'll see you soon."Samantha sighed in part happiness that she still had someone she could look up to and then part because she was right about seeing Mark.Soon enough, the taxi drops her in front of MF Enterprises.She gets off after paying through a QR code.The last time she had been there was just three days earlier, she had come to tell him about the hall and babble about the plans she had for him after they were finally married.He had been so distracted that day.Turning around to find somewhere to sit, she bumps into a man."I'm sor... Mark." She gasps and steps back.He looks down at her with all hatred he could muster and shoves her away hardly.Startled, Samantha loses her footing and tumbles to the ground.She falls hard and grazes her elbow on the hard floor of the road. "Ouch!" She yells in pain.He doesn't even offer to help her up and just regards her with disgust."Cheating whore."In just the space of two hours, she has been verbally hurt by the people she loved the most.Taylor, Her Mum, Her Dad and now Mark too.Renee suddenly appears by her side and holds out a hand to her."You're a bastard for doing that to her." She spits at Mark venomously and takes shaking Samantha away from his sight.Samantha sobs silently in the car, her pink gown ripped at the shoulder from the pull after falling down earlier.Renee glances at her and gives her a tissue. "You should stop crying. They should be the one doing so. Come on."Samantha sniffles and wipes her eyes slowly. She sighs sadly."You have no idea what has happened this last two hours. Hell, these past twenty fours hours.""Yes, I don't know much or even anything about what really happened but I have eyes to know that you are not that loose and something really happened backdoors. Let's stop talking about it. You need to eat something and take a shower.""Are you saying I smell?""Of course not..." She pushes her shoulder slightly. "...maybe just a bit."They both laugh.The rest of the ride to Renee's apartment is short and silent.Upon arrival, Renee helps Samantha to run a bath and prepared some food while waiting for her to come out of the bathroom.She shows up in a little bit, dressed in a cross shoulder top and bum shor
"Elena, I want the file with the proposition MF made.""In a minute sir."Claude drops the telephone and has his eyes fixed on the news in New York at the moment."Yes, we have Intel from a reliable source right now that Miss Samantha has just been disowned by her family after showing up at home in a mangled gown and messy hair, obviously, the aftermath of a steamy night with someone we've yet to identify. Tune in this time tomorrow for the wedding clips. Up next..."The TV goes blank.Samantha...Could she be the same Samantha Stiles? Claude is momentarily distracted by his thoughts and didn't hear Elena, his secretary come in with the documents he had requested for.She drops the file on his table, almost touching him. He quickly withdraws his hand and notices a small document on top of the others."What's this?" He asks, holding it up."It's the reprinted invitation letter that came from MF this afternoon.""I see. You can go."She bows and leaves the room. Ford opens the paper an
More than everyone in the noisy hall, Samantha is more than baffled at what the situation has come to be, but her head is all muddled and out of sorts from being kissed by this really handsome man who looks like he wants to have her there and now.She pulls away breathing heavily and inhales and exhales deeply to relax herself and steady her beating heart.Taylor, her dad and mum walk over to her.Her Dad whips her over in one fluid movement and slaps her heavily on the face. Samantha reels from the shock and almost falls.Second physical slap in two days from the same person.The man behind her catches her just in time and she leans into him for a moment of comfort, a moment of peace from what's happening outside his suit's lapel.She's rudely pulled out from her hiding place and shouted at."You whore. How dare you do that at my wedding?" Taylor screams and beats her body with the bouquet of flowers in her hands over and over again. Nobody makes a move to stop her so Claude steps in
Samantha steps out of the elevator into a wide hallway with different doors on the sides but a particular door is open with people coming in and out of the room. They all have numbers pinned to their shirts.She walks up to a lady who's sitting alone, reading something looking like a pamphlet. "Excuse me. Please where do we get numbers?""You just arrived? Go to that woman, she'll assign you a number. You have to hurry though because they can get to the last number before yours quick and when that happens, well, sorry."Samantha nods and gets her number immediately. She gently attaches the pin to her shirt. It reads in large numeric writing "32"She goes back to sit beside the lady from before and settles down beside her. She peeks at her number. She's number 30.A man exits the room sniffling hard and eyes red. The two ladies watch him go."Is it that bad in there?""It's terrible. Bad is an understatement. They are hiring just five people this year and there are still people coming.
Claude rifles through the files and personal documents in front of him and then picks one out of it all. He studies the mini picture on the document and stands up with it."You're not seeing the interview to the end sir?" One of the directors ask him"No. I have some things to take care of." He glances at the document again and leaves with a small smile on the corner of his lips.He really does have business to tend to.Choosing to not draw attention to himself, he takes the elevator downstairs and walks outside the door, hoping to meet Samantha before she leaves. He manages to see her hair whip into a taxi and as it drives away, he discovers he's not the only one watching the vehicle leave.They turn to face each other at the same time, the spark of recognition crosses their faces at the same time too."Mr Whyte." He walks up to him, quite cheerily, too cheerily infact, and extends his hands for an handshake. "I'm sorry our meeting at the wedding was quite sour. I'd love to make up f
The entire day after Samantha got her job acceptance message has been all fun and colourful. She's happy at herself at making such an achievement all by herself, without an external help from any influential person like her parents used to.All of Tuesday is spent shopping for the perfect and most official clothes they can find in Samantha's size. They had sorted everything and at the end of the stressful day, they had eaten out and then went house surfing.Samantha had already looked up some cost friendly and okay apartments for a single lady like her, and kept some pictures and addresses so they can go check them out later. In all the excitement, they play matchmaking for the clothes and Samantha picks up the clothes she will be wearing on her first day.It's a light red suit pant and cream shirt."How do I look?""Wow. Chic and official. Official Chic. You're fit to be one of those beautiful and sexy secretaries that get their bosses in the end.""What? Not that boss. I didn't even
Dylan chuckles as the elevator doors open to reveal a large workspace with many cubicles. Computers or laptops on each table, only a few towards the floor to ceiling windows are empty.A man walks over to meet them. "Good morning. Just on time. Punctuality is very important when you work here. The other interns are sitted over there..." He points to a large conference room just opposite the empty table. "Join them. You will be briefed by the boss on your place while you work here." They nod their thanks to him and walk into the conference room to meet three other people.Samantha looks around and she sees the lady that she sat with on the physical interview day. Happy to recognize someone in the room, she takes her seat beside her."Hi. I remember you. I'm Samantha." Sam formally introduces herself, holding her hands out for a shake.She looks at her outstretched hand but does not take it. "I'm Cheryl." She states coldly and looks away.Dylan shrugs at her from opposite her. The doo
Seventeen minutes later, Samantha drops the large document on the woman's table. She looks up at her blankly for a second and then remembers."I thought I said ten minutes?"Samantha groans. "Two of the copiers...""Are you about to start giving excuses for your tardiness? So unprofessional. If you can't handle all this on the first day, it will be better for us all if you quit." She snickers evilly and takes the document to herself. "You didn't arrange them in order? I should be collecting six of these documents from you right now." She slams them on the table and stands up.Not wanting to cause a scene, Samantha grabs the document, trying to smile politely. "I'll go arrange it right now. Please don't be annoyed." She leaves back for the copier room. It takes her all of five minutes to arrange everything in order and take them back again."Finally." She looks through the documents. "You can go." She says, without a thank you or anything. As soon as Samantha turns her back, she throws