Chapter 5

Maybelline.

8:45am …

I groaned in my sleep as I slowly turned in my bed, I folded my legs in a fetal position and softly stretched out, my joints released addicting popping sounds as I stretched out. My body felt sore and it ached. My eyes slowly fluttered open and I stared at the ceiling with pursed lips and I sighed deeply.

I felt really reluctant to go to work, not with the pain in my body or the trauma I’m currently going through. You’d be going through life issues and your employer would still expect you to show up at work like everything is good when clearly everything has gone bad!. But what can I do? I don’t plan to stay in Grayson’s house for too long. The Tanners already blocked the credit card I had in their name, if I wanted to earn a decent living I needed to work. I slowly picked up my phone, immediately my eyes came in contact with the time written in hold on the phone screen I shot up from the bed with a start.

Five minutes to nine?! How I didn’t not realize that we were far into the morning, I dashed towards the window and pulled the curtain open, the blinding rays of sun filtered into the room. God damn it! I was deceived by the coziness of the room. I thought we were still in the early hours of the morning and I woke up to do all those ceremonies and unnecessary self-talk on the bed . I grabbed my towel and dashed into the bathroom immediately.

I struggled with putting on my heels as I walked out of my room, I raised my hands to my hair and carefully tucked my hair behind my ear carefully not to destroy the curls I had taken time to do yesterday night.

“Good Morning ma’am, I hope you slept well,” Elena greeted walking out of the kitchen with a tray in her hands as I walked down the staircase.

“Good Morning, good Morning, I did,” I replied as I hurried towards the door, she quickly dropped the tray she was holding and rushed up to me.

“You’re not having breakfast?!” She asked, I shook my head negatively as I grabbed the keys and began to twist the door open,

“I’m late,” I muttered, she gently placed her hands on mine and stopped me from opening up the door, I looked up at her surprised.

“What are you doing, can you let go?! I’m late!” I said to her, she gently shook her head like she was pleading with me,

“Sir Grayson instructed that you have breakfast before you leave the house,” I exhaled deeply as I gently removed her hands from mine, grabbed the door knob and pulled it open.

“I can’t stay here one minute longer, please understand,” I said to her and with that I pulled the door wider open and stepped out.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell!” I added raising my voice a little higher as I walked away so she could hear me.

***

9: 45am …..

I looked down at my watch as I walked into the company, it was a Broadcasting and Media company. And my job here was actually like an intern, we were five selected and all five of us will be on probation for the next six months, only three amongst us will be picked and promoted to permanent staff. And I was already starting my first day being ridiculously late. I quickly dipped my hand into my pocket and took out my employee’s card, immediately I got to the small checkpoint at the entrance, I placed my card on the sensor and the doors went open. I heaved a deep breath and walked in.

“Maybelline Russet!” I heard my name as I walked into the building, I stopped in my tracks and slowly turned around to see Miss Katrina walking towards me, my heart skipped a beat as my heart’s rhythm accelerated, luck was definitely not on my side today.

“You’re late!” She said to me as she got to me and folded her hands around her chest.

“I’m really sorry, I …”

“Does this place look like we run it on apologies?!” She asked sternly, cutting me off, I bowed to her immediately and slowly rose up to my feet.

“I’m really sorry, Miss Katrina this won’t happen again,” I begged, obviously not having any excuse to give, I did not have any genuine reason to be late and it would be way worse if I told the truth and said I woke up late on my first day on the job.

“Ofcourse, it won’t happen again, your journey at Nash and Ko ends here,” she replied curtly as she stepped forward and snatched my employee’s card from my hands. My heart raced even more, my throat felt tight and my eyes burned with tears threatening to fall, how could I let this happen to me, this was the only and the last chance my baby and I had at survival, where do I even want to start looking for a job from. I worked so hard to get this job, Nash and Ko wasn’t just any company, it was my dream! An opportunity I had spent years chasing, I’ve always wanted to be an Anchor, I got so close to it only to lose it within the first few minutes.

“Give it back Katrina, let it slide today!” My heart thudded loudly in my chest, but the moment I heard that voice, I froze. It was familiar, almost too familiar.

The deep, commanding tone sent a shiver down my spine, and suddenly, every eye in the room shifted. Slowly, I turned to see him walking toward us.

It was him! Grayson!. What are the odds that the man who was proposing a contract marriage to me would be my boss?! Apparently a hundred!.

He stood at an impressive height, at least six feet, with broad shoulders that filled his custom-tailored navy suit to perfection. His jet black hair, neatly styled, looked effortlessly perfect, as though he’d just stepped off the cover of a magazine. His sharp jawline was clean-shaven. I never really noticed this attractive part of him before, it’s probably because we didn’t meet on quite a good note.

His presence was magnetic, and it was clear he commanded every room he walked into. His reputation was as flawless as his appearance, I could see staff scurry out of his way as he approached us.

“Grayson, she was late as an intern on her first day!” She said defiantly as she stepped back and turned to him, they had this unspoken familiarity around them and the fact that she called him by his name made that obvious. His gaze flicked to me briefly, then back to her.

“I said let it slide today, Katrina,” he repeated, his voice firm. There was no room for negotiation in his tone, and even Katrina couldn’t miss that.

“Okay,” she muttered with tight lips and handed back my employee’s card to me.

“Join the rest of your colleagues, first room on the fifth floor,” she said, without another word, Katrina walked away.

My hand trembled as I took my card back, clutching it like it was the most precious thing in the world. I swallowed hard, unsure of what to say as I stood before Grayson. He happens to always be around at crucial points of my lives these past few weeks. What are the odds that it is coincidental?!

Grayson looked at me then, those gray eyes locking onto mine, what was the odd that I got this job by coincidence too?! I thought he randomly chose someone at his wedding reception to escape the wedding and the person turned out to be me, but now I have a lot of reasons to think that he didn’t just randomly choose. I wanted to break off gazes with him, his intentions aren’t quite clear and I really want to know what he’s up to.

“You should go now,” he finally said to me, his voice cool and firm as usual, just as I was about to turn around and leave, he stepped closer to me and grabbed my hands carefully.

“Don’t worry about what happened last week, I’ve taken care of it, it didn’t make its way to the media!” He said, I nodded in reply, he slowly let go of my hands and I turned around and walked away.