"I have been called way more than my fair share of names in my short time on this earth. I suppose that's what I get for I being, simultaneously, society's 'IT' girl, but also public enemy number one for most of my teenage years. After all, the titles go hand in hand. You cannot be it, girl, without legions of girls wanting to be you and going to some pretty extreme lengths and planning unspeakable deeds to topple you off of the proverbial throne and then there is always the cut-throat competition amongst the guys. However, the higher you climb, the more precarious it becomes, and the more people there are rooting for your downfall. and, when you do inevitably trip and fall, they will crowd around you, jeering and laughing with spiteful glee. And if you dare to stand up, in vain hope, and even entertain the idea of defending yourself in the court of public opinion, the may well brand you: shameless."
Four years ago, Selena Yingyue Zhao would've had a field day and been right in her element, as a junior socialite, having so much media attention would have been the dream once upon a time, as that would have skyrocketed her standing. Over the years it has become somewhat of a bizarre rite of passage for all socialites to have done something to get themselves mentioned on page 6 in all the influential newspapers, and their names being whispered around the internet and various social media platforms. If you hadn't at least been part of one breakout scandal then there were limited options for you in the world of socialites. In that do or die world, you would have to remain relevant or fade into the oblivion and be forgotten forever and making a comeback is more difficult than rising from the grave itself.
However, now as she stood in the private lobby of what used to be her father's private offices, and stared out of the thick-cut glass, down at the sea of the bobbing head of the reporters, flocking in their droves, camping out and waiting for the end of the day where they hoped to catch another scoop, she frowned. Her first hour in the building had been lead by a young woman who looked about the same age as she was herself, perhaps a little older and a middle-aged man with thinning hair and an eager-to-please expression plastered all over his face. Her provisional guardian and now mentor and personal assistant to boot, Elise Faulkner, had disappeared somewhere after a hasty handover and she had been stuck with her employees ever since. Although Yingyue had only spoken to the young woman who was taking her around once, for the initial introductions. Her limited interaction with this particular employee had left a nasty, sour and bitter taste in her mouth that made her sick to her stomach and want to hurl the contents of her stomach.
It took all that was in Yingyue and every single ounce of self-control not to resort to her catty socialite ways which were behaviours she had spent a lot of effort trying to unlearn, or to just straight up punch the infuriating woman in the face. She was dressed like the women who worked down in the reception area, white blouse shirt, tight pencil skirt and heels straight from the previous week's Anastasia collection. The way she had glanced Yingyue up and down before a condescending sneer had set into her even features brushed Yingyue up the wrong way and she bit her tongue instead of speaking up. The man that had also been assigned as part of her welcome detail was hardly any better, with a lecherous grin ever-present and the oiliest of all the personas Yingyue had ever seen or run into. It was clear as day that the oily man had had some less than savoury thoughts regarding his new boss which definitely should not have been running through his mind. She had glanced down and noticed the tarnished wedding band on his left ring finger which, in its condition, spoke volumes.
As she traipsed around behind the two, struggling a little to comprehend the fact that she was, technically speaking, their boss and concentrating more on trying to keep from lashing out at the woman who treated her as a toddler going into excruciating detail over the proper use of a photocopier, while simultaneously trying to avoid the wandering eyes of the man. It made for a very uncomfortable experience and as the whole of the Headquarters building spanned a whole of 31 floors and they had yet to finish the second.
While they walked past, the way that the woman was explaining everything was attracting a lot of attention from many of the employees. Yingyue swept a glance across the floor and realised that most of her unwanted audience were fairly young members of staff. Most of them had that sort of wide-eyed, fresh-faced look about them that suggested they had barely stepped out of childhood into the working world. Most of them had stopped their work to stare and even their manager who had taken off her glasses to join in the staring. However, there didn't seem to be any recognition dawning on any of their faces which seemed strange as Yingyue was sure that her face has been splashed across so many different media sources at this point that it wasn't even a novelty anymore, merely an annoyance.
Yingyue was falling asleep, her brain had switched off about three departments ago, somewhere between logistics on the second and third floors and HR on the sixth through ninth, which had left her inadvertently with more stares than she could possibly fathom and a whole host of wildfire rumours that were already spreading out of control. She had stopped minding the negative attention and the mean-girls-esque resting b*tch faces and instead focused on what she would like to achieve in her new position as the new leader of this empire. As they moved out of the lift, she suppressed a sigh and as she walked out, walked straight into the woman who was accompanying her on the tour who had stopped very suddenly. Yingyue stumbled but caught herself on the arm of a stranger and as she looked up a slow look of realisation dawned that it wasn't a stranger but in fact someone she was becoming very familiar with.
"Selena, we must stop meeting like this, you will one day snap your ankle in those heels, and Miss Wu, you do need to give her a warning before stopping so abruptly, unless of course, you want to have the record of having sent your new big boss to A and E with a broken ankle forever." Ardian Lee pulled Selena around the woman who was touring her, Miss Wu, and to his side. "Also, What on earth are you doing down in external affairs on your first day. You're meant to be in a board meeting with me and the rest of the board in-" he looked down to check his watch, "less than ten minutes." Ardian paused for a moment, his brow furrowed in concentration. "We need to go, now, if you want to make it on time for your first meeting. Come," He gestured for her to follow and she paused for a little.
"Mr Lee, I do not take kindly to being ordered around on home turf," Selena replied with a pointed glare, however, that didn't stop her from breathing an inward sigh of relief that she finally had a legitimate excuse to leave the sordid tour of her own offices. She would find some way to figure out what was contained on the other floors.
Colleen Wu, the woman who had been assigned to tour the new associate was feeling more than a little vindictive. Her superior who had been asked to tour a new associate had pawned the job off to her, however, she was sure that there was more to the story. From the very moment she set eyes on this new 'associate', she had known that they would not get on. She was everything Colleen despised, a heartless, cruel monster hidden behind a poorly constructed facade that reeked of entitlement and money. For someone who had worked herself to the bone for her success, it made her sick to her stomach that some young miss could just throw some money at the right person and that would mean a free pass that she could never dream of achieving even with her years of dedicated work at Zhao Hai Industries. This knowledge made her blood boil and had she not been at the office she would have screamed.
"Colleen, you alright?" Her deskmate asked as she slumped in her chair.
"Yeah, I'm fine, although I did meet the most annoying woman in the world. The audacity she had to throw herself straight at Adrian Lee of all people. Women these days, absolutely shameless."
There was a collective uprising of mutterings and sentiments of agreement and from that moment on, Selena Yingyue Zhao was branded: shameless.