Orca woke up in a pool of dried vomit, of origin unknown, and her head supplementing as a dance studio for elephants performing zumba.
"God…" she croaked out while squinting her eyes away from the bright outdoor sunlight. Her throat felt like sandpaper and limbs ached in a throbbing beat of their own.
"Where the fuck am I…?" she wondered out loud, instantly hating the sound of her voice and the cruel way the words came out of her aching throat.
All her sight could consume was an empty plot of land, barely cultivable, scattered with beer bottles, ashes and confetti. "I don't even wanna know…" she grumbled under her breath and managed to get up, ignoring the jolts of pain that flashed throughout her body.
She still had her dress on from last night; her hair had leaves in it, random twigs and what not. Her stilettos were gone and so was her phone and purse. Dragging herself toward the arc-shaped entrance/exit, she tried to piece together what went down yesterday.
But as she started walking, the elephants dancing in her head began jumping and wrecking havoc—making it almost impossible to conjure up a thought or two. So she just focused on getting out of here as quick as possible.
As soon as she went out of the barren compound, two things caught her eye.
First was the knowing smile of her butler Kim, standing beside her silver Mercedes, patiently waiting for with some pills and a bottle of water in hand. Ever the darling!
Orca's heart soared with pride and gratefulness toward her only mentor in life.
Second, was a body clad in a dark suit, lying a few feet away from her car.
Assuming the person to be as shit-faced drunk, or maybe more, as she was, she proceeded to grab the bottle of water and the Advil tablets that Sir Kim had in his hands. Orca was a selfish business woman, saving random strangers was never on her TODO list.
"Good morning Miss Orca, had a nice sleep?" Sir Kim's tone was beyond amused as he keenly eyed the remnants of dried vomit in Orca's hair like it was some peculiar new fashion for girls.
"Oh the best I had in ages. With all that natural air and ground, felt benevolent donating my blood to mosquitoes all night long. Not like any wild animal could creepily sneak up and snack me down at any point of my zen slumber," Orca sarcastically replied between drinking huge gulps of water.
Sir Kim chuckled.
"Something tells me you have no recollection of the night before?" he questioned good naturedly, now opening the car door and fetching out a wet towel.
"No shit. I don't even know if I got mugged or robbed or came here willingly. I don't remember anything. Just feel like I've been screaming all night long. If you were my throat, you'd abandon me," Orca replied with a scowl, taking the towel and cleaning her hair. "Thanks for the medicine though, you're always the best!" she gave Sir Kim a thumbs up.
The old, wrinkly, butler let out another flustered chuckle.
"How'd you find me?" she questioned, finally not feeling grossed out by herself after cleaning all the vomit out of her hair.
"You did not reach the office on time. Thought you'd be dead to do such a thing, or maybe kidnapped for ransom by some amateur wannabe criminal, or maybe lying somewhere—too drunk to function. I chose the most optimistic out of the three and tracked down your cell. It was lying here, on the entryway, I thought you'd come back for it," Sir Kim replied, taking out Orca's iPhone out of his pocket and handing it to her.
The screen reflected the sunlight and it went directly in her eyes. Startled, like she was some new-born vampire afraid of sunlight, she dropped it. "Ugh, Fuck this," she stomped on it and entered the car.
Sir Kim smiled and followed, sitting in shotgun beside the driver. He pulled out a packet from underneath his seat and presented it to his young mistress.
"Your necessities and outfit for the day. You have a tight schedule so we won't be stopping at home. You can shower in the office after your meeting," Sir Kim talked to a droopy eyed and very agitated looking Orca through the rear view mirror.
"Ugh!" she whined again, emptying the bag on the car seat as her Gucci clothes, heels, make-up wipes, refreshing mist, lip-gloss, mouth freshener and perfume scurried out.
"You are too sure of yourself Sir Kim; it'd be a waste if I were dead."
"You are not dying anytime before me, Miss Orca, believe me, you are a hard nut to crack. The grim reaper is gonna have the time of his life chasing you."
That brought a wide grin on her face that she passed to Sir Kim through the rear view mirror. "You flatter me, Sir Kim. You are the only one I can count on, honestly," she pouted.
The elderly gave her a tight-lipped smile.
Orca got busy in stripping to butt-naked while Sir Kim covered the mirror from the driver's line of sight. She changed into her business suit, heels, wiped her make up (the white napkins came out disgustingly colored with blank, red and brown) till her face was red and raw, refreshed it with mist, applied a smack of lip-gloss and lots of perfume to subdue the I-had-an-awful-night-of drinking-and-now-I'm-hung-over-and-stinky body odor.
"There you go! As good as new!" Orca chirped, looking at her appearance. "Ugh, I wish you brought some eyeliner Sir Kim, I would have winged my eyes and slayed the look!" she pouted seductively in the mirror.
Sir Kim shook his head in amusement, "You slay every look, Miss Orca, don't you worry."
"True though. Brief me on our first meeting please, will you?" she asked after having admired her natural face. She took some pain killers and then popped in a mint breath.
Sir Kim took out another iPhone from inside of his coat pocket and handed it to Orca. Her work phone.
"You have a meeting with Ayisha Knightly regarding a collaboration deal with Glass Enterprises and Orca Industries," Sir Kim supplied as Orca went over her schedule.
"Ah! The one for the resort island they are building somewhere, right? The deal as good as ours," Orca gave a smug smile, locking her phone only to finally notice her surroundings. "Say, Sir Kim, why are we at the airport? Are we picking up someone I'm forgetting?"
"No Miss Orca, you're bidding goodbye to someone right in front of you," Sir Kim replied, gesturing at himself.
For a few moments, Orca's brain went haywire but then it struck like lightning. "No! Don't tell me you have to leave today of all days!" she whined again, like the brat she was.
"I'm sorry Miss, but I did inform you two months prior. It's my daughter's wedding, I need to be there as early as I can!" he chirped so excitedly, you'd think it was his wedding. "And you promised to come as well!"
"Yes, Yes, I remember, attend and bring a lavish gift," Orca repeated Sir Kim's exact shameless demanding words. The older man grinned again. Orca's lips turned in a sad pout.
"I'll miss you!" she whined again, making grabby hands to hug the only father-figure in her life.
Sir Kim respectfully shook her hands and went out, the driver getting out to retrieve Sir Kim's luggage. Orca got out after him and pulled Sir Kim in a warm embrace.
"You'll do well without me, sweetie, it's just a matter of three months. I'll be back before you know it," Sir Kim empathically rubbed Orca's back and suddenly she felt a flash of déjà vu from last night. 'Weird, did someone rub my back?' she thought in her head.
She pulled back as the driver handed Sir Kim his briefcase and trolley bag. "Try not to go bankrupt before I come back, alright?" Sir Kim joked.
Orca gave him a scowl. "Try not to trip and die before becoming a grandfather," she spat out meanly.
Sir Kim laughed jubilantly. He admired Orca's free spirit and the way she embraced the 'Right to Speech' so optimistically.
"Oh! Rico! Rrrrrrico darling!" someone suddenly called out and Orca's ears went beet red. Embarrassment, anger, disgust and betrayal all prevailed at once. With alarmed eyes, Orca mentally questioned Sir Kim, 'What the fuck is he doing here?!'
"Oh, silly me. Did I forget to inform you that Julian will be taking charge when I'm gone? He's the replacement that you demanded," Sir Kim replied with feigned innocence, but Orca knew the evil glint in his eye. God, he was playing with her!
"Oh Sir Kim, you know I was joking!" Orca seethed out.
"Did I?" Sir Kim made a childish face.
"My Rrrrico!" Julian's voice rang in the crowded Airport as many turned and stole snickering glances.
Having had enough, Orca summoned her resting bitch face, then turned to face him, "You are late Mr. Parker," she announced coldly, checking her watch, she continued, "By exactly 1 minute and 11 seconds. You know how much I hate laxity."
Julian's handsome boyish face flashed guilt.
Orca felt like a hypocrite.
Hypocrite.
Suddenly, she had a déjà vu again. Some words. 'plaster hypocrite smack dab on your forehead…'
Huh. Weird.
"Now, Miss Orca, don't give the newbie a hard time. He's good at what he does. I'll be taking my leave now, see you three months later!" Sir Kim declared as soon as the announcements for his flight began ringing.
Orca nodded stiffly, bade him goodbye and entered her car.
Julian followed and sat beside her. His incompetency was like water pouring on Orca's already paper thin patience.
His expectant green eyes quivered under Orca's glaring hazel ones. "Are you dumb?" she questioned.
Confused, Julian replied in negative.
"Then why are you sitting beside me? You are my secretary, go sit in front," she snapped. Julian was a spoilt brat with a Rich people crisis. He maybe is a tad good at management, but he was not raised to serve but be served.
Eyes going wide, Julian immediately followed suit.
"I don't want any incompetency near me. You get that?" she questioned coldly to which Julian replied a meek affirmative.
The driver ignited the engine and they left the airport.
Julian Parker was the son of Orca's father's good friend. He was the sole heir to the Parker Empire, a leading business group of real estate, and Orca's childhood acquaintance. He had dirty blonde hair, bright green eyes and a smile that never seemed to leave his full lips. Julian was handsome, charismatic, rich, funny and being around him felt nice until one day he jumped Orca in the middle of a park, in broad daylight, and stole her first kiss, confessing his Titanic sized crush on her.
But if Julian's love was Titanic, then Orca was the cold ice berg that sunk it. And since then on, she's been sinking it repeatedly, for nearly a decade now.
Orca did not do love, Julian was all about love. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. The trigger of conflicts. The only visible part of hatred.
"You have a meeting with Ayisha Knightly at 9 sharp, a 15 minute break, then another meeting with the board of directors, a meeting in the bank regarding loan issues, a 30 minutes gap, inspection at Furniture Branch, an interview with the Times Magazine, meeting with model Fleur Wright related to advertisements, then an attendance with the Benedicts for dinner," Julian proudly recited Orca's schedule that he had memorized oh-so-lovingly, only to get a rude:
"Did I ask?" in return.
"No, sorry," Julian apologized and the car stopped in front of Orca's company. Orca Industries; New, but a reliable company for every home product that you'd desire. Its tag line was: 'If you want it, we make it.'
There was a sudden silence and stillness in the car. No one moved, other than Orca's temper, which seemed to be flaring.
"Will you be getting out or am I supposed to open the door for you, scatterbrain?" she seethed coldly. Rich boy crisis.
Julian's synapses jolted at the speed of light. Hurriedly he got out and opened the door for Orca. With a big scowl plastered on her pretty face, she got out of the car and bee lined straight through the glass doors.
Julian, closing the door, almost ran behind her before running back to the car because he forgot his business briefcase. Sadly the car was already in motion and his cries landed on the driver's deaf ears. So channeling his inner (non-existent) NBA player, he took off his shoe and threw it at the car.
It went smack on the back glass. The driver almost had a heart attack.
The silver Mercedes Benz came to a standstill. Satisfied, Julian skipped to the car, took out the briefcase, wished the scowling driver a good day, and then skipped back inside the company.
Only to run back out again, retrieve his shoe, and run back inside while shoving his foot its gaping mouth.
Oh it's going to be a long day…