"Ughhh! I can't believe you ruined this dress! You- you worthless nobody!! DO you even know how much this outfit costs?!" The woman Lucillia accidentally knocked to the ground started to screech insults at her. After a moment of initial distraction, Lucillia immediately rose to her feet and bowed deeply.
"I'm really sorry. It was my mistake to bump into you like that. I can pay for it to be dry cleaned if you send me the bill." Even though paying for the dry cleaning would be expensive for her current budget, at least it would allow her to not make any enemies at work, Lucillia thought. After all, she couldn't afford to lose this job.
"Dry cleaning?!" The girl's shrieking continued. "Does this look like an outfit that can be dry cleaned?! Do you even know who I am?!" Truthfully, Lucillia hadn't had the time to properly look at the face of the person she'd bumped into. After being questioned, she finally took a good look at her face and recognized her as one of the newly popular models employed by her company. Great, just great, she thought, I've only been working here a couple months and I've already managed to offend a big shot.
"Yes, my apologies Miss Ariel. But it really was an accident when I bumped into you. I hope you can forgive me. I promise I can get your outfit looking like new so please…please forgive me." Besides, she thought darkly, it's not like you're the only one who's clothes got ruined. And besides, she was the one running in the lobby in the first place. Still, these thoughts were better kept to oneself, so Lucillia just bowed once again. Apparently, this wasn't what the young model had been hoping for, however, as she started shrieking once again
"You're such a useless assistant! You think just an apology is enough? This dress costs more than your annual salary. I can have you fired for something like this! You think you're all that?! You're just a nobody —" The stream of insults continued as Lucillia tried to calm her down unsuccessfully. Finally, the thing Lucillia dreaded the most happened, and the commotion caught the attention of the haughty woman who'd been arguing with the secretary, her stepmother Helena Le'Mont.
As she approached the scene, the clacking of her high heels echoed across the floor even more vividly than it'd been in her nightmare. Once again, Lucillia was trapped. No matter how much she wished to flee, she had to resolve the conflict here first, so she could only watch in horror as her stepmother approached, a menacing smile on her face as she realized just who'd caused the present trouble.
"My dear Ariel~" she cooed, "It's no use talking to dirty, uncultured people like this. Besides, just like you said, even if she saved for a year there's no way she could compensate you. I heard that she already has three fatherless brats at home, you'd be lucky if you didn't catch a disease from running into her." Helena's narrowed with malice as she mentioned Lucillia's children. Then, she lightly whisked Ariel away, leaving behind light soothing promises like, "Let Aunty pay for a new dress for you," and "Aunty will make sure she receives the proper punishment, it's bad for you to get so upset like this, your forehead will get wrinkles," and so on, leaving Lucillia to stand there in shock and horror.
One second…two seconds… thirty seconds… one minute… Lucillia stood there trembling while her heart pounded so loudly, she could feel it throbbing in her head. Although she tried to take deep breaths, her wild thoughts kept racing across her mind until she was dizzy. This was it. She'd lose her job for sure after this. And her kids! What was she going to do about her kids?! She thought she'd already kept them hidden from the Le'Monts, but if they knew… No! Lucillia thought, the Le'Monts were unlikely to know, or they'd have already tried to take her kids away from her and raise them in the household, especially since Arlienne and Nolan had the iconic silverlight hair. No, this was something her stepmother had found out and kept to herself. At this thought, she finally relaxed and felt the lightheadedness overcome her as she collapsed right in the lobby. She wasn't even aware that she'd been caught by a passing stranger.
The CEO of Emperor apparel had just entered the building for a routine visit when he noticed the drama going down in the lobby. What a disgrace to the brand image, he thought darkly. He was just about to have all three parties removed, when the hair of the assistant caught his attention. It really looks like her… at this thought, he abruptly changed his mind as his gaze darkened.
"I want the exact details of what happened here delivered to my desk by this evening. All offending parties will be personally punished by me." His words caught his secretary by surprise. Looks like boss is in a bad mood, the secretary mused, it can only be considered the bad luck of these three. They'll probably all end up fired…
The two were had just entered the CEO's personal elevator when he caught sight of the small assistant trembling in place, despite the fact that the other two parties had already left at long ago. His gaze deepened as he immediately exited the elevator and began to make his way over leisurely, with the intention of comforting her, when he saw her body start to collapse. Running the remainder of the way, he arrived just in time to catch her weakened body in his arms, while his secretary scurried to catch up from behind him.
"Uhm… sir...?" the secretary questioned, "This woman… should I take her to the infirmary?" The CEO paused for a moment and brushed the hair off her face and gazed upon her features before the corners of his mouth turned up the smallest bit.
"No need. I'll take her there personally." At these words the secretary was in total shock. The CEO would personally take her?! And just now, was that... was that a smile?! From the CEO?! His mind was still struggling to catch up to the current situation when the CEO lifted her frail body bridal style and started heading back to the elevator and towards the infirmary. They had finally made it to the infirmary and settled the mysterious woman into one of the sick beds when the timid secretary once again looked towards his boss.
"Well then, sir… uhm…" The secretary stopped speaking in the middle as the CEO turned to him with an agitated gaze.
"What is it?"
"Well, sir, uhm, your… your nine o'clock meeting is in ten minutes sir."
"Meeting?" The CEO's face looked completely lost in thought. Thinking that he couldn't remember which meeting he was talking about, the secretary quickly supplemented.
"Yes. The meeting with LM's Vice President about a collaboration between the two firms. Although she's only a director, Madam Helena is actually the wife of the current President and son of the CEO so…" he trailed off as he was about to tell his boss about the consequences of being late to the meeting. The CEO still looked lost in thought as he stared at the face of the unconscious woman.
"Not going. Cancel it." His poor secretary was completely lost as he stammered.
"T-Then sir, uhm, your next meeting…?"
"Cancel it."
"S-Sir, you can't just expect me to cancel all of your meetings today…? There are some important matters that need to be discussed…"
"Fine," the boss muttered with darkened face as his secretary inwardly rejoiced at his concession. It hadn't even been a moment before all his dreams were crushed as the CEO spoke again.
"Alan, I'm putting you in charge of the office today. I trust you know how to manage everything properly? And I still want to see that information I asked for on my desk later."
"…Yes?" Alan was so shocked that that was all he managed to say as he stumbled out of the infirmary in a daze and headed to the top floor to manage the mess he'd unknowingly landed himself in.