ANISHA'S POV
On my first day at K JNR PRODUCTIONS, Dylan went with me. Keith Junior was waiting for us, and he led us inside. Of course I could feel all eyes on us as we walked down the long passage. The place was very big. There were numerous rooms and large areas for the recordings. After I had signed the contract, which Keith Junior had given to me a week before; he led us to the office from which I was to work.
"This is Anisha Meyerton, she's joining us. She'll b here during her university vacation periods only." He said in his usual cold tone.
Keith Junior assigned the manager to show me around the place. The employees seemed to be scared of him, but they welcomed me. Most of them smiled and welcomed me. Some of the girls just gave me the look, nodded their heads, murmured a few words and carried on with their work.
"Are you the girlfriend to the son of the de Milos?" one girl asked bluntly.
"Yes I am," I answered bluntly as well.
"Wow, you're lucky," the girl smiled happily before walking away. Her smile, to me, looked genuine.
Most of the girls did murmur among themselves, and I could swear I heard the name de Milo being mentioned.
"She's so pretty," I heard one girl saying.
"She indeed is beautiful," a male voice said.
"Umm, stay away from her!" the same female voice continued. In an attempted whisper, she went on to say, "she belongs to the young de Milo."
"Oh she does!" the man almost chocked on his words. "She's the one? I've heard about the girl that de Milo is dating…indeed, she is beautiful!"
It was an office of eight people, and my table was right in the corner. I sat calmly and one man in the same room let out a whistle.
"Shut up! She's taken! Look closely; its de Milo's girl!" one girl, whose desk was next to mine, shouted rather too loudly.
I made myself comfortable, waiting for my manager to tell me what I was to do.
"She's not in your class, stop whistling and day-dreaming. Didn't you see; our CEO himself brought her here. And Dylan himself; did you see them? My first time to see Dylan! Who has ever been brought here by the CEO?" a girl whispered to the man who had whistled.
The whispers continued, and although I failed to hear most of it; I was certain that they were talking to me.
Immediately I heard people saying, "good afternoon doctor Octavia," and I quickly looked up to see, through the glass walls, Ciera walking leisurely down the passage. They all greeted her; and she responded to none of them
I stood up and walked to her, "Hi Ciera," I smiled.
She looked at me as if she did not know me; and at that instant, I thought I saw a lot of Mrs de Milo's features in Ciera.
"Please follow me," she spat.
In confusion, I followed her until we got to Keith Junior's office, where I had previously left Keith Junior and Dylan in. The office was empty by that time. Closing the door firmly behind her, Ciera looked at me from head to toe and asked, "what are you doing here?"
I was shocked. What was she saying? Was she not aware….had Keith Junior not told her about me starting work at the K JNR PRODUCTIONS?
"I said what are you doing here?" she asked, her voice sounding more like her mother's.
"I…I am starting work here today," I stammered. I was tempted to re-introduce myself to her, for from the way in which she behaved, one could have sworn she never knew me.
"Work? Who hired you?" she frowned.
"I..I thought you knew. Keith Junior…"
"Stop addressing my husband using his first name! He is Mr Octavia to you! And that thing of addressing me as Ciera must end! If you are to work here, you shall respect me, and you shall call me ma'am, or doctor Octavia. Do you get it?"
"I...I get it…ma'am." I stammered.
She covered her eyes with both hands and sighed, then, "I'm sorry, forget I just said what I said. That was too harsh."
She threw herself into a seat, and I remained standing in my spot.
"Sorry I was just in a bad mood, but let's get one thing straight, Anisha. Err, I might have given you a piece of my wedding cake and all, but it does not mean we are friends! You cannot show up at my company, and claim to be a new employee here! Keith Junior never told me about it, and I want you to leave, please."
"Ciera, please don't be like that. I…."
"I forgave you once, Anisha! I don't want to continue seeing you in my face, OK?"
What? She forgave me? Forgave me once? I had no idea that I had ever angered or wronged her...and I never knew that she had forgiven me.
"You...you forgave me?" I asked for clarification.
"Yes I did! You came into our family and you greatly upset my mother. I love my mother, but I chose to forgive you. We cannot be friends, Anisha, don't you get it? It's either I am on my mother's side, or I am on yours. I don't hate you at all, but then you hurt my mother…and I cannot therefore be too close to you."
"I never did or said anything to hurt her." I tried to explain.
"Your very presence in Dylan's life hurts her; don't you get it!" Ciera raised her voice a little.
"Oh," the word escaped my mouth and I faced the floor.
What was she saying? So if it wasn't for her mother, does it mean that Ciera could have managed to be friends with me? She was being mean to me for the sake of her mum, right?
"Please go pack your staff and leave. You can go and find a job somewhere else, it will just not be at K JNR PRODUCTIONS,"
I failed to believe my ears. My phone rang. I looked at it and saw that it was Ms Meyerton calling me.
"Answer your phone!" Ciera commanded.
I answered and Ms Meyerton went straight to the pint, "my child, how is your new job? I hope you were on time, you can't be late on your first day."
"Did Dylan go with you? Any men hitting on you yet?" Valentina's voice screeched in the phone.
"I…I will call later," I politely ended the call.
I remained standing in the office, failing to believe that the job that I had so much looked forward to and prepared for, was being snatched away from me, just like that.
"I...I have just signed the contract. I have the job offer letter," I tried to reason with Ciera.
She looked at me with a deep frown and said, "So? So what if you signed whatever it is that you signed?"
"Ciera…I mean, Mrs Octavia…doctor Octavia please, I really need this job. Please. I will stay out of your way. You will never see me. Please. I really really need this job."
"No." Ciera stood up and started pacing up and down the office. "I said go." She said in a very calm voice.
I walked out and headed back to the office. Slowly I picked the envelope that I had left on my desk; it had a copy of my newly signed contract inside.
The whistling guy stood up and called out to me, "need any help?"
"No thanks, I am fine," I fought hard to avoid the tears.
I walked in small fast steps towards the door, and I heard voices talking about me,
"She's probably getting her own office."
"True, I was also surprised that they wanted her to share with us commoners."
"Which family is she from?"
"Some rich family, obviously."
"She is beautiful."
The voices faded down as I continued to walk down towards the exit of the building. I made it to the parking lot without allowing the tears to fall. I held them in. Yes I held them in. Walking fast. Holding in the tears. I got to the parking area and next to Dylan's car, I saw him and Keith Junior chatting away.
I simply opened the passenger's seat and sat down quietly.
"Oh! What's happening? You're done for the day already?" Dylan had begun to laugh when he saw the expression on my face, and he immediately stopped.
"What's happening?" Keith Junior was equally confused.
"Brother, I'll talk to you another time. Let me attend to my lady," Dylan got in the car beside me.
The very confused Keith Junior just walked away. Dylan quickly hugged me, allowing my head to rest on his chest. At that moment, I realised that I could not hold the tears in anymore. I let them flow. And the small voice in my head sprang up ….no-one loves you…you are just a number….your own mother left you to die…your dad wanted you dead….you are 0028….no one loves you….don't fool yourself…you don't belong in this world where you're forcing yourself to be...they all hate you….you father's family hates you too…they want the money that you can bring, not you….your mother's family too…..get real, 0028…for once please get real, Anisha….just get real, 0028…one day Dylan too will get tired of you…get real before it's too late…