The first thing Charissa did was ring Maria. Unfortunately she didn't pick up her phone. Why? Maria was busy drooling over the photos she took with Ethan.
She decided to wait till tomorrow to meet Maria. She rang Charles's phone to ask him Maria's class.
"Her class you say?" His voice echoed from the other side of the phone. "She's a business studies student, so she must be in Third year class four." His tone spoke of uncertainty.
"Don't you know?" Charissa questioned.
"I told you I had no interest in her."
"Right. Thanks. Bye." She cut the call and tried ringing Maria one last time before she went to make dinner. The day had gone by real fast.
With the break of dawn, Charissa woke from bed, her feelings lingering in impatience. She had to know the details about why Maria suddenly sprouted nonsense about a job to her parents of all people. Because since that day (yesterday), her parents have been acting awfully nice to her and it disgusts her, this sudden change.
'I can't believe I miss my parents's old personality better.' She wondered to herself while washing the dishes in a hurry.
She didn't even tell Elissa or Janet about it cause she forgot.
When she rushed past the gates and sluggish students, Janet and Elissa stood in silence with their mouth agape as Charissa jolted past them like they were random objects thrown on the ground.
Luckily for Charissa, Maria had already arrived at class. Charles's random guess was correct.
"Oh, hey sweetie!" Maria greeted Charissa halting midway near the front desks. She had sensed Charissa's presence as every student glared when a member of the famous Black Dirt appeared in their class.
"Sweetie?!" Everyone yelled in astonishment. One of the quiet students even held up a board with a dead skeleton drawn on it for some reason.
"Come with me!" Charissa shouted grabbing Maria in her wrist. Because of the arm of Maria's brown leather jacket was slippery, she had to swiftly let go and hold multiple times to keep her grip.
Ultimately, Charissa let go of Maria when they came in to the old music room.
"Wow!" Maria exclaimed as she stepped into the room. "So beautiful!"
Charissa took a seat on the sofa and gently tapped on the tea table to get Maria's attention, "Hey! There is important matter we need to discuss this minute!"
Maria turned her head toward Charissa. "Oh. Is it about your secret job?" She smiled with squinted eyes.
"Yes. Why did you land that bomb on my parents of all people?"
"Ahh...That?!" Maria snapped her fingers. She walked over to the sofa and sat next to Charissa.
"You see..." Maria leaned a bit and held Charissa's hands on hers. "I appreciate that you helped me on a secret date with Ethan and it was my way of paying you back-"
"But you should've informed me earlier before telling it to my parents!" Charissa interrupted with a worried look.
"I am truly sorry about that! But wait! There is more to the story: That day I had no choice, but to give you that job! My grandfather saw Ethan dropping me off near our house and he confronted me about it! I told him the whole story and things tooks this wild turn when my father eavesdropped on our conversation!"
"How does that lead to me getting a job? CEO assistant at that!?"
Maria gripped Charissa's hands tightly as she spoke, "For now we only informed your parents about the job. I don't know how the elders will handle the situation, but you won't be able to finish campus in one peace anymore."
"Why though?"
"Because my father demanded immediate marriage after that!" Maria exclaimed.
"What!?" Charissa also exclaimed.
Their voices clashed with each other bouncing off the walls as echoes.
"How does that apply to me getting a job?!" Charissa sighed.
"We had an argument with my father. Finally, grandfather declared that I can be with Ethan under the condition that it will be super secret. For many years, our family is known to have no divorces. It's deemed as disrespectful and till my parent's generation that reputation hasn't been destroyed. So they expect me to do the same. Thus, me and Charles can't be divorced if we're married. Even if it is till the debt is paid."
Maria lifted their hands close to their faces and looked deep into Charissa's eyes, "Since this marriage is not of love, I can be with Ethan. And that is where you come in. You'll support our secret love and for that reason you shall be close to me... especially when I work as no one else can know about this. So, our final decision was to make you my assistant at our company once I become the heir."
With another bomb landing on Charissa's head, she felt dizzy trying to digest the information. She pulled her hands from Maria's grasp and covered her face.
"Arrghh!" She groaned, "Why is this more hard to understand than my lectures?!"
Maria patted her back, "I know, I know. It's a bit sudden and stuff. But we'll come up with a plan to change this fate. Until then bare with it. Besides... Don't you like the idea of a good job with a good salary?" She leaned forward to peek on Charissa's face between the gaps in her hand, "Plus, if you want you can have Charles too." She gave a grin.
Charissa instantly revealed her face. Maria's jaws dropped when she saw Charissa's sour expression. Her face was red, mouth curved upside-down all the way to the edges of her chin and her eyebrows high up on her forehead. Her eyes were wide open. It was no mistake that she had the expression of disgust.
Maria smiled awkwardly. She had no comment on Charissa's expression. She suggested Charissa to think over about her lottery ticket to a free job and left her.
Five minutes later, Charissa also made her way to her lectures. The conversation only took around five minutes, so neither of them missed their class, however, Charissa was worried about Maria's option. A truly fortunate, yet disastrous chance for her. Disastrous because Charles would also be working there not at a different office, but in the same office as her.
Even after going home and taking a shower, Charissa kept thinking about Maria's words. She repeated the entire conversation in her head. That is when it struck to her about the 'immediate marriage'. Because she was desperate to know the reason why she got the job, she forgot to ask about the marriage. Speaking if the devil, Charissa received a message from Maria. It read; 'I almost forgot to mention to you about the marriage! Mom and Dad decided to hold the marriage in three months from now and you. Will send you and your family the invitation soon.'
That's when Charissa's lost her breath.
"SEND AN INVITATION?!" Words bursted out from her mouth. Chills went down her family's spines.
"WHY ARE YOU YELLING?!" Her mother yelled from downstairs.
"Sorry..." Charissa whispered her reply.
She jumped to her bed, her towel still on her head and rested with her phone held high up. The storm that she had felt coming, was nearing her. Yet it was only the beginning of everything.