The wedding ceremony ended and Natalie left the venue. She felt relieved when she finally got out of that place.
"I think I need to go now." She said to herself.
She decided to go to Anderson's house and take her things and go back to U.S. It's a relief that she still has her mother's card so she can book a flight easily.
She can't stand staying with Kenzo and Clyde any longer. Their presence is enough for her to make her day ruined, sitting on the same table with them will only cause her indigestion. "This is better." She said and called a taxi.
Natalie arrived at their house and went to the room she stayed in and packed her things. She saw a pen and paper on the drawer; she took it and decided to write something for her mother.
"Hi Mom. I just want you to know that I'm happy as long as you are happy. Congratulations on your wedding! I wish you all the best! See you again soon!" She wrote with a heart in the end.
She took her luggage with her and looked around the house for the maid she could give the letter to.
"Please give this to my Mom, thank you." She said to the maid and went out of the house and rode a taxi to drop her on the airport without looking back.
Natalie's plane landed in the U.S. She sighed while dragging her luggage looking around to get a taxi, she walked towards it and got inside.
She said the address and the taxi left. She leaned on the car door and closed her eyes. She can't help but think of what happened to her and Kenzo, she shook her head and tried her best not to think of it.
"Stop it, Natalie!" She talked to herself and was about to doze off when her phone rang that made her jump.
The driver looked at her from the rear-view mirror. "Are you okay Ma'am?" He asked her.
Natalie nodded and answered her phone.
"Hello." She said on the phone.
"Miss Lewis?" The voice of a man said.
"Yes, speaking." She answered on the phone.
"This is from Golden Star Company. Congratulations! Our company has hired you, and I'm looking forward to seeing you on Monday." The man asked him with the background of pages of papers turning.
"Oh, thank you!" She answered him.
"Okay, we expect you to come here on Monday and report to the office." He said that made Natalie put her hands on her mouth to stop herself from screaming.
"Okay, I'll be there." She smiled widely.
"Okay. Thank you." The man said and hung up the phone.
Natalie screamed in silence inside the taxi. The driver frowned while looking at her in the rear-view mirror of the taxi. She smiled awkwardly and sat properly.
"I'm sorry I just got the job I applied for." She explained.
"Congratulations Ma'am." The taxi driver said.
"Thanks!" And she smiled at him.
She arrived in front of the building of their apartment, and she opened the door.
"I am back!" She shouted but no one answered her except for the echo of her own voice. She looked around and noticed that no one is there.
"Did she go somewhere?" She pouted and went straight to their room and put her luggage inside. She went out and went to the kitchen to make her own coffee.
Daisy heard her earlier but wasn't able to respond because she was taking a bath, she put on some facial mask then went out of the bathroom. She saw Natalie drinking her coffee so she stood there and waited for her to turn around.
Natalie turned around while sipping her coffee but she spit it out when she saw Daisy with the facial mask on.
"Oh my gosh!" She uttered.
Daisy laughed hysterically because of her reaction. She held her clothes far from her body because the coffee was still hot.
"You're crazy!" She said and put her coffee on the table and went inside their room to get change.
Daisy didn't stop laughing and followed her inside their room.
"I should've recorded you, it was so funny I'll get a thousand of dollars with it if I'll sell it to those who hate you when we are in college." She said because they entered the same university.
Natalie rolled her eyes and put on her clothes.
"Try it and I'll kill you!" She said to her.
Daisy laughed, "So? How was it?" She asked then walked towards her closet to get dressed.
Natalie opened the door.
"Nothing special." She said and went back to her coffee.
After a few minutes Daisy went out as well and sat with her.
"Do you want some?" She asked her while holding her cup of coffee, Daisy nodded and she stood up to make one for her.
"You sound so happy earlier, what's the tea?" Daisy asked her.
Natalie immediately smiled. "I got the job!" She said while stomping her feet.
Daisy's mouth halfway opened. "Really? Omg!" She said and stood up to hug her. "I'm so happy for you!" She said and smiled at her.
Natalie handed her the coffee. "I actually lost hope but I made it!" She said and they sat in front of the table.
"I know you'll get there, It's Golden Star Company, they need someone talented like you." Daisy said to boost her confidence.
"I'm so nervous and happy at the same time." She said to her and they spent time talking about their lives together.
~
Monday morning.
The day Natalie has been waiting for finally comes, she wakes up early and prepares herself in advance to make sure that there will be smooth conversation and transaction with her and the company. She was standing up in front of the mirror looking at herself and tied her hair before she took her bag then went out of their room.
Daisy looked at her and put two thumbs up for her. "You look great." She said to her.
Natalie smiled at her. "Thanks. Wish me luck, see you later." She said and closed the door of their apartment. She called a taxi.
"Golden Star Company." She said to the driver and he nodded at her.
Few minutes passed and she arrived at the company. "It's a good thing I left early or I'll be stuck in traffic." She said and went to the lobby of the company.
Before Natalie went closer to the one of the admin staff already saw her and prepared the temporary pass for her.
Natalie smiled at the staff. "Uh I- "She wasn't able to finish what she was saying because the staff gave her the temporary pass.
"After the passing that, you get inside the elevator and go to the 7th floor, engineering department." She said to her.
Natalie was stunned for a moment but she nodded and followed her instructions. She arrived at the engineering department and a man approached her. "Miss Lewis?" He asked her.
Natalie tilted her head when she realized that his voice was familiar. "I was the one who called you, I'm Jay." Jay introduced himself.
Natalie nodded. "Yeah, I remember." She reached out her hands. "Nice to meet you!" She said and smiled at him.
"Our pleasure, follow me and I'll introduce you to our project manager." Jay said and guided her to one of the offices. He knocked and opened the door for Natalie and signaled her to come in then he entered after her.
"Miss Lauren!" He gets the attention of the woman who is busy looking at her screen.
Lauren slowly looked at them and stood up.
"You must be Natalie." She walked towards their direction. "Nice to meet you, I'm Lauren, your Manager." She smiled at her.
Natalie took her hands and smiled as well.
"I'm Natalie, nice to meet you Ma'am!" She said to her.
"Uhmm." Jay said to get their attention. "Our boss wants you in the meeting room 5 minutes from now by the way." He said and left the room.
Lauren's eyes widened. "Shit. Why did you just tell me now?" She said and fixed the things on her tail then looked at Natalie. "Your desk is the one empty, okay? Put your things there and tell them to go to the meeting room as well." She said and left the room.
Natalie stood there. "Me?" She asked herself and shook her head then went to find her desk and tell her officemates what Lauren said to her. She looked around and saw the empty desk at the corner and put her things there. She doesn't know what to tell them. "Should I shout or just tell them one by one?" She asked herself.
"Just shout." A lady behind her said that made her jump. "What is it? I'll help you?" She smiled at Natalie.
"Ma'am Lauren said that we should go to the meeting room." She said to the lady,
"Okay, I got you." She winked at her. "To the meeting room guys, now!" She yelled and went to her desk to get ready.
"Ahhh, not again." Some of them complained. "Did we do something wrong again?" They said to each other while entering the meeting room.
"Okay, calm down everyone. He'll be here any minute now so behave yourselves, okay?" Lauren said and they all became silent.
Natalie looked around the office silently, she was busy observing everyone when the door opened and a familiar face went inside. Her mouth halfway opened when she saw Kenzo in his office attire with his brushed-up hair that made him look more handsome.
Everyone in the office gasps at his appearance.
"This is one of the reasons why I don't resign." They whispered to each other.
"Shhiii, he will hear us." One of them said and zipped their lips.
Kenzo sat on his chair and his eyes landed on Natalie, she swallowed because of his stare but he only looked at her with a blank face like he doesn't know her then looked at Lauren.
"Let's do the briefing." He said and Lauren nodded.
The meeting started and they talked about their on-going projects and the new ones. It ended after that.
"Okay, I hope everyone will work according to how they are being paid by this company. You can all go." Kenzo said and looked at his laptop.
They stood up and left one by one.
Lauren goes to Kenzo. "I have something to discuss with you." She said in a low voice, Natalie saw it and it raised her eyebrow a little.
"Discuss it now." Kenzo said to her.
"Let's talk about it for dinner." Lauren said and smiled at him.
Natalie walked past them and heard what Lauren said, she went straight to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.
"Am I a ghost?" She tilted her head and remembered how Lauren and Kenzo were close to each other while talking.
"It's maybe because Ma'am Lauren was there." She said and she immediately shook her head when she realized how sad her voice sounded when she said that.
"Okay, stop!" She said and washed her face then went back to her desk.
Lauren instructed her on what she should do and she spent her first day mostly getting to know how things are working in Golden Star Company.
She went home with a sad face.
Daisy followed her with her eyes, she went inside their room like a corpse and got changed to go out to sit in front of the table with Daisy.
"Did you see a ghost? Daisy asked her.
"Should I resign?" She said to her.
Daisy raised her eyebrow. "What happened? You waited for this job." She asked her.
Natalie told her about what happened between her and Kenzo in Canada.
Natalie took a deep breath and responded, "There's... I want to tell you something."
Daisy smiled and asked, "Are you okay? Why are you trembling? What's your problem?"
"I am no longer... I am no longer a virgin." Natalie whispered softly, and bowed her head.
Daisy's eyes widened in surprise, and when she regained her composure, she said, "Wait, what? How?"
"I had a one-night stand with a guy, I'm so drunk that night and I didn't... I can't understand how I did that!" Gradually tears trickled down Natalie's eyes as if what had happened to them.
Daisy couldn't believe what she heard from her friend, "But how... Do you know who that man is?"
Natalie nodded and replied, "He... he's my boss."
Daisy's sparrows grew bigger because of the revelation her friend said, and she even held her mouth, "Are you serious? Who is your boss?"
Natalie wiped the tear from her cheek and whispered, "Yes, I'm serious and he is… Kenzo Anderson."
"W-What?!!!" Daisy's eyes widened because of what she heard, and she said, "Are you serious about what you're saying? Or maybe you're just dreaming? Is he that man? Is it Kenzo Anderson?" while showing Natalie the picture in the magazine.
When Natalie saw that, she nodded slowly and whispered, "Yeah ... yeah, it's Kenzo!"
"OMG! Can you hear yourself? Anyway, my crush is famous so you can't stop your attraction to him! Do you know that he's always in my dreams? Many girls like him because he's rich, handsome, and smart. His face is always in social media and on billboards! You can see him everywhere! Can you see how famous he is?" Daisy said, and Natalie could see the astonishment and shock in her eyes.
Natalie bowed her head, "Not only that, he is also my step brother. Actually, his younger brother is Clyde!"
"What the heck!" Daisy covers her mouth in shock. "Are you telling me that you sleep with Clyde's older brother?"
Natalie slowly nodded and cried as her two hands covered her face.
"Oh no!!! Why did you do that? Are you an idiot?" Daisy grabs her hair.
"I didn't mean it, I was so drunk and he is the one who kissed me first… and then…" Natalie was also disappointed in herself that she didn't fight the power of alcohol.
Daisy let go of her and just sighed and asked, "What are you going to do now? Are you going to resign? But haven't you signed a contract?"
"Aaahhh! What should I do now?" She said almost tearing up, so she just sobbed and didn't know what to do.