"Reading the book every time is like invoking their world to yourself, it will soon locate you, Rose, if you do not heed my advice and-"
"That's enough! Laura! Don't you have work to do this morning?!" Rose asked, already irritated by thinking about the research trip she'd been forced to go on.
"Okay, okay, okay. Fine, I'll stop now. I know you don't believe in fantasy and magical creatures. So, tell me, why are you so moody this morning, anything to do with Mr. Rich and handsome?" Laura asked with a soft smile.
Rose smiled and massaged her forehead.
"I'm sorry for shouting," Rose sighed.
"Come on, I understand you've been under a lot of stress this past week, from your parents and from the boss too, so tell me, what's bothering you?" Laura's asked, genuinely concerned.
"Well, my parents are not really my problem; I can handle them, but the boss asked me to prepare for a trip," Rose complained to her friend.
"That's awesome, I was just about to tell you, it's a trip to the deep forests, we're going camping, it's going to be lots of fun, you don't want to go? I thought you loved it in the forest?" Laura asked as she saw that Rose wasn't sharing her excitement.
Rise sighed, "He didn't say forest or camping, Laura, he was specific when he said research trip," Rose said with a frown.
So they were going camping while he sent her on a boring science trip. How unfortunate she was?
"Aw, I didn't know that, I'm so sorry," Laura said.
Both friends remained quiet for a while before Laura suddenly spoke up again.
"Hey, on the bright side, it'll make your parents really happy. They've been dying for you to do something related to their field," Laura spoke cautiously.
"That, Laura, is the more reason why I didn't want to work in their field in the first place," Rose shook her head.
"Come on, Rosie, in the end, they're your parents," Laura put her hand on the table and patted Rose's hand.
"I know what I'm saying, Laura, my parents are not who they claim to be, they're-"
"Ms. Thiago, Mr. Collin is here to see you," A girl's voice sounded through the door.
"I'll let you get to work, we'll see at the Cafeteria," Laura smiled at her friend and left the office.
Rose inhaled deeply and blew out a gush of air through her mouth, getting herself in the mood fo r work.
Throughout that morning, what Laura had told her kept ringing in her head no matter how she tried to push it away.
She wondered what she would do if Laura was actually right about evoking the fantasy world to herself by reading it repeatedly.
How would she, survive in a world filled with vampires and other creatures? Would they suck her dry on her first arrival to their world? Would she meet the handsome prince? Would she meet Lucia? What would she eat in a world where everyone drinks blood? Oh wait, she'll simply become the the food.
"Ms. Thiago, did you hear me?" Mr. Collin gently tapped Rose's table to get her attention when she seemed to have spaced out.
"Huh? Oh! Yes, yes, I'm sorry, I'll send him the evidence of your payment right away and I'll notify the production team to deliver two million face products to you by tomorrow," Rose replied in a rush.
What the hell had she been thinking about right now?
"Thank you, Ms. Thiago, I'll be on my way, have a nice day," Mr. Collin smiled satisfactorily at her before walking out.
"Thank you, you too, Mr. Collin," Rose smiled at him until he left her office.
Her smile immediately fell from her face and was replaced with a deep frown.
"I must be losing my mind," Rose whispered.
She blamed Laura for putting such crazy ideas into her head, she'll have to warn her never to say such things to her again.
She checked the time and saw that it was already passed lunchtime, Mr. Collin had taken most of her time and now, her tummy was growling. She didn't have the time to eat breakfast, and this afternoon, she was going to go hungry again.
She was still thinking about how to go about her hunger when her intercom rang.
"Yes, sir," She answered professionally, even though she would have loved to cry to him about how hungry she was feeling.
"Meet me downstairs," He said and ended the call immediately.
Rose took a deep breath to calm herself down. She only prayed she wouldn't faint in the process of doing errands for her boss.
She carried her bag and walked out of her office, this time, she took the elevator. She wouldn't dare herself by going down the stairs on a growling tummy.
"Hey, you ditched me during lunch break, and, where are you going to?" Laura asked Rose as she met her in front of the reception hurrying off to somewhere.
"The boss asked me to meet him outside," Rose replied.
"Why?" Laura asked.
"I don't know, I'll see you later Laura, bye," Rose waved at her friend and continued walking out of the building.
She immediately sighted Elliot's car as she stepped out of the building.
The car slowly rolled over and came to a stop in front of her, the window slowly winding down to reveal her boss.
"Get in," He ordered.
Rose nodded and walked over to the other side and let herself into the front seat of the car, beside her boss.
"Um, where are we going, boss?" Rose asked quietly as they drove away from the company building.
"You'll see," Elliot replied, focussing on the road.
Rose nodded and remained quiet, she just kept looking out the window, noting the areas they were driving through.
She realized that she'd never been to that part of the city before, and she immediately fell in love with the greenery and buildings.
"We're here," Elliot announced, getting out of the car.
Rose took a second to understand what she just heard.
They've arrived? In front of this beautiful building?
"Get out of the car, Rose," Elliot came and knocked on the window.
"Ah, yes, of course..." Rose said and immediately opened the car and came out.
She stood beside him, admiring the beautiful architecture of the building.
"Come on," Elliott told her and walked straight to the building.
"Sure," Rose replied and followed him behind.
She couldn't stop admiring the beautiful stones that were used to make the stairs as they climbed towards the door.
"Welcome, Elliot, food has been served," A middle-aged man in a white butler uniform bowed his head as he opened the door.
"Thank you, Julius," Elliot replied with a small smile.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Julius," Rose greeted as she walked in behind her boss.
"Welcome, young lady," Julius smiled at her.
Rose nodded and quickly followed her boss, not wanting to get lost in the big house.
She followed her boss to walk straight through an empty white hall and watched him push open a large door that led to a beautifully decorated garden.
"Whoa!" Rose exclaimed quietly as she stared at the scrumptious meals that were placed on the long tables.
It was only when she was done admiring the food that she noticed the hundreds of people sitting all over tables in the garden.
"Come sit, Rose," Elliot held her hand and led her to a table, bringing out a chair for her to sit on.
Rose felt herself blushing.
She was embarrassed as she felt the eyes of everyone staring at her as if she was some kind of alien, also because her crush was finally treating her the way she had always imagined.
"What would you like to eat, Rose?" Elliot whispered beside her ear.
"Anything, I'm not picky," Rose replied, lowering her head to hide her face from the people at the table.
She had to admit, that everyone in that garden looked so beautiful and handsome, and their skin seemed so smooth and radiant. Everyone was well dressed, both the ladies and the men.
It made her feel out of place like she was the sore thumb.
"Relax, Rose, you look beautiful in anything you wear," Elliot returned to the side, placing a plate of mouthwatering food in front of her.
"Thank you," Rose said with a red cheek.
She was thanking him for both the food and the compliment.
She wondered why her boss had brought her here, and why he was treating her so tenderly.
Wait!
A thought suddenly came to her mind...
Was he planning on firing her from her job?
***
"Hey, stop playing with that food and put it into your mouth," Laura scolded as they sat on the floor in front of a small white couch in Rose's small living room.
"Sorry," Rose apologized and started eating.
She had just returned from Elliot's house and heard sounds coming from her small one-bedroom apartment.
She got scared for a second before she remembered to check for the spare key she normally left for her best friend under her flower pot, and when she didn't find it there, she relaxed her mind and entered her house, knowing it was just her best friend and not some bugler.
Laura was already cooking when Rose returned and she couldn't disappoint her friend by declining to eat the food she came all the way from her house to prepare for her.
"You mean, he took you to his home?" Laura asked excitedly.
"Mm," Rose nodded.
"Oh my God, I'm so happy for you, you finally got to spend time with your crush, tell Me quickly, what happened?" Laura asked, giddy like a kid.
Rose rolled her eyes, "Nothing happened, I just had lunch with his hundred-plus family members," Rose replied with a frown.
"Wow... Ok. That would be weird," Laura said.
"They were weird. They all looked like they didn't belong to this world," Rose said, reminiscing about her time there.
"How so?" Laura asked with a frown.
"What do you mean they looked like they don't belong to this world? Wait! The dark world is already finding you?!" Laura covered her hands over her mouth.
"Crazy. I just meant that they all looked so beautiful and their skin glowed like the sun. They sure were great ambassadors of Elliot's products," Rose replied.
"Oh," Laura sounded a little disappointed.
"What?" Rose asked with a raised brow.
"Nothing, I just thought, maybe, you finally got to kiss him after crushing on him for two years now," Laura said seriously.
"You're a crazy bitch," Rose replied, shaking her head.
That night, the two friends squeezed themselves in on Rose's small bed, covering themselves with the blanket and protecting themselves against the harsh cold.
"Don't worry, just go, I'll be fine. You don't have to miss camping for my sake," Rose pushed Laura out of her door the next morning.
"Okay, but promise you'll call me if you ever need my help," Laura smiled.
"Yeah sure," Rose replied with a smile of her own.
Laura gave Rose a warm hug before walking out of Rose's house.
Not long after Laura left, a familiar car came and parked in front of Rose's house.
Elliot came out of the car just at the same moment Rose was coming out of her door.
Rose looked up to find her boss already waiting for her by the car. It was the first time she'd seen him dress so casually in blue jeans and a white shirt, he looked dashing.
She took a deep breath before she walked towards him.
Here goes nothing...
"Good morning, sir," She greeted with a polite smile, even though she wanted to cry out her frustrations.
She didn't want to go for this damned research, she wanted to go for the camping too!
"Why standing there? Don't want to go camping anymore?" Elliot asked, smirking.
"What?" She asked.