Jared was just on the phone with his dad. He muttered silent curses as he hung up, talking about how dramatic his father could be sometimes. "Just because Desdra is the breadwinner doesn't mean I'm useless!" He spat out. Jared hated his life now. It wasn't fair he was dealing through it all alone. "Clarissa, it's better or worse. You're supposed to be here with me--"
He bumped into a figure and screamed out. "Hey you moron, watch where you're going!" Only for him to see who he'd bumped into. His eyes widened in shock. The man was taller than him and more built with light brown neatly styled hair. "Julian? You're back already?"
Julian was he and Desdra's older step brother from another mother, so they never really acted like siblings. They always ostracized him and had casted him out.
"Jared?" Julian asked. His step brother looked thinner than before with ugly wrinkles delineating his eyes. Was he sick? "What are you doing...here?" He took a closer look at him again, seeing Jared was wearing uniforms that belonged to the supermarket. "Wait, you work here now?"
Jared's face flustered with embarrassment as he didn't want Julian to see him like that. He was poor now and Desdra was no longer giving him money so he needed to fend for himself somehow! That was how he became a staff at a small supermarket. He made sure it was far from his area so he would dress well and act like he was going to a corporate office, then change into the staff outfit at the supermarket.
"I should be asking the questions here." Jared said immediately. "You being here can only mean one thing. Have you come to steal my dear wife from me because you heard of the divorce?? Clarissa is mine..."
Julian paused the moment he heard of divorce. Then a warm smile appeared on his face. "So she has finally moved on from you and Desdra's bullying? That's good for her."
Jared frowned."Wait, you didn't know before?"
"Haven't you learned your lesson? Desdra will continue to ruin your chances in life if you keep following her. Now that Clarissa has divorced you, what's your plan?" Jared always liked to be the smart one in the family by stating just the obvious, but his step siblings hated him for that.
"I don't care what you have to say. You're not even one of us anyway." Jared bared his teeth and Julian smiled.
"That's what you'll tell yourself, right?" He sighed. "Well, now that I think about it, my coming here is a very good thing, don't you think? I've been away for so long that I actually have missed Clarissa." His smile was enough to cause Jared's blood to boil. "A word of advice, if you keep letting Desdra control you like this, she'll push you to the very end and hurt you."
He added before turning to walk away, ignoring Jared's screams and tantrums behind. "So Clarissa has divorced him?" He said amusingly to himself.
*
*
Clarissa made it back home in one piece. She had not even used one week at the company and was already stressed like this? Working as a sales person was not an easy task at all. She was complaining to her friend, Eve, as they walked in to the elevator. Eve always picked her up and dropped her off to work.
"So what? How are you a salesperson? I don't get your job at all." Eve said to her looking all confused.
"Actually, it's more of a sales engineer? Since I was an engineering student. Our job is to mostly speak directly to customers, delivering a cool speech of the services we can provide. But I have been stuck on the loser's team on my very first day!" Clarissa sighed. "The only thing I do is boring paperwork, although we're busy with finding this celebrity and--" She was still explaining when the elevator opened and a slender lady walked in.
The cold gaze that followed was more than alarming, and she was specifically frowning at Clarissa!
"Hey Rosa," Eve said in a casual tone.
Rosa was tall and beautiful with gray eyes that looked divine like an angel's. However, she had never been friendly at all to Clarissa.
"Whatever." She said, like the whole room was filthy and Clarissa had caused it.
Eve rolled her eyes and continued to talk to Clarissa but she stopped her. "We'll talk inside." Clarissa mouthed.
At the top floor, they stepped outside with Rosa going into her own apartment. They were practically neighbors but she was always proud and arrogant.
Once inside, Clarissa began to say. Sana was already back from her morning shift. "I don't understand that lady. Everytime she sees me, she falls right into a bad mood!"
Sana frowned. "What lady?"
Eve hurried to the kitchen mumbling about how hungry she was. When she came back out with a box of pizza and a can of soda, Clarissa was still talking.
"She's just worried for nothing. Tell her she's worried for nothing, Sana." Eve said with a mouth full of pizza.
In her gentle tone, Sana started to say softly. "Rosa has always been like that. She owns the building, or rather, her father does. She's literally a spoiled brat."
"And don't say because she's rich, or from a rich home. Have you guys met me?" Eve said, pointing to herself.
"I guess she just has a disgusting attitude. I mean when Eve said hi, her response was 'whatever'. Can you imagine!" Clarissa said angrily.
"You seem troubled, like it's more than Rosa's case." Sana asked. They both had their seats in the living room.
Clarissa sighed and told them of how her day was at work. "It's impossible. We'll never reach this agency. And I'm sure Desdra has her ways. She'll have strings here and there, but she just loves seeing me suffer."
"What about you, Eve? You're like 'miss influential' around here." Sana turned to Eve who was already sneaking back to the kitchen for more snacks. "Get your ass back here, lady. That pizza is for the three of us. If you're hungry, cook something for yourself." Sana said in her motherly tone.
"Whatever. Whatever." Eve whined before coming to join them. She had almost emptied the can of soda! "And you're right. What's the name, Clarissa? Who are we trying to find?"
Clarissa livened up. "Sun mi, she's a Korean pop star--"
"Korean? No can do. I don't do Koreans. Not after what happened back then." Eve got up shaking her head in disapproval.