ANNÀ
"He'll be picked up by 10:30 tomorrow." She said going through some paperwork on her desk. "Please sign here, here and here."
Tears filled my eyes as I went through the papers. I couldn't believe I was doing this. I wanted to be alone, I walked down the street the tears in my eyes finally cascaded down my cheeks. My heart felt like it was being stabbed by a broken blunt knife continuously. But it was time. The letter from dad made that really clear,
"Anna come home. You've had your time."
Dad is a man of very few words and that's the clearest he would be. I walked down these familiar streets feeling a sense of nostalgia. Nothing had really changed in the two years I had spent at the nunnery. The stores were the exact same. The man with the spinning sign still maintained his spot in front of the electronic store.
CREST is a small town where I spent most of my life growing up. It wasn't a safe town to be in honestly. There's a dead body every other week and for some reason everybody is used to it like 'oh another dead person… sad.'
And the police, that's another case. They never bother themselves with anything.
I walked through the gate of my fathers estate mentally prepping myself for daddy dearests disapproving look. I had gained a ton of weight between raising a child and living in depression. Lost in my thoughts, I don't notice when I walk in on my dad having a meeting with some people, a few of them who I knew growing up.
Carlo his assistant, Fred the tech guy, Tristan the driver and Bobby my very own chauffeur or is it bodyguard?
"Excuse me gentlemen and lady" Dad tells them, leading me away from the group.
"I see you got my message" He directed to me and I replied with a nod. " Good so you know what that means right?' I nod again "Good".
He sizes me and says, "By the way you've gained some extra pounds and you resume work on Monday, you have two days to get in shape, your papers are ready, you fly out Sunday. Gary is waiting."
Gary is the gym guy and he has kept me and my sister in shape for years. He is a stuck up asshole and now I'm stuck with him. I make my way down the hall to my room and fall face flat on my bed screaming into my pillows.
***
I'm standing in the shower watching the hot water beat my skin, massaging it, every bone in my body is sore thanks to Gary. As if it was possible to get fit in so little time. We did every workout exercise in the book all at once. Leg day was everyday since I got back, cardio blah blah and Gary wasn't accepting any slacking, I've had a strict diet of vegetables. I did not miss this home at all!
My flight leaves in an hour and daddy dearest made sure to get me new fits for my new job. It's a long flight from Crest to wherever it is I'm going to (I have no idea where I'm going) and I use the opportunity to think about my life and the reason behind my existence being to listen and obey everything daddy says.
The apartment is a mini two bedroom with a really pretty backyard and a puppy too. I'm not even a dog person, I'm more of a cat person and he knows that but daddy knows best. I start getting settled in, fold my clothes and arrange them then make a salad for dinner. There's everything I could need here, groceries, snacks, even dog food. Good thing he knows me well enough to leave his dog to starve to death.
The only thing I am very much against is the fact that I have to walk to work 'like every other normal person' according to daddy dearest because going in a ferrari will make everybody think why I took the job in the first place. Exactly I do not need a job.
I'm standing outside Lord's tech, the height of the building towering every other building in close proximity. But on second thought there wasn't actually any other building within a two mile radius. At the other side of the road was a park with playgrounds and it looked like a really nice place to self evaluate.
I spend a good fifteen minutes looking at the building, I wasn't in the slightest bit interested in this. Nobody really paid any attention to me, they all passed by in their tailored suit and briefcases until a lady who I noticed sit at the front desk walked out and up to me
"Hey, are you lost?"
I stop looking at the building and switch my attention to her. She was short red haired, say 5 '2, with thick rimmed glasses. I noticed she's the only person without a tailored suit. She's in a blue mid-thigh length dress with stilettos. Her hair is packed in a tight bun on top of her head and her edges are laid perfectly. I'm jealous. "Earth to…" she says waving her neatly pedicured nails in my face. "Hello?"
"Anna", I say unconsciously.
"You do speak after all." She laughs. "For a sec there I thought you were mute."
"Hold up. Did you say Anna?" she asks as though she didn't hear me the first time. I nod.
"The new assistant Anna?" she asks again and I nod again. You know I think I'd stick to nodding for a change honestly because it doesn't require a lot of work and yes words are work.
"Come on, I'll get you to Boris."
I follow her through the large glass doors and when we get to the elevators she uses her card to grant us passage to the staff area of the building. This place is huge and their security system is tight. You only get a card with as much access as you're going to need while working. Like the receptionists can only go so far. Well except for this red head girl who has opened almost every passage we've been through in the past minutes.
Visitors are expected to have an appointment scheduled prior to their visits and when they arrive they get a visitor card to take them to whichever floor they need access to and return it on their way out. LOL.
Figures why I was sent here.
Boris is a stubbly potbellied bald man. Apparently he's head of job placements thingy or whatever and I'm supposed to meet him for whatever the fuck he was talking about.
The redhead escorts me out of his office and shows me around the building using a whole lot of words at the same time. Could she just shut up for a minute at least.
"This is the cafeteria. Don't try it unless it's a Thursday." She states. "They serve the best pasta a girl could want, except that, every other day kills."
She finally shows me to my office and helps me get settled in. According to her, my employer, Mr. Lords, isn't always available but I'm given his everyday itinerary from his former assistant and my job begins instantly. Yay!
I was really hoping to see Mr. Lords today but he doesn't come in and so I don't have any work to do and I also do not know what he looks like. Wish that would be the case everyday but knowing Dad that's definitely not the case and I'd be meeting him any time now.
Getting back home from work, I freshen up and my driver takes me to the gym because in daddy dearest's words, "You are not in top shape yet." Also I'm only allowed in a car to anywhere but work. The housekeeper made me dinner before leaving, a healthy dinner precisely as ordered by daddy. She even left a note… how cute and thoughtful. *eyeroll*
Mr. Lords wasn't in for most of the week so I'm let off the hook but the next week is one hell of a rollercoaster ride with writing about ten or more emails in a day to making deliveries and the meetings, let's not even talk about the meetings.
Personally, Mr. Lords is a reserved man and he barely sends me on any personal errands but his office is after my life. The only thing I have to do for him is pick up his lunch from the delivery guy at the front desk and that's it, basically the only interaction we have all week, every week.
I've had this boring schedule all month, even spoke to daddy about it yesterday but what is it we always say? "Daddy knows best."