CHAPTER TWO:

As Kayla walked up the stairs in the huge building where she was, she could feel her feet throbbing in her tight converse shoes.

Kayla could vividly remember her burst of excitement when she got a call to deliver sixteen coffee cups to an office building. Feeling tired and sweaty all over, she couldn’t muster any more of that excitement.

Finally, she located the floor where she was to deliver the orders, which was the thirteenth floor. She regretted not taking the elevators, which would have saved her the trouble of climbing the seemingly unending staircase.

She sent a text to the customer to inform them of her arrival. As she waited, she sipped her own coffee, which gave her the energy boost she needed to start her day.

The building she was in was a very modern, skyscraper with the words ‘MOORE GROUP PHARMACEUTICAL’ etched on its front.

As she looked around, she found herself standing in a plush and sleek hallway with beige colored walls. A glass door with an ‘employee only sign’, marked the end of the hallway.

Within three minutes, a young brunette emerged from the glass door, wearing a lab coat and holding her phone in her hands.

“Hey,” the woman said with a bright smile, addressing Kayla.

“Hello, Cassie,” Kayla said, returning the smile. She had noted down her name from the order.

“Your coffee,” Kayla continued, raising the box of coffee in her hand.

Cassie walked up to Kayla and took the box from her hand. “Thank you very much, Kayla. Have a great day.” She said, turning back to head into the room she came from.

“You too. Thanks for your order,” Kayla said.

Kayla turned on her heel and strode back towards the staircase, her feet clicking on the marble floor, finding that going down was a breeze compared to coming up. She admired the intricately carved ceiling and smooth railings as she walked down, back to the ground floor.

She finally exited the building feeling flushed, and walked towards the parking lot where her small car was parked. As she continued to sip her hot coffee, she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket.

Kayla paused, pulled out her phone, and saw the caller was her dad. Without hesitation, she answered the call.

“Hey Dad!” She exclaimed excitedly, happy to hear his voice which grew weaker and faded everyday.

Kayla heard her dad’s gruff laugh before he responded, “Hey kiddo, what are you up to?”

“Just delivering coffees,” she said with a smile. “How are you doing dad? Is there any problem? Do you need my help?” Kayla said, her face etching into worry.

“Actually, Kiddo,” her dad said. Kayla heard the urgency and disturbance in her dad statement and she felt her heart skip a bit.

“Is anything wrong dad?” She paused, focusing her attention on what he had to say next. She could feel her fingers trembling, hoping it wasn’t another bad news which had become too frequent.

“Kayla, I want to speak to you about something important, kiddo. I need you here as soon as you can.” Her dad finished, his voice low and urgent.

Kayla’s eye brows scrunched up as she felt her stomach flutter and her worry increase.

“Dad, I am on my way right now.” She said as she quickened up her pace, she cut the call and walked as fast as she could towards the parking lot.

As Kayla took a sharp turn to her left, she was shocked to come into contact with a strong, sturdy obstacle. The warm coffee she had in her hands slipped away, tumbled onto the obstacle in front of her and spilled its contents.

As she collided with this obstacle, she felt her phone and keys fall on the floor as her forehead came in contact with the body, inflicting a sharp pain in that area, and causing her head to throb.

“Shit!” She cursed.

Kayla stared down and saw a pair of shoes, before hearing the annoyed grunt of a man. Realizing she had collided with a man and not a weird obstacle.

Feeling apologetic, she rubbed her forehead and she looked up at the man she had hit. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of the man's coffee stained shirt.

“Oh no, I’m so sorry,” she exclaimed, but her apology was quickly replaced by a defensive tone. “You weren’t even watching where you were going!”

The man in front of her gave her an annoyed look as he stared down at Kayla.

“What the hell? Are you dumb? You fucking ran into me and now thanks to you, my shirt is ruined.” He said with a very annoyed expression on his face, his deep, rich voice sending a shiver down her spine.

Kayla’s eyes flashed with anger as she retorted, “oh am I dumb? At least I’m not the stupid oaf standing in the corner and bumping into others.” She shot back. “And by the way, it’s not just your shirt that’s ruined, my coffee is gone.” She finished, her voice dripping with venom.

The man in front of her felt his anger boil over as he snapped, “Well, if you weren’t so damn careless, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” He snapped, his face inches from Kayla’s.

“You need to pay or fix up this shirt. What kind of person walks around with a coffee with an open lid, a dumb and irresponsible one, that’s who.” He continued.

Kayla felt her face turn bright red with rage as she shot back, refusing to back down, “Don’t speak to me like that, you retard! You’re a rude and arrogant jerk standing in other people's way.”

He let out a dark, unamused breath. Standing upright, he gave Kayla a menacing stare, “You’re going to regret this.” He said with a promising look.

Kayla gave him the finger and said, “Jerk!” Before brushing past him.

She picked up her phone and keys and walked towards her car not caring to look back at the stranger. She realized she didn’t have time for continuous arguments with an entitled jerk and secretly hoped to never meet him again.

She especially hated men like him, rich and stuck-up. They all seemed the same to her.

Still feeling very unapologetic, she hopped into her car and rushed towards the hospital to see her sick father, whom she was eager to meet.