To answer the question he feels reluctant to, Jamie takes a deep inhale.
“They’re fine actually…” he says, in a sarcastic tone, “But they’re just too fine for Minerva.”
Well hello to you, but. I knew there’s always a but. Now, now, don’t say I didn’t warn you, it’s story time, folks.
“Their works aren’t really up to Minerva’s standard.” Jamie continues to mention, “Other than that, out of anything they can be, some of them have some serious attitude problems, some of their persistences on their aesthetics are absent, which as they should know, can be highly pernicious for a designer.&rdqu
Trying to figure out the reason for Jamie showing admiration at my project, I decided to ask, “It’s rare for you to speak highly of someone. What makes you have eyes on this candidate?”Contentedly Jamie smiles, as he folds his arm and lays back on the chair, “His sense, together with every detail in his project.”Oh wow, really?I squint and tilt my head at him, “What does that mean?” for I am just a secretary, I don’t know much about architectural designing.Seeing me putting up a silly smile on my blank face, Jamie decides to be generous and starts to explain.“First of all, sitting among this city th
On the application form I filled up, other than my last name, the other details I filled up are true. And if Jamie intends to do a cross reference with Henrietta Chandelier’s detail on the application form that I filled in for the interview session, the truth that Henry Nosrevi and Henrietta Chandelier are the exact same person might be exposed.It’s too late to stop him from looking at Henry Nosrevi’s detail. I just hope he won’t have the need to look at Henrietta Chandelier’s detail any time before I am any closer to take Minerva back from him.Just when I am trying to breath as slow as I can to calm myself down, trying to prevent my anxiousness from attracting Jamie’s attention, Jamie has picked his smartphone up and dials a number, referencing the contact number written on Henry Nosrevi’s
I take a deep breath as I wait for the caller tune from Jamie’s phone to be heard.Time suddenly turns so slow that I can feel a creep catching me from my nape, so slowly... I can feel my limbs turn numb and cold sweat ooze out on my forehead.Trying to prevent my sweat from being seen, before they can trickle down my face, I carefully wipe them off with my hand.It’s not just my forehead, my hands are cold too. As I take a glance at them, I can see them shuddering, weakly.Then, just a few seconds later, my phone suddenly rings.I give my pocket a quick glance from the corner of my eyes. I take a gulp, yet I am not picking up the phone.
Suddenly, Jamie smiles.“You know what?” confidently, he turns to me and mentions, “We have his home address. I think we’ll just visit him there.”What? He wants to visit my house?He can’t visit my place, I have men’s clothes and stuff all around my house! He can’t see that!“B-but…” trying to change Jamie’s mind, I edge in, “But Jamie, I think it’s quite inappropriate-”However, before I can finish my sentence, Jamie grabs his belongings from his desk and stands up from his chair.With a cold tone, he says,
“A surprise?”“Yeah! Bosses like surprises like that.” Victor continues to propose, “In that case, we not only can prevent your identity from being unmasked, Henrietta can also pile up some contributions by arranging this contact between Jamie Lee Peyton and the person he was looking for so eagerly. Jamie Lee Peyton will feel so grateful towards Henrietta! That can ameliorate the impression he had for you, and even better, he is going to start falling in love with you.”After listening to all of his words, I take myself a moment to digest, not of the plan he described, but how smart and wicked he is to have come up with all those!“Vivi Baby.” I have no words to say other than, “You are a genius strategical mother fucking
It is officially twelve in the afternoon when Victor shows up at the main lobby of Minerva in a set of fancy floral suits.It is obvious that he was half way through his photo shoot session. Still, he came for me.“Henry!” he waves at me as he runs towards me, I can see him holding a card in his hand, “I mean, Henrietta!”With a big bright smile, I welcome him, “Vic! You’re here!”I run towards him too, until the both of us meet in the middle.While there, Victor suddenly grabs my hand and runs to the single sofas placed at one of the corners of the lobby.
I am going to cry! “What should I do? I can’t appear in the same place as two different people!”Victor’s face turns blank a little, I bet he hasn’t thought of that too!However, just a short while later, Victor’s expression suddenly turns bright.What’s with his face? I guess I can only believe that he has come up with a great idea.Before I have to figure out what has come to his mind, Victor suddenly makes a fist and knocks on the wooden coffee table with his knuckles.Just when his behavior claims a curious face from me, he puts up his palm covering his mouth from the side.
Twelve thirty on Monday afternoon, every restaurant and cafe are occupied with people, except for this Mexican restaurant called Dominguez Cuisine.The full glass walls of Dominguez Cuisine not only create an inside out situation to the users, they maximize the optical penetration to the highest possibility, allowing the interior of the restaurant to be completely unveiled to everyone who is looking in from the outside.Dominguez Cuisine seems so different from those traditional Mexican restaurants. The glass walls bring the natural sunlight into the space. The color of the sky and the clouds reflects on the surface of the glass walls, glass tables, picture frames, ceramic vase, and other decorations.They are so beautiful, they are all transparent, white or sky blue. The re
After a few minutes travelling in my red Lexus LS 500, Jamie and I finally arrived at our destination. After Jamie gets out of the car, I pick up a red velvet box from the glove box and put it in my coat. I then catch her up from behind. It is a big house built next to the beach. The house is fully furnished and renovated. It is ready for people to move in and live in it. I am the architect who designed and built the house, however I haven’t decided what to name it yet. Well, anyway… I first bring Jamie through the garden on the beach, I open the door with the key and we enter the house.
The time is five in the evening. I am back in the office building, sitting on the couch, waiting for the interview session to start in approximately half to one and hour.I grab my phone out and check my messages again.I had made a few calls to Jamie through various ways, she never answered the phone, and now, there is still no sign of Jamie.Weimar is seven hours ahead of Chicago, which means it is twelve at midnight at where Jamie is.It is already the next day in Weimar, and that makes this the second day I lost the sign of Jamie.Weird… This is weird.Jamie never leaves me hanging for m
April 2023. Two years later. It is spring in Chicago again, a time when the florals come back to life again, well so do the people. The warm breeze brings the voile curtains up, allowing the morning sunlight to shower on my white bed through the French windows. That is when I am woken up by the sound of this hectic city. I stand on my balcony in my robe, yawning and stretching my body at the same time. “Good morning, Chicago.” I take a glance at the scenery of the city from the top of this building, I see people and vehicles all over the streets, everyone is ready for work and vac
June, 2021.It had been almost one month since the accidents happened.I was discharged from the hospital, rested at home for a few days, took some medicine, did some simple rehabilitation practice… I am almost fully recovered.The news reported that Melonie Myers was brought into custody by the local police. The police told me that I no longer need to worry about stepping out of my house.Also, it is Wednesday morning, a regular working day for me.And so, I am now back to work at Minerva, no longer as the CEO’s secretary, but as the CEO and the owner of Minerva; no longer in skirt and lipstick, but in suit and tie.
Air flow, machines, birds chirping, and a woman sobbing… Those are the first things that come into my ear when I gradually return to my consciousness.They sound really vague at first, but turn louder after as I slowly open my eyes too.There, I find myself in a ward bed. My face is covered with an oxygen mask. My arms are surrounded by tubes and wires.And, I see someone burying her head in the bed, holding my hand tightly in hers.“I’ve lost our baby… I can’t lose you too, Henry… Please wake up...” she sobbed.Slowly, I raise my other hand, and lay it on her head. I caress her gently, stroking her hair th
Assuming that it must be Mr. Hurlock behind the door, I unlock the door and open it without peeking through the cateye.I ask as soon as I open the door, “Yes, Mr. Hurlock? Did you forget someth-”However, just when the door is fully opened, the face of the person standing in front of the door is revealed in front of me.It is a lady in black attire, with a bike helmet on her head, her black hair draped over her shoulder, and she holds a knife in her hand.It isn’t Mr. Hurlock, it is...“Hi there, Henry.”“Melonie Myers…”
It is almost midnight when I sit in my living room alone, waiting for Jamie’s butler to show up. It is always a quiet night like this that makes people feel lonely, isn’t it? Tears ooze out of my eyes abruptly, they trickle down my face one after another. No matter how many times I wipe them off, no matter how hard I try to stop myself from crying, my tears just won’t stop. I cover my face with my palms to cover my sound, I sob as quietly as I can, not hoping to wake Jamie up. I try to stop myself by clearing my head, yet every quiet moment like this keeps reminding me of the fact that we’ve just lost our child. Our dear child… If you can hear us,
The accident and our loss hasn’t been too kind on us, especially for Jamie. The impact of losing our child hits her heart and mental condition so badly. She had been crying for days, she didn’t eat much. She fainted a few times. She became so tired and weak, that the doctor kept her in the hospital for another few days.Tonight, Jamie is just sitting on the bed, sometimes leaning on my shoulder, imagining how different our life would be if everything never happened, how our life would be if we hadn’t lost our child.What gender will it be? Will it be a little princess? How heavy will she weigh when she is born? Will she look more like Jamie or me? What name will we name her? How will we celebrate her first birthday? How excited will we be when she says her first word or takes her first step? Will she first say mommy
“Jamie…”Not knowing how much time has passed, I gradually woke up when I heard myself mumbling.I first feel my senses are unblocked, just like when one who sinks in the ocean for a long time gets back up from the water.The next thing I feel... is my body covered in pain, especially my head.“Umm…”Holding the pain back, slowly, I try to open my eyes.It is the moment when I open my eyes again, bright light seeps into my eyes. I squint into the light, my eyes take quite a while to adapt to the light.