RECAP FROM TWO WEEKS AGO…
“The 30th of this month would make it the second year I’ve been working as your house keeper sir. Long story short, I wish to ask for an increase in my salary.” Taking a deep breath. She Paused, said a little prayer and continued “with due respect I’ll also love to remind you for the umpteenth time, my name is Laura and not Miss Cotton. Sir.” Laura didn’t mind the stares as she walked off to the bus station— these Washington heights folks never mind their business— still practicing the salary increment pitch she hoped to deliver to her boss first thing that morning. With the sheet of paper in her left hand and her bag hanging over her right shoulder, she had been going over the pitch for the last fifteen minutes. Silently praying she doesn’t miss the M2 bus and this goddamn! sweat doesn’t ruin her shirt. What if he isn’t in a good mood today? Not like she was scared of him— at least that’s what she chose to let her 23 year old self believe— it’s just that she needed the pitch to be smooth and convincing as possible. Or else heaven knows she’ll be coming back home today with a termination letter which is far worse than a cancer diagnosis right now. Walking as fast as she could, trying not to miss her steps still finding it hard to catch her breath as she dabbed of the angry loads of sweats threatening to ruin her morning. Laura felt her phone vibrate, stopping just few feet’s from the homeless begger. She opened the phone and saw it was a long message from her uncle telling her he forgot to give her morning dose of I love youus. He does this everyday, doesn’t he get tired?. The man sure needs a woman in his life. Just before putting the phone away she squints to see the time reading 6:32am. “Shit! I’m late” she panicked. Mentally calculating how much time she had left to get to Mr McGorrith’s house. —ajourney of give or take one hour, and I need to be there by 7am! “Ohhh hiii Laura, are you just going to walk past your favorite bird like that” not now please. She muttered under her breath before turning to acknowledge the homeless man who had somehow camped by that corner for the past 3— if not 4 years. Most days he acted like whatever comes up to his head. “Hello Mockingbird, and good morning” she dropped some coins into his bowl trying to mask her irritated mood with an awkward smile “can we not do this now, I’m running late and….” Interrupting her by Jumping from his bags of baggage’s he danced, acting animated with the globe or ball or whatever in his hands—like he’s some sort of future seer now— “Just 5 minutes Lau, I seeeee your future” he sang out. “I seeeee I seeee your future going in a circus of surprises” First the scary globe and now circus and surprises in the same sentence.? Laura tilted her head a little she leaned by the old Dominican restaurant there. “Fine”. Sitting by the window side watching as the bus drove to the other side of town, with her earphones on blasting the new album Adele released. Laura would give anything right now to have a life worth living for. A degree in Economics, she really can’t count how many times a day she throws herself a pity party. Working two—not so fun— jobs. no friends, a sorry excuse of a boyfriend and a dry bank account. At least I’m not pregnant. She internally celebrated. “Thank you Harry.” Laura said, waving the cab man who just dropped her in front of Mr McGorrith’s mansion. A castle sitting pretty on the upper east side of Manhattan.—Phew! Let’s do this. Laura decided to use a moment, taking in the house, as she stood behind the gigantic gate, admiring the beautiful stone entrance. Just before pressing the buzzer, announcing her arrival at the house she took a quick glance at her phone to check for the time. 7:17am. When She pressed the buzzer again for the second time she noticed her shaky hands, sweaty palms The damn sweat! And her skin had suddenly gone pale. Not to mention her panicking thoughts.— It’s just a random Monday morning. I shouldn’t be anxious for godsake!. The gate opened and Laura found herself trying to gather her thoughts as she still hadn’t been able to shake off all what Mockingbird had said, not noticing Mr Alex who was by the side of the gate giving her a warm welcome. “Miss laura, hello miss laura you okay?” he gave her a small pinch by the arm to get her attention as she walked past him. “Ouch” she jerked almost immediately. Giving him a nervous laugh while she ran her hands through her hair she joked “ohhh Hi Alex good morning I was just trying to see how long I could try ignoring you without you noticing.?” “I’m sorry, I hope I did not offend you” she added. Still chewing on her cheeks.— please don’t call me out on my obvious lie. She looked up to the house and noticed almost all the lights were on. Weird. He’s supposed to be in the gym by now and what’s with all the noises coming from the house. “You mind telling me what’s on your mind?” Mr Alex tugged at her. Bring her out of her thoughts. “You good?” He probed further. “Ohhh it’s nothing really, just that…” a loud crashing sound disrupted their conversation. But before she could even get another word out, the sounds from the house got louder. Turning to Alex who was supposedly the gatekeeper she asked him about what the hell was going on in the house. “I honestly have no idea what’s going on with him and that girl he brought over last night. But they’ve been going at it for over an hour now” he hissed not masking his monotonous voice. The house had suddenly gone quiet. Girl?? Mr McGorritth has never been the violent type. And there’s a woman still in his house by morning? Humor. Me.— “Okay uhm, I have to go now. See you later Alex. Hopefully today doesn’t go wrong.” she smiled slightly as she turned to leave. Hurrying to the big house she made another mental note to call her boyfriend and ask for her money before the day ended. The screams and crashing sounds from the house had come back on. Holding the front door she wondered if the Mockingbird’s revelation might be real afterall— her life would definitely take a sharp turn. But how— she couldn’t even remember the first line of her pitch. Good gracious! “I told you I needed you to be out of my house before I woke up. Or do you not understand English anymore!!” He barked out really loud with his veins threatening to pop. Standing by the side of the door, Laura tried to take in the scene before her—not pleasant at all— seeing that the woman in question is or was? his secretary. It turned out that Mr Kingston McGorrith wasn’t so pleased with waking up to the sight of his one night rendezvous. And to his secretary? Shouldn’t she know better than to expect anything less from him?. The whole house had been turned upside down with shattered items. Watching as Stephanie tried to cause more havoc she noticed her small stature. Laura always thought girls like herself with mini curvy body were cute. But seeing Stephanie up close wasn’t so appealing. Did he go around sleeping with everything? Laura questioned at heart. “Is this really who you are?” Stephanie bellowed back angrily, wiping off her tears still looking for things to throw and break. After cleaning this house up I better be getting that raise. Stephanie sniffled a bit and continued her ranting. “I couldn’t even get you to nut all night!. I thought we were having a good time King!. And now you treat me like some rag?” “With all my body still sore, how was I supposed to .. you know what? Forget it. You are sick!” Her eyes rolling with a disgusted expression. Nut? Oh shit! I shouldn’t be listening to any of this. But? Is he really that hard to satisfy? Wow. “GET OUT OF MY HOUSE STEPHANIE!” King exploded. Pointing towards the door. Still not noticing Laura who was stiffened up by the corner. “And it’s Mr McGorritth to you. Do well to send in your resignation letter before I get to the office. NOW. PLEASE. LEAVE” Laura couldn’t hold her thoughts.—Yhhh he’s definitely frustrated . And hot. Carefully walking towards Stephanie with his jaw clenched he muttered almost inaudibly “look, I’m not trying to be an asshole.” Laura scoffed “you don’t even have to try that hard”. He stopped abruptly, staring at her with furrowed brows “sorry?” Wait. I said that out loud?“Did you say something?” He rested his two hands on his hips as he turned fully to face Laura. “Miss cotton? Did you say something” he asked again, this time much more demanding. Fiddling with her shirt, looking everywhere but at him hoping she was the only one hearing her heart pound this hard—this shit better not rip out. She tried coming up with a decent excuse but he beat her to it. “I believe you said nothing.” he stated, matter of factly. Daring her to say otherwise. He smells nice too. Damn! She nodded in agreement. Briefly meeting his gaze before angling her head to look at the secretary who was now dialing something on her phone and struggling to get into her dress. Still mumbling incoherent words, Stephanie glanced at Laura with a bemused look as she headed for the door. Ready to drop a whole trailer load of bullshit before Mr. McGorritth stopped her. “The door. Stephanie.” He seethed through clenched teeth. “Fine. I’m leaving. But don’t call me. I promise
You know what they say about practice makes perfect. Well, Laura had been standing in front of her dresser with just her yellow lace pant and bra going over her salary increment pitch again.“Okay the 10th time is the charm” she breathed out—that’s what you said ten minutes ago going over the third time.Knock knock.Knock— “lu ohhh I’m sorry…”Throwing her hands in the air “Dad!! You need to knock. And even at that. You need to wait for the magic word!” “I’m sorry miss. I was just checking to see if you were ready. I’m making coffee and pancakes, would you like to have any before leaving?” Trying to stifle his laugh he called out to her again.“Laura?”“Yes. Yes dad. I’ll be down in five.”Few minutes later she was sitting on the kitchen stool stuffing her mouth with the pancakes. Every morning she either had a rough start or an eventful one. But thanks to her old man and Maddie who still tried to get her motivated for the day.“So you were saying?” Downing her last cup of coffee.
Lucia and her two kids have been struggling to make it through life daily. With Estelle as her eldest child who just turned fourteen last month, her little boy Chris would be turning 9 before the year ends. It’s been three years since Laura took a liking to Lucia’s family, doing everything possible to help and sustain them.Lucia is a single mum juggling different jobs as she try’s to fend for herself and the kids. These days she draws and paints from time to time, and whenever Laura goes to see them she picks up on drawing too with Lucia. Estelle also draws really well and just last year she was to go for an art competition when she got diagnosed with a heart condition. She has a hole in her heart.“I’m outside Lucia, are you in the hospital building?” “Yes. I just stepped out to get something for us to eat. Did you come with the pies?” Asked Lucia.“I told Estelle you were coming and she’s been talking my ear off” sounding excited.“Let me find your ward first.” Laura ended the cal
The thing with being extremely wealthy is that everyone wants to have something to say about you. It seems as if their two cents matter —well public opinion does matter in the grand scheme of things— but this generation has made it an unwritten rule to always have their eyes on the rich. It’s an obsession people these days use in order to get through their shitty lives. An evasive obsession. Art of escapism?“Mum did you call me this morning because of the loads of nonsense these tabloids have to say about me?” King spoke with a glint of unbelief in his voice.There’s a lot of smoke in the air and every where seemed to be in a frenzied state right now. Thank goodness his building is not a affected, just the back of his office and he’s trying to join in salvaging the situation. Yet! his mother chooses this moment??.Cutting her short as she tried reasoning with him “I really don’t have time to do this with you ma, you are very much aware fire from the next building found its way to th
"Maddie!! I can't find it. I can't find it. I have almost turned the whole room up side down." Laura sobs into her phone half yelling and panicking "Look Lu, you need to calm down. It's just a ring. He won't even notice, and didn't you say he told you his guests would be arriving anytime soon? You need to leave the house." Pacing round the room she replied "Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. I'm loosing my mind Madds" "Girlllll you can't have a break down right now. I'm too high for this. I was about charging my vibrator when you called back." I need to do away with this girl. "Do you think he heard all what I said about him in the kitchen? Is this some sort of trap now to get me fired and killed? MADDIE TURN THAT VIBRATING MACHINE OFF!!" Shouldn't you be at the cafe working right now? Why the hell is there a vibrator for goodness sake. She started off laughing "This is the millionth time you'll be asking me this. And yes my dearest Miss cotton I think he eavesdropped on our conversation. But I
“What is your secretary doing in my office and why won’t you stop blowing up my phone?” King demanded with a grunt as he stormed into Brian’s office.King stared at him from where he stood holding a scowled expression. Wondering why he’s never serious.“Alright. For your first question, I took it upon my self. As the kindhearted friend that I am..” He gestured with his hands— “To lend my secretary to you for the time being, before you get yourself one.”Lend? Since when did we start lending each other our staffs. “You are welcome.” Brian quietly said as he swiveled around on his seat.“Andddd for the second question. Thank you very much for that question by the way.” King began to stomp out of the office — “I’ll be in my office when you are ready to tell me what this ‘supposed’ urgency is about. And please get that overly clumsy girl out of my space.”Brian got up immediately to block him from leaving. “I was just about getting to the second question, why are you always so agit
Working in a busy cafe and feeling someone’s hot gaze on you for the past hour would have your whole mind and body spiraling out of control the whole time.Laura hasn’t been able to properly focus with King still in the cafe, sat comfortably working on his laptop.“You’re a mess Lu. You’ve tucked in your hair more times than I have heard my name this year.” Maddie stated in a mocking drawl as she teased.Taking the tray from her. Maddie pushed Laura to go check if Mr McGorritth needed anything.“He’s been watching you the whole hour honey! Don’t worry. I’ve got you. Just go talk to him!” Standing behind the counter, Laura struggled with Maddie “He’s not been watching me. Keep your delusions to your self Madds. STOP!” She whined.Maddie shot her a deadpanned expression— “I’m going to cause a scene here if you don’t move. And think before you talk please. We both know how your brain works.” “Psttt. Hey! Stop biting your lips.” Maddie whisper yelled as Laura walked over to King. Thi
“The property listings and the property valuation on this presentation doesn’t align. How on earth am I to go into that meeting and present all these? Coupled with the abstract project development plans! ” King complained to a panicking Brian as they went over the deliverables to be discussed at the meeting.Brian loosened his tie for the umpteenth time that afternoon before coming up with a reply “Well technically you’re not the one doing the presentation. Didn’t you say Laura agreed to what ever stupid idea you proposed to her?” “And where is the Laura? I doubt she would be coming. Look, it’s past 2pm already! The investors and other delegates are already getting seated in the board room. I guess I’ll have to handle all this myself.”The day had gone faster than King had expected. And far worse than he imagined. Living life without a secretary or a personal assistant wasn’t ideal for him in any way.“Don’t you have her number? You can call you know? Check if all is alright with her