CHAPTER 9

She quickly followed the guy, the cup of coffee was still in her hands. She even burnt herself in the process as she really did just follow him without really giving it a second thought. Even before the elevator door closed, she was able to stop it from closing.

“Oops! Sorry about that.” The guy quickly pressed the button of the elevator in order to stop it from closing, but it was already too late as she was already in between the two closing doors of the elevator itself.

She was quick to get inside before fixing her bag on her shoulders, and the cup of coffee that she was still holding.

"T-thank you," she muttered before smiling at him when she finally stepped inside the elevator.

They were the only ones inside the elevator that really made Natasha’s heart beat hard against her chest. 

"What floor?" the guy asked.

"H-huh?" She couldn’t help but be confused about the question that he just asked.

"Which floor are you heading to?” he asked. She saw that his hands were already pointing at the buttons, waiting for her to say the floor where she was up to.

She wasn’t able to answer immediately because she had no idea where she was heading in the first place. She saw that the tenth floor was already there, and since she could feel the nervousness in her chest, she no longer thought of anything else.

"T-tenth," she said briefly.

The guy’s forehead creased because of her answer, but he didn’t say anything as he took his hand off the buttons of the elevator.

Natasha couldn’t even remember breathing as the both of them just waited there. She could feel the beating of her heart ringing in her ears and the sweating of her palms.

"Are you an applicant?" the guy asked soon after.

She was left with no choice but to look at the guy before answering.

"Y-yes," Her voice cracked when their eyes met, and she could feel the intensity of his stare.

"What are you applying for?" he asked once more, still staring at her.

" Uhmmm..." She couldn’t even think of anything to tell him!

Luckily, the elevator door finally opened.

"Well, good luck then," he said before walking out of the elevator first.

"T-thank you.” He was already far away when she said that, and she was certain that he didn’t hear that as well. The guy was already walking in the direction of a door.

She hastily went out of the elevator as well before her eyes wandered at her surroundings. She couldn’t help but look at the inside of the room where the guy went in when the door was finally opened. Her eyes widened when she saw that there were people who were sitting, and between them was a huge table. They seemed to be waiting for the guy. The door suddenly closed so she could no longer look at what was happening inside that room.

She read the sign plastered on the door.

Conference Room.

That was probably why the guy was confused when she said that she was heading to that floor as well. Thinking about what she just said, she felt a surge of shame in her chest. She wasn’t even able to think properly when the elevator door opened, and a beautiful girl emerged from inside it. She was wearing a pair of long stilettos, and she was with a girl who seemed to be crying.

The girl turned her attention towards her when she noticed that she was standing there.

"What are you doing here?"

She almost jumped off from where she was standing when she heard a hint of anger from the girl’s voice. She even looked at her from head to toe, and immediately grimaced, probably because of her choice of clothing.

Before she could answer, the conference door opened and there she saw Clyde again. He frowned at her, wondering maybe why she is still there.

"Zara, they've been waiting for you. Where have you been?" he quickly asked the girl.

Natasha saw how the grimace quickly disappeared off the girl’s face, and it was immediately replaced with a sweet smile.

"So, this is your first day, huh? I'm so happy that you’ve finally realized,” she said, and even seemed like she wasn’t there.

"What's wrong with her?" the guy asked, referring to the girl that Zara was with. Her head was still down, but it was certain that she was still crying silently.

Zara looked down at the girl who was standing beside her, and the grimace on her face quickly went back just like that.

"I don't know about these incompetent people! They even have the audacity to cry," she said, annoyed, before glaring at the girl who was still crying.

"Zara..." Clyde tried to reprimand the girl, but that was also the time when the other girl looked up.

"I’ll be resigning, Sir. I can no longer bear Ma’am Zara’s awful treatment,” she said in an adamant manner before walking away towards the direction of the elevator.

"Wait!" Clyde was about to stop her, but it was already too late as the girl was finally inside it, and the elevator doors were already closed.

"She's disposable. Don't worry about it," Zara said before shrugging. She massaged the guy’s arm, and there was even no hint of remorse in her countenance.

"I'm going to give you a warm welcome later. Let me go inside first before your grandmother scolds me again,” the girl said, and there was already a smile on her face. She kissed Clyde’s cheek before walking inside the conference room.

The guy just sighed when the girl finally went inside. Once again, he stared at her who was still standing there as if she was lost, and was just being a spectator.

"Aren't you going to drink that?" he said, pointing at the cup of coffee that she was holding.

"H-huh?" She probably looked dumb already for her constant ‘Huh’s’.

Instead of repeating the question, the guy took the cup of coffee from her hand before drinking from it.

"I badly need this. This is my first day and I haven't done anything yet, but it is already exhausting," he even said after drinking the coffee.

First day? Didn’t he manage the company for quite a long time already?

"Thanks for the coffee," he said with a smile before giving her back the paper cup that still had coffee in it.

He was about to turn his back when he faced her once more.

"You're an applicant, right?" he asked the moment he remembered.

She nodded without really thinking much about it. She just felt like floating on cloud nine.

“Okay, are you willing to work here as an assistant? All you need to do is take care of all the models' needs, especially during pictorials. You will be reporting directly to Zara. Your salary will be twenty thousand monthly because I know it is not an easy job, especially that Zara will be your boss," he whispered the last words that he said before letting out a playful chuckle.

Her eyes widened before quickly drinking the coffee from the paper cup that she was holding. When the guy saw what she did, he couldn’t help but laugh.

"Wow, it’d turn out that we almost just kissed,” he said, staring at the paper cup that she was holding.

Kissed? What did he mean by that? She stared at her with confusion plastered across her face.

"We are drinking from the same cup," he said with a smile on his face.

Her cheeks warmed because of what he said. That was when she realized that the guy had just drunk from the cup that she was holding, and she also drank from there.

It was surely an indirect kiss! She almost couldn’t resist looking up because of the butterflies that she was feeling on her stomach.

"By the way, can I have your resume?"

She froze when she heard him talk once more. Using her one hand, she handed him her resume, and she was even trembling a little as she did that. The guy took it, wrote something on it, before giving it back to her.

"Give this to Bridgette. She is the one who is in charge of the applicants. I believe you saw her already. She will be the one to give you your contract for the job offer," he said with a smile plastered right across his face.

"Congratulations, you're hired," he said before turning his back against her before walking towards the entrance of the room.

Natasha was left there, mouth wide, as she couldn’t believe what just happened.

That was when she finally confirmed that the two of them were really meant for each other. It was already destiny itself that was making ways for her to be accepted in the company of her love.

Lord, thank you to the max!

She then looked up to stare at the ceiling, smiling, as small beads of tears formed in the corners of her eyes.