3: heartbreak

Aria's heart thumped faster as she stood in front of Mr Mark's office. She tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ears as she inhaled and exhaled. For some reason, she was unsettled. She sensed foul play within his offer, but she was already at his door, considered it too late to turn back. Additionally, she needed every money she could get.

Pushing her thoughts aside, she knocked softly.

"Come in," he answered.

She stepped in and walked towards him.

"Good evening," she greeted.

"You showed up quite early." He noted with a smile. He took off his glasses and leaned into his seat, observing her. She felt uncomfortable under his intense gaze.

Aria wondered whether she was supposed to respond to his previous statement, then she spoke. "Yeah, you sounded urgent."

"That's correct. You see, I knew you were the perfect person for this job and I could always count on you."

Perfect person for a night delivery? Isn't any other person able to do that efficiently? She thought to herself. Definitely, something was fishy.

Despite her uncertainties, she decided to remain professional. "Thanks for trusting me."

"Very well. Mrs Charlotte would give you the order to be delivered to room 307."

I nodded, stepping outside.

"Make sure you're on your best behaviour."

-

307 was engraved in the upper middle section of the steel door. It felt like a déjà vu; the same thing happened when she stood in Mr Mark's door before knocking. Her heart thumped faster, and she inhaled and exhaled to steady her breathing inorder to appear confident. She told herself that she had better go in there as quickly as possible to see what this strange night delivery entails instead of conjuring the worst scenarios in her head.

Without a second thought, she knocked, holding up the tray with her free hand. There was silence for a while, before the door opened, revealing a tall, lanky guy who looked like he was in his late twenties. He winked at Aria before she stepped in.

He sat on his bed, leering at her as she placed his food on the table. She was uncomfortable but all she thought about was leaving and getting the money Mr Mark had promised her.

"Here's your food sir." She said, walking away.

"Wait, where are you going to?" He asked with an authoritative tilt to his tone.

Startled, she raised her brow in a question. "What do people do after serving orders?"

The guy chuckled. "You're the sharp mouth type right?"

Realizing how feisty she must have sounded, she decided to apologize for the sake of professional ethics. "Sorry sir. I didn't mean it like that, I thought I was done serving you."

"Obviously you're not." He deadpanned.

Aria's eyes widened. What else was supposed to be done? In her two years of working at this hotel, this was the first time she was experiencing an order like this.

He stood up walking towards her direction and she kept walking backwards, her heels pulling a piece of a paper alongside, until her back hit the door. He was towering over her now, a whiff of his choking perfume assailed her nostrils causing to her sneeze.

"Didn't your boss tell you about our deal concerning you?" He asked, his mouth just a little above her earlobes.

"I'm sorry but he didn't discuss anything of such with me." She replied. She was about to walk away when he grabbed her waist, pulling her backwards with force. Adrenaline pushed through the veins. She slapped him and pushed him backwards, he staggered.

Few metres away, he held his palm to his cheeks, staring at her with a mix of disbelief and anger. "How dare you? My only offence was trying to get you out of your poverty stricken life."

Before he could hurt her, she rushed out of the room and closed the door, holding the handle tighter just incase he attempted to pursue her. But after few seconds of panting, she realised he was not coming after her.

She inhaled, her eyes falling downwards, a paper was peeking out from the door. It was stuck in between the room and outside. She crouched down to get a clearer view at it. It was a flier, revealing a secretary job vacancy at a tech company known as RL enterprises. She was about to look into more details when Mr Mark thundered: "What are you still doing there?"

She stood straight, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Nothing sir."

He stood, shooting lasers at her. "Even after trying my best to help you, you decided to throw away the opportunity handed to you on a platter of gold? How stupid can you be?"

"You tried your best to help me by giving to a man to sleep with?"

"I thought you needed money? Won't you do anything for it?"

"Anything but sell my body."

"You must be dreaming," he shook his head. "By the way, you're fired."

Her eyes widened, her body froze for a second then tears spilled out of her eyes. "Mr Mark please you can't do this to me."

"Then do what has to be done," he walked away.

__

Aria was exhausted as she tried to prevent the tears from falling onto her face while she walked back home. It felt like she was going to crumble under the weight of her sad situation and dissipate into thin air. She wanted to scream, pass all the anger out to the world but she'd look crazy and definitely didn't want that. She needed to speak to someone and the first person that came to her mind was Ivan. They hadn't spoken since he ditched her at the restaurant. She'd apologize to him and try to make peace, then get reassurance and comfort that he was with her and everything would be fine.

-

For the third time today, she knocked at the door and her heart thumped in trepidation.

"Who is there?" Ivan answered, just as he opened the door.

"Hey." Aria said with a small apprehensive smile.

Ivan took a cursory glance at her, observing her from head to toe with no hint of emotion on his face. "What are you doing here?"

Aria attempted to sound playful as she took a step forward, touching his arm. "Is it bad to come say hi to my boyfriend?"

Aria noticed his uneasiness but decided not to state it.

"Uhm-" Ivan was cut short by a familiar girly high pitched tone.

"Baby who's there?" Just then her best friend, Lily, the owner of the voice emerged from the house.

Lily glanced at Aria unfazed, and turned to look at Ivan. "Baby I guess you just have to tell her about us."

Aria blinked her eyes, unable to believe the scene unfolding in front of her. Her hands grew shaky, her heart had been shattered into pieces.

"Look here, I'm really sorry-"

"Ivan how could you?" Aria cried and looked over to Lily, "Even you too Lily! I trusted you with my whole heart!"

Lily hissed. "Don't you dare act all innocent, didn't you go out with a man on our graduation night? You even slept over."

Ivan spoke up dismissively. "I cheated on you and you did same. I guess we should all be fine."

"Lily, are you seriously saying this?" Aria cried, pressing her bag to her heart.

Without a response, they went inside and banged the door in her face, causing her to startle.

Air was knocked out of her lungs, she found it difficult to breathe, so she resorted to sitting at the porch first while she processed her feelings. It felt like the whole world was against her. In just a single day, she had counted multiple losses with no single win. When will all these end? She brought out of her phone and proceeded to call Anna through the tears that had made her vision blurry. Anna picked up at the first ring. She wanted to ask about their mother, but heart was bleeding so she spoke of her pain instead.

"Anna," she called out, "can you belive that Ivan is cheating on me with Lily?" She asked in a brittle voice that held a lot of pain, anger, frustration and resentment.

"You seem like you're crying."

The voice wasn't Anna's.

"Huh?" She asked in surprise. After a second, she said. "Wrong number I'll just-"

"Wait, are you sure you don't need someone to talk to? It seems like you're going through the toughest heartbreak."

"No, thank you very much." Aria hung up. She wondered how she dialled Robert's number instead of Anna's.