Chapter 2: The Invitation

“Soooo, what happened? Spill the beans, you blooming flower!”

“Stop it. It was just a date. Nothing more.” She gulped audibly. Therese almost beat herself up for lying to her best friend like this.

The cute girl with a bob haircut and eyeglasses hit her playfully. “Oh come on!”

Today, she was having lunch with her best friend, Alyssa Jones as if nothing happened. Their class in major just ended and Alyssa was craving for chicken katsu. Only their campus canteen has the best one so Therese decided to give it a go.

She was wearing a navy blue turtleneck blouse despite the sun shining brightly above them. Her long, black hair tied into a high ponytail. Nervously, she was watching her best friend’s every move to notice if the girl saw any marks on her skin…particularly, on her neck. Ugh, why did that handsome man need to be rough? She wasn’t complaining, though. It’s just that she would rather die from heat than admit to her best friend that she had a one night stand with an insanely hot stranger in exchange for money.

“I was the one who introduced that dating app to you. Of course I needed to know if you liked it or not!” Alyssa chewed on her food while insisting that Therese give her some details.

Indeed, Alyssa was the one who told Therese that she needed to date someone instead of stressing out about her problems both in school and at home. She told her to explore the new trending dating app, LoverWay, to find someone. Therese was hesitant at first because she knew that she didn’t have time to date. She needed to get a part-time job and pay her debts and rent as soon as possible or else, she would find herself living in the streets.

But Alyssa convinced her that a little “fun” in dating life would help a lot. Out of boredom and curiosity, Therese decided to give it a go. She was able to exchange small talk with a stranger named “TechnoDaddy” and the rest was history. It turned out that having a little “fun” was helpful enough. She blushed when suddenly, flashbacks of the night before replayed in her mind.

“Trust me, Aly. I liked it. I just think that I need to explore the app more.”

“You did meet up with TechnoDaddy, though.”

Therese gasped in shock. “How did you know that?”

Because she made sure that their private agreement on a one night stand was only for her eyes to see. Beads of sweat traveled down her temples as she laughed nervously.

Alyssa only rolled her eyes. “Duh? Saw you adding the name in your contacts last week. It was pretty obvious he was your blind date.”

She sighed in relief. Good, Alyssa still thought that it was just a blind date. “Uhm, yeah. He was good.” More than good, actually but Therese decided to keep her response vague.

“And?”

Shit, you’re so fucking tight. Hold on to me. His voice echoed in her head.

“A gentleman, I guess.”

“Handsome?”

You’re so fucking wet, baby. Is this all for me?

“Hot.”

At this rate, if Therese didn’t shut her mouth tight, Alyssa will soon learn about her loss of virginity for Christ's sake!

“His voice?”

Relax. You can take it baby, you’ll get used to it. It’ll feel s-so good soon.

“Deep and honeyed.”

But she couldn’t help but go with the flow of their conversation. The two girls have always been like this when it comes to gossip. “I’ll probably never see him again, though.” She added with a defeated sigh, wearing a sunken expression at the thought.

Alyssa looked at her with furrowed eyebrows. She was about to ask more but the campus bell rang, a signal that lunch time was over and so was their talk.

–

When Therese was finally in the comfort of her pajamas late that night, she thought she could finally relax. But the moment she opened up her phone to check on messages, she was greeted by bank loan notifications and scam alerts. Her landlady also reminded her that her rent was already due next week.

She sighed heavily as she threw her phone away, letting her body bounce on her creaking bed. Suddenly, she was aware of her thoughts and her problems that she set aside earlier. Their ugly heads were peeking on her shoulders. “I’ll pay all of you soon! I just need to get a job.” She uttered to nobody.

The silence was deafening. It made her question her existence. Why did her father leave her and why did her mother need to die when she was just sixteen? Most importantly, why was she being selfish and still pursuing college instead of just finding a full-time job? Maybe it’s time to set aside her dreams, maybe she should just–

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Therese sat up begrudgingly as she reached for her phone. She curled her knees to her body as she looked at the screen. It was an email notification.

Dear Ms. Barlow,

Greetings from DesmondTech!

Congratulations on being selected as the perfect candidate for the babysitting job! We are interested in offering you an exclusive contract and a monthly premium pay of $50,000. To discuss the details, you will need to go to our office personally. Please see attached address for your reference. Should you have further questions, do not hesitate to email us back.

Huh? Was she dreaming? Was this another scam alert? Therese pinched her skin to confirm that she was indeed still alive. She blinked a few times and read the email again. She didn’t remember applying for a babysitting job. Well, she probably did since she was throwing out her resume here and there for the past few months hoping to land whatever job there was. Maybe this was the heavens answering her.

Because after a little research, she found out that the email and office address of the sender was legit. DesmonTech just reached out to her. The freaking DesmondTech! The famous gadget company that made almost literally every electronic device in her country!

But a babysitting job? At a tech company?

Most importantly, something interesting caught her eye. When she reached the end of the email, she furrowed her eyebrows and squinted her eyes just in case she didn’t get it right. For some reason, she had a gut feeling that she knew this name from before.

Sincerely,

Raven Desmond.

“Who are you?” Therese asked her screen as if someone would respond back.

She guessed there was only one way to find out.