Chapter One_ Did I just get fired?

Jasmine.

My friends thought the best way to let go after having a shitty weekend spent on some stupid vacation with your mom, her second husband who was really a bastard and should learn to keep his hands to his fucking self, and her successful daughter, was going to a club on a work week.

Especially if you came back and found out your boyfriend also cheated.

"To be fair, you knew he wasn't faithful from the beginning," Jane shouted. She swayed her hips around while moving to the side to avoid a drunk stranger.

"That doesn't mean I want to walk in on him, butt naked and thrusting into my neighbour's ass," I said furiously. The scene kept up coming up multiple times in my mind.

Among the three of us, Rachel was the only one qualified to be called a dancer. She moved her entire body to the beat of the song and had the masculine figures in the club watching her like she was some rare creature.

"That's such an explicit description, Steven is gross.”

“That is your opinion. My baby can stick it there all day long,” Jane said, smacking her ass to give us a little show. That little act alone made me smile sincerely for the first time in an entire week.

Jane placed her arm around my shoulder, pulling me away from the crowd and Rachel and towards the bar.

Was it time to get me drunk so I could call in sick tomorrow?

"Do you know what you should do, J?" Jane asked after a while.

"What?" I whispered the question because I was kind of scared of what she would say. "What?" I asked again, louder this time, so she could hear me.

She placed a loud-ass kiss on my cheek, “Flirt with someone here, have a one night stand or something. You only live once bitch”

I narrowed my eyebrows down at her. I expected that advice from Rachel but not her. She was the epitome of good behaviour with the occasional risk.

Was this some sick prank?

But she was gone before I could ask her any question.

Contrary to what anyone might think, I wasn’t the type of woman who was comfortable enough to have casual sex with a man I met in the club. I preferred to eye fuck them until I felt better.

I knew she meant well but I wasn’t ballsy enough to do that. Instead I got a drink at the bar.

"A gin martini and a virgin margarita please," I told the bartender the moment my ass touched one of the stool.

There was a time when someone was able to make me forget the lingering looks of disappointment I got from my mom whenever I decided not to be a good little daughter like her stepdaughter and do as she said. I helped him with connecting more to himself, tuning his skills and knowledge to the best of my ability. I was happy.

But that was in the past.

I remembered how small I felt sitting on my chair at the family house, across from my mom and Charles. Nervous. My entire body was on fire as Amanda kept on giving a detailed list of each and every of her achievements.

“I had such high hopes for you, Jasmine,” she said once we were done with the dinner and were the only ones in the kitchen, “Your father and I always thought you could have majored in law or some other high-end skill and make a name for yourself.”

She only mentioned my father when it was time to roll out her disappointment. He was dead to her otherwise.

“Now you are a personal assistant to some man in a freelance firm.”

Charles took that as his cue to walk into the kitchen, his lips stretched out in a smirk aimed my way. He wrapped his arms around my mom and pretended to lead her away from the kitchen. From her disappointment of a daughter.

Bloody bastard.

Charles was the man my mother got married to few months after my dad died when I was twelve. I never got the chance to properly meet him before the wedding.

His children replaced me faster than I could form a thought.

“Rachel let the club get to her,” Jane huffed, the smile on her face growing a little wider when she saw the drinks I had ordered.

Perhaps she thought I needed a little bit of liquid courage.

“I am taking her home.”

Said girl had draped herself on Jane body, holding onto her so tightly. How on earth did she get drunk that fast. Did someone spike her drink then?

“i will see you guys tomorrow.”

Our hug was brief because I needed to watch my drinks if someone was actually spiking the drinks.

Jane bit her bottom lip, "Would you be okay being here alone? You can just come with us and we'll have one giant sleepover in my house. There's room," She tried to offer but I knew I had to decline.

“Don’t worry yourself too much, I will be fine,”

She did not look convinced, the mama bear personality I had grown fond of was threatening to peak to the surface. But at the end of it all, I won and she left with Rachel.

I took a sip from each drink, savoring the sweet taste of each . it was quite easy to get drunk on this.

The stool to my right became occupied by a rather familiar looking stranger. A shadow from my past if I was being honest.

Surely I was imagining things.

“tonight id not the night for pretty girl to be in the club alone,” he said, “You might want to take it easy on the drinks.”

“I am not alone.”

And when he turned around so I could see his face, the tiny balloon of hope that had gotten bigger within me was suddenly popped. He was not the one.

I drank the entire glass without a stop, loving the way it warmed my body up.

He took a sip from the drink he ordered.

“Forgive me if I am wrong but I did overhear your friend tell you she was leaving. Both friends.”

I snorted, “Did your mom never teach you that it is wrong to listen to someone else conversation?”

The movement was so sudden that if I wasn't watching, I would have been convinced it didn't happen. The small flinch he made at the mention of his mother.

Perhaps he was the one. I have not seen him in such a long time.

But the mannerisms were not the same. He truly was not that shadow from my past sent to torment me.

I picked up my bag immediately, sickened at the idea of being in the club for a minute longer.

“Goodnight.”

"My dear," The guy tried to call after me and this time I could hear him clearly, he didn't sound like him anymore.

What was wrong with me? Why did I think that was him anyway?

I rushed outside for some fresh air before I called a Uber. The only thing I needed now was my bed and sleep. The club had turned to a total burst the moment Rachel and Jane left. I wasn’t the type of girl that got into one night stands with men that warned her to stay away from the club.

The next morning, the memories from the club lingered in my mind like a hangover that didn't know it was time to disappear. I had to drag myself out of bed, the weight of everything I had forgotten to schedule in the office and my personal life threatened to crush me.

In my haste to attend to my mom, I had forgotten to schedule the meetings with two of our best rival clients at different times.

Rachel and Jane were all for the tea but the boss was livid at me to say the least. The tension in the room was so thick that it could easily be cut with a knife.

“Those were our best customers yet. They would not want to set a foot here, ever again,” He fumed, pacing round the office.

He really shouldn't do that. He already looked quite red in the face.

I stared at my shoes instead, “I am sorry, I had a bad week and it totally slipped from my mind,” The best way to get out of this unscathed was apologize and look sorry.

“No one cares about your bad weeks,” He was still pacing, “Just do your fucking job because that is exactly why you are paid.”

He finally took a seat, beads of perspiration rolling down from his face despite the ac making the office chilly. He looked away from me for a few seconds, his face scrunched up with what I had mistaken for anger but seemed to actually look like regret.

“We are a small firm, Jasmine. We cant afford mistakes like that.”

I knew what was happening before the words came out of his mouth. Reverse karma was happening again, right before my eyes.

He looked to the side when he said it, “I am very sorry but we have to let you go.”

"What?" I gasped. Knowing was one thing, the confirmation another

"I'll work on the project again, I'll make it better. Just call her...…”

"Don't start saying gibberish Jasmine," My boss interrupted, "I should have done this the moment she called me and told me. She even paid a lot of money for it but I said no, you were still a young girl with a lot to learn.."

She. Mom.

My boss seemed to be talking loudly to himself, like he had forgotten I was even here. I cleared my throat to reintroduce my presence.

"I'm sorry Jasmine but we have to let you go," He concluded, "Don't feel bad, we have to let everyone go eventually. The business is going bankrupt anyway."

Everyone but you started with me.

"Who told you to get rid of me?" I asked, I wasn't leaving here without knowing.

Mom wouldn't be so callous, would she? I knew she didn't like my job but she would let me be.

My boss looked conflicted, like he didn't want to divulge the information out, but one look at my face was enough to get him talking.

I felt a knot in my stomach as the boss' eyes darted away, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I am sorry, I really am. But..." His paused, his gaze flicking to the door for a brief moment like he was scared someone would overhear, "But I had no choice. She was very......persuasive."

My mind raced as I leaned forward, my heart pounding like it was ready to fly out of my chest. "Who?" I demanded, my voice barely above a whisper. "Who was it?"

My boss' eyes locked into mine, a mixture of guilt and fear swirling in its depth. "I believe she called herself Amanda Castor." He whispered, the name hung in the air like a whisper. "Your elder sister."

"She meant...."

There was no way Amanda would do something like this. She wasn't that cruel.

The revelation hit me like a punch to the gut, leaving me breathless. She had everything and she still wanted me to have nothing.

In less than a week, I had gone from employed and in a relationship to being unemployed, single and cheated on.