Chapter 1

<<<10:00 GMT>>>

Amanda hurriedly rushed inside the Hotel, she was late again today, and knew she would be punished.

"Where is Amanda? Is she late again?" She heard her boss ask her colleagues, which made her weak in the knees. She will be going through another round of punishments as usual.

She breathed in and let it out before summoning the courage to enter the kitchen where they usually take food requested by the customers to serve them.

"She is here," one of her colleagues announced, and her boss turned to look at her. She looked away instantly and her boss sighed in anger.

"Half of your salary will be deducted, and don't plead," she announced and started walking away without letting her explain.

She stopped and turned to look at her again.

"You are going to serve 90% of the customers we will be having today also, be prepared," she added before disappearing out of the door.

"Ma'am!" Amanda wanted to call and plead but she had already left. She sighed and walked to where she usually kept her bag.

"I'm sorry Amanda," one of her colleagues said.

"It's fine, I do more terrible things than this to survive," Amanda replied, trying not to think about it.

She will just accept her fate. It's not her fault. I usually end up coming late. She was babysitting her neighbor's kids… she had to make sure they were very comfortable before she left to work every day.

"Amanda, a potential customer just lodged tonight and Mrs. Albert wants you to attend to him after mopping and cleaning," one of her colleagues who had just walked into the kitchen said. She handed over the menu to Amanda and indicated what the customer ordered.

"Okay," Amanda barely replied. She was thinking about the money which had been deducted from her salary, which was barely enough.

"How much will be left?" She asked herself.

My house rent has already expired and I have other bills to pay for.

She wore her apron and tied her hair into a bun before wearing the hotel's cap. She washed a few bathrooms, and sweat trickled down her face. She kept the broom on the floor and wiped her face.

It wasn't easy trying to survive, she had to do extra jobs to meet up and also be able to pay her bills, but what excited her most was that today was one of her colleagues' birthdays. She would be having so much fun after work, she thought happily.

After finishing all she was ordered to do, it was already late in the night. She joined her colleagues at the table and shared a little drink with them, forgetting she was alcohol intolerant.

In the process of drinking and trying to forget her shortened salary, she became tipsy and decided to start going home before she would become wasted.

While staggering out of the hotel, she remembered she had forgotten her wallet in one of the customers' rooms she had cleaned earlier and headed over to the room to get it, but on getting there, she tried to open the door and found it locked. While inputting the code for it to open, the door opened and someone from the room pulled her over and closed the door.

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Amanda opened her eyes and saw herself alone in the room. She turned to her side but the unknown stranger who she could barely recognize had left. She saw a watch next to her and quickly grabbed it.

Recalling what happened at night made her cry. She was forced to have a one-night stand with an unknown stranger.

"How can humans be so cruel? What if...?”

She paused and covered her mouth. She managed to get out of bed. It wasn't her first time but it somehow hurt, it was rape, since he forced her to do it even as she was tipsy and later succumbed to his touch and the feel of his fingers on her body.

After crying for some time and regretting why she allowed herself to become drunk, she went to the bathroom and washed, she opened the wardrobe and saw some neat T-shirts and trousers. She grabbed them and quickly wore them, then left the room, without asking for any permission from the manager. She fled out of the hotel and boarded a cab home.

On reaching her apartment, she sat on the couch quietly as tears streamed down her face. Her friend Mabel, whom she shared the same apartment with, saw her crying and that was so unlike her. Amanda is always cheerful, happy, and free. It wasn't like she cared about her, but she had to show concern. She sat next to Amanda, somehow feeling happy about her mood even though she didn't know the cause of it.

"Are you okay?" She asked pretentiously like she cared.

Amanda quickly wiped her tears and looked up.

"I'm fine." She replied and sniffed.

"How can you say that when I can see the pain and tears in your eyes? Tell me, has your boss fired you from work?" Mabel asked, praying it turned out to be the cause of her tears, as she had been wishing for that.

"No, it's worse than that, I don't think I'm ever gonna go back there, it's worse than hell." Amanda retorted and cried. Mabel hugged her while smiling at her. After some time, she asked Amanda to wipe her tears.

"I'm your friend Amanda, you can share your pains with me, I promise not to judge you," Mabel said in a soft tone, hoping to hear something which would make her celebrate behind Amanda's back.

"I had a nightstand with a stranger. I don't know if I should call it rape because that was it," Amanda replied and tears started streaming down her face again.

"Oh my God, how did it happen? Men are so wicked. I'm so sorry Amanda. Could you recognize him? Do you have his address or something that will identify him? We have to report him; we can't let him escape just like that." Mabel exclaimed and looked away, trying to hold back the laughter rising in her.

"I told you, Mabel, he was a stranger. I couldn't even see his face either. I was drunk and I tried checking to find at least his address or card, but all in vain I didn't know what to do, but I found this," Amanda said, and took the watch from her purse. She handed it over to Mabel.

On seeing the watch, Mabel gasped, recognizing the watch to be one of the most expensive watches currently in the country which can only be afforded by billionaires, and she instantly became jealous, as she knew that, whoever Amanda had the nightstand with was a billionaire.

"How about a billionaire who was even so generous as to give her a watch before me?" She asked herself as she felt anger rising inside of her.

"Do you know the person that owns this?" Amanda asked and looked at her and this made Mabel quickly force a smile.

"Oh, no, no, I'm not even sure it's expensive, you know what? It's better you forget about this, withdraw it from your brain, and act as if it never happened okay, erase it from your brain, and this watch. I will throw it away so you don't have to remember anything from the incident that happened last night. Move on okay." Mabel exclaimed, but deep in her heart, she was going to keep it and was happy she had just successfully fooled Amanda when Amanda agreed that she should dispose of it.

"Okay, thanks," Amanda replied with a smile, feeling happy she had someone like Mabel.

"I will throw this away; you should go have some rest while I make you some coffee," Mabel said and stood up with a mischievous grin evident on her lips.

She couldn't believe she had gotten her hands on the most expensive watch in the country, she couldn't wait to flaunt it on her social media websites already. She loved such things and couldn't wait to get her hands on them.

"Alright! Thanks." Amanda replied and quietly stood up and left for her room.

Mabel walked out pretending she was going to throw the watch away in the trash. On getting out of sight, she stopped and wore the watch, admiring it.

"It's so easy to fool you Amanda; I know this watch is worth a fortune," Mabel said and smirked.

She used her phone to snap the watch after wearing it on her wrist and shared it with all her social media handles.

"Wow!" She exclaimed and clapped her hands. She smiled sheepishly as she had gotten her hands on a huge fortune that she had imagined all her life.

"This is an expensive watch. What if it gets spotted by someone who would come steal it? She thought.

"No, I have to remove it and hide it safely." She concluded and started heading back into the house, but stopped when she noticed a car driving into the compound.

She turned in the car's direction and was surprised to see one of the most expensive cars, a Rolls Royce, parked next to their apartment's doorstep.

An average-looking man dressed in black came out of the car and walked to her.

"Who are you? How may I help you?" Mabel asked, while studying his appearance. He looked like he was coming from a rich home due to his smart appearance.

The man's eyes reached Mabel's wrist and he noticed she was putting on an expensive watch. He then looked up at her.

"Where did you get this? Is this yours?"

He asked, staring at her with questioning eyes.

Mabel recalled that Amanda was the owner of the watch but she shrugged it off, but knowing that the stranger in front of her might have brought lots of valuables from the strange man Amanda had a night with, just to compensate her and she didn't want to miss being the one to have whatever the man had come with.

"Yeah, it's mine, since I'm wearing it," Mabel replied after concluding to claim the watch.

"Great then, come with me." The man said and started walking back to the car.

"Why?" She asked him while studying the car with her eyes and deep down she felt very happy as it had just shown that whoever gave Amanda the watch wanted her to come but she wasn't going to let that happen, she would be the Amanda the man wanted.

"If you want to meet the owner of the watch who wants to meet you too, get into the car," the man announced and opened the back door. Mabel rushed towards the car without wasting any more time and hopped in. She closed the door, then the man joined her and resumed his position in the driver's seat before he started the car and zoomed off.

If she is tagged as selfish for this, she doesn't care. It isn't Amanda who deserves everything between the two of them, Mabel thought with jealousy as they continued on their journey.