2

When things don’t go your way, a frown makes an appearance. And when the frown is jinxed with persistent misfortune, you cannot help but feel frustrated, mentally and spiritually. The fact that Sophia’s parents were unhappy with her grades at college, and the internship she’d been forced into, both crushed her plans and dreams of submitting her photography portfolio to her favourite Photographer in hopes that she might hire her in her company for a small job. It took her a lot of courage to think about it and plan it out without her parents knowing. But she knew that this new schedule she had out of blue would not allow her to as much as dream about it.

And no matter how uncertain she felt about this internship at her brother’s company, the one because of which she had to abandon her plans, made her feel an unexplained curiosity. She never realised when her curiosity evolved into excitement until she found herself smiling at her very professional-looking figure. A light blue shirt tucked in white, straight-legged ankle-length jeans. Hmmm… not bad. She thought while running her hands down the length of her shirt despite knowing that it was freshly ironed.

Sophia breathed twice deeply before knocking on her parent’s door and opening it ajar. She found her mom on the balcony, still wearing her nightgown, facing the backyard. Her father on the other hand was on the bed, talking to someone while holding a file on his lap and his rectangular glasses seemed to bruise the bridge of his nose. She always reminded him how he should use lenses instead of glasses which darken the area on a specific spot of his nose. But he would brush it off saying it’s too much struggle for an old man like him. Her parents seemed to stop doing everything they were doing at their daughter’s arrival.

Roy excused himself from the call and put his phone and file down. He got up from the bed with a groan but his lips carried a smile and approached Sophia. He put his hand over her head as if giving her his blessings. ‘‘Look at you, all dressed up off to work.'' His emotional fatherly instincts spoke, managing a giggle to escape Sophia’s lips, eyes bright at his excitement and encouragement.

''That's nice,'' Lana's acknowledged from behind her husband, ''You're nicely dressed I see. I hope you’ll keep that constant, Sophia,''

''I will, Ma,’’ She nodded. ‘’I should leave, can't be late on the first day of work,'' she pursed her lips walking backward. With a polite goodbye, she left the room.

Rolling her car keys around her index finger, she walked down the stairs humming a song softly. She stopped mid stairs and stared out of the window and when she saw a car being parked out into the yard. Soon enough, a tiny almost three years old appeared running out of the car, laughing and jumping in what looked like excitement. Right after a moment, Pearl, his mother too jumped out of the car shouting for her kid to not run or else he might hurt himself.

Sophia smiled widely at the sight of her little nephew, Nick. She ran down the stairs and engulfed him as she kneed down on the floor. Her peppering kisses made the child giggle uncontrollably. His hair covered his eyebrows that she tried to brush with her fingers but the curls popped right back. After kissing him some more time, she finally let him go and rose to meet her sister.

''Hey, Soph. Is Lana and dad upstairs?'' Pearl asked pointing her thumb upwards. When Sophia nodded, she looked at her little boy, playing around in the living room trying to switch channels of the television. She shouted, ‘’Nick, Mamma is going out with your aunt. Please go to Grandma and Grandpa’s room.'' The kid shouted an agreement with a loud 'Okay Mamma’ and ran up the stairs for which she had to shout again to slow him down so that he wouldn’t hurt himself.

''But... I'm going to the office—" Before Sophia could finish speaking, Pearl cut her off by grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the parking with a nod and a radiant smile. ''Pearl, did you not hear me. I'm going to the S-Group. It's the first day of my job, Pearl. Are you even listening?!''

Pearl finally let her go once they reached her car. She put both her hands over Sophia's shoulders, ''Alright calm down, Sophia. I'll be dropping you off at work today. Get inside,'' She pushed her little sister gently and gestured her to get inside.

Sophia raised her eyebrows and nodded her head smiling. She took a breather once she sat beside her sister in the car, welcoming the silence. Although Pearl broke it into a conversation soon. 

''What's in your bag?'' She threw a look at Sophia, gesturing towards the purse that seemed stuffed to its limits.

 ''Oh in this... Just some papers Miles wanted me to sign. A few decorative items for the desk I'll be sitting on. Markers, pens and my camera,'' She emphasized the last part proudly, patting her purse.

Pearl chuckled, ''You're prepared, aren't you? And what's the camera for?'' She wondered, leaning against the door, her elbow prodding out of it. She smiled at Sophia who shrugged her shoulders, smiling along.

‘’More like nervous as hell. The camera is just to make me feel better. My baby has magical calming abilities,’’ she leaned down to blow a kiss to her purse and then giggled at her observant sister.

Pearl pursed her lips nodding. She knew Sophia had an immense amount of interest in Photography. She even mentioned to their parents that she wanted to pursue photography as a career, which was only a year ago when she turned eighteen. But her request was denied by both her parents. Pearl felt bad for her sister but couldn’t do anything for her as the decision was already taken by the head of the house, the parents. She averted her eyes to the road and proceeded to answer the questions that Sophia asked about work and then had a casual conversation until they reached their destination.

The car stopped in front of the gigantic gates. Her sister got out, enthusiastically shutting the door loudly and bending down to see Pearl who was still in the car from the window.

''Bye, thanks for the ride,'' Sophia thanked cheerfully.

 Pearl nodded, ''Anytime for you Soph. I'll be staying home today so I'll be back to pick you up too, alright?'' Sophia nodded and waved as the car drove away from the huge campus.

Sophia took a deep breath, still facing away from the glass façade which was practically owned by her family. She prepared herself by raising her shoulders square and a tight-lipped smile before turning around and walking towards the entrance. She was discreetly stopped by the guard who asked for her ID. Her eyebrows frowning when she remembered how her father reassured her that the security team knew the Syde family undoubtedly and she wondered why he failed to recognise her and felt the need to ask for her identity.

''It's my first day, so I'll probably get the ID in a few days.'' She told the guard. ‘’but I have some papers that might assure you that I work here,’’ she stuffed her hand in her purse taking a stack of papers out. The guard had his stoic expressions when he raised his hand amid, telling her it’s of no need, and opened the door for her.

‘’I’m very sorry for asking for proof, Ms. Syde. But Boss asked us to check each and every person entering the building. Even if it was his own sister,'' He sheepishly emphasized the last part.

Sophia smiled politely and replied, ‘‘it’s okay. I'm glad you're this dedicated to the company. It was nice meeting you,''

The same guard nodded, ''Thank you, Ms. Syde. I’m France,'' France was a tall, bald old man and had a natural poker face. A smile tugged at her lips when it reminded her of her brother. She nodded at France one last time before walking into the foyer and into the company officially as a part of it, for which she felt proud of.

She, like the other day, took the lift and reached the last floor. She first greeted Fin who was on a call and Sophia pointed a finger at Miles’ room, addressing him that she was going to visit him first.  She nodded at him and took a left turn and walked towards Miles' room like she did the other day. A frown made its way onto her face when she saw the Troy guy who crazily bumped into her accusing her of being an intruder at her own brother's office. He was walking lazily right in her direction, glaze digging into the phone that he was holding in his hand. He was wearing a bright red shirt tucked in dark pants, his curls reminding her of her nephew and she faked a gag at the thought of it.

She tried to ignore him as they neared, not wishing for a conversation with him. She also didn’t want him to be the first staff she would talk to as she didn’t want him to jinx her first day of work. Sophia cursed lowly when he looked up from the phone and made eye contact with her. She felt herself freeze for a millisecond because of the way he had his bright eyes fixated on her dark ones. 

Her libs continued to take her to her destination. And when she passed by him without greeting him, she heard him say;

''He's not in there,''

But she did not acknowledge his help. The tinted walls restricted her sight from seeing the contents inside the room, so she pushed the door open and sighing in disappointment when her brother really wasn’t there. Nonetheless, she put the papers on the desk, assuming he would find and read them once he gets back.

When she got out of the cabin, Troy was still there. The only difference was the smirk lingering on his lips as he leaned against the wall to another room. She glared at him raising an eyebrow.

‘‘Told ya he wasn’t there,'' he smiled wider as if proving a point. It made her want to punch the amusement off his dimpled face. Her eyebrows twitched but she would rather ignore him than give acknowledgment to his mocking.

Finn smiled standing up as Sophia stood before his desk, ''Good morning, Sophia. I hope you didn't face any difficulty reaching here.'' His polite gesture lightened up her mood.

''Good morning, Finn. I'm good. Do you know where Miles is?" Sophia asked, looking around as if she would find him by doing that.

"Uh no, he usually doesn't arrive until 11, sometimes 10 am. You'll have to wait."

Sophia sceptically raised one brow, "isn't that a bit unprofessional. I thought he would be the first person to enter into the building," she almost snorted. Sophia was surely not very familiar with professionalism, but she knew the importance of time. Taught by her father itself.

Finn chuckled, lightly shaking his head, "it's not like that. Our boss works late till night in his cabin and often has midnight meetings that last for hours. That's the reason he sometimes arrives this late." Sophia made face fell in realisation and nodded, feeling embarrassed to accuse her brother even though she always knew how impressively talented and hardworking he has always been.

 "Ms. Syde, please follow me. Let me show you your desk." Finn stepped out of his cubicle and Sophia followed him. He took her to the corridor from where she earlier entered from. Then she reached a big room where around six other employees were working and had their cubicles. He gestured his hand and showed Sophia her desk. It was right beside a huge glass window. A decent city view was visible from there. Sophia smiled. ''Mr. Syde said you would like this view.’'

Sophia raised her eyebrow. ''he wasn’t wrong,'' She snorted. She deeply appreciated Miles’ gesture. ‘’Thanks, Finn,’’ She chuckled and slummed into her seat. It was a rotating seat, something Sophia found fascinating since she was a kid. When her dad was responsible for the company, she was very young and would come into the office occasionally and would play around in her father's chair. She remembered her game, which was to spin as much as she could and then try to walk straight without falling. Although, when Roy found out about her dangerous little game, he forbade her from using his chair for weeks until he was sure that she wouldn’t persist her game again

''As an intern, your first week consists of making slides and 3D views. And if you find any difficulty, I'll be there on my desk to help you,'' he explained. Sophia nodded going through the file and reading the details. Finn patted her shoulder grabbing her attention, he spoke: ''Boss would probably want to talk to you when he'll arrive. I hope you have your file ready,''

''Yes, yes. I do. I’ve put the file in his room,’’

Finn nodded, ''okay, Ms. Syde, I'll make sure he goes through it,''

"Please call me Sophia. Ms. Syde sounds a little too formal to me," She insisted.

Finn smiled at her kindness and left as he wished her a good luck for her first day of work.

Sophia took a deep breath and started the PC. The first thing it asked was the password, which Finn had already send her via email. She quickly put it and entered, viewing the desktop. It took her a while to understand the software which was a little different from what her college had taught her. She bit the skin around her nail, lost in her thoughts when she felt someone sit on the chair of the cubicle beside hers. She lazily turned her head and looked at the person. And it was like the world stood against her peace.

''Really?'' The person beside her complained, annoyed, who was Troy himself. ''So you were the person I had to move my whole desk for?  Double standards we should talk about,'' He scoffed boring his eyes into the computer screen.

Sophia felt a wave of guilt and embarrassment when he criticised her. She replied to him warily, ''I didn't ask for it,'' It irked her how Troy just ignored her and kept on typing on the keypad. Choosing to drop the topic, she turned to her pc and continued the work she was told to do. She shifted in her chair uncomfortably, because working beside the person whose first impression on one other wasn't good, neither were the interactions after, it was kind of difficult to work for both of them without scoffing every time they made accidental eye contact.

At around 10:30 AM, Miles arrived on the floor and that is when everyone stood up to wish him good morning... Everyone but Sophia. It wasn’t in her intention to disrespect Miles in any way, it was just she was too indulged into the screen in front of her that she failed to realise the change in commotion. She jumped in her seat when everyone suddenly chorused a 'good morning'. Almost disoriented, she looked around, everyone was standing on their feet and looking in the same direction, someone behind her.

Sophia gulped and turned her head. One sight was enough for her eyes to become as big as saucers. She absurdly stood up and bowed wishing her brother, now also her boss, a good morning. She heard Troy snort at her embarrassment that she felt like shooting him with a gun right then and there.

Miles was dressed in his three-piece suit. He nodded and gestured with his hand for everyone to sit. He then locked his eyes with Sophia. ''Sophia, would you please come and stand here with me,''

Sophia nodded shyly and walked towards him. When she reached there, Miles looked at everyone with his cold expression, ''good morning all, this is your new colleague, she's going to be an intern for a few months in our company. Her name is Sophia. I expect everyone to treat her like one of you and make her feel involved.'' choruses of 'yes sir's and 'hello Sophia's were heard. Sophia waved at everyone.

Miles turned to his sister, his eyes reminding her of Antarctica because of its coolness. ''Come into my cabin please,'' He addressed before walking away. She stared at him leave. Her whole life, Miles had been cold. To her, to everyone. But here, he seemed indifferent.

''Hey Sophia,'' A voice broke her from the stance. A black-haired who seemed like she was in her mid-20s had approached her. She was tall and had pale skin. She smiled at Sophia kindly. ''I'm Tara,'' She extended her hand which has beautiful essentials embellishing it. Sophia smiled widely and accepted her handshake.

''And I'm Josh,'' A guy with also black hair appeared. He was the complete opposite of Tara. She was a thin girl whilst Josh was anything but thin, he even had a large belly. She smiled at how his personality screaming friendliness. He had a wide smile on his face. Sophia nodded and shook his hand too. She then excused herself so that she could go to Miles' cabin. She knocked on the door once and waited for a response.

''Come in, Sophia,'' Miles said and Sophia pushed the door walking inside. Miles had a brown file in his hand as he stared at it intently. It was the same file Sophia had placed on the desk at her arrival. He finally looked up at Sophia and put the file down. ‘’so, how’s it going?’’

Sophia sighed and dropped herself on the chair lazily. ‘’well, where should I even start?'' She said putting her arms on the armrest of the chair. She looked up at the ceiling figuring out her next words.

''Get up,'' Miles ordered startling her.

Sophia stood up slowly, confused as to why Miles was being so intimidating. She stared at Miles who too stood up and walked towards her and stood in front of her, towering. He looked down at her in his scrutinizing gaze as he spoke, ''Sophia, in this building, I'm your boss. Not your brother. So, I expect you to behave and treat me like your boss.'' He added after a pause. ‘’I know this is new, but you need to be more professional,’’

Sophia nodded.

''I can't hear nods, Sophia,'' Miles spoke, wanting to pinch the skin between his eyebrows.

 ''Fine. I understand, Boss,'' Sophia crossed her arms looking away from his scrutinizing eyes, her lips tightening in discontent.

‘’don’t give me an attitude, Sophia. We don’t do that here,’’.

 Sophia dropped her head with a sign.

Miles raised his hand to place two fingers below her chin and effortlessly raised her head, ''better,’’ he nodded when she made eye contact with him. ‘’Now tell me, how do you feel here? Have you started adjusting with the software?’’

Sophia sighed and started speaking, "I feel okay here. Tara and Josh greeted me and I think we can be friends and yes, I've started with the basic editing Finn told me to do,"

Miles hummed and turned to his table and took a sticker from a container and gave it to Sophia. Sensing her confusion, he spoke, ''Are you going to bring your car to the office every day?'' Sophia nodded. ‘’Put it on your car, just beside your number plate.''

Sophia nodded and caressed the sticker. It was a Circle with a clean logo of the company printed on it. She looked back at Miles, ''what is this for?''

''Because when you'll enter the campus, the guards won't stop you every time to take your car’s entry,'' Sophia shrugged and nodded.

Miles nodded back and dismissed her turning back to his table. But Sophia suddenly remembered something, ''Hey Miles-'' She paused and spoke again, ''I-I mean, boss, no... Mr. Syde-'' She stuttered through her uncertainty.

''You can just call me Miles, Sophia,'' his lips twitched staring at his laptop.

''Miles, I heard you moved Troy’s cubicle for me.'' Annoyance laced her voive. ''You didn't have to do that,'' she scrunched her face at his ignorance.

''Miles?'' She called him. Then once more, but he wouldn’t give her any attention. ''This is disrespectful!'' She stomped her feet and felt her ear burn out of embarrassment and bother.

Miles sighed and looked up at her tiredly, ''I dismissed you first. You're disobeying me. Now isn't that disrespectful?'' He shot back. ''I ask you to leave and also expect you not ask me that particular question again,''

Sophia huffed and forcefully turned to leave the room. She was annoyed with Miles, the stupid employee who was sitting beside her. She basically hated her life for putting her into this position in the first place.

Taking a deep breath, she raced towards her desk, only to frown when she found Troy wondering over her cubicle, her camera in his hand as he inspected it thoroughly. Sophia gawked at him for violating her personal space.

And if this were a cartoon, flames would surely be coming out of Sophia's ears.