Chapter Two

Anna rushes to the sink in the women's toilet and turns on the faucet. She doesn't use it, but she figures the room is so quiet that perhaps the sound of the rushing water would ease her off. She stares at her reflection on the mirror spreading wide in front of her. 

She has never been this beautiful; with all the make-up, the eyelashes, and even the chestnut brown contact lenses Emily put on for her. She felt the roughness of her silver-chained choker necklace with a pendant in the center, and thought of how many nights she had spent thinking for a moment like this to come. And now that it's here, she seems so lost and doesn't know how to behave. 

And then there is a knock on the door. 

Anna ignores the knock and turns off the faucet, but the door still creaks slightly open. 

Noah Scott promptly steps in— peaking. 

“Hey, sorry if I had to intervene. I just want to check on you,” he says, staring straight into her eyes. 

“What for?” Anna turns off the faucet. “You are clearly doing several violations as of the moment.” She pulls some ply of dry napkins and wipes her hand. 

“It's okay, it's not like I have any bad plans for you. I just really want to make sure you're okay.”

“I am! I told you, I just needed to go to the toilet.” At this point, Anna is now slightly raising her voice. 

Noah freezes on his spot, realizing that the scenario is slowly getting worse. “You could have just said your name, at least— before leaving.” 

Annoyed, Anna answers, “After what you did to me yesterday? Ha! No, thank you.” Anna tosses the crumpled napkins into the garage bin and forces her way out of the toilet, brushing past the host of the cocktail party like he's not there blocking the door. 

Noah Scott catches Anna’s arm just in time before she gets away for good and pulls her back to him. “What are you talking about? Are you saying that we have met already?” 

Anna aggressively shakes her arm until Noah loses grip on it. “Oh, so you don't remember, huh?” 

“I really don’t, to be honest.” Noah sighs. 

Offended, Anna gathers some air before she blows with anger. “I can’t really blame you, though. People of your kind seem to find it easy to forget others especially if they are not in your same class.” She stares eye to eye with Noah Scott for a quick second before she finally decides she’s leaving. “Now, if you’ll excuse me…” 

“Hold on!” For the second time, he grabs her again— but this time, it's on the shoulder. “It was you?” 

Anna only tilts her head, and doesn't know what to say or what to do. 

“You’re the careless woman I bumped with yesterday, the one who ripped my pants off?” Noah stifles a laugh. “The resemblance is uncanny. That’s why the behavior kinda rings a bell to me.” 

Anna rolls her eyes. “For the record, it was you who bumped against me. That’s why I was knocked down on the floor.” 

“Technically, you were not looking out on your way. You were busy rummaging through your bag…” 

Anna interrupts. “Is that how close-minded you are? Putting the blame on the other person instead of saying sorry?” 

“I am clearly at no fault, so why would I even apologize?” 

“You know what, forget it. I’m leaving.” Pissed off, Anna walks away, this time walking three times faster than she usually does. 

“Hey, wait! You left your purse here!” 

*****

Back at the party, Emily finds Noah holding her bestfriend’s purse in his hand. Curious, Emily approaches her to ask for her whereabouts. 

“Where’s my friend?” Emily seals her question with a smile. 

“No idea. I followed her to the toilet to check on her but she was quick to leave. She even left this on the sink.” He hands the red rectangular purse to Emily. 

“Oh, yeah. This is really hers. Thanks, by the way.” Emily smiles. 

Noah does not know how to end the conversation yet. In his mind, he has lots of questions wanted to ask to Emily— all about the woman she bumped into yesterday, and the woman she conversed with in the toilet minutes ago. 

“Was she really like that?” he asks, out of the blue. 

“What do you mean?” 

“I mean, she’s like— I don’t know how to put it— loathsome, I guess? Well, she’s coldhearted and unkind.” 

Emily could not stop herself from laughing. “Oh, you mean, Anna? Haha, no she’s actually not like that. She’s a kind woman. Maybe she was just not exactly in the right mood now. She lost her job yesterday, and she badly needed that one.” Emily places Anna’s purse on the table and grabs herself another glass of cocktail. “I think that’s the reason why she looks like she hates everything on earth right now.” 

“So, her name is Anna.” Noah’s lips curve into a discreet smile. “I get it now. Anyway, if you don’t mind me asking, how did she lose her job?” 

“It’s actually funny.” Emily takes a sip of her cocktail. “She won an altercation with a customer but her boss did not like it, that's why she got fired.”

“Wow, that’s petty and absurd,” Noah Scott replies. “What was her job anyway?” 

“She was a waitress. She said she did not really like that, but she had no choice.” 

“I see.” Noah Scott thinks deep. And while thinking, he hears his name being called from behind. 

It is one of his bodyguards looking for him.

“I think I’m about to be summoned by my dad, see you around?” he says to Emily while slowly walking towards the direction of the stage. 

“Let’s see about that. I’m going to find my friend first. Thank you for returning her purse, I will let her know about this.” 

Just like that, Emily and Noah part ways. 

*****

Emily returns to their house after almost half an hour of searching for Anna at the party. When she gets into her bedroom, she finds Anna lurking on the couch beside the bed, looking pissed in his nightgown, with her dress thrown on the floor. 

“I’ve been looking for you literally everywhere!” 

Sarcastic, Anna replies, “You found me now, congratulations.” 

“What’s wrong with you?” Emily sits on the bed to take her heels off. After a while, she throws the purse to Anna. “You forgot that in the toilet. Good thing Noah found it and turned it over to me.” 

“That entitled man again, argh! I hate him so much.” Anna slouches to the bed, burrowing her face into the pillow. 

“What? Why do you hate him? He seems like a good guy to me.” 

“Whatever, Emily. You can’t change my mind. The fact that he hasn’t apologized to me for knocking me down yesterday is enough reason to hate him forever.” 

“Touch some grass, Anna. You should have at least shown him some respect. Don’t you see? He was kind enough to invite us to his party.”  Emily tip-toes to her closet to change her clothes. 

“I don’t care about the party. I did not enjoy it after all.” 

Emily quickly answers, “Well, I did.” 

Anna doesn’t say anything at this point. Her head is still tucked in the pillow,  surrendering to the truth that she's tired and sleepy and tomorrow, when she wakes up, she won't have to fix herself anymore because she's jobless. 

Not until Emily's phone rings. 

“That has to be Nick. I reckon he's gonna ask you when will you resume the s*x I interrupted earlier,” Anna rises from the bed. 

Emily hands her phone to answer the call. The number is not Nick's, so it has to be from someone important. She gets out of her bedroom and answers the phone outside. 

Anna is left still rolling on the bed. She waits for Emily to finish the call, which only takes about three to five minutes. After a while, she comes back inside with exciting news for her friend. 

“Oh, my God, Anna Jones. You are not going to believe this!” Emily almost squeaks at the top of her lungs. 

“Could you please calm down? What is it?” Confused, Anna asks. 

“Remember the friend of mine I called earlier to find you a job vacancy? Guess what, he called again to tell me that he already found one!” She jumps on the bed beside Anna. 

“What job is it?” 

“I don't know. What I only know is that a leading perfume company is hiring for workers and my friend has referred you to the employer. He said you can visit the site tomorrow for your application!” 

“Tomorrow? That's too fast. I haven't prepared my documents yet.” Anna Jones' is not as happy as Emily is.  

“You don't really have to prepare that much. What they only need is your resumè and you are up for the interview. You should give it a try!” Emily reaches for Anna's hand and squeezes it in excitement. “Remember, it's a rising perfume-brand company so I'm sure they are going to pay well.” 

“All right, all right. Let me go…” Anna lifts her hand off Emily's and places it on her lap. “I'm going for it. Just don't expect me to qualify for the job— I really suck at interviews.” 

“You have to get that job no matter what, Anna Jones. This is now or never!” Emily stands up and returns to her closet. She hasn't put on her clothes yet. 

“Where is it anyway?” 

“Don't worry about the address. I will drop you there tomorrow. For the meantime, I want you to get enough rest and prepare yourself because tomorrow's going to be your redemption arc!”