Chapter 1: An Invitation

A loud knock was heard echoing through the walls of the room, catching the attention of the woman preoccupied with wrapping her things up. It was already 4pm in the afternoon, and the end of her long day at work.

Sparing a glance at the glass door on her left, a woman clothed in an all-white sleek suit ensemble was seen leaning on the glass surface, with her right knuckles raised for the knock. A teasing smile was plastered on her sharp features, causing the latter person to shake her head upon recognizing the familiar presence. 

“Hey, Murph. Ready to go home, I see” the woman who had just arrived, casually walked towards her with crossed arms in place. Murphy, upon seeing her boss, spared her a smile before diverting her focus back to what she was currently doing. 

“Yup. As you probably know, my mind has already checked out since lunchtime. I’m just hurrying to go out before you add more tasks to my list~” Murphy jokingly replied while her boss gave out a fake shock at her demeanor. “Oh, you knew me so well, Murph. But hey, we gotta utilize that geniusness of yours, Madam~ Such talent must not be wasted…”

“Which is why you should give me more vacation days, should you not?” Murphy teased back, prompting the laughter of the woman to be heard in the area.

Raychelle McDaniels. The owner of McDaniels Design where Murphy was employed. One of the rising stars in the architecture and interior design industry. Despite their employer-employee relationship, Raychelle and Murphy were classmates back in college. Witnessing Murphy’s talent, Raychelle spared no effort in recruiting her for the design company she was aiming to create. Murphy was adamant about declining at first, but after three years of persistent persuasion and utter disturbance to her peaceful life, Murphy had no other choice but to accept to make Raychelle stop pestering her.

“Didn’t I give you a vacation just recently?”

“You call three days off a vacation? I haven’t even been able to jump into a pool, let alone leave the country to unwind, you know.”

“Oops! My bad! But what can I do? You’re quite the popular one among our clients.” Murphy just rolled her eyes with Raychelle’s reply and finalized wrapping her things up. “Yeah right.”

Noticing Murphy’s sulky expression while continuing to avoid her, Raychelle immediately wrapped her arms around Murphy’s shoulders. “C’moooooon. I said I was sorry, okay~”

“Get off, you’re heavy.”

“Nope! Don’t wanna. You’re sulking again!”

“And you're surprised? I still haven’t forgiven you for last month’s crappy client you assigned me to.” Remembering the face of the bastard of a client Raychelle assigned her off to on her previous overseas job, Murphy can’t help but to feel mad again. Although Raychelle explained her side and she knew it wasn’t her fault for not noticing the bastard’s personality, she still couldn’t avoid being triggered. After all, the bastard's face was still imprinted on her mind.

“Hey, I already apologized to you about that. That was truly a lapse on my part. It won’t happen again, I swear” Raychelle immediately got serious upon the mention of it. She truly reflected on what happened and made sure to run a deeper background investigation on their potential clients to ensure such things are avoided in the future. 

Raychelle knew she was pushy but she hated to see Murphy in bad situations just like that one. It took her a lot of apologies and convincing for Murphy to retract her resignation letter she initially presented at Raychelle’s office upon her return. Though it may seem she was imprisoning her talented employee in her company, Raychelle just didn’t want to lose the friend she trusted the most.

Seeing Murphy’s sour expression and how she kept ignoring her, Raychelle immediately tried to rack her mind with ideas to console her. 

“C’moooon Murph. I’m really, truly, deeply sorry~ Can’t you forgive me for that now?” Feeling a heavy tug on her right arm, Murphy had no choice but to divert her eyes to the woman who was already dangling on her arm. Raychelle was now holding a steady grip on Murphy’s arm, with pouty lips and puppy eyes desperately pleading.

Though still triggered by the event, Murphy knew she had already recovered from it. She just continued with her act of continuous rejection of Raychelle as she finds the latter’s actions and expressions quite amusing. Just as Raychelle loves to pester her on a daily basis, Murphy, on the other hand, loves to tease her too. She finds it funny how a woman of high status in this wealthy society, the owner and founder herself of a successful design company, is displaying such childish actions while clothed in fancy garments.

“Okay fine. As compensation, I’ll give you a week-long vacation…” Raychelle suggested while still gripping Murphy’s arm. Unsatisfied with the duration, Murphy remained a frown, causing Raychelle to instantly change her prior suggestion. “Make it a two-week long vacation! Sounds cool, right?! Here, lemme schedule it right away!” Raychelle got up and pulled her phone out of her pocket, calling HR in the process. 

Raychelle truly did what she promised. As the call ensued in front of her, Murphy could tell that Raychelle wasn’t bluffing as she recognized the voice on the other line. It was the voice of Mr. Stephans, the head of the HR department. Secretly grinning at the successful acquisition of her long vacation, Murphy finally let out a joyous expression.

“That’s more like it! I assume the vacation starts tomorrow, right? Gonna pack my bags now, so peace out!” Murphy grabbed her things and gave Raychelle a tap on the shoulder before heading to the glass exit. Raychelle was laughing in the background, at how she didn’t seem to be the boss between the two of them.

However, before she could finally disappear from the room, Raychelle called her out. “Bye Murph! Have fun tomorrow. Final trivia, you’ll definitely enjoy it, I swear” When Murphy glanced, she sensed something odd about Raychelle’s final words. Especially when she gave out a slight grin.

***

Exiting from the elevator, Murphy was listing the things she wanted to do starting tomorrow. It’s been a while since she got a vacation so she wants to make the most out of it. An itinerary and a list is definitely a must to save time. 

When she arrived in the parking lot, she thought of immediately going home to pack her things up, aiming to book a flight to Japan as early as tonight to prevent Raychelle from changing her mind. However, before she could start the engine as she went inside her car, her phone rang.

“Hello, Drei, wassup?” Murphy placed her phone in between her right ear and shoulder for support as she simultaneously tried to bring the car to life. 

“MURPHY!” her hand holding the keys stopped midair when she heard the voice on the line. There was a sense of panic laced in the voice of the caller, making Murphy nervous.

“Drei? What’s wrong?”

“MURPH! CAN YOU COME HERE AT THE APARTMENT? AS IN RIGHT NOW? PLEASE!” 

“Woah, calm down. Tell me what happened?”

“I’ll tell you here when you arrive. Please come”, Murphy, already alarmed by the state of Andrei’s voice, instantly started the engine and drove to her apartment.

***

“The fuck?” Murphy can no longer mask her utter exasperation when she arrives at Andrei's apartment.

"Right?! I mean, we already have a kid and he dares to flirt with other women?! I'm really gonna scratch off-no! Skin him off when he gets back! Just because he has a handsome face, he goes off and flaunts it at work, while I tirelessly care about the baby?!" Andrei continuously spat her complaints while punching the air, imagining she was punching her boyfriend in the face.

However, hearing Andreil's nonsense for minutes, immediately when she arrived, Murphy unconsciously massaged her temple to soothe her building headache.

"You mean… you called me, with such a panicky voice, worrying me in the process of what may have happened to you, only for you to complain about Casper's potential infidelity?"

With Stell playing in her lap, Murphy tried to calm her voice so as to not scare the kid, but failed to do so as the sense of irritation was still obvious.

"Look genius. Aren't you the one who rejected Casper's marriage proposal? So what the hell are you complaining about when girls flirt with him? You're already aware how handsome and charming your boyfriend is. Plus, he's rich. He's a rare fish still swimming in the sea, so everyone's out to catch him."

Casper Vannister. The youngest son of the Vannister family. Among the wide scope of businesses operated by the Vannisters, Casper handled their entertainment branch as director, making his face and name widely known as he always appeared in the media, being a popular actor and singer himself.

"If you're so frantic about the women flocking him, why don't you just admit you're jealous and tie him up already. Everyone else except you are fully aware that Casper is deeply into you. Heck, he already proposed to you." Murphy nonchalantly dropped the bomb on Andrei as she played with Stell.

Andrei Swann. The girlfriend of the famous Casper Vannister. Although at the same age as Murphy, Andrei is still in college after long years of stopping. It was only after giving birth to Stell, hers and Casper's son, did she continue her studies. Although Andrei's quite unreasonable and a handful sometimes, Murphy can't help but to understand Andrei, considering how heavy of a burden she's carrying. Being the girlfriend of Casper, recently conceiving an unexpected child while simultaneously handling academics. Well, she got herself quite the heavy workload.

"Jealous?! Who's jealous?! I'm just irritated at how he got the nerve to flirt outside when he already has a kid!"

"That's called being jealous, Drei. And I doubt Casper will ever think about laying eyes on other women. Well, aside from work, I guess"

As expected, Andrei was still adamant about her complaints, refusing to admit her jealousy. Murphy just sighed while she looked at Stell, who was busy playing with his dinosaur toy. An idea then popped into her head, deciding to coerce Stell to her plan.

"Psst. Stell, baby. How about we call your Dada? Your mommy's still stressed over there." Murphy whispered to Stell as they both looked at Andrei on the sofa, still frowning and brows meeting, with her arms both crossed to her chest. "Why don't we call your Dada Casper to shut your mommy, hmm? That would be fun, don't you think?" Murphy grinned while Stell nodded happily. 

Not wanting to alert Andrei, Murphy picked Stell up in her arms, excusing themselves to the kitchen. As soon as they got away from Andrei, Murphy picked out her phone and dialed Casper's number.

It only took them seconds before a voice was heard on the other side.

"Hello?"

"Hey Casper. It's me, Murphy"

"Dada~"

"Hi baby! Wait, where's Drei? Murph, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Typical Casper. Always finding Andrei first. 

"Yeah right. Well, you got time to spare?"

"Why?"

"Well, your wife slash girlfriend is getting ballistic again. She won't stop babbling nonsense in your living room. Oh right, I'm here at your apartment", Murphy shrugged as she took a bite of the apple displayed on the fruit basket at the counter. "Dada~ Mommy's mad~"

"WHAT?! WHAT DID I DO?!" Casper's voice immediately rose. A sense of panic and nervousness was obvious in his tone.

"Apparently, she claims that you cheated on her." 

"HUH?! I DIDN'T DO SUCH A THING!" 

"Well, she told me that she saw someone flirt at you when she went earlier in your office, and that you didn't resist when the woman touched your shoulders or something like that." 

"What in the world! I didn't d-" 

"Oops. Stop right there. It's better for you to explain to her directly. Just come home before she goes completely insane"

Casper didn't waste any second and ended the call. Knowing him, Murphy could already tell he was already running off to the parking lot to drive back home. He's always worried about Andrei, after all, completely aware of the latter's temperament.

"Looks like your Dada's coming home earlier than usual, Stell'' Murphy informs Stell, who turned bright upon the mention of his father.  It only took 30 minutes after the call ended for the metallic door to sprang open. As Murphy and Stell turned, Casper's figure appeared in their eyes.

"Dada!" With the sweet and giggly call of Stell to his father, Andrei shivered. In reflex, she immediately lied down on the sofa, hoping not to be seen by Casper. However, Murphy and Stell snitched on her by alerting Casper where she was, pointing to the living room. As Casper ran to the living room, noises from the ensuing quarrel could be heard.

"Tsk. That woman, really." Hearing a voice behind her, Murphy turned to see who it was. Looks like Casper wasn't alone, seeing Kiefer entering the apartment with a displeased expression.

"Lemme guess. Casper dropped some important stuff before rushing here, right?"

"As usual", Murphy could no longer stop herself from laughing. It was a typical day for the typical couple. Andrei causing trouble, with Casper always consoling her.

"Love is truly scary."

"You mean, love is blind," Kiefer reiterated with a frown. However, as soon as he saw Stell in Murphy's arms, the frown changed to a smile and he became smitten with Stell’s cuteness. He later on stole Stell from Murphy’s hold and played with him.

Kiefer Vamenta. Casper's secretary and best friend. Like Murphy, Kiefer watched the development of those two's relationship, thus he is fully aware of Andrei's frequent rampages. It's been a year yet he is still not used to it. He hated Andrei for Casper at first, but opened up to her after a few months, realizing he couldn’t separate them both. And now he becomes the number #1 babysitter and godfather of Stell.

It took almost an hour of bickering before the noises in the living room truly died. "Finally, some peace!" Kiefer exhaled and stretched his arms, having grown numb while leaning on the kitchen counter. Curious, the three of them went into the living room to see those two. However, they nearly vomited on the spot seeing the scene that befell in front of them.

"JESUS! THERE'S A KID HERE! GET A ROOM!" Kiefer frantically yelled as he immediately covered Stell's innocent eyes from seeing his parents' lovey-dovey adventure on the sofa.

"Hey! It's too early for Stell to have a sibling!" Murphy couldn't stop herself from the surprise. Alarmed by their arrival, both Casper and Andrei stopped and fixed themselves, blushing in embarrassment in the process.

***

"Wow, you even have the nerve to be embarrassed? Ewww!" Kiefer was still weirded by what he saw and faced Stell. "Stell, you shouldn't copy your parent's weird habits, alright? They're bad influenc-" Kiefer could no longer continue when he felt Murphy's smack on his head.

"You too. Stop telling the kid such things."

After the commotion died down, Andrei prepared dinner, with Kiefer helping her out. Murphy was about to help the two when Casper called her attention, telling her that he had something to say. 

Arriving in the living room, Murphy broke the silence.

"So, what's up?"

"Are you available tomorrow night?"

Remembering that she was supposed to go on vacation tomorrow, she shook her head.

"Nope. My boss gave me a vacation, so I'm off to Japan tomorrow. Why?"

"Japan? Didn't Raychelle tell you about the proposal?"

"Proposal? She didn't mention anything." Both Casper and Murphy were confused at each other's statement. 

"That's odd. I already informed her about it" Casper whispered between his breaths, thinking deeply about his prior conversation with Raychelle. "Did she somehow forget about it?"

"Spill it. She may have forgotten about it as I never heard anything from her aside from my vacation." 

"Well. I was gonna ask you to attend tomorrow's dinner"

"Oh, here at your place?"

"Nope. At my family's house", Murphy's attention sprang open with the mention of Casper's family.

"You mean at the Vannister's main mansion? Why?" Murphy still couldn't comprehend why she was being invited to the family dinner of the Vannisters. Well, she knew about them from the stories of Casper, Andrei and Kiefer, but she didn't meet them personally, aside from Casper’s older brother, Nathaniel. She had no reason to.

And an invitation? To their family dinner at that? She could understand Andreil, being Casper's girlfriend, and Kiefer, whose family had been in the Vannister's service for years.

But her? What's the occasion?

Hinting Murphy's confusion, Casper continued to disclose information to her, adding to her confusion.

"Well, my father is planning on an expansion. That means new buildings. With the conflict with his previous design company, he opts to find a new, suitable company to take over the project. Thus, he asked me for a recommendation."

"Okay? Where am I in that equation?"

"That's where you come in. I recommended McDaniels Design. Raychelle, too, recommended you to handle the project. I presented to dad your portfolio that I got from your boss. He liked your work, which is why he asked me to invite you to dinner tomorrow, hoping to discuss things beforehand."

Ugh. Raychelle, really. 

Murphy took a heavy sigh. 

"Well. I'll have to decline. As I said earlier, I'm on vacation~" Murphy's words got cut off when her phone rang. When she saw the caller ID, she scoffed.

"Well, well, well. You've got some explaining to do." Murphy started when she heard Raychelle's voice on the line.

"Oh, Casper already dropped the info already? I was hoping he still didn't. I called as I forgot to tell you earlier about it. I just remembered it was the reason I walked towards your office earlier."

"I don’t mind the work, but what about my vacation? You said you’d grant me one."

"Oh don't worry about it. It's still intact. You just have to attend the dinner, then you can go to Japan. The work starts after you get home."

Murphy tried to get away but both Casper and Raychelle found ways to counter her. Well, she likes her job and this is another opportunity for her, considering how big the client would be this time. It’s just that she's feeling the pressure of being the head designer for the Vannister’s new project, and meeting with Casper’s dad at that. 

As soon as Raychelle ended the call in a hurry to avoid complaints from Murphy, the latter then faced a smiling Casper. “C’mon. I told you not to do things like that anymore. You know I don’t like taking advantage of you just because I know you.” 

It wasn’t the first time Casper had pulled some strings to help her. The last time he did, she earned quite a number of negative comments and backlash from her co-workers. She knew she was capable, but she didn’t want her friends, whom she admitted were rich, to use their connections for her. It's not just the others, she wants to be recognized for her own skills.

“Oh, stop right there. It’s not the same as last time, Murph. My dad asked for a suitable recommendation. Based on the current ratings on the charts of the industry, McDaniels Design is at the top. I happened to know the boss, and the boss, in return, recommended her most capable designer. That’s you. Your skills speak for themselves, Murph. You’re not taking advantage of me, nor my name.” Casper raised his arms in surrender to assure Murphy, who was shooting daggers at him with her sharp gaze.

Ugh. Guess, I have no other choice, huh?

*****