15 1.13 The CEO

Getting ready for the social was harder than Sonja thought. Then again, it could be System who was constantly giving her fashion advice. Sonja admittedly didn't know much about fashion, but she definitely knew that you not supposed to take fashion advice from a piece of code who had never even had a material body, nevermind wore an article of clothing, in its life.

"Not that one Host! Orange doesn't go with your skin tone and this style of dress doesn't flatter you enough! Oh my god, please try something else Host!" Sonja ripped the dress off her body for the nth time, its predecessors creating a mess on the bedroom floor. Not caring to put on anything else lest she would have to take it off in thirty seconds, Sonja threw herself across the bed while the system was currently analyzing what dress she should wear. The shrill nagging and urging, coupled with the constant mutterings and sudden yells from the system made Sonja feel like someone was taking a plate and dragging a fork across it, sending shivers of discomfort throughout her body, nevermind the massive headache she was having with the anxious system going through one of many panic attacks it had that day. Did lines of code have panic attacks? She didn't know nor did she want to ask.

Sonja grabbed the laptop that was on her nightstand, wanting to get some important information memorized while the system was talking to itself. This info was sent about an hour and a half after that ma- erm, Mr. Iliescu hung up. This meant that in the middle of dinner, her phone vibrated, indicating that she got an email from him- in full view of her parents.

When her father looked over at the disturbance, he froze, then turned white. He then made a grab for Sonja's phone but it was grabbed in the nick of time by Sonja instead. Mother Moreno, curious at how a notification from her daughter's phone could cause such disturbance was waiting for an explanation.

"Sonja, my dear, why do you have an email from Iliescu Corporation? Please tell me that you didn't do anything rash, or God forbid anything immoral, while you were out bartending at that event, were you?" It was completely understandable that Father Moreno thought that way as that was the only way that Sonja could have gotten in contact with Sebastian Iliescu.

"Dad, no, I didn't. Have a little faith in me, would you? I got a job offer while I was there by a representative. I guess he managed to get my resume from the organizers since I have a 'silver tongue' if you will. He said it was for a position that relied more on words than anything, so it might be an assistant or secretary job. Can't say I'm ecstatic about it if that's the case though." The explanation Sonja gave to her father seemed to have the intended effect, as Father Moreno cooled down and Mother Moreno relaxed a bit, as she tensed up at her husband's words.

Sonja gave a small sigh of relief when she saw this scene. Thank goodness that Mr. Iliescu's email username was relatively unknown, or else the situation wouldn't have been diffused so easily. So, after waiting a few more minutes for the mood to have evened out a bit more, Sonja dropped another bomb on her family.

"Oh yeah, I was invited to go to a social in about two days. I guess it's for some type of training as I need to work on my communication and people skills." The table went silent as the heads of her parents swiveled towards her, though at this point they already had been served too big of a surprise to have a reaction more than just murmurs of surprise and mentions of following the rules.

At the memories of the dinner a few nights ago, Sonja could only sigh at what lengths her parents tolerated her. She was certain that if it were any other couple, they would have interrogated her for hours in order to know every last detail.

"Host! Try this one! It fits with the guidelines AND it's stunning as well. I guarantee that you'll grab all the attention at the social tonight! I can't WAIT!" The system was commenting with such enthusiasm that it was as if it was going to the social instead of Sonja. Looking up from memorizing the do's and don'ts and what-to-know's of the business world, Sonja merely grabbed the cocktail dress and robotically put it on, not caring enough anymore to have any emotion in the process.

When the dress was put on, Sonja was stunned. It was a deep red, off-the-shoulder dress with embroidery along the top, sleeves, and hem of the dress. It wasn't loose-looking like other dresses since the top layer was made of a stiffer fabric than the tulle underneath, giving it neat and smooth creases. A silk ribbon came with it and, when it was tied around the waist, it gave a slight contrast to the outfit, highlighting her tapered waist and long legs. The regulations given weren't that strict, as the most restrictive were that dresses must have long sleeves and cannot be farther up than mid-thigh when sitting. Checking the latter, Sonja found out that if she adjusted the skirt a bit when sitting, then it would just make it as an acceptable dress, which was great for her since she was done getting ready.

Hurriedly putting on as little makeup as she can, she messed up the eyeliner she was rushing to put on when her mother told her it was a quarter 'til eight p.m. Sonja was supposed to get to the address provided in the email at eight o'clock and it would take about ten minutes to get there, longer if traffic was bad, and it was often really bad in L.A. Cursing under her breath so her mother would hear, Sonja used some concealer to fix the mistake, finished her semi-decent eyeliner, grabbed her mother's gold clutch that she was borrowing for the night, snatched the keys from the dining table, slipped on gold heels, also from her mother, got to the old car that her family got not too long ago, and drove as fast as she could to the address. She was pretty sure she ran a few red lights, but at this point, she was too anxious to care.

As the clock turned to read eight p.m., Sonja pulled up to the address to see that Sebastian was waiting outside. The building looked like a very fancy apartment, evident of the fact that the sign outside the main entrance read "Twilight Realm", which was the name of the most expensive apartment building in L.A.

"You're late, and on your first day no less." Those were the first words that Sebastian said when he got into the passenger's seat.

"On the contrary, Mr. Iliescu, I had arrived right on time. Can you pull up the location of the social, the address wasn't provided for me." Sonja curtly responded to the man, having no intention to be in trouble, on her first day apparently, for nothing.

Not refuting her words, Sebastian pulled up the location on his GPS and put it in the cupholder with the volume on max. The ride to the venue was silent, with only the mechanical voice of the GPS ringing out every once in a while.

Pulling up to the venue and the flashes from the cameras, Sebastian said something before Sonja could pull up to the curb. "Go around to the back. It's more private that way."

Making a hum of agreement, Sonja went around to the back, showing the invitation card that Sebastian gave her when security approached the car. It was pitch black outside, so the security guard couldn't see her companion, but judging from the exclusive invite card she had procured, he or she couldn't have been a nobody.

After getting out of the car and handing the keys to the valet, Sebastian and Sonja entered the venue, where the social was in full swing. Before they entered, however, Sonja saw out of the corner of her eye the slight frown Sebastian had on his face.

"Don't worry, it follows the guidelines. Your assistant won't look like a slut in front of your partners and colleagues." Walking past him, she suddenly found her arm grabbed, not tightly, but enough for her to stop.

"Didn't I mention that you would be keeping the pests away from me? You can't wander off by yourself or we'll be stuck here much longer than necessary." With those words out of the way, Sebastian released Sonja's arm and offered his own, which she took.

Tonight was going to be exhausting.