2 01 | Meeting Her Grim Reaper

A woman lay asleep in the bed, ignorant to the sun's rays entering the room and falling on her, tracing the sleeping figure. Her long, smooth legs were brought up to her chest, sleeping in the same position as a baby in the mother's womb.

The stray strands of hair bracing her face only enhanced her beauty. Her pale skin, her long eyelashes, her cherry red lips, a beautiful soft jawline that framed her features elegantly, all this made her seem like an innocent beauty, who only ever knew the good of the world.

Knock Knock!

The woman groaned, before mumbling something incoherent but the person outside the door seemed to have interpreted as permission to enter the room.

"Miss."

Her eyelids fluttered open, her mind recognising the voice that spoke.

Seeing that the Young Miss was awake, the butler smiled. "Miss Brestige awaits your presence in her study." And with that, he left.

A groan escaped the woman's lips as she stretched her limbs, relishing the relief she found in doing so. She pulled a blanket over her, trying to get as much rest as she could.

Until the happenings of the previous day hit her like a truck.

Her eyes opened immediately, verdant green looking at the ceiling and she stayed there unmoving.

Sh*t.

—

Riri assumed that the mysterious 'Miss Brestige' was Kassidy Louis's mother. Based on what Lilliana had told her, Kassidy only ever lived with her mother.

And among all the photographs framed proudly on the wall, not one had Kassidy's father in it. It was just her and one older looking lady, which she assumed was Kassidy's mother.

The house was huge. She doubted whether she actually needed to step out of the mansion she lived in, it seemed to have the amenities of an entire city!

She hated to admit it but she was lost. Riri considered asking the butler, who seemed friendly enough. He was one of the few faces she remembered from yesterday. Surely he would help her.

Or think she was an idiot to be lost in her own house.

Riri stopped in front of a door, which was going to be the tenth door that she tried, and she really hoped that it lead her to the study. Taking in a deep breath, her hand turned open the knob.

—

Hiding himself in a corner, a man observed the woman talking on the phone. She had been regularly visiting this coffee shop for the past week. He only took notice of her two or three days ago but when he did, he could not help but scold himself inwardly.

How could he have missed such a beauty?

She was a slim, tall figure with luscious black hair that reached till her small waist. Her skin seemed like porcelain. Her strawberry pink lips were always curved up in a kind smile, her hazel eyes twinking with joy as she looked at something on her phone.

Mustering up courage, the man set down his coffee and made his way to her.

"Excuse me?"

The beauty lifted her head up, in a slow, graceful movement. Her eyes met his, and the intensity of her look put a weight on his vocal chords.

"Yes?" Her lips never once stopped smiling.

"C-can I get your number?" He managed to force out the words he wanted to say.

"Ah," she put her phone down and turned to face him. "I'm sorry but I already have a boyfriend." She shot him an apologetic look before getting up from her seat, and exiting the coffee shop.

The man felt like crying but in the end he just walked back to where he had kept his coffee cup and resumed drinking the now cold coffee.

—

Lillianna sighed. Being Lili Arden proved to be quite troublesome. She kept getting requests from all sorts of men and she kept having to use her brain to come up with reasons to reject them.

You'd think that not being interested would be a reason enough.

But they would persist in their efforts unless she gave them , what they considered, a valid reason.

*Ting!*

Her phone vibrated with a notification, another reminder probably. Lili Arden was the most busy person she had ever met, Lillianna had never used her calendar or reminder app so much before this.

Sighing, she looked at the phone screen.

Check in with Riri (Louis)

That girl still had to get back to her on her proposal. Anyway, she would know her answer by evening.

Kassidy Louis... Hm... I wonder how Riri is doing?

Her eyes brightened up when she got an incoming call, she wasted no time in answering it.

"Hello? Yes, it's done and she has no idea about it."

—

Riri sneezed, silently cursing her luck when everyone on the entire floor stopped talking to look at her.

If Riri ever saw Kassidy on the street, she would assume that the heiress wouldn't have worked for even a single hour in her life. But in reality, her mother was grooming her to be the next heir of the Brestige Empire. Meaning, Kassidy had worked more than her, which unfortunately meant that Riri now had to do the same amount of work

Kassidy's mom was a nice woman, well, at least in private. She was the only person who had been warm and affectionate towards her, though she seemed a pit peeved at Kassidy's decision to dye her hair.

And so, for the rest of the day, Kassidy had to overlook everything that happened in one of the many companies they owned. Riri expected everything to be like Greek and Latin but she seemed to work with the same brilliance and speed with that of the original Kassidy.

And along with her talents, she received another thing that the previous Kassidy had as well:

Hatred.

People envied her and wanted to be her, they were jealous of her talents and they could not even lift a finger against her as everything Kassidy did, it would be the closest anyone could ever get to perfection.

Another thing was, Kassidy always spoke up for herself as Riri found out. Especially when it came to lecherous men, she even had gone a few steps forward and ruined their lives.

But the people didn't see it as her defending herself, didn't see it as her removing a predator from their circle, they only saw the power that they did not have. Perhaps they would have accepted her authority if she had been a man.

As she got into the elevator, an employee got in it with her. She had been complimenting Kassidy and sucking up to her ever since she came to the office in the morning.

"Don't you have better things to do? For example, the work we actually pay you to do?" Kassidy cocked her head and looked at her.

The petitie woman in front of flinched as if she had been hit with a whip, Riri instantly felt bad and opened her mouth to apologise when the woman in front of her nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I'll get right to it."

For some reason, her response made her feel worse about herself.

To make things worse, she ran into her very own grim reaper when she exited the elevator- Wang Lou.