Chapter 6 A new beginning

"Are you sure you can live by yourself?" A worried Emma asks while taking out Genevieve's luggage from the car.

"Yes, I will manage", Genevieve replies sternly while staring at the airport entrance.

"If you want I can come with you and stay with you until you settle down there", Sophia says and stands in front of her.

Genevieve shifts her stare to her sister. She smiles sweetly and says, "You are more needed here. You have to take care of Carroll Designs".

"But you would be all alone in a completely new city which is about a thousand miles away. I am worried for you", Emma expresses her concern.

Genevieve smiles and holds the hands of both the worried women. "I will take care of myself. A new city and new people will help me forget my past. I will be able to create new memories which will definitely help me move on in my life", she says with confidence and hope in her eyes.

"I hope what you are expecting from your decision turns out to be true", Sophia exclaims with a sigh.

Genevieve glances at her designer watch and then in the surrounding. "I guess I should be leaving now", she says and hugs the two women who seemed to be on the verge of crying for bidding a farewell to their little one.

"If you both will make such a sad face, how am I going to be able to leave?" Genevieve asks.

"Then stay back", a manly voice echoes.

The three beautiful heads turned in the direction to see who else was asking her to stay back.

A tall man with a perfectly structured body walked in a charming way towards them. "Then stay back, sister", Stefan repeats.

"I am glad to see so many people will be missing me", she says and smiles. "But let me try if going there helps me to live peacefully. I want my family to support me instead of getting emotional", she requests with teary eyes.

The three agree with her last sentence. Stefan takes a deep breath and says, "Promise me to be safe and don't forget to contact me whenever you feel you need me".

"She has a sister to contact. She will contact me if she needs some help", Sophia says while looking at Stefan with narrowed eyes.

Stefan smirks. "Yes, of course. Let her decide that", Stefan says while looking at Genevieve.

"If you are going to argue like this then I won't contact any of you", Genevieve says while crossing her hands over her chest and stares at the two.

Stefan and Sophia look at each other with annoyance one more time and sigh. "Okay, we won't argue", they speak at the same time.

"The important point is you need to be safe and keep in touch with us", Stefan adds with concern.

Genevieve smiles looking at their childish arguments and deep concern for her. "Yes, I will. You won't need to worry. I will call you when I reach there", she says and hugs the three.

Genevieve was Stefan's beloved sister but Sophia was not. Their relationship was more like unwanted cousins. They would often land into arguments over silly things and didn't have much liking for each other. They would get annoyed with each other frequently.

Genevieve puts her luggage in the cart and starts walking towards the airport. Before entering, she turns around to see her family for the last time before starting a new journey of her life with the hope of forgetting her bad memories. With tears in her eyes she waves her hand to the three people standing at a distance after which she enters the airport and proceeds to the luggage checking.

After a long overnight flight, the plane lands at Rockland city Airport. Genevieve gets off the plane with a fresh face. Though the flight was long and exhausting, Genevieve was absolutely fresh. She was excited for her new journey and was extremely positive about it. After collecting her luggage, she came out of the airport and informed Sophia and Stefan about her safe arrival at the city.

After hanging over the call, she noticed the beauty outside. The sky was turning yellowish-orange marking the beginning of a new day, a fresh morning with the sun rising slowly over the horizon. The golden rays of the sun lit up the sky. The birds were flying cheerfully in the clear sky and chirping sweetly.

She took a deep breath to inhale the cool fresh air while closing her eyes to feel the cool breeze.

"A fresh beginning", she mumbles happily and walks to the taxi area.

She mentions the address to the driver to drop her there. Though she was rich and had enough wealth to buy anything, she was a girl rooted to the ground. She believed in hard work and wanted to spend money earned by her. She had rented an apartment in the city which was not too luxurious but had all the amenities needed to live comfortably.

She rolled down the window on her side and enjoyed the beauty of the city she was visiting for the first time and was going to live there if she gets adapted to the place. The city was well developed and had greenery all around. The road margins were filled with huge green trees and had flower beds over the divider while hills could be seen at some distance behind the fog. Her hair swayed in the cool breeze tickling her face. She was mesmerized with the beauty of the city.

"World is indeed big and I have not even seen 1 percent of it", she thinks with a pretty smile on her face.

She had always lived in Greenwood city and had travelled to neighboring areas only. For vacations, they would go to hill stations that were not too far from where they lived. For the first time, Genevieve was travelling to a city which was so far from her home and was going to live there all alone. She was excited and hopeful about her new journey. She hoped to make new cherishable memories with new people in the new place.

Soon the taxi stopped at the address given by her. "Ma'am, we have reached", the driver says when he notices that his passenger was staring out of the window but was subconsciously somewhere else.

"Huh? Yes", she responds, giving a sweet smile.

She gets out of the taxi, pays the fare for her travel and carries her luggage to the elevator after collecting the key from the office area of the building. Her flat was on the fifth floor of the well maintained and designed building. She opens the door and gets inside. Her flat was a simple 1-BHK house, beautifully furnished with all the required appliances already there. The only thing she needed to carry was her clothes and other personal belongings.

There was a white velvet sofa in the living room with a chandelier above. The flat was well cleaned before her arrival so the only thing she needed to do was to put her clothes in the wardrobe and change the arrangement of the house as per her liking. After she was done with everything, she went to the bedroom and slept on the queen sized bed after turning on the AC and wrapping herself in the blanket.

After getting into the soft and cozy bed, she immediately fell asleep as it was very comfortable and rest was all that she needed. Her tiredness had vanished when she woke up late in the afternoon. She was feeling absolutely fresh and lively.

She got ready wearing a casual blue t-shirt paired with light blue jeans and shoes. She tied her hair in a ponytail as she was going to the supermarket to buy some fruits and vegetables for her dinner. Since she had just shifted there, she needed to buy everything ranging from sugar, flour to vegetables.

She drank coffee at a nearby cafe and went to the superstore which was luckily at walking distance from her residence and on the same side of her home so she didn't have to cross the road. After buying the essentials she came home and arranged everything in the refrigerator and the shelves in the kitchen.

"Today I will not have to make dinner", she says happily while sitting on the velvet sofa in the living room.

She had received a coupon as a guest for being the 1000 th customer of the day at the supermarket. It was a coupon giving 90% discount on whatever you order or ask for a parcel at the restaurant tonight. She didn't need it but she accepted it as the staff of the supermarket insisted.

She was staring at the coupon while returning home when she noticed an old poor woman begging on the road. She immediately gave money to her and thought of giving the coupon as well. But then she thought that the restaurant was far away and the old woman couldn't bear the travel cost. So she ordered food for the woman and her family and herself paid off the remaining 10% money. She waited with her till the food arrived and helped her with carrying the food home.

Genevieve felt inner happiness when she saw the old woman's family having tasty and healthy food with so much variety. Also she received good blessings from them as well.

She sighs with relief after recalling their happy faces. She goes to the bathroom and takes a shower as she was also going to go to that restaurant as a customer without that coupon. She wore a pretty black laced ankle length dress paired with two inch heels. She put a hairbelt in her silky smooth hair. She was finally ready for having dinner at a restaurant which was being so open hearted for providing those coupons to its lucky customers.

She took a taxi to the restaurant and continuously looked outside of the side window and avoided looking in the front as her fear of travelling in a car had not vanished yet. Soon she arrives at the restaurant which had a glowing name 'Miller's Kitchen' and an alluring aura. The look of the restaurant, its dishes, its presentation, its service and the staff everything was just appealing. Anyone would want to come to the restaurant again and again.

After finishing her dinner and paying her bills, she went to the reception to compliment. She believed if someone should be scolded for their mistakes, they should be appreciated for their efforts.

"I loved everything about this restaurant. I had heard it's name as it has branches everywhere in the country, but this was my first experience with your restaurant", she says in a sweet voice to the woman at the reception.

"Thank you, ma'am. I am glad you liked our service", the woman replies politely.

"I hope you won't let this be your last experience at our restaurant with you first", a charming voice says from behind her.

She turns around and replies with a confused look, "I won't let that happen".

"Hi, I am Charles Miller, the owner of this restaurant", he introduces himself while giving his hand for a handshake when he realizes that her face had the question, 'May I know who you are?'

Genevieve smiles and accepts his hand for a handshake. "Hi! I am Genevieve Carroll. Glad to meet you", she says in her sweet voice.

Charles smiles and admires the innocence of the lovely lady standing in front of him.

"My restaurant is lucky to have a customer like you. It might be thinking as to why didn't you come early", he says jokingly.

She chuckles and replies, "Because I shifted in this city today morning". She lowers her head and whispers, "To live my life peacefully".

Though she whispered to herself, her voice reached his ears. He just smiled and pretended that he heard her first sentence only. Deep inside him he understood that there was some pain hiding behind her pretty happy face.

"See you the next time I visit the restaurant", she says while glancing at her watch.

"Sure", he replies and guides her to the exit.