1 The Heavens Are Against Me

The sounds of cars moving on the busy roads of the city were loud enough to wake any sleepyhead.

In a tall building with rental apartments, a female figure was scuttling about her apartment with disheveled clothing and looking very confused.

"Where did I put that thing?" She groaned. The room she was in looked scattered with clothes, bags, shoes, and books laying around.

She stood in the middle of the messy room, still in her bathrobe and a towel was wrapped around her hair. A curse escaped her lips as she picked up a bracelet and started to put on the clothes she had laid down on her bed.

"Out of all the days in this year..."

"…I had to be punished by the universe this morning." She groaned as she picked the shirt on her bed to put it on.

Immediately she started to button up the shirt, the first two buttons flew off making her throw her arms in the air angrily. "It took me five hours to get the dress done and ready for today and now it's a mess?"

She took a deep breath.

"It's okay, Carmel. It's okay. You can just improvise, alright?" She removed the towel around her hair and her wet, long, and silky ginger-red hair fell down her shoulders.

"Arghhhh, bad timing. Now my clothes are all wet." She looked at the time and saw she still had a few minutes so she jumped before her vanity and switched on her hair dryer to start drying her hair.

"Finally, I'm done. I'll arrange this mess once I get back from work." She picked up some paper on her desk and looked up at the calendar.

"Holy mother of Neptune. Today is the day the new CEO arrives. Oh no." She exclaimed.

She looked at her wristwatch and she almost fainted. That was when she realized her wall clock was all wrong.

Rushing out of her apartment, she was adjusting her shoes when she noticed large paper boxes by the door of the apartment next to hers. The person who was there a few months back when she arrived left two weeks ago and now it looked like they were getting a new neighbor.

She didn't wait anymore to think about the new neighbor and just rushed down to the building's car park to pick up her car.

As she tried to start the engine, it refused to start. "Oh no, I'm going to be roasted this morning. It's not even my car."

She slammed the door shut and rushed towards the bus station.

The next bus would not arrive till about five minutes later, which just pissed her off but she managed to wait as she tapped her feet anxiously. She checked her watch and saw it was fifteen minutes past eight in the morning already.

She didn't know how long she had slept but she remembered sleeping late the previous night. She was up trying to make a new design but she couldn't get any till she dozed off.

Immediately the bus arrived, she rushed in and luckily, she found a vacant seat. She anxiously tapped her bag as the bus stopped when the traffic lights commanded. The ride on the bus felt like an eternity.

When she finally got off the bus, it was eight thirty already. She was to check in by seven but now she was an hour and thirty minutes late.

She crossed her fingers anxiously as she fumbled her bag for her ID pass and walked towards the company's main entrance. Gladly, she was able to find her pass before she reached the doors.

"Good morning, Miss Carmel. You're later than usual today ma'am." The guard greeted her warmly and she just replied with a smile.

She knew she was going to be scolded no end by the head of her department. She had to come late on a day like this?

This day of all the whole days in the calendar month? She was going to be toast this morning.

As she thought about what her boss was going to do to her, she didn't focus on her surroundings and ran into someone, almost falling but she was quick to regain her composure.

The pass that was with her fell to the ground and the hairpin holding her hair also fell but she didn't notice the hairpin. All she did was curse inwardly.

Well, she thought she did.

"Shit." She humphed as she picked the pass, not even bothering to apologize to the person she bumped into. Then, she rushed off.

The man she bumped into looked at her with a raised brow. He didn't expect her not to apologize or even act like he didn't exist. He looked down at her hairpin and picked it up.

Immediately, his gaze narrowed and he looked in the direction she left. The pin was familiar to him so he rushed towards the elevator she took. The doors were closing already but he managed to catch a glimpse of her face.

'It's her," he thought.

"Shall we go, sir?" His assistant suddenly called from behind and he turned to look at him.

Eventually, a small smile appeared on his lips and he looked at his assistant. "Did you see the face of that lady?"

"Yes, sir. I did. She's one of our employees," the assistant replied.

The man looked surprised for a moment before he slipped his hands in a pockets and a cunning smile appeared at the corner of his lips as he told the assistant, "I want every single detail about her."

***

Carmel stood in the elevator hoping it would move faster than that as she was sure that her boss would be furious already. She turned to look at herself in the mirror in the elevator and she noticed her hairpin had fallen off.

"Why is my day going so bad? This morning is definitely not my morning." She hissed angrily as she removed the rest of her hairpins and placed them in her bag, before straightening her hair.

Immediately the elevator doors opened, she looked up and quickly rushed into the department which was bustling already. Everyone was working already and gladly no one seemed to notice her.

She wanted to sneak to her seat quietly but things didn't go her way.

"Carmel Ashton." An authoritative voice thundered and everyone turned towards her direction.

"Oh no." Carmel mumbled.

"You are one hour and forty minutes late, Ashton. Mind explaining to me why you decided to come late today out of all the three hundred sixty-five days on the calendar?"