Family Fantasy

After Vanessa was done getting ready for class, she took a bus to campus and hurried to the faculty. When she got to the faculty, she discovered that her morning class was cancelled due to a professional seminar being held at the faculty for students. She was glad to find out attendance was not mandatory, so she used her spare time to catch up on her studies. She was always so busy because of her evening shift, that she was unable to have enough leisure time for her private study except for Sunday, which was her off day.

****

At the faculty of Engineering, in a sizeable hall that can accommodate a good number of people, a round of applause was heard after one of the speakers was done with his presentation. The speaker was the CEO of one of the leading software companies in the country, even though JayxTech was established a few years ago, it has been able to grow to a sizeable company contending with other leading tech companies which have been running for years.

There have been numerous rumours in the tech world associated with JayxTech but one fact that everyone can agree to is that JayxTech grew to where it is today not because of multiple investments and contracts it had but because of its impeccable management and sound leadership by its CEO Jayden Ashford who was known for his dedication and intellects by many prominent figures in the business world which enabled him to achieve such large feet at a very young age.

Jayden stood tall and proud on the podium receiving everyone's admiration from lecturers, students and other guest speakers. After his brief presentation, he lingered briefly among the other guests before departing the venue with his assistant Marcus to catch their ride. He could not take the luxury of staying longer than needed because he had multiple appointments to meet up with today. If it hadn't been for his acquaintance with one of the professors at this institution, he wouldn't have bothered to attend.

Jayden took long strides to his black Rolls-Royce Wraith, which his chauffeur welcomed him into before driving off. Marcus took the passenger seat in front while Jayden sat behind. " What is my next appointment for the day." Jayden's authoritative voice boomed from the back seat.

" You have a scheduled meeting today at 11 am with the various departmental heads for their monthly reports. Thereafter, you have a meeting to finalize a contract deal at a restaurant downtown before having lunch with your mother as promised by 2:30 pm in another restaurant your mother hand-picked herself," Marcus replied, giving Jayden a summary of his schedule for the morning.

" Do I still have other appointments later in the evening?" Jayden inquired as he was going through some computer programs which he had written in his system. " No, that's all, you cancelled other appointments to have more time to work on some of your pending work," Marcus stated.

Jayden didn't say anything further and continued working on his laptop. Marcus wasn't expecting to hear more words from him anyway. He's been working for Jayden for four years, so he already has a solid grasp of his personality and character.

****

Back at the library, Vanessa was having a terrible headache, she couldn't execute a single program. She had spent hours trying, but It kept on failing due to some minor errors she was finding hard to pinpoint. The cheap compiler she had installed on her laptop wasn't helping matters, as it didn't give her a clear description of the errors. She got this cheap compiler because she was trying to cut down her expenses, and she regrets it now. 

Normally, she isn't this bad at writing programs, but she couldn't concentrate on the program as her mind wandered, thinking about how she would be able to get another job. She was waiting for this month's pay to get some important study materials, but unfortunately, after she was laid off yesterday, she didn't receive a dime for part of the month she had already worked. The manager claimed they had to take part in damages payments from her wages. It is not like her little pay made any difference in the lump sum amount offered to the couple to prevent them from going to court.

Vanessa groaned because she had to find a way to study. After all, the mid-semester assessments were around the corner, and she was falling behind in her studies. She was starting to regret why she decided to study such a hard major like software engineering, in short, any engineering course should come with a big warning. This wasn't her week at all.

Vanessa's attention was suddenly pulled by some whispers she heard from some girls talking in the library. " Wait, the interview is this afternoon." One said with her pitch a little high. 'Which interview are they talking about,' Vanessa wondered as her attention was on the girls' conversation, maybe she might get some useful information. " Yeah, and I heard the pay is generous. Imagine being paid to just hang out with people. That's technically free money." Another girl's voice chimed because of how excited she was. 

" Please can you bring down your voices, no talking in the library? People are trying to study here." A Stern librarian cautioned the girl because her voice was a little loud.

The technically free money part of the girl's statement piqued Vanessa's interest. She abandoned her work and tried to eavesdrop better on the girls' conversation because of the librarian's caution, the girls whispered very quietly that it was very difficult is decipher what they were saying. Due to her proximity to them, Vanessa could only grasp an incomplete idea of what they were saying. She was glad at least she heard the Establishment's name, which she googled and was shocked by the results.

The company was named Family Fantasy, and it was a rental service agency where their customers could get people occasionally to serve as escorts or even pretend as friends, girlfriends, children, wives, or husbands. She was shocked because she never knew people would be interested in this kind of service. It was technically been paid for doing nothing compared to her previous job. Simply escorting people to various places sometimes resulted in enjoying free food and drinks. It felt surreal to her.

There wasn't much information online, except for a general idea of what it was. Their webpage said for further information you had to create a customer account or get a job as an escort and just like the girls mentioned earlier, there was an interview this afternoon at the Sheraton hotel at 2:30 pm. After searching further she found the basic requirements to be able to apply for the interview. All you need is to have a good body figure. Vanessa was certain she wasn't unattractive; she recalled receiving compliments about her appearance when she was younger. Lately, she'd been too preoccupied to focus much on her looks, but that was about to change with the upcoming requirements, which were good acting skills as you would have to fit in different roles, a health fitness certificate and if you don't have a recent health certificate proof a doctor would be there to check you and validate your results, A decent studio photo will be necessary should you succeed in the interview.

It also said that a valid means of identification would be needed to certify your identity and your educational qualifications would be needed too. The post also said you are allowed to submit a picture where you have some disguise on for people who wouldn't want their job to interfere with their private life but for the physical interview, you have to attend without any disguise and moderate make-up that the interviewers can accurately assess your appearance and fulfil some other minor requirements, which Vanessa had no issue with.

Since the interview was by 2:30 pm, and it was already noon, she immediately filled out an online application on the website to schedule an appointment. Vanessa decided to skip her afternoon lectures and try out for the job. There was no harm in trying, right? She packed her things and left the library. She caught a bus and hurried back to her apartment, which was empty because Cynthia had already gone to school. 

She scanned through her bag looking for anything suitable to wear. She found a simple knee-length sleeveless flare gown her aunt got for her last year. To cut expenses, she styled her hair, considering it satisfactory for the interview. Feeling the effects of recent stress, she applied moderate makeup to enhance her appearance, acknowledging that she wasn't at her best. After she was done, she looked dashing.

The dress wasn't revealing, yet it accentuated her attractive figure, highlighting her striking hourglass shape. She matched the gown with a denim jacket and mid-range high heels that were comfortable for walking. Her long blonde hair was left cascading on her back. She also wore blue contact lenses to cover the abnormal purple Iris she had.

When she was little, kids always made fun of her because of her eye colour calling her a weirdo. Some even said she was adopted because of her eyes. No one in her family both from her mother's or father's side she has seen so far has the same weird eyes which made her believe at a time in her life she was actually adopted, but her parents always told her whenever she asked about her eyes that when she was born, they had the same questions, but the doctor assured them that she was their child. They even have a DNA report to prove it, which they showed to her. It was proven that her strange eye colour was due to a genetic mutation. 

It also proved obvious that she was their child because she had blonde hair and both of her parents were blondes. Vanessa was convinced by her parents, but she was still bulled by her neighbourhood children. So her parents had no choice but to move to a new neighbourhood and got her blue contact lenses to hide her eyes, since her father had blue eyes.

Ever since then, she always hid her eye colour or whenever she went out with her purple eyes she always argued it wasn't natural. For the 2 years she has been staying with Cynthia, her roommate has never asked her about her eyes so far. After she was done getting dressed, Vanessa stared at her reflection in her dressing mirror, feeling satisfied with her work. She checked the time to discovered she wasted a lot of time. It was already 2:10 and pm, she was running late for her interview.