Chapter 2: The Day

Zarah woke up ten minutes before her alarm rang. Her head felt like it was going to break. She only had two hours of sleep; more like a nap than a proper sleep.

However, she was fine with it since she had five hours of sleep yesterday before she went to the park where Olivia saw her.

She could no longer remember the night in which she had a proper sleep. The longest could be two and a half, the quickest was an hour.

Calling her busy was an understatement.

She looked at the space beside her and she realized that Josh had not come back home yet.

She grabbed her phone to check if there was any message he sent but to her disappointment, there was none.

Zarah frowned and gave it a thought before sending him a message instead.

After hitting the 'SEND' button, she placed it back on her bedside table so she could start her routine.

It was now five minutes before four in the morning.

She had four hours to prepare for her internship at the company which would start at eight in the morning.

Since Josh was not yet home, she decided to cook breakfast and the food she'd be bringing for lunch.

She had a feeling that Josh might be going directly to the company rather than dropping by their apartment first to have a bath and change into his office outfit

She decided to pack him a meal and delivered it to his company just like how she would always do on weekday mornings.

Irving Corp. and Stevens Group company buildings were three blocks away from each other. If she would walk, she'd still make it in time later.

After preparing their food, she then turned her attention to Xander who was meowing as he was hungry.

After giving him food and water, then cleaning his bed, and lastly throwing the p**p in his litter box, she went to take a shower and had breakfast before she started getting dressed.

Zarah grabbed a black knee-length skirt and paired it with a baby blue long-sleeved shirt.

She tied her long hair into a low ponytail. Her eyelashes were already thick, and long so she didn't have to apply mascara.

She naturally had pinkish, healthy, and glowing porcelain-white skin however, her constant sleep deprivation caused them to look dry and unhealthy. Good thing her skin was not acne prone so she didn't have any break-outs on her face.

The stress and lack of sleep caused her to have big dark circles and large eyebags underneath her eyes so she needed to cover them with makeup today or she would look like a ghost on the very first day of her internship.

She looked pale and sickly, too.

She had no time for any dermatologist appointments and so she was investing in the best skincare products available on the market to save her skin. Good thing she found a few products that were suitable for her skin type and didn't get adverse reactions.

Still, all of them were temporary. The best treatment was still getting enough hours of rest and hydration.

Good thing she knew how to apply minimal makeup on her face so all of those imperfections were hidden.

A deep determination flashed inside her deep green eyes while trying to push back the tiredness she felt.

Unless she won't collapse due to exhaustion, she won't stop.

Who would have thought the young and petite child back then would grow into a beautiful maiden?

She was thankful for having good genes and that all of those mentioned above didn't make her look ugly. She was naturally beautiful without makeup and with a good amount of sleep. She had big and round green eyes, naturally thick eyebrows that were perfectly trimmed, a small nose with a high nose bridge, and lastly, a full and luscious lip. All of them fitted on her small heart-shaped face.

Zarah grabbed her five-inch heeled shoes and wore them. She grabbed her bag which had her phone and wallet inside, the two lunch packs, and her laptop bag which had her MacBook inside. After making sure that she hadn't forgotten anything, she left the apartment.

Just as she planned, she walked from their apartment building to Irving Corporation and from there, she'd walk to the Stevens Group building.

It took her five minutes to reach the building and she was greeted by the guards at the entrance.

Good thing the weather was cold so she didn't break a sweat.

It's seven o'clock in the morning. It was still very early for any of the employees to be around unless they were so dedicated to the job.

As usual, Zarah boarded the private elevator which sent her to Josh's Director's Office.

As the only son of the Irving family, he was destined to be his father's successor.

The CEO was his uncle but in time, Josh would be replacing him.

Zarah passed by Josh's secretaries' cubicle before she reached the door. Since she's an outsider to the company, Zarah had no right to enter the office without Josh's permission.

So she placed the packed lunch box on Camille's table. Camille was Josh's first secretary.

Zarah left a note before she left the floor and eventually left the building.

While she was on her way out of the company building, she bumped into Camille.

"Good morning, Miss Jansen!", Camille politely greeted her.

"Good morning, Miss Right. You came so early today?"

"Ahm...I have just gotten back from an out-of-town trip. To not be late, I decided to come to the company as soon as I arrived this morning." Camille explained but somehow Zarah felt something after hearing the explanation.

"Really? Well, Josh is lucky to have you as his secretary because of your dedication to the job, Miss Right."

"Well, I'm lucky to have an employer like Mr. Irving, Miss Jansen." The way Camille uttered Josh's last name was very different from how she would usually do in the past.

Camille had been working at the company since three months ago. And they had exchanged casual conversations every time she dropped by to visit Josh whenever she had available time.

"Oh! By the way, I left Josh's breakfast and lunch at your table. Please give it to him when he arrives." Zarah reminded her and Camille nodded her head.

The two then parted ways and walked in different directions.

However, unknown to Zarah, Camille's gaze changed as if she was mocking her.

Zarah on the other hand felt unsettled after she had that brief exchange with Camille. Nonetheless, she decided to push the feeling to the back of her head.

For now, she had to be ready for her internship.

The clock said that it was thirty minutes after the hour of seven in the morning. Her fellow interns were also arriving one by one inside the waiting lounge.

Zarah was not someone who would easily warm up to anyone. Therefore, as usual, she stayed at the back and waited for their supervisor to arrive.

This was not the first time that she had set foot in this building, so she was very familiar and less excited, unlike the other interns.

She would accompany Isaiah sometimes when she missed his presence but would use the private exit in getting inside.

Only a few key employees knew about her existence. She was hoping that they won't disclose her relationship with Isaiah to the other employees for the entire duration of her internship.

At exactly eight in the morning, the higher-ranked executives of the company lined up outside the building to welcome the arrival of the CEO of the company.

The interns were not interested to see him because aside from him being old and unattractive, they saw a few exposé about him leaked by an unknown source to the media and general public.

The present CEO was Isaiah's first-born son named Nikolai Stevens. Being the first-born child, he had the privilege to take over the company on behalf of his father's absence should the latter not appoint anyone.

However, news of him being a gambling addict was exposed by the media so many lost their confidence in him.

The company employees also disliked his management style. Thus, many were secretly praying that the Board would kick him out of the position and appoint someone more capable than him.

Just then, a commotion occurred at the entrance as five cars entered the building's compound and pulled over in front of them. They were not the same entourage that they'd welcome every weekday morning.

The executives looked at each other as if they were equally clueless.

Even before the murmurs subsided, the passengers of the cars slowly got out of the car one by one. And everyone gasped in shock as soon as the main car's door opened.

A very tall young man with a face like that of a god came out. He was an embodiment of an overbearing CEO in romantic novels. There was an air of mystery around him. He looked cold and aloof.

Behind him were two good-looking men.

"Who is he?" Everyone had the same question in their minds.

However, this man's identity was then revealed to everyone when Isaiah's young Executive Assistant came to the entrance to welcome him.

He was sweating profusely like he had run a marathon.

"Mr. Xavier Lockhart! Please forgive me for being late." He bowed his head in apology.

Just then, a hoarse yet sexy baritone voice came out from him.

"It's fine. What took you so long?" Xavier asked him and he replied, "I received the notice late early this morning and so, I had to arrange for people to clean the CEO's office at the last minute. I hope you will feel comfortable staying there from now on, CEO Lockhart."

"What?! CEO?"

"Excuse me, Assistant Floyd but what about CEO Stevens?" One of the executives asked him.

They feared that CEO Stevens used the company as part of his bet in the casino and lost miserably that's why this man was visiting them to claim the company.

With Nikolai's gambling addiction, anything could happen. Though they found it hard to accept they slowly conditioned their minds that for the first time, their boss would no longer be a Stevens.

Mr. Floyd turned to them and took the opportunity to introduce this man to everyone.

"CEO Stevens won't be stepping into the company starting today. From now on, CEO Xavier Lockhart will be our only CEO."

There was a hidden meaning behind how he introduced Xavier to everyone.

"It's my last-minute decision to come over today. Nevertheless, I hope you'll give me the same respect you have for my father as your new CEO and have good cooperation." Xavier said his wishes which caused another stir from the crowd.

The employees inside were all shocked, too. They weren't informed that their highest executive was replaced overnight. The revelation that he was Isaiah's other son was equally shocking.

All this time, they thought that Isaiah only had two sons, Nikolai and Franklin.

Thanks to the person who left the door of the holding area open, the waiting interns were able to hear the hottest gossip.

Zarah heard it too. However, she thought that this man had the same attitude as his brothers and so she decided to not pay attention to him.

"Father? Are you CEO Steven's adopted son?" One executive blurted out. They received a rumor that Isaiah brought an adopted child when he came back from his indefinite leave. And he thought that Xavier was that child.

Mr. Floyd answered him immediately so there won't be any misunderstanding, "No. Mr. Lockhart is Chairman Steven's legitimate and biological son."

He left the rest for everyone to speculate rather than giving all the details. The important thing was to make this man comfortable on his first day.

After he divorced his wife, Isaiah didn't make any announcement of his second marriage nor made their child known to the public because it was his wife's wish to stay private.

Now, these executives were stunned to know the identity of this man.

He secretly looked at him and saw that he was unaffected by people's reactions.

He decided to walk straight to the entrance and leave those dumbfounded executives behind.

They bowed their heads in respect yet they were a little too late. He and his envoys were already marching towards the lobby of the building.

Every stride he made exudes his unique charisma which captivated everyone other than Zarah.

They were gushing over his handsomeness while the male employees became insecure around him.

The new CEO was finally inside the building and everyone bowed their heads with respect.

Since no one briefed them, the employees inside were clueless about what to do. They decided to mimic the executives outside and bowed their heads, too.

Even the interns were not exempted and were asked to pay respect.

His first minutes in the company didn't turn out well because they were unprepared to welcome him. However, he didn't show any signs of anger to everyone. Therefore, they thought that he was going to be a relaxed and an easy-going CEO.

However, they were proven wrong later on.

Xavier then looked around him and he smirked when he saw everyone's reaction to his arrival. However, his steps faltered when he saw that someone was not looking at him but on her phone.

Little did Zarah know, that her actions touched his ego.

Since everyone's attention was on him, the moment he stopped, the crowd became curious about where he was looking. They followed Xavier and saw Zarah busy with her phone.

"Do you recognize her, Mr. Lockhart?" Mr. Floyd asked him.

"No." There was a glimpse of disappointment in Mr. Floyd's eyes.

Then, Xavier made his first announcement as the new CEO.

"Even though I'll be formally taking office next week, I'll announce my first policy; next week, no using of mobile phones during working hours or while you're inside the company."

Everyone was dumbfounded and became silent. Then they looked in Zarah's direction and started blaming her for this new policy.

Zarah could feel that something was off and so she looked up and saw their dagger gazes. "Keep your phone away." One intern told her and Zarah kept it inside her bag.

"Excuse me, Mr. CEO. If that's the case, what are we going to use to communicate with our workmates?"

"The company will provide every staff their pagers. I'll give the company a week to set this up."

To set an example, he showed his pager for everyone to see and his people showed theirs, too.

"But what about in the case of emergency?"

This time, the man standing on his left took over and answer the question, "Your family members may call the company's customer relations hotlines, and our team will redirect the call to the recipient."

To make sure that there was no confusion, he continued, "A new Company Policy Manual will be distributed to everyone. Any questions will be clarified there."

Xavier and his team didn't stay longer in the lobby and decided to enter the elevator.

Because of this incident, Zarah became the most hated intern in the company.

***