Harvest

One year later...

As summer gradually drew its curtains while welcoming the falls, the heavenly fruity scent of the glistening purple hue grapes wafted through the air.

The blazing midday sun shone relentlessly casting its golden light on the breathtaking Rosaltan ville grape field.

The ambrosial scent of nature mixed with the sweet fruity fragrance of ripe grapes was both relaxing and rejuvenating. It filled the heart with so much warmth while reawakening pleasant childhood memories.

Being the harvest season, hundreds of workers were seen laboring tirelessly on the massive Dawson vineyard.

These enthusiastic skilled workers were found on every row of the vineyard, picking grapes bunch by bunch.

While some used sharp knives to cut grapes off the vine, others used clippers.

The snipped-off bunches of grapes were carefully dropped into containers located throughout the rows of vines.

Supervisors were also seen moving between rows and inspecting the work of the grape pickers. They ensured that work ran smoothly and only the best grapes were put into the basket container.

Amongst these few supervisors was the pretty Stella Peterson formally known as Abigail Woods Felan..

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The Dawson Vineyard.

The Dawson vineyard was one of the most popular and vast in all of Rosaltan Ville.

Just like every other harvest season, the Dawson family employed hundreds of workers to assist in the hand-picking of ripe wine grapes.

Unlike other vineyards in Rosaltan Ville, which usually adopted the mechanized system of harvesting wine grapes, the Dawson family believed strongly in the traditional system.

This was because selecting the best bunches and avoiding sunburn or vine rot was something they believed only a human could do.

The Dawson family was very intentional when employing workers in their vineyard.

These workers were often selected based on their experience in the field as the hand-picking process often required skilled pickers to be selective.

Hence years of working experience and zealousness were crucial prerequisites to gaining a job in the vineyard.

However, these two vital requirements were overlooked the day the beautiful Stella Peterson (formally known as Abigail Woods Felan) came looking for a job in the Dawson vineyard.

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It was exactly one year ago, during the previous year's harvest season, when Stella came down to the Dawson vineyard in search of a job.

All Stella offered on the table was her determination to work hard to earn a living. However, due to her lack of experience and fragile nature, she wasn't considered fit for the job until Clinton Domino came to her rescue.

Clinton Domino, a junior field supervisor, was temporarily asked to stand in for one of the recruiters. Seeing this as a predestined opportunity to woo the beautiful young lady, he cunningly employed her.

He gave her the job of a pruner and stationed her close to the vineyard rows where he usually worked.

However, to Clinton's surprise and disappointment, all the beautiful Stella offered him was her angelic smiles and lots of gratitude.

She never once engaged him in his idle chitchat, neither did she encourage his frequent dotting around her. Instead, she handled him like a tough elder sister who didn't give room for passivity.

Also, another thing that got Clinton more attracted to Stella was her hard-working and persevering spirit.

For a beautiful lady who could get anything she wanted by pressing the right buttons, Stella preferred working for every dime she earned. She never for once asked for help or allow any man to pay her bills.

According to most of the workers on the field, Stella was more Industrious than the majority of the local girls.

Another thing Clinton observed about Stella was her smartest. He discovered that she was way too intelligent for the naive country girl she claimed to be.

Being a middle school dropout, Clinton had a fair knowledge of a few things but Stella on the other hand, knew a lot of things that his brain couldn't process.

Over time, Stella upgraded from being a pruner to a vine dresser due to her diligence and dedication.

It didn't take long before Stella's hard work began to pay off. Her meticulousness, problem-solving skills, smartness with numbers, and ability to learn new things at a fast rate got the attention of the chief vineyard manager, Mr Alfred Mancho.

Alfred was amazed by the beautiful and very hard-working girl who appeared to be too intelligent for an ordinary uneducated country girl. He was left speechless by her level of brilliance with numbers and her ability to learn things faster than those who claimed to be college graduates.

However, unknown to Alfred, Stella was an ingenious mathematician and an actual college graduate in her previous secret life.

Alfred was so impressed and overwhelmed by Stella's performance that he instantly promoted her to Junior field supervisor, which was the same rank as Clinton.

Unlike Clinton who got his promotion after almost three years of working in the field, Stella, got her first promotion three months after she got employed.

As if the humiliation of working within the same rank as the lady he cheated to employ wasn't bad enough, Stella was given another promotion to senior field supervisor after three months of her first promotion. This instantly made Clinton her junior in rank and answerable to her.

Hence, Clinton was forced to work relentlessly under his new senior supervisor because everyone knew that Stella didn't give room for any form of tardiness or laziness on the job. She was extremely strict and goal-oriented.

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Back to the present.

Stella was busy inspecting a row at the far East end of the vineyard when she caught sight of a man plucking some grapes into his hands and happily munching on them.

Thinking this man was one of the newly employed grape pickers who was not only idling away but stealing from the vineyard, Stella instantly lost her cool.

"Hey, you! What in God's name do you think you are doing?" Stella asked authoritatively. Her tone was both lined with perplexity and anger.

The young handsome man slowly turned around while throwing more grapes into his mouth and stared at the extremely pretty and riled lady talking to him.

He was about to say something when the angry lady walked up to him and slapped the grapefruit he had taken time to pluck off his open hands.