10

Thailah awoke to find herself in the small flat she had managed to get a few weeks before the Benjamin incident. She got out of bed and went to the restroom to prepare for the day. It was the big job opening day, and she was hoping to land the position that paid 10 times more than her previous one. At the very least, she reasoned, she could relocate her mother to the city permanently in a month's time.

When she turned on the shower, warm drops of water landed on the surface of her back. Then she reflected on the previous week and the decisions she had taken.

A part of her chided her for being stupid and letting Benjamin slide through her fingers. Another part of her thought she did the right thing since it was the only way to protect herself. How could he? She pondered. How could he keep such vital information from her? He could have informed her right away that he was Benjamin Caliwell, and she wouldn't have had to bother him.

She was so naive to believe she could have anything to do with the social elite, let alone a Caliwell. Staying away from them would have protected her from Mrs. Caliwell's shame that day, though she was relieved it wasn't done publicly.

She had the impression that Benjamin was somehow involved in everything. He could have attempted to call her if he hadn't forgotten, but he never did. Never in her life would she be so dumb again, she told herself as she exited the shower.

She then changed into a body-con formal light blue gown and she put on her favorite pair of flat shoes to go with the outfit. Then she went to the kitchen to have breakfast. She'd bought a box of cereal and had been surviving on it for the previous four days since her forced departure from the country side. Her mother's cuisine and the coffee shop were both missed by her.

She should have been brewing hot coffee while her mother made some good morning treats, but instead she was eating cold cereal.

"Don't worry, mother; your supergirl has this covered; I'll make you proud," she added, as if her mother were present.

To be great, she didn't need a guy to adore her; all she needed was to keep her head straight and develop her own empire, she told herself.

She cleaned up after finishing the bowl of cereal, then gathered the relevant paperwork and left the flat.

She stepped out of the apartment and down the steep staircase.

She was nearly panting when she came downstairs. She cursed them silently for failing to repair the elevator.

She then left the building and waited for a bus on the sidewalk because she couldn't afford to take a taxi. Taking a taxi would swiftly deplete her cash reserves, and she'd be a poorer by the end of the month. Plus it was her first time in the big city of Efla, in southern Capa Nividor. The cost of living in the northern part she had stayed in was rumoured to be cheaper.

Finally, the bus arrived, and she boarded it. She sat near to the window and put in her earphone to drown out the commotion on the bus. She wished she had worn a nose mask because the stink was terrible.

Maybe because she wasn't accustomed to it, and it was only a year ago that their lives were turned upside down. She was never wealthy, but she was middle-class enough to afford a cab journey.

After what felt like an eternity of riding, the bus came to a halt exactly opposite the firm she applied to. She told herself that it would make her life much easier once she obtained the job. She stood up to get off the bus as soon as it came to a halt. That's when she realised she'd put her hand on chewed gum. It had plastered to the hand of her dress like a large red lump.

"It had to happen on the day of my interview, great!" she murmured to herself.

She quickly got off the bus so she wouldn't keep the bus driver waiting, because it was presumably her fault for not looking at the seat properly, when it was actually the driver's fault for not cleaning up his bus. She definitely got on the wrong bus because it looked filthy, but she didn't have time to be selective as she was already late for the interview.

She walked over to the other side of the road, where the firm was, and tried to scrape off as much of the gum as she could. That grossed her out since she had no idea whose mouth it had been through. She almost puked, but she consoled herself with the idea that she would most likely get the job.

When she was finished, the gum was no longer a lump; it was glued on the fabric, but it spread out a bit like a stain.

"Can it get any worse?" she remarked.

She then stopped trying to get off the stain, and she walk inside the firm, since she had already wasted a lot of time.

She approached the big glass sliding doors, which were all plated in gold and bore the letter "L." in cursive writing. The door swung open, and she entered the structure. She was greeted with a massive blast of air conditioning, which she really needed to soothe her tensions from earlier.

When she noticed a lady at the counter, she ran over to her and she guided her to the interview room. The lady's voice rang in her ear as the elevator ascended up, she had to hope she wasn't late. She exited the elevator at the third floor and struggled down the corridor to the precise room she was directed to.

A voice from the room remarked, "I will examine the performance and report back to you, sir."

"Please wait!" she screamed.

She sped up her feet and hurried inside the room, where she saw an older guy in a suit carrying some files and closing another door in the room. The man turned back to face her and said to her,

"And how may I assist you, ma'am?"

"I... I've come for the interview," she stammered.

"Which interview?" the man inquired, adjusting his spectacles to adequately see her.

She came in like she owned the place, despite the fact that the interview had concluded more than 10 minutes before.

"For the post of manager," she responded quickly, attempting to seem confident.

"If you'll excuse me, I have some work to do, and that position has been closed," he remarked. Then he purposefully touched shoulders with her before walking away.

"Please, sir, you do not understand, I really need this job," she said, attempting to stop him.

"Then you should have arrived sooner," he said, not looking back.

"I... encountered an issue..."

"Well, nobody cares!" he said as he whirled around and shouted at her.

Thailah halted in shock—she hadn't expected him to be that harsh; perhaps she had pushed too hard, she reasoned. The mean old guy remained gazed at her when the door to the inner room opened, and she heard a familiar voice ask,

"What exactly is going on here?"