Isabella

"I did the right thing, right?"

"Of Course. You need the job."

"But it's Vernon! The person I am trying my best to stay away from. Now I have to spend the majority of my day with him."

"It doesn't matter. You are going there to earn money. Stay focused on your work."

"How am I supposed to focus on my work? I couldn't focus right when we were in the car, with two other people. In the office, we will be entirely alone."

"Are you going to jump his bones?"

"Absolutely not! But I don't trust my hormones. What if I tell him that he is the father and Victoria is lying?"

"Honestly woman, what are you scared of? Him finding out the truth of the baby or about your attraction?"

I stared at my reflection, perplexed. I don't have an answer to that. What will be worse? 

Grabbing my hair in frustration, I groaned out loud and laid down on my bed like a starfish, and sighed heavily. I am not scared of him finding out any of both. If anything, he deserves to know that I am carrying his baby, someone whom he can call his own. I don't care what happens to Victoria, she built her relationship with Vernon on a huge lie. She should expect this coming someday and if Vernon finds about my feelings, that is fine too. Having feelings for someone is not a crime. I have no control over it.

But I am scared of what will happen after he accepts me and my baby.

Every person who has come closer to me has ended up being dead. Finally, I have people around me whom I can call 'my people'. I have Stephanie, Gia, Tyler, Sean, and Vernon but all my relationships with them are like a ticking bomb. I have to leave them as soon as I deliver so that all the secrets would stay hidden.

I can't bear being the reason for someone's death again.

"Ella?" Gia's voice called me after the door opened to my room. I sat on my bed and smiled at her.

"Stephanie gave these." She handed me a white bag. Curiously, I looked inside and found clothes for myself. Surprisingly I didn't feel awkward anymore.

"She is very excited, isn't she?" I asked with a chuckle. Gia just chuckled back in reply.

"Breakfast is ready." She said before exiting my room.

I quickly changed into a baby pink blouse and a black maternity pencil skirt. The fabric was so comfortable that it made me smile and instantly lifted my mood. It's true, dressing up does make you feel better.

As I am entering my second trimester, my belly is growing every day. It was an assurance that the baby is growing healthily. That reminded me that I have an appointment with Dr. Abigail today. Packing up my things in a purse, I left my room to feed myself and the baby.

"Good morning!" Stephanie greeted me in excitement and hugged me.

"Good morning, Stephanie!" I replied with a chuckle and patted her back.

"What makes you so happy?" I asked as we both walked towards the dining table to have breakfast.

"You!" Stephanie exclaimed while smiling like a child on Christmas. "You agreed to work with Vernon." She added. "I was worried about you and I know you won't accept any help or favors so I wanted to help you find a job where you can work hard." Stephanie smiled at me warmly. As I looked at her, my mother's face flashed before my eyes.

My heart felt heavier when the image of my mom sitting beside me instead of Stephanie and her smiling proudly at me was pictured in my mind. I wish she was here. I miss her so much.

"Thank you!" I replied to Stephanie in a low voice. My eyes were beginning to tear up.

Gia served us breakfast and we had a little chat while eating.

"You're ready?" I heard Vernon's voice from behind me. I turned around and stared at him with my mouth full of food. I just nodded in reply. "I'll wait in the car." He said. "Since it's your first day and I have a meeting, I'll give you a ride," Vernon added.

"Breakfast?" Stephanie asked Vernon. "No mom, I don't have time. I'll have something in the office." He smiled at his mother and walked away before she could reply.

"I should get going too," I said after swallowing my food and stood up. I waved the ladies goodbye and walked out of the house to my first day in a corporate.

Sitting with Vernon still felt uncomfortable but it was a discomfort that I liked. Throughout the car ride, I kept telling myself that this was completely wrong. I need to control my feelings before I end up getting hurt or worse, hurting someone. To reason me I counted the pros and cons, the cons outnumbered the pros by a large number. I sighed thinking about it.

"Are you okay?" Vernon asked me.

"Yes," I replied. "Why?"

"You have been sighing like that for a while now." He replied.

"Just nervous." I tried my best to smile at him. "I've never worked for a corporate before."

"I know, your resume stated that. Your work is however simple. I hope you can handle that." He said.

"What is my work?" I asked.

"I'll tell you when we get there." Vernon then shifted his attention to his phone that had a document open. He continued reading it until we reached the office building. The building was so tall it was almost a 75-storey building. I wonder why he needed so many storeys but then again, it's a million-dollar company so there must be too much work so they needed the space or maybe it's just to flaunt their money.

I grew nervous thinking about the amount of work I'll be having. I have no problem doing physical work but never I imagined myself sitting on a desk and working a 9 to 5 job. I couldn't help but sigh again.

Suddenly I felt something touch my hand and I flinched. It was instinctive. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." Vernon apologized as his hand hovered above mine. "It's okay. I was just surprised." I said. Vernon's hand gently landed on mine again and he gave a gentle squeeze. "You don't have to worry so much. I know you don't have the education or qualification for this job and probably feel burdened by the fact that you are here on mom's recommendation but you have one thing that qualifies you for this job." He said.

"What?"

"My trust." He answered.

I felt like my heart stopped for a second. I didn't know whether to be happy that he trusted me or be guilty of that fact. I have nothing but betrayed him from the beginning and still, he is here saying that he trusted me.

"Do you give out jobs based on trust?" I asked, jokingly. "Until yesterday you believed I was going to murder your mom."

"My mom seems to trust you and I trust her judgment." He answered. Vernon gave my hand one last squeeze before getting out of the parked car. My eyes were fixated on my hand that he just left and sighed again. As I vacated the car I thought, "One day I'm going to empty my lungs with these sighs."

As soon as we were out of the car I noticed we were parked at an empty parking lot. "This is the VIP parking space," Vernon said while walking towards the entrance. "You don't need to know everything around the office because it is simply too big to show. I'll only show you places that you need to know." He spoke as we walked through a passage that led to an elevator with gold plating. "Eric will later show you how you can come in every day from the main entrance." He added.

The elevator doors opened and we entered. I have worked at Hotel Royale before, which is one of the fanciest hotels but this elevator is twice as big as the one we had there. How much space do VIP people need?

I looked at the button that shined on the side and it said 75th floor. How long was it going to take us to reach there? There was one lone button above that in silver, standing out amongst the gold-colored ones but it was blank, no number or letter. I wondered what floor it was.

"What's that for?" I asked him.

"One of the things you don't need to know." He answered without even looking at it.

20 seconds.

That's all it took for us to reach the 75th floor. I was beyond amazed. We walked out of the elevator and turned left. I walked behind him however I curiously looked at the path that went right. I didn't ask him this time, knowing very well the answer now.

The corridor opened to a huge space that had a long desk in between two doors. A lady sat behind the desk and stood up when she saw us.

"Good morning, Sir!" She greeted Vernon. Her eyes then moved to me after Vernon gave her a nod and she smiled. "Good morning!" She greeted me. I mimicked her smile and greeted her back.

"This is Christine." Vernon introduced. "She keeps a record of my tasks." He added. "This is Ella. My assistant." He looked at Christine. I noticed her frowning for a brief moment before replacing it with a smile and gave me an acknowledging nod again.

"That door is the conference room and that door is my cabin." He pointed to the doors on her left and right respectively. "That is the waiting area." He added and pointed to the opposite side of the room towards a couch placed. That couch suddenly brought back memories. I didn't realize this before. I was here with Veronica that day. That time I was so busy in my thoughts that I never noticed any of this before.

"Ella?" Vernon called me. "Yes?" I looked back at him. He was already in front of the door to his cabin. "Yes!" I realized I had zoned out again reliving the memories and walked behind him.

The brown door.

It was as same as before. The door that I wish held someone else that day.

I sighed, again.

Walking behind Vernon, we entered his cabin. I never noticed how dark it was before. Surely it looked chic but it was too dark for my liking. The walls, the furniture were all black and the dark decor shone under yellow lighting. There was a floor-to-ceiling window in front of us and behind his black leather chair that had a beautiful city view.

That black chair where she sat.

The events replayed in my mind, making me shut my eyes. It was physically painful for me with all this stress. Why is there so much drama in my life?

"Are you okay?" Vernon asked me.

"Come on Ella! Get your shit together. You are here to work, not sightseeing and the man in front of you is your boss, not your guide." I mentally scolded myself.

"Yes!" I verbally answered him. "Just a slight headache," I added.

"Ella, I understand you are pregnant and I earlier said some things to you but you need to know that I take my work very seriously. I want all the work done perfectly and on time. I don't care what you are dealing with. If you have some problems or can't do the work at that moment I want you to tell me the moment I assign you the work so I can get it done by someone else. If you agree on something make sure you do it on time." He said. I simply nodded at his words.

"Good. Now, that's your desk." Vernon pointed to a small desk on the right side of the room in front of a shelf. We both walked towards it. "That shelf contains all the files. Like I said earlier, I have a meeting to attend. You go through the files and memorize which file is located where. When I ask for something, I need it immediately. I don't care how you organize them, just do whatever helps you remember." He said.

"That's your task for today, rest I'll have Christine explain to you," Vernon added. His phone dinged and he checked it out before giving me a slight nod. "I'll be leaving then. I won't be coming back for the day, you can leave with Christine and ask her if you need anything." He informed me before leaving the cabin.

Keeping my bag on the desk, I looked around the office. My eyes landed on the id card that laid beside my bag. I picked it up and read the name printed on it.

Ella Meyers

Last time it was Bella Meyers and now Ella, I chuckled thinking that maybe next time it's going to Lla Meyers. I missed seeing Isabella Meyers on my ID. It was my identity until I was forced to hide it.

I spent the entire day with Christine who helped me get to know my way around. She has been working here for five years now. However, when she mentioned that Vernon never really had an assistant before made me wonder why he needed one now? Why didn't he have one before? He runs such a big company. How can he manage all that without an assistant? It sounded so strange.

I managed to make a couple of friends during my lunch break but I had a feeling they were good to me only to get some gossip about Vernon. Nobody knew much about him. He was a mysterious figure to all.

The more time I spent in that building the more I began to wonder, who really is Vernon Morris?

In the evening, Eric came and offered to give me a car ride home but I refused and instead asked for directions to the bus stop. Like Vernon mentioned in the morning, I had to enter from the main entrance tomorrow. I left a couple of hours late because my work was not finished so by the time I reached home it was already dark.

Traveling to work was going to be hectic. The commute is almost around 40 minutes. Luckily because of my pregnancy, I got a seat on the bus. No way can I stand for 40 minutes. I was thinking about trying to take the subway tomorrow.

I entered the house to a chorus of cheers and hootings. Confused, I looked at the crowd gathered there. Tyler was present as well. I then remembered that I didn't inform him about my job. He probably must have waited for me tonight.

When his eyes met mine, I felt a sense of relief for some reason. Unconsciously, I sighed but this time it was a sigh of relief. A sigh that you give out when you lay on your soft bed after a very tiring day. Our lips curled up and we smiled at each other.

"You're home!" Stephanie exclaimed in joy and ran over to me. Bless this woman's, joyful heart.

"Hi!" I laughed at her. From the morning she has been jumping in joy. She looked like she was about to cry in happiness. "What is it?" I asked.

"Vernon and Victoria are engaged!"

***

Hey guys!

Thoughts on this chapter?

I had one question, do you guys have any idea where this story is going? Do you have any theories yet? I am curious to know.

Also, I have a small announcement. I know I missed few deadlines and already October is here 🎃

But suddenly, my exam dates were announced. So I'm busy this month as it's my term finals. Although, I'll write whenever I get the chance, although I'm not so sure about posting.

Already the Watty's entries have started and I'm worried about how to manage studies and writing. I'll keep you guys posted though. Hopefully, I finish it before the submission closes.

Enough about me, tell me what's going on with you? Comment here and we'll have a small chat.

Until next time,
Aastha.

PS: I'm grateful for all the support you guys are giving me. It's helping me in ways I can't express.