"Yes papa, I'm fine. I swear I ate," I tied my shoe strap with one hand while holding the phone in the other, trying to convince papa that I was absolutely fine. Only not.

"Well I'll try to believe you," he mumbled and I heard shifting on the other side.

"You should go back to sleep now. It's pretty early," I said and gulped down the coffee, making my way towards the door.

"Bye sweetheart."

"Bye papa," I cut the call and took a deep breath, trying my best to maintain my composure and not to break down all over again.

Last night when I went to visit papa, the doctors told me that his condition was not getting any better and that they wanted to keep him under observation for a week or two. They said that his blood pressure level, out of nowhere, would shoot up once in a while and they had to give him separate medicines for that because they didn't want to take any chances.

I knew that the doctors were just making it sound like it was a big problem because my papa was fine. He would laugh with me, eat with me, tell me my childhood embarrassing stories and what not. He was okay. And soon he would be home with me. I knew it.

But the stupid tears you know, they just have to come out at the wrong time. While I was sitting with papa and laughing like there was no tomorrow, I started crying and obviously he got worried. I told him that it was fine and I just missed him but my old man just wouldn't listen.

*********

Daniel, who was standing with Jonathan, waved at me as I made my way towards the elevator. I smiled and waved back before entering the elevator. I leaned back on the wall of the elevator and sighed.

No matter how much I tried to ignore it and keep my mind distracted, my thoughts always went back to him. Papa was the only family I had left and I just couldn't lose him. It was like asking me to do something impossible.

I took a few deep breaths and told myself that I wasn't going to lose him. I mean he was all I had left. God couldn't be that unfair, now could he?

The afternoon went by in a blur and I skipped lunch which resulted in Daniel calling me and asking if everything was okay because we usually had lunch together. I obviously fed him a lie about having a lot of work to do and all.

The landline rung and pulled me out of my thoughts as I shook my head to clear my mind and picked up the phone.

"Good Evening, I am Isabelle Reinhart speaking from Flawless Inbounds, how can I help you?" I spoke into the phone and waited for the other person to say something.

"Miss Reinhart could you please come in my office?" Mr. Rhodes said and I rolled my eyes and added a quick 'sure' before standing up and walking towards the door that led me to his office.

I opened the door and nervously stepped inside,

"Yes Mr. Rhodes?" I said in a tiny voice and closed the door behind before stepping a little close to his desk.

He looked up from his laptop towards me. Since that little incident that happened here in his office I was pretty much avoiding making eye contact with him. But I had more stressful things on my mind already so I just let it slip and waited for him to give me another project to complete that required me to stay glued to the laptop screen for hours.

"You have a few hours to pack your stuff and all the things you need. We're leaving for Paris tomorrow morning," he said in a casual tone like it meant nothing while my breath got knocked out of my lungs.

"W-what?" I asked to make sure that I heard him right or if my ears were playing some stupid tricks on me because of the tiredness.

"Did I stutter?" he leaned back on the chair and looked at me with such an intense and calculating gaze that for a second I really thought I was going to pass out then and there.

"Okay...sure, Mr. Rhodes."

I replied and took a step back while a thousand thoughts circled around my head. With everything going around with papa, could I just leave him here alone and fly to Paris with a man who's unfortunately my boss and someone I don't feel comfortable around with?

I didn't ask any questions because he already seemed in a terrible mood and let's just say that I didn't want to piss him off even more. Plus I was already tired enough with getting no sleep last night and the godawful thoughts occupying my mind since morning.

**********

"But how can I leave him alone like that, Zach," I whined and hid my face in my hands and my bestfriend came and sat down right beside me on the bed.

"Look Belle, I'm right here for you and him. I promise I'll get him the the tasteless soup that you feed him every night and I'll even sing him a lullaby if he'd asked," Zach held my hands in his and nodded at me with a promising look in his eyes that did a lot to lower down my anxiety levels.

"Yeah... I'm sorry, I'm just way too stressed about everything you know," I ran a hand down my face and Zach nodded.

He smiled at me and draped his arm around my shoulder so that I rested my head on his shoulder, "It's normal for you to be stressed Belle. Your dad's in the hospital, you just started a job and you're still trying to get used to all the responsibilities and the fact that you're going to Paris with an awfully hot man who happens to be your boss doesn't help either, I know."

I smiled and lightly hit his chest making him chuckle.

"You're gonna be fine, Belle," Zach said and kissed my hair before standing up and walking to my closet.

"So.....any lingeries or thongs you'd want me to put in that bag?"

"Shut up Zach," I laughed and threw a pillow right at him that he obviously caught with ease.

*********

Hello my lovelies!!!!

I hope you liked the chapter.

Don't forget to vote. That would mean a lot ❤️

Until then,

—Your Karma

Peace