In my twenty six years of living, I'd dated only a total of three men; all memorable bastards in their own rights. Of the three, William Illston was the second and had irrevocably meant the most. He taught me love and heartbreak, both of which I was unprepared for.

It had been nearly seven years since that chapter had closed but every now and then when my mind was a bit fuzzy, I reminisced about everything and all that went awry.

In my feelings, I imagined we'd meet again but never like this; not with me at my lowest and he at his highest. It just wasn't fair, I deserved a little compensation.

"My personal driver will take you, that's his number and here's my debit card for the purchase of everything." He handed me two cards which I collected.

"Pin?" I asked.

"My birthday." He turned and walked behind the large brown desk.

"I don't know that," I said and he looked at me, "you can't expect me to have kept something as irrelevant as that, it's been a minute."

"It has indeed been a minute," he nodded, then suddenly asked, almost genuinely, "how have you been?" His eyes softened and I nearly scoffed.

"The pin?" I asked again.

"I told you it is my birthdate."

"But I don't know it."

"Your second assignment then, find out or remember my birthdate." He proudly sat down on the black office chair.

"Is it even safe for a billionaire to have his debit card pin as his birthday?" I murmured.

"Oh and miss Duhamels, if my office isn't transformed before noon on Friday, you're fired." He smiled unapologetically.

"Asshole." I murmured underneath my breath again, on my way out.

This is going to be a long day.

And it was.

I, in truth really did not remember William's birthday date and had to rely on the assurance of internet sources.

"It's still crazy how you and Heather landed secretarial jobs with the hot new CEO." Joanne whistled as she swirled her chair on its axis.

"He is very handsome, try not to fall in love yet chica." Isabella winked and I almost grimaced.

"Impossible, trust me," I laughed knowingly, "I have to go now but I'll be back."

"Bye Ophelia," they waved.

The most part of my day was spent on my feet. I believed I could look to the driver for guidance but he was as clueless as I, if not more. We circled around the city, undecided on what furniture shop to patronize, for the first few minutes of the trip. Nearly an hour later, the car parked in the parking lot of a big furniture shopping complex.

The first twenty minutes of the ride, I'd admit I spent convincing myself not to quit and at least wait for my first paycheck.

"This just arrived from Italy yesterday. It's a whole set." Camilla, the manager of the store said. I spared the large table, chairs, couches, shelves and other accessories a minute's glance.

"Looks good enough for his ego. I'll take it." I smiled at her.

"Great, I'll need your card and then you fill a few forms and get your receipt and we can have it delivered to your place of work tomorrow evening at the latest and have everything arranged and installed Friday morning."

"Okay, here's the card."

I punched in what I believed to be his pin but the machine showed it was incorrect. I tried the pin again in another format but it remained incorrect. I smiled at the manager who now stared at me suspiciously.

"I forget sometimes." I smiled nervously. My mind consciously thought about the cards he gave me. I quickly brought the second one out of my bag. On it, were handwritten numbers which I immediately punched in. The payment went through and I sighed in relief. But in my heart, I swore and cussed the man that was now my boss.

"Thank you Camilla." I said to her once all the payments and necessary protocols were completed then left the shop.

"I should just quit, right now I should just-"

"Miss?"

I turned and saw the driver behind me. I blinked and realized I'd missed the car by a few.

"Ha, I got carried away." I chuckled. During the duration of the ride to the office, I remained angry and embarrassed.

"Thank you for the ride Jay." I said before exiting the black car.

"No problem Miss."

The parking lot elevator took me straight up to the highest floor and the cooling vents inside did nothing in the slightest, to digest or reduce my anger. I was fuming. My feet moved fast. Soon, his door opposed me. I barely noticed the seated Heather who said a few words in a rushed tone. Without care, I unceremoniously barged into his office.

"Funny, your pin almost didn't-" I started but stopped on seeing he had a guest.

"Miss Duhamels is there a problem?" He glared at me from behind his desk. His guest briefly turned and I saw it was a woman covered in a scarf and sunglasses.

"I just wanted to return your card." I walked forward and dropped the card. My eyes did not meet his but my body felt the heat of his gaze. I might not even have the opportunity to quit now. Nothing else was said as I left the office.

"I was trying to say he has a guest." Heather grimaced.

"I should have probably knocked." I smiled a little sheepishly.

"How was furniture shopping?" She asked.

"Tiring," I sat down opposite her, "shoot, I need to get these extra desks removed."

"Just one maybe, Mr Illston said something about needing a seat for his actual PA from Illston tech but I don't know."

"Oh, okay. Well, I'll go find someone to help me with it then." Heather nodded. Just as I stood to leave, the office doors to William's office opened and he and the covered woman stepped out.

"Remember what we talked about." He said.

She nodded and hurriedly walked away. "Miss Duhamels, my office now," the doors shut with a loud thud.

Heather stared at me sympathetically and I exhaled. My hands patted my plain black skirt down. Entering his office, he was back behind the large desk. He looked unhappy. Good.

"You can enter."

"I don't remember knocking." I said and walked forward till only the dark wood separated us.

"Exactly, you didn't knock. Also you barged in to my office, uninvited."

"You want an apology?"

"You want to get fired?"

"No, sir but you made a fool out of me, that should be against all work protocols, I looked stupid and suspicious inputting in the wrong pin."

"You must be stupid to believe my birthdate as the password to a card billed to an account holding billions of dollars."

I held my tongue back and only glared at him.

"Do you have anything else to say Miss Duhamels?" He asked and I reluctantly shook my head, "good, you can leave."

"Okay." I slammed the door on my way out and leaned against it for a few scant seconds.

"I hope you are not in trouble?" I opened my eyes and saw Heather standing not to far off from me.

"No, not really, I'm just a bit tired, is today really just the first day working for him? Feels like it's been years."

"I know right." Heather laughed as she walked back to her black, foam swivel chair. The intercom on the table buzzed and Heather picked it. She murmured a few 'yes sirs and okay sirs' then dropped it.

"Mr Illston wants us to draw up a schedule for him for the rest of the week. Some guys already sent up these laptops and connected them so he said to send the schedule to his mail," Heather said, "Illston tech laptops by the way, and they are super cool." She grinned.

"Is that you being patriotic, modest or looking for a raise?" I laughed.

"A bit of everything." She giggled.

Thankfully, the rest of the day had me seated and busy till half past seven when Heather and I clocked out. We took the subway together and parted ways about two streets before my apartment.

"Blondie, how's that rent coming along?"

My head hit the door and I groaned. The man was definitely more stealthy than he looked.

"It's not yet time to pay Jiggy but thank you for your concern again." I smiled tightly.

"Smart mouth, April is almost here, you'd better have that rent." He pointed his stubby finger at me then staggered along.

I pulled my shirt free from my skirt the second my body was in my apartment and shut the door. It had been a long day, almost too long but I remained in my living room calculating costs. My salary collection date coincided with my rent due date perfectly. I smiled at the thought of extra money and rent for Jiggy.

I felt the buzz of my phone before the ring tone began. I fished it out of my handbag and slowly answered the call.

"Hey mom."

"How are you P?"

"Good, just got back from work." I stretched my feet out and pulled off my shoes.

"How was it today?"

"Good but tiring and mom you'd never believe what I'm about to tell you."

"I'm listening," she said eagerly.

"You remember my ex from college?"

"How can I forget, the summer after your breakup was one of the worse." She sighed and I smiled. It had been a tough summer.

"Well he's now super rich and bought the company I work at." I rolled my eyes.

"What? Have you seen him? I hope he hasn't seen you or you him. Phelia, do you not want to continue working there? It's okay if you don't honey, just come back home and your dad and I will sort out everything for you-"

"Mom," I interrupted her and she paused, "It's okay, honestly. It's been a long, long time and a lot has happened since then and frankly there's no love lost between us. Everything is okay."

"I'm being a little silly then eh?" She asked and I laughed in response.

"It's good to hear you laughing and happy P, I understand what you are going through and how you wish to sort everything out but if you need mine or your father's help, we are only one call away, okay?"

"Yes mom, I know."

"Good and call your sister too okay?"

"Sure." I sighed heavily.

"Call her P, I mean it."

"Goodnight mom, I love you and say hi to dad for me."

"Goodnight P, love you too." She said before the call ended. I leaned back into the couch and sighed again. Tomorrow would probably be another long day as well.

***

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