Chapter 3
Silvie’s POV
“Good morning.” Kyle’s deep voice sounded through the room and I stared with wide eyes. What the hell was he doing here? And how had he entered the room without seeing him pass by while I sat outside? Unless…
I moved my gaze to the far end of the room opposite me, and as I suspected, there was a door. He’d come in through another entrance. I shifted my gaze back to the man whose presence dominated the room oppressively.
“Good morning.” I greeted in return with a tight smile, making sure to maintain composure.
“Please, have a seat.” One of the female interviewers gestured kindly to the seats opposite their side of the conference table and I moved to sit, gently arranging my tattered bag in my lap.
“Miss. Bates, is it?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Thank you so much for honoring our invitation to interview.” The woman continued. “I am Pearl Woods.” The other two interviewers introduced themselves and then Miss. Pearl continued with a nervous laugh, “Joining us for the first time is our CEO, Kyle Blackwell, who I’m sure you’ve heard of.”
‘Heard of’??? What a joke. I poured my drink on him almost an hour ago. My gaze flitted to Kyle where he sat at the head of the table, watching us quietly and I jumped when I found his eyes already on me. Trembling a little, I immediately averted mine.
According to Pearl, Kyle was joining the interview for the first time. This meant he’d decided to show up for just my time here, huh? My chances were well and truly ruined then because he could only be here to make sure no matter my performance, I wasn’t going to get picked.
The interview kicked off. Even with reason to be discouraged, I still put in my best. Even with the cold feeling of Kyle’s gaze never leaving the side of my face, I didn’t fumble. Soon, the end came and at that point, I just wanted to leave.
“Thank you for coming, Miss. Bates. We’ll get back to you on our decision in a week.” One of the other men said.
“Thank you. I look forward to it.”
I picked my bag and stood up to leave but before I took a step, Kyle of course had other plans. “Wait.” He called.
I swallowed nervously. What could he possibly want? “Yes, Mr. Blackwell?”
“Why do you want to work for this company? What is your motive?”
“My motive?” I asked in confusion. Using such a word, it sounded almost accusatory, like I wanted to be his personal assistant for an ulterior reason which was absurd.
“Yes, Silvie. Your motive.”
We stared at each other, his face expressionless and mine probably looking bewildered. An answer swirled around in my mind and for a moment, I hesitated to say it out, but then I decided—what the hell did I have to lose?
“To be honest, I’m here for the money like literally everyone else.”
A look of surprise came over Kyle’s face at my shocking honesty, and in the next second, he burst into laughter. Kyle’s laugh was a deep and rich sound, akin to something beautifully dangerous like the man himself. I found myself craving more the deeper I listened to it.
The others too started laughing and it all sounded awkward, but I understood they dared not act as though nothing was funny, even though nothing really was.
Smiling just to conform to the mood, I tucked my hair behind my ear. “Can I leave now?”
Kyle sobered up at my request, blue eyes still crinkled with mirth. “Sure. We’ll meet yet again, if my interviewers decide you’re good enough.” And with those same eyes trailing me, I left the conference room.
As I walked down the lobby where the other candidates waited for their turn, something very odd struck me—Back there, Kyle referred to me as Silvie, not Miss. Bates.
Throughout the entire interview, those people had only ever referred to me as Miss. Bates, never Silvie. So how the hell did he know my first name?
A wolf whistle greeted me as I walked into the kitchen entrance of TasteeCloud Cafe.
“Damn, girl!” April called as she lifted sizzling hot fries from the deep fryer. “You’re all dressed up. What’s the occasion?”
Laughing, I dropped my bag, took off my jacket and responded, “Nothing. Can’t I come in for a shift looking nice for once?”
“Don’t get me wrong, babe. You always look hot, but today is special, you can’t deny that. Did you go on a date?” April gasped and her eyes went wide as saucers. “Was it the rich dude from last night?”
“How the hell do you know if he was rich?” I laughed. An apron similar to the one April had on hung off the back of the kitchen door so I picked it and tied it on.
“Are you kidding me? He was sitting in the VIP section of the club. Hell, he dropped off one thousand dollars, in cash, just to get you a drink. Do you think just anyone has that sort of money just laying around in their back pocket?”
“Fine.” I sighed in mock seriousness and sat on a stool, waiting out the few minutes till my shift actually started. “I guess Mr. Rich Dude was actually rich. But no, it wasn’t him.”
“Aha!” April exclaimed as she submerged another batch of raw fries into the fryer and closed it. “So it was a date! Just not with him.”
“No, it wasn’t a date.” I avoided April’s eyes. Now was the time to come clean. “Actually, April… I took your advice and applied for the job opening as Kyle Blackwell’s personal assistant.”
“Oh, really?” April wiped her hands on her apron and came to sit next to me. “I didn’t think you’d actually do it.”
“Yeah, because I don’t usually follow your bad suggestions.”
She laughed and smacked my arm gently, “I’m not the bad influence you make me out to be. But, I’m so happy to hear this! You took a leap for once and if you get picked, so much in your life will change for the better.”
“Please, don’t get my hopes up. It’ll make the disappointment hurt far more than it should. Besides, I really don’t think I’ll be getting picked because I might have fucked my chances up… monumentally…”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Blushing in embarrassment as I recalled the memory, I shared my encounter with Kyle before my actual interview and April is watching me with her jaw hanging.
“Oh. Shit.”
I grimaced. “Yup.”
“It was an honest accident, though… Surely, he wouldn’t try to punish you for that?” April soothed. But almost immediately, she frowned at her own words. It was Kyle Blackwell we were talking about—alleged asshole. To cement this in her mind, I told her about how he came in to sit through no one else’s interview, at least no one before me.
“Yikes. That couldn’t have been for any good reason.”
I sighed. “It was all worth a try right?”
My shift ended right at that moment and I hopped off my stool to go in front and take over from my co-worker.
The time dragged on and on, but April was good company. Soon, she left and Victor came in to take over her kitchen duties. Rarely did we three ever have a shift that aligned but I loved the times we did. It made working here much less boring.
Soon, my shift was over and I rushed to my next destination for the day. The hospital.
I would’ve visited my mother every day of the week if it was possible, but the patient ward only allowed visits four times a week including weekends.
Once I got to the floor of my mother’s ward room, I made a stop first at one of the rooms of a patient I’d gotten to know in the past year.
“Hi, Berk!” I greeted the old man cheerfully, eagerly awaiting the joyful expression that usually came across his face whenever he got to see me.
“Silvie! Come in, come in. I have something for you today.”
“Oh?” I responded and entered his room as he requested with a knowing smile on my face. “Is it the thing you’ve been working on and hiding from me for the past two weeks?”
Berk laughed heartily as always. “You got me.”
He pulled something out from beside his pillow he sat against and I moved closer to see what it was. A small gasp left my lips at the sight of the beautiful, warm-looking, knitted scarf.
“Oh, Berk. This is lovely.” The older man moved a little so I could perch on the edge of his bed to look at the scarf closely. It was a lovely shade of purple that just spoke to me and I couldn’t help but fall in love with it.
“You did say you were learning how to knit.” I continued. “I’m so happy, thank you.”
“Meh, it’s nothing. I don’t want to take up anymore of your precious visiting time so run along now. Say hi to mom for me, would you?”
After a small hug, I left Berk’s room and moved down the hallway a couple of doors till I got to my mother’s. I knocked softly and at the sound of a muffled ‘Come in’, I grinned and pushed open the door.
“Hi, mom.” I rushed into her wide open and waiting arms and she hugged me immediately.
“My baby, how have you been?”
“I’m okay. Sebastian’s alright as well.” Sebastian was my younger brother who couldn’t visit as much because he was busy with his first year in college.
“I know, love. He called yesterday.”
I climbed very carefully into bed beside her and held up my newly acquired blanket. “Look at this beautiful scarf Berk knitted me.” Soon, just like always, we were chattering away.
All two hours of my visiting time were well spent. I carefully avoided bringing up the most recent events in my life regarding Lunaris Corporation and unlike April, she didn’t ask about my unusually elaborate dressing. For this, I was grateful.
Leaving my mom behind once again was hard. I wished more than anything we lived together like we used to but she needed constant medical attention as long as she hadn’t had surgery to fix her broken ribs and fractured hip.
I worked myself to the bone all day everyday only to afford just the bills of keeping her in this hospital’s care. The cost of the surgery she desperately needed was a whole other topic that gave me anxiety just thinking about it.
Everything my mother had to suffer was courtesy of the most unfortunate being I had the curse of knowing, of being a spawn of. My father. In just one day, he ruined our lives, separating us in the process and leaving us to deal with the aftermath. I would never forgive him for it.
My thoughts about him were vicious and borderline violent as I walked home but at least they kept me company.
I got to the apartment I lived in with my brother, made dinner and kept his share aside for when he got home, then tucked myself into bed.
Not even the joy from seeing my mother earlier could have kept the tears from falling from my eyes like it did every night. I felt so shitty. Everything was too much; could it possibly get any worse?
These were the dark thoughts I had that night before I succumbed to the day’s fatigue and fell asleep.
One week later, an em
ail came in.
Dear Silvie Bates,
We regret to inform you that you have not been chosen for the role of Personal Assistant to Kyle Blackwell.