Nine

"Hey, hey," Emma placed her hands on her friend's upper arms and shook her gently. She was quite frankly concerned about her. Anelia was worried about her job and even more, actually keeping it and that could only prove to her that something had happened at La Vida.

She just didn't know what and that said a lot. Usually, she was always up to speed with occurrences that unfolded at the Hotel, minor or not. Call her a gossip monger and all but it was a fine truth. She had a talent of staying informed with many ordeals at the Hotel but that wasn't the point at the moment.

"What do you mean?" Queried a confused Emma, urging her friend to put her in her line of vision as currently, her eyes were stuck on the floor. "A?"

Anelia looked up and blinked. She really was trying hard to retract from having a breakdown. She couldn't believe that she had been so gullible as to not see the evidence. The clear unparalleled evidence that she had foolishly not acknowledged.

She had had the first encounter with the object of her thoughts, inside the penthouse. That could have only meant one thing. He was the owner and his reaction to her standing on his large chair, should have largely caused something to click in her mind.

But no, she wasn't one to worry herself about things that had nothing to do with her business at the Hotel. If only she had known that he had everything and more to do with her job at La Vida. That he was the esteemed and mysterious guest at their Hotel.

Not only that, Emma had seconds ago just told her that he was the big bad boss and that could only amount to one thing. He was the owner of La Vida. What other explanation was there beside that obvious fact.

And worst of all, she had to go and stand on his expensive chair, get naked, kiss and slap him all in the space of two days. If that wasn't a good enough reason to lose her job over, then Anelia didn't know what was.

That sculptured face owning a sharply cut-out jaw. Those slick but neatly-combed tresses that had looked soft to the touch. And unnervingly, the mysterious and dark aura he had going on, of course he was perfectly fit to be the boss. A king at his own right. A king, whom she had defiled and insulted in his own den.

An avalanche of emotions hit her all at once but the most prominent was the horror. The horror of not knowing exactly what tomorrow and every other day afterwards, would bring. Was she really guaranteed of a job, come tomorrow?

If no, then what? What would become of her?Her sister's education? Their future? She groaned at the pain, though it wasn't so much as near physical. It was far much deeper in the slopes of her heart. 

If, for some reason beyond her human understanding, yes, then could she be assured of never crossing paths with the man? It was deemed impossible, but it had already happened. Not only once but two consecutive times. What were the odds of it not happening for the third time?

She scrambled to sit down, suddenly feeling like her world as she'd known it, was being shaken into shambles. Torn apart. Who knew when she was going to get another job? Most importantly, who would offer someone with her academics a proper job?

She clutched her head in both hands and gulped loudly. Almost two days ago, she had had the reigns of her sister's and herself's lives in her capable hands. Moving forward at a steady pace. Now, throw in a mysterious man and a couple of hours between, she had lost those reigns. 

"Anelia!" Emma exclaimed, seeing her friend go on like she was in her own world.

"Umm," she started. "I really messed up, Emma. I messed up a-and I..."

Emma took both her hands in hers and urged her to look at her. "Hey, I don't know what happened but the beginning of it all, will be the best start."

Anelia sighed in frustration at the idea of narrating what had taken place in the past two days but, she couldn't afford to keep her friend out of the loop any longer than she already had. So, she told her.

Emma blinked, taking in what her friend had just told her. She wasn't sure how to react to the idea of such theatrics having happened to Anelia in two mere days. It was quite shocking, unbelievable in fact but the fact that this was Anelia, it wasn't questionable. 

She wouldn't make up such a story, that was one thing for sure. What would she have had to gain by making up such an atrocity? An Oscar Award for best female actress at La Vida? However, above and beyond, it was a lot to take in.

"God! I knew it. I'm losing this job!" Cried a worked up Anelia, throwing her hands in the air as she stood. "The blank look on your face is proof enough."

She walked towards the kitchen, trying to keep busy. Anything to inhibit her mind from wandering helplessly through endless possibilities. She grabbed a glass from the cabinet and poured herself some water from the fridge. She gulped it down in one go, just as Emma entered the kitchen.

At least Emma looked a little less like she had just been told a horror story with some ominous music playing in the background. She looked less shocked but that still didn't mean she could start being optimistic about the entire ordeal. 

She sighed and rinsed the cup. Placing it on the rack, she turned to find that Emma was now settled on the table not to far from where she was standing. She had her elbows down on top of the table, whose edges were starting to chip off.

"Man! That was a lot to take in," she said suavely and continued slowly. "So, let me get this straight. You think that you saw the Mr Black?"

Anelia folded her hands and gave her a sassy look. "Stop talking to me like I'm some monkey from the zoo."

"You love monkeys," she stated.

"For the last time, it wasn't a monkey! It was a sloth. Not monkey, sloth. And he was cute!"

Emma laughed at her. She barked out in laughter, filling the expanse of the room with the joyful sound. It felt amazing to be surrounded by the beautiful sound. Anelia realised then that for those few seconds, she had actually managed to forget.

"I love messing up with you. I swear it's the easiest thing to do," Emma said, wiping away the remnants of her outburst from her hazel eyes. Anelia rolled her eyes, slumped down on the chair opposite Emma and balanced her head on the palm of her head.

"He was a cute sloan. Shame on you for laughing at his memory. I'm never telling you anything from my childhood ever again."

"Which else don't I already know?" She queried, with a raised brow. Anelia huffed and gave her a look. "Fine, fine! Sheesh, you can't take a damn joke. So, you're saying that this man that you met back at the Hotel, is the same man that I showed you on the phone?"

Anelia nodded. She suddenly felt nervous and she couldn't explain why.

"You stood on his leather and expensive chair, which he found you on?"

"Yes."

"And you fell onto him and he got angry?"

"To which I apologised immediately, I swear!" Anelia exclaimed in self defence.

"Of course, and when was this?"

"This was...," she paused. "Look, I already told you and will you stop with the detective thing. It's really not going for you."

Emma smirked and swatted her hand at her dismissively. "Alrighty, whatever makes your tits tingle. I'll cut this really short. Correct me where I'm wrong. You fell onto him, apologised and went out but he called you back, blah blah blah. It doesn't sound too bad."

Anelia wasn't convinced, however. "That's only half of what happened, remember."

"Oh, you met him again, today. He accused you of having some ulterior motive, to which you denied and left," Again, Anelia found herself nodding. "The guy is obviously a dick. I mean most of them usually are. Especially, the rich ones but it really doesn't sound like anything worthy of losing a job over, if you ask me. Unless, you're not telling me something," 

Emma stared at her friend. She focused hard on her, with the intent of scouting for the entire story. See, Emma had a relentless attention to detail. Detail which was obviously lacking from the story. Some pieces were missing from the puzzle and Anelia knew exactly which ones.

So Anelia finally did break. That soulful gaze from Emma inhibited her to continue to ward off the truth. See, she hadn't told Emma everything per se. She had simply told her the scanned version of the story, excluding the kissing and naked bits.

"Alright! I didn't say everything, alright." Emma did not respond to that. She urged her to go on in that one look. "He...umm walked in on me w-when I was naked, okay? A-and he kissed me and I retracted and slapped."

She closed her eyes and groaned. It sounded even worse when she voiced it. She was convinced that she would lose her job. If he really was the boss, then she was done for. Who in their mind, would continue to employ someone who displayed such a strong case of disrespect. 

"What!" Shouted Emma and if anything, that only made Anelia wish she could bury herself alive.