Chapter 4

Rose's POV

I took a look at the clock which struck 8:00pm. Seriously where has this dumbass run off to? She should be home by now.I kept wondering to myself on what aphrodite might be doing and why she's late. And in the blink of an eye, the sound of our front door being slammed close caught my attention.

I quickly rushed to the living room and caught her giving a pleasant smile to me, while holding two huge bags which I suppose are snacks and other things she likes. "You're late. What made your mood get hyped up?" I said being a worried and curious sister.

She put her bags down and ran towards me throwing me a big tight hug, "I finally got a job!! I got hired today." She said in her soft deep voice.

"Well that's one task out of the list. We're getting closer to the truth thanks to you, sapphire." I spoke to her gently while I rub her head.

"I've been patient all this time. I wanna kill whoever hurt my family. Specially who hurt uncle and aunt"

I could see the rage in her eyes when she spoke her thoughts. It wasn't easy to raise her from her childhood till now, but I'm happy that she's safe and protected even if it's only for a while."I know you're eager to kill those people who hurt our family. But remember your identity must be hidden at all costs. No one should know that you're sapphire Lysander"

I know it's hard for her to hide herself in this cruel world but I've promised my mom and dad that I'd protect her with my life. And therefore I'm very strict with her around her identity.

"I start on Monday, and by now I've met our three targets. Aiden, Aaron and Williams."

I sometimes get confused on what to call her, aphrodite or sapphire when we're at home. Well she's always focused on her goal. To Find the truth.

"Tell me all about it. We have to move on to the next step." I suggest her while we both walk towards the small office inside our home.

...________...

Monday, 9:48am.

Aphrodite takes a deep breath at the entrance of the company, Elowen. Being her first day of work, it's pretty obvious she would be nervous. Or is she really?

She walks up to the front desk and fills in her details. As expected, she gets asked to go to the 20th floor. While wondering how many floors are really present in this specific building, she walks up to the elevator. And as she guessed, there are indeed 30 floors in this particular building. Being inside the elevator brought back memories to her which makes her slightly giggle on how must the poor guy be doing,  although she knows he isn't really poor.

After a few minutes of overly thinking about those memories, she notices that she had reached her destination. She gets guided by a worker to her work place where she finds a few unfamiliar people. She guesses that they might be her new colleagues, which is actually true.

Seconds later, aphrodite finds herself greeting her new colleagues. She was always shy around being with people at first but can be hyped up sometimes. The phrase "being high" does really suit aphrodite most of the time.

"Hey love, my name is max. I'm 23 and yes I am single for you" one of the guys started speaking to aphrodite, wanting to clear the 'newbie' atmosphere which aphrodite created. Another guy hit the back of max's head and gave an awkward smile, surely for aphrodite to not feel too awkward or tensed. Aphrodite chuckled looking at both of the guys who were fighting with each other like kids fighting over candy.

The girl who was sitting right next to aphrodite's desk stole her attention away from the guys, wanting to introduce herself formally as well, "You're pretty, sweets. Myself ruby Jane welcome you to our club. You can be the fierce lioness who makes all the guys want you but you're very dangerous to be claimed"

Looking at how high and funny ruby acts, aphrodite starts laughing even more. She senses that ruby and herself would be good friends for a while, not sure about the guys. "Well you're not actually wrong, my dear. I am aphrodite lopez, the lioness of Elowen Institutes, and the mistress of our unknown CEO" Aphrodite places her hand on her chest and raises her other hand up in the air, as if she was introducing herself to millions of people.

The atmosphere seemed less tense now that aphrodite seemed pretty nice to hang around with. "Hey there, my name is Mike. Pleased to have you here." Said the guy who hit max earlier. Just when aphrodite was about to reply back to Mike, she gets interrupted by ruby who suddenly pulled aphrodite's chair closer to her "you are the lost mistress of our unknown ceo?! Tell me how many times you guys did it! 15? 30??" Ruby continues speaking her fake scenarios out loud which made aphrodite laugh even harder, and so the timid conversation kept on going.

While the girls kept gossiping and chattering unnecessary things, the guys who were facing the other side of the girls noticed that Williams, their boss was approaching. "Girls! Shut up already." Said max who was just trying to warn them. But as they always say, girls can be timid at times.

"No you shut up, we're in the middle of discussing about our unknown ceo, turns out he actually cheated on me and had a kid years ago!" Aphrodite who pretended to not notice that someone she knew was approaching them, continued speaking her mind. Ruby joins in aphrodite as well "yea boys, do shut up and think about how lonely you guys are. It's a pity that no one else but us would look at you."

"Am I interrupting something girls?" A voice which sounded sweet yet alarming cut off the girls ego. Ruby turned back and started apologizing to Williams that they were trying to spend some bonding time with their new colleague. Williams is a man who is never compromised around work, he might be angelic and sweet but he's deadly as poison, particularly with his cold attitude. And ruby, who worked in the company for nearly 2 years, very well knew about it.

Aphrodite turned around as well and stood up right infront of Williams, which made her feel little since he was quite abit taller than her. "Nice to meet you again, boss..? I suppose." Said aphrodite with a cheerful smile.

Although Williams is cold around everyone, he surprisingly acts soft with aphrodite.

Williams chuckles abit and softly rubs aphrodite's silky black hair. Aphrodite was fine about it since she did wash her hair this morning. "Boss is too formal, how about will? Sounds good." Said Williams which gave a deep stun to the others present in the room. "Haha sure will. And I apologize for being abit reckless, I wanted to spend some time together with my new friends which I suppose would be spending time with them frequently now." Aphrodite continued talking to Will as if they both have known each other since a long time, but truth be known that it's only been 24 hours.

"Oh that's completely fine, I just came in to check on how you're doing with your first day. I was abit occupied before, so i couldn't catch you at the entrance." Williams spoke in his soft and sweet tone towards aphrodite which made ruby abit jealous. "Im doing fine with my first day, these people are very nice to hang around with as well. Oh and I do apologize for the surprise hug yesterday, I got carried away since i was way too excited." Aphrodite blushes abit and gets shy which will found it adorable. He places his hand on her shoulder, giving her a type of confidence

"it's completely fine, I don't mind it. I have some business to do so continue with your story alright? I do wanna know what's your reaction on our unknown ceo cheating on you and having a kid, when I'm free." Williams head patted aphrodite again, and left the room.

Ruby starts shaking aphrodite which made her dizzy, "what's all that about?! You know our boss? Since when? And why is he so soft towards you? Is he your secret boyfriend you decided to hook up with since our unknown ceo cheated on you?!" Ruby kept pushing aphrodite with millions of questions on what just happened. Mike being the eldest who was only 24, and the most responsible stopped ruby and tried to calm her down. Aphrodite face palms and starts explaining everything to her little friend group, and that conversation continued all day long.

After finishing their work, well sort of since they all did nothing much but gossip and tease each other. The day seemed to pass by too soon for everyone. Aphrodite's presence made everything more unique in a way. The boys left early for gaming in a new arcade which was newly opened. Ruby and aphrodite got into the elevator since it was time to get off work and made their way out of the elevator after reaching their destination, still talking even more vibrantly.

"You're special, Aphrodite." Said Ruby in a soft voice. The particular phrase got aphrodite to think more deeper than usual.

"Special you say? Why is that? You still jealous of will?" Aphrodite jokingly asks Ruby but discovered that she was pretty serious.

"This is the month of September, usually the company would start hiring people only at the starting of the year, which is January and February. After that, no one has the chance to get hired, even if it is the 1st of March. After looking at how will treated you, I feel like there's another special reason that got you hired." Ruby who was speaking her mind, startled aphrodite.

"Special reason? Why would there be one? I think it's probably cuz I studied in one of their institutes, the Cecily academy." Aphrodite spoke in a serious manner as well. "Wait a minute, you studied in the Cecily academy? Which year?" Ruby asked with a surprising look on her face.

"It's not really something special, I honestly didn't even know that Cecily academy was one of their institutes. And about the year, it's around 5 years ago. The year 2019." Aphrodite replied with complete honesty to Ruby.

"It makes sense. Will, Aaron and our unknown ceo all studied there in the year 2019 as well. Will must've met you in the academy. And to get hired at this time of the year, only our ceo can do that. No one has the power to hire people as they desire, not even our president Aaron. And to think, He's the biological brother of our unknown ceo" Ruby continues discovering more hidden truths which gets aphrodite tensed.

"Nonsense, their like 4 or 5 years older than me. It's impossible that our ceo would know me." Aphrodite stops at the entrance of the building, with a very serious frightened look on her face.

"There's possible in impossible as well, aph. I've heard our boss is arrogant. He makes his own decisions and wouldn't listen to anyone, not even his own parents. There is no way williams would've succeeded recommending you." Ruby looks at aphrodite with a serious astonishing look.

"So what you're trying to say is, our unknown boss knows about me. And made me get hired at this company with his desire to meet me again? Bullshit. I remember everyone I've seen and known in the academy, I've never met any of them there." Aphrodite loses her mind, she doesn't believe that she would be discovered this easily, and it's way too fast.

The two girls kept on talking, which would seem as if their arguing in other people's perspective. A tall man who was wearing a black leather coat, and well dressed up caught the girls blocking the entrance/exit of the building. Ruby noticed the man and was in awe since she had never seen that man in the company before, "wait- who are you angel?" Said Ruby while aphrodite looked up and saw a familiar face.

"It's you?! What are you doing here?" Aphrodite was in deep stun as well, meeting the same man she bumped in at the Cafe, mainly because she didn't want to meet him again yet.

"Don't you think you're blocking the way? Princess." Said Aiden in his deep, husky voice which made both the girls blush. Aphrodite felt a sting in her head after hearing his words, she held ruby's hand firmly and closed her eyes.

"Aph?! What's wrong??" Ruby began to worry like heck. Aphrodite lost her balance and fell to the ground, looking at Aiden who did nothing but walk away with his hands in his pockets.

The pain in her head started growing which made her vulnerable and the word "princess" said by Aiden kept ringing inside her head, drifting her to unconsciousness.

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