Her lovers

"Miss Keith?", the woman called, looking at the faraway expression on Emelia's face.

No response.

"Miss Keith?", she called again, a little louder.

"Yes?", Emelia blinked out of her thoughts, looking at the interviewer with momentary confusion.

"I asked you why you want to work as a management assistant", the lady repeated her question.

Emelia hesitated, she had already prepared an answer for this before coming...

"Honestly, my parents", she answered.

The interviewer looked at her curiously.

"They ran a restaurant. I used to help them out after school. I would help organize the duties and chores. 

I want to work as a management assistant because I enjoy supporting others and helping things run smoothly. At my parents' restaurant, it was also one of my best childhood memories", Emelia explained.

Lex, who was watching from the other end of the one-way mirror in the room, sat up and watched Emelia intently.

"Also I hope to gain hands-on experience in administration and management and take on new challenges and responsibilities to grow from a helper at my parent's restaurant to a full management assistant in a firm", she added as she cleared her throat.

"Hm, that would be all, Miss Keith, we'll get back to you", the interviewer smiled politely at her.

Emelia smiled back before leaving the office.

Lex pushed down on the intercom in front of him.

"The last applicant, bring her CV to me", his voice echoed in both rooms.

Once she was outside, Emelia exhaled deeply. She stood there for a few minutes staring into space, then she patted herself and whispered to herself,

"You did good, Emelia"

She took the elevator to the lobby and left the building of the prestigious Kings Towers.

———————————————————————

Lex's Office

"These are the top two candidates from the interview", Lex's assistant, Lydia said as she dropped two folders on his desk.

Lex reached over and picked them up. He looked through the two of them. One of the files he was already familiar with.

"Emelia Keith", he whispered to himself as he glanced at the file.

"Human Resources is waiting for your decision", Lydia informed him.

Lex stared at the two folders. From the moment he had seen Emelia walk into the interview room, he had felt inexplicably drawn to her. 

Then he listened to her speak about her parents and he couldn't explain how he felt at that moment. Lex internally scolded himself, he should know better than tangling with feelings like this, from experience.

"This person", Lex said as he picked up one of the folders and handed it to Lydia.

Emelia's House

Emelia was sprawled out on her couch watching a movie when the doorbell rang.

"I'm coming", she yelled as she stood up to get the door.

"Hi!!", her best friend Sophia greeted in her usual enthusiastic manner when Emelia opened the door.

"Hi, babes", Emelia responded as she plopped down on the couch.

"I got here as fast I could so tell me all about it. How was it?", Sophia asked as she sat down on the couch next to her.

"It was fine", Emelia answered simply.

Sophia narrowed her eyes on her.

"Then why is your face like that?", she asked.

"Nothing", Emelia shook her head.

"It's not nothing. Come on, what's wrong? You were so excited when you were invited to the interview, what happened now?", Sophia persisted.

"I don't know, I just don't want to get my hopes up", Emelia folded.

"Why not? The interview went well, didn't it?"

"Why should I? I mean look at my life Sophia, has anything ever really gone well for me? Have good things stayed in my life?",  Emelia asked.

"Shh don't talk like that", Sophia chided as she pulled closer to her.

"You know we all have a quota of good and bad things in our life, I firmly believe you've used up your quota of bad things, listen to me", she insisted when Emelia began to shake her head.

"Only good things can happen to you from now on, you know why? Because you deserve it. So you can be hopeful because you deserve it", Sophia told her.

Emelia pondered on her words and slowly began to nod her head.

"Maybe you're right", she said finally and Sophia smiled widely at her.

"I know I'm right", she said smugly and Emelia chuckled.

"That's it, that's the smile I want to see. Cheer up", Sophia smiled at her and Emelia nodded.

"Ok, so are you hungry? Do you have anything in your fridge?", Sophia asked as she began to walk towards the fridge.

"I think there's probably something in there", Emelia responded.

Ping!

Emelia looked at her lit-up phone screen. It was an email that bore the address King's Towers boldly. She froze as her heart skipped a beat.

"Emelia?", Sophia called when she noticed Emelia wasn't replying to her anymore.

She turned to see Emelia frozen on the couch, staring wide-eyed at her phone.

"Emelia, what is it?", she asked worriedly.

"They've replied", Emelia said softly.

"Who?"

"King's Towers, they just sent an email", Emelia answered as she looked up at Sophia, the tension apparent in her eyes.

"Well go ahead, open it", Sophia said excitedly as she hurried to her side but Emelia shook her head.

"I'm too scared", she whispered.

"Come on, it'll be fine", Sophia urged.

"I could do it for you", she offered but Emelia shook her head.

"It's fine, I'll do it", she said as she took a deep breath.

She picked up her phone and swiped it up. She opened the email and held her breath as she read the contents quickly.

Sophia watched as Emelia's expression fell.

"What? What is it?", she asked worriedly.

Emelia put the phone down and looked at her.

"I didn't get it", she said softly.

"Oh babe", Sophia cooed as she pulled her into a hug.

Emelia let herself melt into Sophia's embrace. She must have been so stupid to actually for one moment believe Sophia's words. She was always unlucky, it was a miracle she had even been invited to the interview at all. 

And she dared to hope that maybe, just maybe the cycle of bad things in her life was ending. At that moment, it was like all the pain she had felt at the lowest points in her life came crashing down and the tears began to roll down her cheeks. Sophia patted her comfortingly as Emelia sobbed softly into her neck.

The constant ringing of her phone was what woke Emelia up the next day. She groaned as she woke up sluggishly. She had a slight headache from crying too much the previous day and the constant ringing from her phone made her irritable. She reached over and picked up the call without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello?", she spoke into the phone.

"Hello? Is this Miss Emelia Keith?", the person on the other end asked, a soothing female voice.

"Yes, this is her. Who am I speaking to?", Emelia asked drowsily as she looked at the time on her table clock, just a little past 8.

"My name is Sara and I'm calling from King's Towers", the woman introduced herself.

On hearing King's Towers, all her drowsiness disappeared as her eyes flew open and she immediately sat up on the bed.

"Good morning", Emelia greeted.

"Good morning. I'm sorry to call you this early in the morning but we did send you an email last night but you didn't reply and we are in a bit of a time crunch", Sara explained.

"Yeah, sorry. I didn't look at my phone much after receiving your first email", Emelia explained.

"That's actually why I'm calling. Our first pick for the management assistant job you applied for can't accept the job due to some personal reasons and we are turning to you, who was our next pick during the deliberations", Sara explained.

It was like Emelia's brain was unusually slow that morning as she tried to understand what Sara was saying.

"I- I don't understand", she replied softly.

"We are offering you the job", Sara told her.

It was like a bomb exploded in Emelia's head as her words echoed in her head.

"You mean I've been accepted?", Emelia asked.

"Yes", Sara answered simply.

Emelia was dazed.

"As I said earlier, we are in a bit of a time crunch, so is it possible for you to resume tomorrow? That is if you still want the job."

Emelia blinked her eyes in disbelief. If she wanted the job? Of course, she wanted it! It was all she wanted.

"Yes!", Emelia answered excitedly.

"Of course, I can resume tomorrow"

"Great, then you can resume at King's Towers tomorrow by 8 am", Sara told her.

"Yes, of course, thank you", Emelia said gratefully as her head began to buzz.

"Thank you too, have a good day", Sara replied and ended the call.

Emelia sat stunned for a few seconds, processing what had just happened. Did she just get the job?

'You can resume tomorrow by 8 am', Sara's words replayed in her head.

"Oh my God"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!", she screamed scaring Sophia awake.

Emelia was already awake long before her alarm went off.

Her alarm went off at exactly 5:30 am and Emelia rolled over on the bed to put it off. She got out of bed, energized and excited to start the day. She went through her morning routine in high spirits.

After she took a bath, she stood in front of her mirror, her curly chestnut brown hair cascading down her back like a rich waterfall. She slipped on her white blouse, the soft fabric draping elegantly across her shoulders, and began to button it up. 

Next, she stepped into her dark gray trousers, the tailored fabric hugging her curves in all the right places. A tailored beige cardigan was draped over her shoulders, adding a layer of sophistication to her outfit.

She sat down at her vanity, her blue eyes sparkling as she applied a light dusting of eyeshadow and defined her brows with a few precise strokes.

 A swipe of mascara and a soft pink lip balm completed her un