Rumours, Reports and Red Flags
1303 Words
Chelsea didn’t even close Violet’s door properly before a pillow came flying at her face.
“Talk!” Violet shouted. “Don’t sit, don’t blink. Talk!”
Chelsea caught the pillow and burst into laughter. “You’re insane.”
“You got an email from RioCorp. Madness is appropriate.” Violet pointed at her like a detective catching a suspect. “Start from the beginning. Did they insult you? Did you embarrass me? Did you fall down and die? Did you cry?” She suddenly turned around sharply and looked into Chelsea's eyes trying to get a hint. “”You didn't cry, did you?”
“No, I didn’t cry.” Chelsea sighed.
“Good. Crying in front of billionaires is how you lose job opportunities. So, what's the deal?”
Chelsea dropped her bag on the bed and sat. Her hands were still shaking a little. “Violet…”
“Yes?”
“I got the job.”
The silence that followed felt like the world was buffering. Then Violet screamed. Not a normal scream. A scream that sounded like she just received international news.
“ CHELSEA WHAT?!”
Chelsea winced. “Woman, calm down!”
“No! Do you even understand what just happened?” Violet grabbed her shoulders. “This is RioCorp. People fast and pray before even typing their names on the application form. And you..” She hit her with a pillow again. “I just randomly got scheduled for an interview, and got the job!”
Chelsea sighed, exhausted. “I know.”
Violet sat beside her and stared at her like she was checking for hidden wings. “Talk. What did you do? Did you charm them? Did you perform first-aid on someone? Did you resurrect a dying chairman?”
Chelsea rubbed her face. “I bumped into someone.”
“Okay… who?”
“The CEO.”
Violet slapped her knee so fast Chelsea hissed. “Jesus! Are you okay?! Did security drag you? Did you faint?”
“Nothing like that! Relax!”
“You touched the CEO?” Violet paced the room like she needed CPR. “As in the actual CEO of RioCorp? You mean the hottest bachelor in town? Chelsea, people in that building don’t even breathe too close to him.”
“I didn’t plan to touch him.”
“You think planning matters?” Violet shrieked. “Billionaires sue for fun.”
Chelsea dropped back on the bed. “He said he has a… condition. Something about physical touch causing a reaction. But when I touched him… nothing happened.”
Violet stopped pacing. Slowly turned. “Sorry?”
“Nothing happened.”
Violet sat down again, this time gently, eyes wide. “Chelsea. That’s serious.”
“I know.”
“Are you sure he wasn’t joking? You know rich people joke in weird ways.”
“No. His assistant looked like he saw a ghost.”
Violet opened her mouth, closed it again, then whispered, “So your hand didn’t shock him? Burn him? Turn him purple? Nothing?”
Chelsea shook her head.
“That’s not normal.”
“I know.”
“That’s dangerous.”
“I know that too.”
“What if there’s a reason only you can touch him?”
Chelsea paused.
A small shiver ran through her. The same odd feeling from the elevator. The strange flicker she’d seen. The heaviness in the man’s stare. None of it made sense. She pushed it away. “They offered me a job. Under his division. I start on Monday.”
Violet squealed. “Chelsea, are you kidding? This is huge. Like… life changing.”
Violet smiled a tiny smile, but her stomach felt twisted. “Yeah. I know.”
---
Meanwhile,
The black car rolled into the compound like it had clearance to enter heaven. Levi stepped out, file tucked under his arm. The guards didn’t ask questions. They never asked questions here.
Inside the mansion, everything smelled expensive, old books, expensive leather.
Mr. Rodrigo stood behind his desk, reading something with a frown. He barely looked up.
“What is it?”
Levi cleared his throat. “Sir… There was an incident today.”
Mr. Rodrigo looked up sharply. “Incident?”
Levi placed the file on the table. “Your son made physical contact with a woman, there was no reaction.”
The chairman’s expression hardened immediately. “What?”
“She touched him. Skin to skin. Zero response. No swelling. No discoloration. Nothing.”
Mr. Rodrigo rose slowly, like the words were pushing him to his feet. “Who is she?”
“Chelsea Allison. Twenty-one. I am a medical student. My father died eight months ago. Currently struggling with debt.”
“Bring her file,” the chairman said.
Levi handed it over.
But Mr. Rodrigo wasn’t reading. Not really. His eyes moved across the page, but his mind was somewhere deeper, somewhere far.
He whispered, “After all these years…”
Levi waited. “Sir… should we proceed with observation?”
“Yes,” Mr. Rodrigo said. “In fact, increase surveillance.”
“And your son?”
Mr. Rodrigo paused. “Don’t tell him anything.”
“He already senses something,” Levi said quietly.
“Yes,” the chairman murmured, “but he doesn’t remember what he’s sensing.”
He shut the file with a soft click.
“This Chelsea girl…” His eyes narrowed. “We cannot afford to lose her.”
---
Back on Campus — Same Evening
Chelsea only wanted to print a form. She walked into the library and instantly regretted it because someone waved at her like he’d been waiting all day.
“Chelsea!”
Alexander.
Tall. Friendly. Engineering prince charming. Always laughing, always helpful, always trying to convince her to eat. He jogged over with that easy smile he carried everywhere.
“You disappeared this morning,” he said. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, pushing her hair behind her ear. “Just… long day.”
“You look really tired. You should actually eat something before you pass out and people start panicking.”
“I’ll eat.”
“Do you need help with anything?”
“No, I’m good.”
He still didn’t move. “You sure? Your face is giving ‘I need help but I don’t know how to ask.’”
Chelsea hesitated. “Actually… I got a job today.”
“For real?” His smile brightened. “Where?”
She cleared her throat. “RioCorp.”
He froze mid-smile. “Sorry. Where?”
“RioCorp.”
He stared at her like she just casually said she’d been hired as a princess. “Chelsea, are you serious?”
“Yes.”
He let out a low whistle. “Wow, I've always known you are a genius, but this is on another level. You… you deserve that. Seriously.”
A girl nearby whispered loudly, “If she doesn’t want him, some of us are available.”
Chelsea snorted. Alexander turned red. “Ignore them.”
“I always do.”
He walked her to the printer like he was her unofficial bodyguard. “If you need help preparing research, outfits, anything, just tell me.”
“Thanks, Alex.”
He left reluctantly, glancing back twice.
Chelsea grabbed her printed papers as her phone buzzed in her pockets. She pitched it and read a text from Violet
“I’ve been thinking. You have to be careful. Rich people don’t give jobs for free.
The way you explained everything… something is not normal.”
Chelsea swallowed hard.
The printer lights flickered suddenly towards her. She stepped back. “Not today, please.”
She packed her papers and left quickly, heart thumping just a bit too loud.
- Writer
