At The Masquerade Ball

Chapter1

“You f*****g son of a b***h!” Christine cried out as she threw a glass figurine towards Steven, who was very unbothered and already dressed to leave for work. “Who do you think you are, huh? You think because you have your bag of money and your pretty face you can do whatever you please with people’s feelings?” Christine said in between sobs. She had always been a person of extremes, especially with her emotions. Whenever she was happy, it was glaringly evident, and the same went for when she was sad or upset. Steven never really minded this trait as he sometimes enjoyed her personality and found it entertaining.

“Please get yourself together,” Steven warned as he was already getting irked by Christine’s ‘childish’ behaviours. “You knew from the start that what we had was more of a transaction than a relationship. I buy you the nice stuff you can’t afford and in return you be my arm candy,” Steven pointed out as he wore his Cartier wristwatch and prepared to leave his room.

Steven lived in one of the finest duplexes in New York. He had personally designed the house and given it the best furnishings, making it the envy of anyone who passed by. Upon entering Steven’s home, the first thing that would come to anyone’s mind was heaven. He had given it a simple yet intricate design; the base colours for the apartment were white and gold with some touches of black here and there.

“So you were with me just for the s*x and I was just another c*m dump for you?” Christine asked as she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Steven, you reduced me to a whore.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. But this wasn’t going anywhere,” Steven said in a pause as he was about to leave the room. “If I really wanted a relationship, I would have gone for someone with more depth and more direction in their life. At least you’ve got your face and your body working for you.” Steven shut the door behind him, leaving Christine yelling at the top of her lungs and cussing at him even through her sobbing. She felt betrayed as she had already been falling in love with the rich young man she first met at the club.

Steven arrived at his destination as scheduled. He was dressed in a relaxed corporate outfit. He wore a dark brown cheque red suit jacket over a clean plain white Ralph Lauren shirt with no tie. He paired it with tan-coloured trousers and black shoes, his hair perfectly styled. He donned his pair of glasses as he stepped out of the car and buttoned his jacket. An assistant was already at the door waiting to carry his briefcase.

Steven was the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Zotar Upholstery Limited, a furniture manufacturing and interior design company. His grandfather had begun the company as a small business and grew it into the multibillion-dollar company it was today. The company provided furniture and interior design services for celebrities, businesses and even the government.

The company had a board meeting today to prepare for its upcoming Annual General Meeting with its members, and being the Chairman of the board, he had to be present. As he walked into the company building with his assistant, the employees avoided him in terror. Steven had a reputation for being too stern and brutally honest with the employees. He was a very disciplined man who liked to get things done as quickly as possible and perfectly. He hated sluggish and timid people, as he had always been a go-getter, especially since his college days. He had promised himself a fresh start and a brand-new personality after missing out on so much in high school because he was too busy worrying about the ‘cool’ kids’ opinions.

As he strode into the building, as usual, he spotted a number of things that irritated him among the employees: those who were eating on the job, those who looked like they had just thrown on some random clothing item from their wardrobe, those who stood in a corner and gossiped about last night’s hockey game. He went straight to his office to pick up some reports which he had prepared before heading to the conference room where the meeting would be held. The meeting was to begin by 10:00 a.m., and he expected everyone else to be seated before he arrived.

He entered the room to an echo of “Good morning, Mr. Steven” from the members of the board, which included Mr. Charlie Kroft, the CEO of the company, and Miss Rachael Jones, the company’s compliance officer.

“Good morning, everyone. I trust we are prepared for today’s meeting?”

The meeting lasted for the next 76 minutes, and several issues were discussed, including the annual charity party hosted by the company’s non-profit foundation. At the close of the meeting, Mr. Charlie made a request to Steven.

“Hey, Steve, I’d like to inform you now that I won’t be able to make it to the party. The hospital shifted my wife’s surgery to this evening and I have to be there with her. If you don’t mind giving the speech,” he asked Steven as they both walked out of the conference room.

Steven detested it when plans were rearranged at the last minute. The initial plan was that the CEO would give the speech, and he would come up later to take the toast. But now, he had to take on the speech. The excuse seemed valid, and he wasn’t heartless enough to refuse him.

“Just send over what you had prepared and I’ll gloss over it and edit it.”

After the meeting, Steven went back to his office, handled a few business matters, signed some papers and prepared to leave as he had other things to attend to. He asked his secretary to inform his driver that he had somewhere else to be, so he should have the car parked right outside and waiting for him.

Lily, a freelancer with a diploma in business management and a barista at Reach Cafe, was rushing out from her shift at the cafe as she had an interview for the position of an organisational secretary at a tech company. The pay they offered was really good and would get her out of this cafe job which she dreaded—not because of her superiors or co-workers, but because of how many annoying people she was “privileged” to meet every day.

She hurriedly tied her hair into a bun as she burst out from the back door of the cafe, heading straight for the subway. She needed to catch a train headed to Midtown New York. She would have taken a taxi, but she couldn’t risk getting caught in traffic. The interview was scheduled for 1:00 p.m. today, and it was already 11:56 a.m. The train left at 12:10 p.m. She had 14 minutes to get from the cafe to the subway.

Lily was wearing a pretty black knee-length pencil gown. She barely made it to the subway in time as the doors shut right behind her. She pulled out a mirror from her purse to check her appearance.

“Gosh, I look like Cinderella on a bad day. Yeesh,” she said as she put the mirror aside and brought out the mini makeup kit she kept in her bag. She re-applied her lipstick, liner and mascara. She also decided to redo her hair into a lazy bun to complement her general look.

“Now this is stunning,” she said to herself.

She noticed some guys on the subway staring at her. “Never seen a pretty girl before?” she said with a smirk. “Well, enjoy it while it lasts.”

Lily was a pretty blonde girl who stood 5'9" tall with a very pretty slender face like that of a model.

“Can I get your digits?” one of the boys said as he approached her with his cell phone.

“Nice try, pretty boy, but I don’t date boys who just completed high school.”

The train had just arrived at Lily’s stop, and she dashed out of the train, right into the subway, and headed straight for the streets. The company was about a 6-minute walk from the subway station, and she had 10 minutes to spare.

She arrived at the venue for the interview, and the company’s desk person gave her a form to fill out asking for personal details and all of that. Waiting for the interview right beside her was this girl who looked no older than 21. She was dressed entirely in designer brands like Chanel and Louis Vuitton, and she was also carrying a Birkin mini Kelly. This girl looked expensive.

Lily was envious but at the same time curious. “Why would a fancy girl like this want to work as an organisational secretary in a company?” she muttered to herself.

“Well, I need it for my internship experience for my university degree. The CEO is my daddy’s really good friend,” the girl replied.

“Oh, really,” Lily said, feeling a bit disappointed inside. She knew deep down this girl was going to get picked at the end of the day. But she decided to still continue with the process; something deep down in her had hope.

“Well, good luck,” she said to the girl.

The interview was conducted by the officials of the company, and everyone was interviewed. They informed the applicants that they would inform them of the final decision via email.

Lily left the company, and before she even got to the subway, the company had sent a rejection email saying she was unsuccessful.

“f**k those losers,” she muttered angrily. She needed to rant. It was a good time to call James. She whipped ou

t her phone.

“Yo. Where are you?”