Cinder's Elle

pisode

“w***e of a mother? Well, that line is so so old” Elle thought to herself. “

“She never wasted an opportunity to tell me the same old story over and over again.

How my mother was an Ethiopian maid, who couldn't keep her legs closed, seduced her husband -my supposed father, yeah supposed, it never really felt like it really! and how she was punished with death while she birthed me”. Elle thought as she remained on the ground sobbing uncontrollable".

Life indeed hasn't been kind at all to Elle

She never felt welcomed at home as Matilda and her daughters -Elle’s step sister never hesitated to make it obvious.

Elle put up with their terrible treatment for 18 years of her life. The moment she became an adult by law she moved out of the house. It has been so unbearable after all. Matilda,her step mother and Julia and Junia her more than evil step sisters were more than happy to have her clear out her room.

The Rocses family has been nothing short of cruel to Elle, she has accepted her fate and moved out immediately the law permitted.

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Meredith comes to Elle and hugs her, trying so hard to fight back her own tears .

“You did good! Don't give them the benefit of seeing you cry, that's the best revenge. You have somewhere to be, don't let her ruin your day, you have to complete the signing of those papers today”

Elle closes her eyes tightly, and sighs deeply, then she wipes her eyes and smiles at Meredith ; she then gets up and goes to freshen up.

Meredith looks at her and shakes her head, “that deceptive smile, that covers so much hurt” she says to herself.

Elle quickly freshens up and dresses up in the emerald green jumpsuit Meredith picked for her, with matching jewelries, sandal heels and bags. Meredith also did a light make-up on her which complemented her rich brown skin very well.

She then rushes out to catch the company ride that was waiting for her and her new manager to escort her.

“Miss Rocses, you look dashing today, Meanwhile, I am your manager Chloe , and I am here to help you with everything you need” Chloe says as she stretches, her hand for a handshake.

Elle draws her in for a brief hug instead, to make her feel more at ease, as It was obvious that this manager was an amateur as she was acting quite nervous.

The drive to the office was quiet and peaceful. Elle got to reflect on everything that had happened that morning and decided not to allow it ruin her day.

They arrived at the office in about twenty minutes and the car parked at the workers parking lot. Elle checked her time and saw she had about 10 minutes for her appointment. She hurried off into the building.

As she walked so fast, she couldn't really watch properly so she ran into something or someone, at that point she couldn't actually tell, it was a chest hard as a rock, a tall figure exuding the aura of powers and calmness all at the same time, then she was captivated by the powerful yet relaxing scent that came from this figure.

She looked up at the figure , and their eyes locked, it seemed like she was drowning in those blue hazel eyes, just then she felt a cold liquid on her face, she looked and oh! she had spilled his coffee on him and a little on her face.

She is immediately brought back to reality, “Oh! Sir! Am so sorry, I do not know how, emm..”

She was about to bring out her handkerchief to help him wipe his immaculate white Charvet shirt when he stopped her hand, put his hand in his pocket, brought out his own handkerchief, and squeezed it gently into her hands, and said,

“watch where you are going Miss!” and walked away without any further ado.

The presence, such a cold yet powerful presence, and the voice calm, but very stern and authoritative. Elle was stunned, like was she dreaming? “Who was that”?

“Miss Rocses! Chloe ran up to her

“ are you hurt? my goodness, do you know who you just met? or hit rather..”

Before Elle could respond, Chloe added immediately, with excitement written all over her voice

“It's Cinder! OMG! I just saw Cinder, Jeez am I dreaming?”She said pinching her cheek, she couldn't contain her excitement.

Elle was shocked, everything seemed like a flash before her eyes. She turned to see him leave the building just to make sure, she didn't imagine all this.

A man ran up to Cinder and escorted him outside, while he was giving instructions to another person through the mic in his sleeve. It was obvious, he was a secret service agent.

“Who is Cinder? Elle asked as they took the elevator,

“You don't know?” Chloe asked with her eyes wide open.

“You must be kidding!”

“he is a Xander-Khalifa,his family was even listed among the top 3 most-influential families in Asia by Forbes this year”

“ what do you mean you don't know him?”

Chloe adds bustling with excitement she couldn't seem to recover from so easily.

I mean who could encounter such a presence and not be stunned? Elle was still stunned.

“ What kind of luck do I have today? I’m screwed!”

“The same Xander-Khalifa that owns The Khalifa group? Jeez! Am I to lose my job before I even start?” Elle says immediately.

“Yes! He is Cinder the sole heir of the family fortune. OMG! I’m just so happy I met him even if he didn't look my way, if I only took the faintest picture, I’d be the most followed blogger on the gram by evening Jeez!” Chloe said with her palms on both cheeks still buzzing with excitement.

“Chloe! Elle raised a voice slightly. Didn't you hear what I just said? My career may have just ended, if he reports this am gone, he seemed really cold and ruthless.”

“I don't think so, it happened so fast no one saw it. Let's hope for the best”

Just then the elevator opens, Elle quickly wears a plastic smile.

It's on the 30th floor the administrative floor of Z Modelling Agency of The Z group, where Elle is to complete signing her contract.

Chloe goes to sort out some other logistics, while Elle goes to the office unit of the personal assistant (P.A) of the President agency, where she was to sign some final documents with his secretary.

But on getting there the secretary told her that he asked to see her first when she came for the signing.

“I hope nothing is wrong?” Elle asked nervously.

“Not that I know of, he just asked to see you” The secretary said and gave her the very polite smiles common with secretaries for courtesy sake.

The secretary rang the president and informed him Elle was around and he gave her permission to show her in.

As Elle stepped in with her nervousness masked with confidence.

Sathit, a middle-aged looking man was seated from the executive desk.

Seeing her, his contenance lit up as he gestured to the seat, indicating she should sit down.

“Miss Rocses! I didn't even take note that that's not a popular name in our country, besides how was I supposed to know the Rocses family had a daughter who was black?”

Elle was surprised to hear so many details about her from him,

“Oh! Mr Sathit, I see you ran my background, besides I am brown, not black. Do you run the backgrounds of all the talents here too?” Elle asked, with confidence already so curious as to what was going on.

“black or brown! it's obvious you're mixed , that's what I mean, how you are mixed and how most people do not know about you, I don't want to pry, but I asked to see you because I need to tell you that your contract has been put on hold indefinitely”

“What!” Elle retorted, “Is this company being racist now? There are African models here too, besides I am mostly Thai anyway, I know nothing about my African genealogy” Elle said too almost immediately.

“No…” before he could finish his statement, she recalled what happened with the spilling of coffee on Cinder.

She said immediately, “or is it the coffee incident just now? It wasn't intentional, I could go apologize to him”

“Who? What are you talking about? Calm down young lady, this decision came directly from the higher ups, I can't say much, but never forget family is everything” Mr Sathit said with a hidden meaning also confused about the incident she was referring to .

Just then it clicked that this was Matilda already scheming. It also confirmed that Cinder didn't report her either or hasn't done that yet.