Our world collided

Luna-Layla Arsenio is a strong-willed, hellbent young lady. At 23, she’d survived more than most people twice her age. Her window opened wide ajar facing the south hill of the city, her thoughts kept wrestling with the sound of every car horn there was in the city. On the edge of her bed, she sat in her little cubicle that would barely pass for an apartment in Ravehill. She has just graduated from Raven college where she studied Advertising and majored in Advertising management. She decided to stay back after she graduated to start something for herself, "to live" she had said. It wasn't so far from StoweCity, her hometown, where her family name, Arsenio, held so much weight, especially among the men who ruled her life like a council of kings. Her father, Tame Arsenio, was, once upon a time, a respected business executive, the head of the Arsenio family. After her mother passed away six years ago, her four brothers—Dayowne, Luxshly, Finston and Kingston, undoubtedly took after their father, expecting Luna (as she is mostly referred to at home) to just be their sitting doll. She did, for a time, not feel like she had that much of a choice, but her mother’s death left nothing of the fragile balance holding the family together. Layla had her tongue against her teeth, reminiscing how the demise of her mom had made everything in her life a struggle. Her mother was peculiar, was her biggest fan, she would constantly sing about how great she'd become, she sang glories she saw in her, the strength she lacked, but Layla was blessed with. Most of their bonding sessions were in the dead of the night with their heads resting on the pillow, they both dreamt dreams. Pecky was she would love to call herself Layla's best friend and when she lost her, she lost her very essence, her reason, her anchor. Pecky was the most important possession Layla had, —"The love of my life", she mostly says. She battled with the tears swelling from inside of her. “I'm Luna Arsenio”, she whispered to herself. She was slowly losing the grip of grief on her, she no longer gave in to how love led her to being miserable. She had decided never to love again, Nunca!! Her little fancy for Spanish always chipped in, it reminded her of pecky, of what home felt. After graduating from Raven college, a renowned male-dominated institution, she stayed back at Southend Rave Hill. Raven Hill college wasn't an easy-peasy college —especially for a woman seeking to pursue a career in advertising. It is a field mainly dominated by advanced old-school men with no room for women to compete and succeed. But Layla's determination was brave. She faced it head on, she didn't have the stomach anymore to lick the asses “of men”, from her professors, to her father, or even her brothers. She had vivid dreams and nothing would stand in her way. Rave hill gave her an opportunity, a new opportunity, in a city where she wasn't known before she arrived as “Tame Arsenio’s daughter” or “Perculiar’s little girl.” Now! She would become her dream, she would become all that life took from her mom, all that life deprived her of, all of it, she was here for the taking. A little here and there, her mind always drifted back home, her brother's. Dayowne, the eldest, had always been the one barking orders at everyone. Luxshly, the practical one, constantly playing a mediator role but always in the in-between. Finston and Kingston, the twins, were always acting like they were in their own world, so unpredictable and no one bothered to understand them. They all loved her, so they said, but their love had always been hammered like she was in chains. And then there was her father. Tame wanted what was best for her—at least, that’s what he claimed—but the “best” for Layla was manipulation into being a lapdog without her own will and thoughts. She didn't want that for herself. Then there was a bright sudden light piercing through the blindfolds from her window, her alarm went off almost immediately, shifting her thoughts of reality. Then it hit her, “today is going to be a great day”—she thought. Her dreams were finally aligning. It was her first day at Charms Advertising, after the interview she had attended the last two weeks. The firm was everything she thought of, it beat her imagination and left her in awe. Charms Advertising, no wonder, as among the top 3 in the country, she knew she belonged there. Layla got up, stretching and getting out of her nightwear. She took a quick glance at her reflection in the mirror—her wide brown eyes, like her mother's, her not so long but dark hair tied neatly back, like her father's, and a typical figure 8 Coca-Cola body shape, finely chiseled by the creator himself. She didn't come to earth to stand around and be a pushover, she is here to lead. “I was born ready,” she said to herself. Irrespective of the doubts she had, it wasn't far-fetched that in the world she found herself, women were easily overlooked, over men whose voices drained out the women with a deeper and commanding tone. She was all ready to head out, she paused at a small photograph on her dresser—her mother’s warm smile staring right at her. “This is for you, mamá pecky,” she said to herself. Pecky Arsenio's trust in her daughter’s was undoubtedly even though Layla doubted it herself. Her mother’s death had been sudden, but what caused her most reeling pain was losing her sister, Cara, earlier while they were still very young. This was what had cemented her bond with her mom, she felt they both needed each other during that time. And now she's lost them both, deep down she feels she's drowning in her own strength. Now, she's alone and might be considered vulnerable, but she draws strength from her eyes and compassion from her soul, from everything she's lost, it has forged her into something she wouldn't have believed if told, —stronger. As she walked towards Charms, a towering glass building. “This is my chance to prove myself, to the world—and to all the men in my life—that I am more than capable, that I am my mother's daughter.”— she thought to herself. As she walked across the entrance into Charms lobby, she felt a sudden surge of confidence and calm. She wasn’t just any woman in a man’s world. She is Luna-Layla Arsenio, and she is here to correct the rule books. Standing in the elevator, she adjusted her blazer, she stood ready. She didn’t want to think about the odds that awaited her here, but one thing was certain: she was here to lead. As the elevator suddenly came to a halt and the doors slowly opened with a soft chiming bell, she took her first step into a new direction in her life, her heart racing. This was going to be a new chapter—