lastmermaid11@g*******m

1. The Magazine

LOVIANA'S POV

Why do we even have dreams, when we may never achieve some of them?

*Sighs in broke*

When I was a kid, I had so many dreams. A big house. A big car. A big bank balance.

But honey, Judging by the way my life is moving, I might never achieve them. I am barely hanging by a thread. I barely make enough money for myself. I send most of what I earn to my mom. Yes, I am a very filial child. But, I don't have anyone except her.

I cursed as I stumbled upon a twig, I guess. Or a root, or a broken pavement tile or something. I didn't bother to look at it. I could not care less and was already tired of my life. Weird. I'm not even 30 yet I'm done. I cursed myself for sleeping in till late. Had I woken up early I would have done this grocery shopping earlier. But No. I had to cater to myself with some precious sleep.

The sound of heavy footsteps behind me brought me back to reality. I checked the time on my phone, it was 8:30 pm. I gripped my bag on the side and picked up the pace. The person behind me picked up the pace too. As I was about to start running, a pair of hands grabbed my waist and I reflexively grabbed my bag and swung it on to them even before I screamed. But my bag just flew in the air. No one was there.

Am I going crazy? I'm pretty sure I felt someone following me closely.

I saw a brunette bending down close to the ground, with hands above her head in a protective stance and then I heard her laughing .

"Very funny, Skylar." I glared at her.

She stood up wheeze-laughing."I'm sorry, babe. Did I scare you?"

"Of course you did. I thought it was some creepy perv." I cried.

"Sorry babe." She cried making a pout as if she was guilty. But her eyes told a different story. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around me. I didn't hug her back as I was angry but how could I not forgive her.

I almost forgot you had her in your life. Your bestie.

She was that one important person to me other than my mom. I had known her for 4 years now. And never had I felt so loved by someone not of my blood. She was that one friend who would stand with me against the whole world.

"Now let's go do some grocery shopping." She suggested letting go of me.

"You don't have any clients tonight ?" I asked her as I turned to walk ahead.

"I had but he cancelled. He texted me to come to a hotel tomorrow." She put her hands in her jeans pocket which only made her look cooler. She was more of that hot woman with a chill personality. Skylar was a dancer. She worked in London's dance club. Yeah. You are right. Those high paying ones. She was a wonderful person. She loved what she did but she was also doing it to support her family as the pay is high. We had similar traumas maybe that's why we bonded so well. Her dad abandoned her family. So did mine in a way.

"Oh wait. How did you know I was here?" I raised a brow.

"I went to our apartment and checked the fridge there wasn't much food in it and I immediately knew that you would be out here. So I was kind enough to join you since I have no clients today."

I stuck out my tongue to tease her and she did the same.

"I forgot to tell you. I've got a job interview tomorrow that too in a hotel."I informed.

"Oh wow! Thats great. I hope you get the job." She chimed excitedly.

"Yeah. Me too." I smiled.

****************

I was walking down the aisle in the supermarket looking for my favourite chocolates. I found them and when I lifted my hand to grab them, a certain pair of eyes caught my attention. I went closer to the bearer of the blue oceanic eyes. I felt as if his gaze was piercing me. His face had a stern look, chiseled jawline and a five o' clock shadow.

He was quite handsome but meh! Men aren't any good for me.

I didn't even bother picking up the magazine to look at the name. Like why would I? What good would it do for me to know his name?

So I turned on my heel. And walked up to the billing counter. I spotted Skylar giving her friendly smile to the boy at the billing counter. He literally couldn't take his eyes off of her. And why would he. Skylar is beautiful. 5'7 and a sexy body. Everything that a woman dreams of in her body is what Sky had. I cleared my throat to interrupt their little flirting session. Not that I was jealous, they didn't have any other counter for billing and I needed his attention so he would bill me. He frowned as I placed the basket on the counter. He didn't like that I was interrupting them.

Dude, you should focus on your school.

He seemed to be too young. Probably in sixth grade school.

"Do you need a bag?" He asked typing on the system without sparing me a glance.

"Yes." I said.

"Your total is £78.00." He said turning to Sky.

"I don't have the exact change. I will quickly grab something else . Can you please hold the bill for a second?" I asked politely.

"Why do you have to waste other people's time? Just go and while coming back join the line again. There are many people waiting." He barked at me.

I was sure she noticed how he kept stealing glances at her and how he was rude to me. She went to the shelf with chocolates and instead of grabbing them, she grabbed the magazine with the same man with ocean blue eyes and slammed it on the billing counter so harshly that the boy flinched. Everyone in the line just seemed to be entertained. Well, its all good till they don't get annoyed at us for wasting their time.

"We will take this." She said in a cold tone, glaring at the boy. He seemed shocked to say anything and just tapped on his keyboard. He handed me the bag gently and thanked us politely as I paid him. Sky stormed out of the store with the bag.

She leaned against the wall, holding the bags waiting for me. I rushed to her and took a bag from her hand. Each of us now holding a bag.

"He was cute." I tried to start a conversation since she seemed a bit upset.

"He was a jerk to you." She gritted out of her teeth.

"Maybe. But he wasn't to you."

She shook her head and said "You need to stop letting people treat you that way."

"I know. Plus, he wasn't worth being taught a lesson. He is just a nobody. People are a piece of s**t. They just dump their thoughts over everyone and everything. He was the same. I can't let his actions or words ruin my day. "

"So, your degree in psychology helps you this way too huh?" She smirked as she changed the bag to her other hand.

"I use it well." I winked at her as I kicked a pebble on the pavement.

Sky was protective of me. Ever since the day I opened up to her when I accidentally consumed a bottle of her vodka thinking it was a soda and spilled out my life story. She kinda adopted me as her lil sister. I never stopped her because I always wanted an older sister. It felt good to be taken care of. I wasn't too greedy. I was content with this much.

As we walked back to our home we talked about the most random things. Except the most important thing.

**************

The next day

"Hey, Loviana. Morning"

"Morning, Sky" I greeted her back as I sat on the table pouring milk on my cereal.

"Hey. I called a cab to leave for the hotel. Wanna leave with me? I will drop you off before I go." Sky offered

"Yeah. That would be great I guess. " I nodded replying.

After finishing the breakfast, we locked the apartment and we got into the cab .

"Where to, Miss ?" The cab driver asked adjusting the rear view mirror in the car.

"To the Mandarin Oriental hotel."

Sky started checking her phone and said "Hmm. Looks like I'm going to the same hotel too." As she scrolled through the message on her phone.

"That's good. We can save up from the cab ride. " I said looking at her. She nodded.

I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes hoping I can calm myself.

Would I land this job? What if I don't. How would I support my family? It would be really a hassle without this job.

Sky held my hand and gave it a squeeze. I whipped my head towards her and smiled when I realised she was comforting me. "I know what you are thinking. You will be just fine. You have me even if you don't make it." She assured me and I couldn't be more grateful.

"Thanks, Sky." I mumbled as I tucked the stray strand back behind my ear. Even when I made my hair into a ponytail this stray strand refused to be in it.

After a few blocks the car came to a halt. I got out and saw this grand building just as grand as its name in front of me. I sighed.

Let's get over with this.

Suddenly Sky wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Shall we?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am." I affirmed. She giggled.

I stood there letting Sky do all the talk.

I'm usually not much of a talker unless there is a dire necessity of the situation I won't. So I rushed to the washroom to fix myself in the mirror one last time. As I'm not a person who usually puts much effort into the aesthetics, I just wanted to look presentable.

As I walked out of the washroom, "Hey, Lovi. What's your interviewer's name? " Sky called to me.

"Huh. Yeah. Its Mr. Daniel Reiss." I answered. But I still rechecked his name in my email that I got from my company.

I walked over close to Sky and the receptionist who was looking at the system.

"Its 3205A for Mr Daniel Reiss and 3205B for Mr Damien Reiss. Both rooms are on the third floor to the right hand side of the elevator." The receptionist informed us.

I crouched an eyebrow at Sky, who thanked the receptionist. "So are they brothers or something? They have the same last name?" I asked, gripping my bag as we walked towards the elevator.

"What if they are a father and son duo?" Sky laughed out. And I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Okay. Jokes apart. But I don't wanna start my day dancing for an old man." She joked again, trying to ease my nerves.

I chuckled.

"Don't worry. You got this." She smiled assuring me as we walked into the elevator and I smiled back at her.

Sky and I stood in front of the doors of the rooms where we are supposed to go. And then we nodded at each other.

I gave a subtle knock on the door as Sky had already entered the room. I waited for a good five minutes before the door swung open and-

I met the cause of my troubles for the next few months.

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