Chapter 1: A Meeting With The Past...
Vanessa's parents passed away in a car accident when she was thirteen leaving her innocent self all alone in this cunning world. Since then she has buried her feelings and emotions deep inside her heart. She has tried to forget those unfortunate events but it was impossible. Despite everything she has gone through, she has managed to stay the same happy and positive girl that she was.
After the death of her parents, she was left in the care of her grandmother, who ran a little eatery to support them. Her grandmother taught her a lot about life. She also took care of her proper education despite their lower income. Everything was going well until her grandmother too left her all alone. She had never worked for anyone, except for her grandmother, a day in her life, and today, she had to find a job to support herself. Times like these made her miss her parents and grandmother more than usual. They always made sure she was always comfortable and all her needs were met. Last month, on her twenty-sixth birthday, she was walking through the streets alone when she caught a glimpse of a job advertisement. She decided to apply for it ignoring the fact that her chances of securing a position were next to none because of her inexperience. Two months had passed since her grandmother's demise and it was getting more difficult to get by with each setting sun. Without the tasteful food prepared by her grandmother, the eatery had gone out of business last month.
She interviewed for A&J Corp Pvt Ltd, which was considered one of the most promising and fastest growing companies in the country. She aced the interview and was hired as an intern at the Automation and Robotics company. Thanks to her promising knowledge in the field and her degree in Robotics, her lack of experience wasn't an issue.
Today was her first day at the job. The reporting time was 8:30 am sharp. Since she stayed up celebrating the achievement late at night, her alarm had died a long ago attempting to wake her up. It was already 7 o'clock and she was sleeping peacefully. Her deep slumber was broken up by a heavy knock on her door. She rubbed her half-open eyes and dragged herself outside her room and to the main door through the hallway. She opened the door and was ready to punch the person who disturbed her but held back because it was Mr. Wilkins, the eighty-year-old retired cop who lived next door.
"Mr. Wilkins, is everything alright?" she questioned him with a confused look.
"Didn't you mention yesterday that today's your first day at the new job?"
"Oh my god! I forgot that," she panicked and turned around sharply to see the wall clock displaying 7:04 am. "Thank you ve—" she was interrupted by the ex-cop before her words could leave her mouth.
"Get ready fast! Hurry up. We will catch up later," he said in a commanding tone and left.
She arrived at the office just in time. All other interns were already present, awaiting further instructions with patience. She took an empty seat and removed an old photo from her purse. In the photo, she was standing with her parents and grandmother at the country fair. Tears started welling up in her eyes but she managed to hold them in. She didn't want her weakness to be displayed in front of a room full of strangers.
"If you all were alive today, how proud and happy you would have been to see your doll all grown up," she muttered under her breath.
"Vanessa, don't cry today on such an important day. You're daddy's strong girl, aren't you? Now stop those tears before they could break the barrier and put up a sweet smile," an inner voice replied.
Her train of thought was broken up by footsteps.
"Hello guys, I'm Erica, your supervisor and I will be guiding your work with A&J Corp Pvt Ltd. If you have any work-related problems or questions, then you can reach out to me without any hesitation. We will start with a short introduction, and after that, I will give you your work for the day. Our company's CEO, Mr. Nicholas Alberto, expects nothing but perfection. H—" the tall lady who had entered continued her talk while circling the interns present. She was truly attractive, her hairs were a mix of blond and brown which when paired with her dark brown eyes was an intoxicating combination. She was wearing high heels despite being amazingly tall. Her figure reminded Vanessa of the supermodel show that she had watched the day before. Her open hairs were lustrous and bouncy and swayed with each step she took. The lady who introduced herself as Erica kept on rambling but Vanessa's mind was occupied by one name Nicholas Alberto. She hoped that it wasn't the one she remembered.
She started having flashbacks when Erica said, " Please welcome Mr. Nicholas Alberto." The crowd burst into applause and cheers but Vanessa looked like all her blood had been drained. She was shocked to see Nicholas after all these years, that too in these circumstances.
"Hello everyone! You must have been given my introduction by Erica. So, without wasting any time, introduce yourselves one by one so that we can all carry on with our day."
After a majority of people had given their introductions, it was Vanessa's turn. Her mind was flooded with questions. What if Nicholas remembered who I was? Will he still let me keep this internship? What will I do if he fires me?
When all the eyes fell on Vanessa, waiting for her to speak, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath to clear her mind before standing up hesitantly.
"Are you alright, Miss?" Erica asked in a concerned voice.
"Sorry… It's nothing, I'm… I'm fine, just nervous," Vanessa replied in a low voice.
Nicholas's eyebrows rose in anticipation. He concentrated on the strained yet beautiful blue eyes in front of him. He stared at Vanessa without saying a word as she spoke.
"I completed BTech in Robotics Engineering from the well-respected Rochester Institute of Technology and graduated among the top ten of my class."
"I have read your resume. It says you graduated five years ago. Why have you not taken a job since then, and despite having qualifications for a much better position, why have you accepted this internship?" Vanessa had already prepared for these types of questions but seeing Nicholas here made her mind blank. The person sitting next to her nudged Vanessa's foot with her knee, pulling her back to her senses. Vanessa's eyes roamed across the face of the impatient girl standing a few feet away.
"I'm very sorry, Miss. Erica. Can you please repeat the question?"
"It's alright. I know that the first day makes even the most confident people go weak in their knees. You can take your seat and we will get back to you in the end."
Vanessa was about to sit back on her chair when she was stopped by a deep and familiar voice.
"Wait a minute. Before continuing, I would like to know your name," Nicholas said.
"Vanessa, sir. Vanessa Johnson."
She felt like she heard Nicholas murmur her name a few times under his breath with a shocked expression. He looked like a kid who had been caught red-handed eating ice cream in the middle of the night.
'Is this the same Vanessa Johnson who once ruled over my heart? But she looks different except for those black locks and blue eyes. She has somehow become even more beautiful if that's possible. She was the prettiest girl in the university and all the boys were crazy after her. I even lost some of my friends over jealousy because Vanessa had rejected them but said yes to me when I asked her out. She was the definition of beauty and I never thought one could look more beautiful than her at that time. But I was glad to be proven wrong today. She has also changed her look. Her always open waves were held back into a high ponytail. She looked quite professional in her white full-sleeve button-down tucked neatly into her black knee-length pencil skirt. I had to find out if she's the same girl, Vanessa.'
"Erica, come to my cabin right now. We will continue the introduction later."
"But sir t—" Erica stopped mid-sentence when Nicholas turned around sharply and left without saying another word. She told the interns that they can look around the office until lunch and they will be assigned partners after that. She dismissed them and walked briskly in the same direction where Nicholas went just a few minutes ago.
She knocked on the door timidly and waited for a response before Nicholas opened the door and pulled her inside. He locked the door behind her and told her to take a seat. After she was seated, he walked over to his desk and was half seated on it with his hands folded across his chest. He looked straight into her eyes.
"What happened, Nick? Why are you behaving weirdly?"
"Listen to me, Erica. I want full details of Vanessa right now."
"But I had already forwarded you her resume along with others' and you discarded it without looking."
"I know what I did but I want just her details not everyone else's."
"You know you can tell me anything, right? Is something bothering you? If you don't want to have an inexperienced employee then I will fire her right away."
"No, it's not that," he took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you remember my girlfriend from High School?"
And that's when it hit her. Vanessa Johnson. How could she forget Vanessa? The girl whose mere presence caused Nicholas to forget all his worries and her disappearance wrecked his life. She got up from her seat and walked over to her brother. She placed her hand softly on his forearm.
"Are you sure she is the one? It's been ten years, brother. Do you still think that she will appear out of the blue? There are many girls out there named Vanessa, who are blue-eyed and black-haired. It's just a coincidence that this Vanessa has all these qualities."
"I don't know, Erica. I remember that she left but my heart still aches when I think about her. Today when I walked into the conference room, I wasn't able to keep my mind straight after one look at her. Can you get me her details please?"
"But brother, you have gone through a lot while trying to forget her. Do you want to freshen those healed wounds again?"
"I know you care a lot about me so I promise you that I won't be sad or pursue her. I just need to know if that's her. Please?"
"Alright but don't forget your promise."
"I won't."
Erica lightly pulled her brother's tightly folded arms open and hugged him before turning on her heels and leaving his cabin, Nicholas left his position and sank into his leather office chair behind the oversized table.
Erica was five years younger than Nicholas. He was the best brother one could ask for. Loving, caring, protective, responsible, and whatnot. A few years ago, after Nicholas completed his education and joined his father's business, he had no idea that his father would be a victim of paralysis and hand over the complete responsibility of the company to Nicholas. Erica completed her bachelor's last year and has joined her brother as his secretary.
Erica returned after twenty minutes with a file in her hand.
"Did you find out something?" Nicholas asked, rising from his chair and rounding the table to stand in front of his sister.
Erica said nothing, she just nodded in response. It was enough for Nicholas to confirm his doubts.
"Did you get any details about where she was all this time?"
"No, I checked everywhere but there's no mention of her whereabouts in the last ten years. It seems she got completely off the grid."
"Call her in."
"But Nicholas, you promised me you won't pursue her."
"I just want to talk to her, sweety."
"I want one more promise from you before calling her in."
"Anything for you, just name it."
"Promise me that you won't hurt yourself."
"I promise, Erica."
Erica gave him a little smile with a nod and left the cabin once again.
Nicholas was surprised at her sudden appearance but he was very happy too. He was feeling an unexplainable mixture of emotions.
A few minutes later, Nicholas was sitting calmly on his chair, trying to sort his thoughts out when he heard a knock on his door.
"Enter."
Vanessa opened the door and entered the cabin waveringly. She seemed to be shivering from head to toe.
"You wished to sp-speak to me, sir?"
"I'm not going to eat you alive, so calm down and take a seat."
Nicholas waited for Vanessa to take baby steps towards the chair placed in front of his desk. And spoke only after her breathing had returned to normal.
"Vanessa Johnson, right?"
"Yes sir."
"You know me, don't you?"
Vanessa waited a few seconds before responding. Her first instinctive response was to say that she didn't understand what he was talking about because she didn't want him to recognize her but she decided to play it safe.
"Yes sir. You are the CEO of this company."
"Anything other than that? Haven't we met before?"
"No sir," Vanessa responded in a low and hesitant voice, almost inaudible.
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