Skyla returned from her office a happy woman. She called her friend Huria from the taxi. As soon as she picked up Skyla excitedly asked.
"Hey! Guess where I am returning from?"
"Hey! Sky. Hopefully, after murdering that bastard and burying his body," Huria replied with equal enthusiasm, a hint of evil creeping up in her shrill voice.
Skyla burst out laughing so hard that the taxi driver took a curious peek at her from the rearview mirror.
"No, silly. You won’t believe, Mr. Zyair as you know has become Doran’s new boss. He offered me a job as his secretary. I am returning after a fruitful day in the office."
Skyla’s words shocked Huria.
"Get out, girl. Are you serious? How did that happen? That sadist agreed but how?"
Her line of questioning led Skyla to tell her the details.
"What a rotten worm with double standards he is. The least he can do is buy you a new car. Moving on, I am very happy for you and we should go out and celebrate. How about lunch tomorrow? My treat," Huria expectantly asked, she was bubbling with excitement for her friend.
Skyla was torn at her request, the contract stated that she would be having her lunch with her boss but she also wanted to go out with her friend. Her husband never let her so this was like a golden opportunity. She also needed to go shopping. She was in dire need of office attire and there was no better person than Huria to do that with.
"I will ask Mr. Zyair and let you know."
"Ahh! Zyair, what a strong name for such an enigmatic man. He is so dreamy, you are so lucky to be working for him. It’s like every single lady’s dream and you are living it. Let’s trade places, pretty please," Huria’s voice danced on the precipice of intrigue and fascination.
Skyla cracked up at her friend’s naughty words. But deep down she knew the man with the mask had affected her in ways she would consider to be very sinful. That beguiling yet soft gaze he held for her disturbed and rattled her in most unique ways.
"Be nice, Huria. I just got started, let me get settled and maybe one day you will get to meet him," Skyla informed her as the taxi stopped outside her husband’s mansion.
"Please!" Huria requested with a whimper.
"I am home, I will talk to you later," Skyla bid goodbye to her friend and paid the fare of her ride before exiting it.
There was this confident gait in her stride today, revealing how boosted her morale was with just one day of work.
Amsilia was waiting for her as she entered the living room.
"Good evening! Mom," she greeted her with one of her affectionate smiles.
"Good evening! How was your first day? Did you have any trouble? I still think you should have taken my car," she spoke rapidly, happy to see her daughter-in-law back.
"No, Mom you need your car. I can manage with taxi and it was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to dive right into the sea of opportunities that the company holds. I am so excited," the happiness was radiating off Skyla and it soothed Amsilia’s heart to some extent.
"That makes two of us my lovely girl. Go get changed and we will have tea together." Amsilia ushered Skyla to her room and went to the kitchen to fix tea.
Skyla took a warm bath, freshened up and changed into comfortable clothes. She had tea with her mother-in-law and told her about the day. Amsilia in return narrated some stories from her younger years when she was a carefree soul.
Amsilia’s stories always fascinated her and with more time she had spent with the older woman, Skyla had learnt their stories were not very different. Amsilia saw herself in Skyla and wanted to protect her but deep down below she knew she had failed miserably.
Both of them were still talking when Doran arrived. It was near dinner time so Amsilia asked him to get changed for it.
"No need. I already ate," he threw an irritated glance at the ladies of the house and headed to the stairs leading to their room. He halted on the second step and without turning around he ordered.
"Come upstairs," the sharp command was meant for Skyla. Her heartbeat instantly quickened. This was never a good sign and every time she was in the vicinity of him, her anxiety would shoot through the roof.
𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Slowly getting up Skyla unwillingly followed him. He had already gone to the bathroom to change so she sat and waited. Picking up her phone she checked and there was a message from Lawrence. They had exchanged numbers earlier.
[Hello! Miss Skyla. I am just texting to inform you that from tomorrow onwards office car will pick you up and drop you off. Mr. Zyair values punctuality and travelling by taxi can result in getting late. I am sending you the car number and driver’s name. See you tomorrow, have a good night.]
The message was simple and professional but the fact that they noticed her travelling by taxi and wanted to send a special car for her made Skyla feel extremely nervous and yet a little happy.
On one side was her husband who didn’t care that his wife was travelling by taxi because it didn’t affect him. And then there were these people whom she barely knew and yet they were so compassionate with her.
"Did you get to see his face?" her husband’s sudden question jolted her out of her muddled thoughts and she lifted her head to stare at him.
He had just exited the bathroom with a towel in his hand, rubbing his sandy hair dry. His glacial eyes fixated on her.
"No, he wears a mask all the time," she answered in a bored fashion.
"Anything you learnt, although I doubt it since you lack the intellect and skill. Still," his need to look down upon her always bugged her in the worst possible ways. But she kept her eyes focused on him, telling him she wasn’t bothered.
"Well there were some files but since I lack the skill I didn’t understand what they were. Maybe over time when I will learn those needed skills, I might be able to read them," she blatantly lied with a very straight face, emphasising the word ’skills.’ He watched her for a moment and then scoffed.
"Just as expected," walking away from her he dropped the wet towel on her divan and picked up his cigarettes and walked out on the balcony to smoke.
Skyla smirked at his back and sprawled herself on her divan, her foot pushing the wet towel down as it crumbled to the floor.