THE BILLIONAIRE'S ASSISTANT

Apologize?!, to a child?, you must be joking".

Nadia flared up at Miss Jane, Ella's school teacher.

"Maybe if Frank was taught well by his parents, he would know better than to insult a girl or even call her such a vulgar word, a bastard!"

Nadia continued.

Ella, Nadia's daughter, and Frank, her classmate, had gotten into a fight because Frank insulted her for not having a father and went further to call her a bastard.

"I understand, ma, but you have to. You see, Mrs. Brown, Frank's mother, is one of our patrons and gives a lot of donations to our school. And since Frank is a telltale, we won't want to be on her bad side. I'm sorry, but you have to," Miss Jane pleaded with a sign of sympathy.

Nadia let out a cold sigh. She bent to the height of frank,

"I... I'm sorry, dear Frank. Maybe Ella took it too far. You should, however, be cautious of your words,"

she replied, faking a loud smile.

Frank scoffed and walked off, feeling proud that he got an adult to apologize to him.

"Maybe next time I'll hit his head hard so he'll be unconscious,"

Ella murmured ,

Nadia shunned Ella and gave her a warning glance.

"I'm sorry, mum," Ella said.

"It's okay, monkey. Let's go," Nadia replied, and they both walked to the exit.

"Ummm, Mrs. Brando, can I speak to you," Miss Jane called out to Nadia.

"Hold on, monkey," Nadia said, walking up to meet with Miss Jane.

"I forgot to mention Ella's fees are due, and she won't be allowed to class from next week if it's not sorted," Miss Jane added.

Nadia nodded

"I'll work towards that this week, I promise,"

"Hopefully I'll get the job",

she whispered, then walked back to Ella, and they both left.

Nadia had dropped off Ella at her best friend's place, Julia while she cooled off to prepare a meal for herself and Ella to eat and take to school as Ella had school and she herself had an interview early tomorrow.

Nadia had applied for months now and was just invited to an interview at one of the most prestigious music companies in Lancity as an internal auditor.

Cutting vegetables and lost in her thoughts, Nadia's hands hit the knife so hard, slicing the vegetables into silly pieces.

"That stupid Frank, apologize? I should've bent him over my lap. No one talks to my child like that!".

The rush of embarrassment she felt earlier when the latter incident happened filled her body again.

Still slicing the vegetables so hard, she missed and cut herself.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!!"

She let out a scream, and suddenly the outburst of emotion weighed her down.

She bent over the kitchen table and began to cry. It was too much for her to bear alone.

She always had to struggle to take care of herself and Ella, doing freelance jobs and accumulating whatever she could get. Her father had been helping a little, but remarried after the death of her mom, and so she was barely with him.

All she had was Ella, Julia her best friend and her aunt who checks up from time to time

And even with all of the issues, she still kept her head high throughout, it weighed her down. She was tired.

After some minutes, she got up, treated her cut, and went to wash her face.

"You're strong,"

she said to herself,as she stared at her reflection in the mirror on the wall.

She finished up, and decided to take a walk than wallow in self pity.

(*****)

"Aren't you stupid to think you can advise me? Just because you let me go all the way and have a taste doesn't mean you can speak to me how you please. Know your place, get out!"

Aiden yelled furiously at his secretary, who was trying to relieve him of his worry.

He had just made a mistake with a contract for a binding that was to be held in a few hours because he had no personal assistant.

"Luke, get the car," Aiden called out to his driver, storming out of the office to cool his head off.

Still angry and unaware of his surroundings, Aiden barged into a coffee shop, immediately colliding with a lady, pouring her coffee all over her body.

"Are you blind? You silly lady! Can't you see I was coming in? You should've waited, fool!"

Aiden ranted in rage.

It was Nadia. She had taken Ella to her best friend, Julia, and during her walk, she stopped at a coffee shop.

As picked up the shards of the broken cup off the floor, she slowly got up, ready to transfer all her anger on him

"Are you deaf? you can't speak"

Aiden nudged her further and just then, Nadia raised her head up and replied.

"Oh, I'm the fool?, you weren't thought to be cautious of your surroundings in public?, maybe you're the blind one cause you hit me without looking".

Aiden's eyes widened, it took him by surprise as he couldn't believe anyone would dare speak back at him.

As they stood there, locked in a heated staredown, Nadia couldn't help but notice the man's chiseled features.

His piercing eyes, his tall frame and muscular body, his clean skin and he smelt like wealth, surely, he was not a regular guy.

But her admiration was short lived, as Aiden provoked her anger again

"and what makes you think you can speak to me like that?"

He asked, his eyebrow dent.

"Oh shut up..."

Nadia replied, sighing and walking off nudging her shoulders on his.

As she picked up her bag to leave, she couldn't but question, who did this man think he was, anyway?

____

"That silly short fool"

Aiden, still fuming as he sat down, began sipping his coffee and trying to find a solution to the altered contract.

He snapped his fingers in relief as he got a message from the board that the contract signing had been postponed till tomorrow evening. Aiden let down a sigh of relief.

"At least I have a little bit of time till tomorrow, and by then, I'll have gotten an assistant hopefully."

He couldn't help but replay the encounter he had with Nadia again but just then, he received a text message. It was from an unknown number,

"I miss you daddy, how about I give you a proper welcome back, our usual place. Suzzy xoxo"

the message read.

Aiden smiled, he understood the message, called on Luke and left for a hotel.

(*****)

"Love you monkey!", Nadia waved at Ella sitting in a taxi with Julia, it was the next day and Julia had offered to take Ella to school because of the interview Nadia had.

Nadia rushed to the bus stop and got the next ride to the company. During the ride, she kept wondering how the interview would go.

"I hope this goes well, I really need this" she said to herself crossing her fingers.

Luckily, she had gotten to Blumy Records ten minutes earlier than the actual time.

"Good morning, I'm here for the interview, please,"

Nadia said to the receptionist.

"Good morning, ma'am. You're quite early,"

the receptionist replied in a friendly tone.

"Yes, I was so anxious I just couldn't sleep, and so I'm here,"

Nadia replied with a smile.

The receptionist signaled for her to sit.

"Well, luckily for you, the boss couldn't sleep either. He's in the office,"

the receptionist told Nadia.

"Hold on, I'll let him know one of the candidates is here early. Maybe he might just begin the interview now,"

she added.

Nadia with an appreciative tone replied,

"Yes, thank you very much."

"Sir, for the interview, one of the candidates is quite early, so I was thinking if you would like to start the interview now?"

The receptionist had gotten to Aiden's office to inform him.

"You were thinking? I don't pay you to think, fool. I pay you to attend to anyone that comes in. You're the office gateman, for your information. So get out and don't disturb me,"

Aiden replied, spitting a lot of rude words at the receptionist.

Aiden had stayed up all night because of the contract and his mood was not very welcoming

Even though Aiden Smith owned almost all of the company, he preferred vacations and flexing than participating in the company and had appointed an acting Ceo in his place Mr. Luthor, which everyone grew to know as the founder. But, he had decided to return and take his place.

As the receptionist walked off in silence, Aiden immediately called her back.

"You know what? Since you just disturbed me, you might as well call the person in. I'll probably dispose of them myself, anyway,"

He ordered the receptionist.

As she came back, Nadia couldn't but notice her mood had changed

"You can go in now." She said

Nadia was surprised, as some minutes ago, she was quite welcoming.

"Thank you," Nadia replied, still wondering.

She got to his office, took a deep breath, and knocked.

"Come in," a deep yet soothing voice answered from the other side of the door.

She opened the door and greeted, "Good morning, Mr.Luthor ."

Aiden raised his head up from the table, and his eyes suddenly widened.

As their eyes met, they both shouted in surprise,

"You?!!".

And suddenly, there was silence in the air.