Anna's POV

Marina brought me fresh clothes. I changed in a hurry and darted downstairs to eat breakfast. I did not want to make Alex wait any more than I had.

I rushed downstairs and saw the most beautiful hallway ever, decorated with expensive paintings, flowerpots and dark colours.

Alex was dressed up in black suit and black pants. He looked handsome. Long legs, muscled chest and shoulders. His hair slick from gel.

Right in the middle, were a big dining table with around six chairs on each side while the other two on each head of the table.

Alex was on his face but cut the call when he noticed me. He pulled out a chair for me and nodded for me to sit down.

"Sit down and have some breakfast. You are going to need it. Hurry up though, we need to leave soon." He told me as I took the seat that he offered me.

I looked at the food on the table. Fruits, bread, butter, jam, tea and coffee. My mouth watered and almost fell half open watching so much for just breakfast.

I closed my mouth and darted a look at him to see if I noticed my half-shocked face.

He was looking at me with a guarded face with his hands inside his pockets.

I think I saw a hint of amusement in his eyes. He jerked his head towards the food.

"Do you need something else? Is there anything else that you would be eating for Breakfast? You could ask Marina to make it. But I suggest you adjust for today because I'm running late." He told me, checking his wristwatch.I shook my head and gave him a small smile.

"No. It's more than enough. Umm ... Aren't you going to eat with me?" I asked him in a hesitant voice.

He shook his head.

"No. I already did. Please, eat. I have to make a phone call." He said and pulled out his phone.

I nodded my head.

He walked out of the door, leaving me to eat in peace alone. I thought he would stand there and watch me eat. And that would have made me certainly self-conscious.

I ate my breakfast as fast as possible so that I wouldn't prolong his lateness. I was pretty sure that he would not complain even if I did make him late to his work, but I did not want to take advantage of a person who was being so nice and helpful towards me.

When I was done, I stood up.

Right at the moment,Alex entered the house back. He jerked his head.

"You're finished? Are you ready to leave?" He asked me. I gave him a nod which he returned with one of his own.

"Good. Then, let's go." He said and we both left his house.

Both of us walked towards his car.

A man was waiting by the car when he saw us approach, he opened the doors for us. Once we were settled inside, I realized that he was Alex's driver.

He pulled out of the driveway and started driving us on an empty road.

Somebody cleared their throat. I looked at my side and Alex looked outside the window out of my window.

"I never got to know your name." He said to me, It made me realize that I actually never really introduced myself properly.

I just blurted my guts out to him like a crazy person but never really gave him my name.

My face heated up in shame as I realized how he had seen me. Vulnerable, crying, an ugly mess.

"My name is Anna. Anna Ried." I told him.

"Anna ..." He whispered. My name sounded like butter from his mouth.

"So Anna, my secretary will show you around. She will tell you what you have to do and how to do it. If you have any problem then you can contact her. She will help you through it. Don't be nervous just because it is your first day.

Okay?" He told me like he was my senior.

Which he was. Even though I was not really nervous, his words did calm me down. His voice held a sense of security.

"Okay." I replied.

He nodded and pulled out his phone to check, whatever he was checking.

I turned my face and looked outside the window. Falling into a mutual silence. It was light and tension free quiet. None spoke throughout the ride to his office.

The car stopped at a big building. It went on and on and on, high in the air, making every other building small in comparison to this building. I felt like I was standing in front of the Eiffel Tower. The door of my side of the car opened. The driver held it back and let me slide out of it.

"Thank you." I told him. He nodded his head once but without a smile.

Alex came to me and led me inside the building.

Everyone greeted him as he looked at me curiously. He greeted every single of them politely. It was kind of attractive to see a guy being so polite even though he was the owner of the company.

We walked into an elevator but I hesitated when I saw the plate outside said 'VIP ONLY'. Alex backend me and I walked inside.

He pressed the button of the door closing and pressed the button for topmost floor 70.

We waited on the opposite side of the lift to go up. I gathered my courage and asked him the question that was eating me away for a long time.

"Umm ... How am I supposed to address you? Will Sir be alright?" I asked him.

He looked at me and then snapped his eyes to the ceiling. He nodded his head once.

"Okay." I said and turned to face the door of the elevator.

"Sir." I whispered to myself.

I saw him glancing my way when I whispered and looked away. He had his hands on his pockets and was standing straight like analysing some sort of project.

Damm He was so tall, he towered over my Five point five-inch-long self.The door of the elevator opened and I took a step forward but stumbled and almost fell forward. Almost.

However, I did not because two sets of hands stopped, grabbed me around my waist and caught me.

"Watch it." He said before straightening me up. Both of us stepped out of the door.

"Are you okay?" He asked me. I nodded and felt ashamed that I tripped over.

"Okay, let me introduce you to my secretary and she will help you with everything else." He told me.

I just agreed with him because my mind could not register anything except for a single thing that I tripped over.

"Her name is Janet, anyway." He told me.

While at the same time the door opened and entered a very beautiful, blonde haired woman with curvy figure and long, slim legs.One look at her face and I knew one thing very clearly.

We would Not get along.

Anna's POV

My gut feeling came true about us not getting along, when Janet opened her mouth and the first words that came out of her mouth were, "So she's the damsel in distress that you saved, Sir?"I sucked in a breath and a pang of hurt hit me deep into my heart, but I did not have the right to be upset when what she said was true.

However, she must not be the one who should be saying that since she was not the one who saved me.

I asked my pain and met Alex's eyes.

He saw my face then glanced at Janet.

"Language. Janet. This is not your personal dormitory. So please be professional." He snapped at Janet.

Disagreeing with her behaviour. His voice came out tight and stiff.

Janet almost rolled her eyes. She jerked her head at me.

"You are going to work under me. Alongside with other interns." She told me. She handed Janet the file that she entered inside the room with and gave my dress a glance over.

"I'm going to show her around." She told him.

"Okay." He said and turned to look at me.

"She will be your head and you will work under her. If you have any problem then you can talk to her. Have a great first day at work." He told me.

He was so polite. It was hard to believe. I was so grateful that people like him existed.

I gave him a small but professional smile

.

"Thank you, Sir." I replied. He gave a nod and immersed himself in his work.

"I'll lead the way." Janet muttered, like she was bored of our pleasantries.

With that, she turned on her heels and headed out of the room, with me following after her.

My stomach was churning because I was really nervous. Maybe, it was because I never worked in a job like this. Especially with a company, who had such a big name in the market.

My nervousness only increased when Janet led me to one of the biggest rooms where many people were working.

Honestly, at that point I felt like pooping.

Everyone seemed older than me and it did not help that none of them looked friendly.

I swallowed hard.

It did not look good.

Janet clapped her hands twice to draw everybody's attention to herself. Everyone stopped doing what they were doing and gave her the attention she asked for.

"Everyone, listen here. This is Anna. She is a new intern and will work here from now on. Treat her nicely." She announced. The whole crowd listened and nodded their heads to Janet. I could tell it by the looks of these people that they respected Janet.

Or was it fear?

In any case, I should maintain my distance from her and stay out of her way. Messing with her could mean trouble. And I had enough of getting in trouble.

With Janet's last words, all of them got back to what they were doing and resumed their work leaving both of us alone.

"So how much did you learn in your college?" She asked me directly. Her voice completely tone less. Her straight forwardness was a bit too much for me to take. Especially on the first day of work.

"I ... My work ..." I cleared my throat.

"I've done fitting,measurements and stuff. I have done Pattern Making & Garment Construction." I told her. I stumbled in my words a little before I got the words out. She gave me a passive look and pointed to the one section of the collection of dresses.

"I can't give you anyserious work without the supervision of a senior. Therefore, go to that section of loose fitted dresses and adjust them accordingly. If you find it difficult, feel free to ask any of the employees or me, for that matter. However, since I am leaving, you have to ask the employees."

"I will be back to check on you soon." She told me before gesturing for me to go on. It was a bit surprising for me, because our interaction went way better than I thought it would. She spun around and left me alone with a bunch of strangers.

I closed my eyes and brought myself together.

'You can do this. You were one of the brightest students in the class. You could go through this. You will try your best and you will learn.'

I gave myself a pep talk and got to work.While I worked, nobody paid me any attention.

It was like I was not even there or more like I was one of them. It seemed pretty different then the time when, not so long ago, I was introduced to all of them. When their all-collective attention was on me.

It did not matter though I was actually glad that I did not get any special attention since I had a serious doubt that I could handle that.

I got to work.

I kept on working and working and working. Until I lost track of time. But my work came to a halt when I realised that I was stuck in a problem.

One specific difficult dress fitting. I found it difficult.

This was what I was dreading to face.

I glanced around me to catch a glimpse of Janet but could not find her anywhere.

How was I supposed to go on if I could not find somebody to help me with it?

I almost gave up my hope, and I was thinking of finally asking someone for help when my eyes met a cute guy. He gave me a smile and raised his eyebrows, as if asking what was wrong.

I pointed at my work and he walked over to help me with it.

"Hi." He said.

"Hi." I replied to him politely. He looked around at the dress that I was working on.

"So what's the problem?" He questioned.

I told him that I was finding it hard to fit this material on this dress.

"Let me take a look." He said and helped me with the fitting, telling me how to do it properly. He literally solved my problem in minutes. I was really grateful for his help.

"Thank you." I told him and gave him one of my big smiles. His smile turned into a flirty one and he reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear.

"You know, you're really pretty." He said to me. His voice sounded a bit rough.

I almost recoiled from his sentence but controlled myself from doing so. He had helped me a few seconds ago, after all.

The least I could do was to not reject him blatantly.

I gave him a small but Professional smile before taking a step back. He noticed the action but did not comment on it.

"I really need to get to work. This is my first day and I don't want to mess things up." I told him. My message was clear that I did not want his attention and wanted to get back to work.He glanced at my lips before smirking in an arrogant way.

"Sure. I will see you around." He said and went back to his place to work. From then on, I noticed him glancing my way from time to time, but I ignored him. Instead, I chose to focus on work.Few minutes later, I heard someone calling my name.

"Anna Ried. Who's Anna Ried?" An unknown voice called out to me.

My head was occupied with work hence I was not able to hear who was calling me.

My eyes searched for the source of the voice and came to settle on a person. By the look of his outfit, he looked like a receptionist.

I raised my hand to draw his attention to myself. He did. His eyes settled on me.

"I am Anna Ried." I told him. He jerked his head and subtly asked me to come outside. I did.

"Boss is calling you. Go to his office." He told me. Just as he told me, a loud beep sounded across the floor.

"It's lunch time. You should hurry, if you want to have time for lunch." He instructed me before the source of the voice and came to settle on a person. By the look of his outfit, he looked like a receptionist.

There was one problem with that question, I did not have any money for lunch. So I did not have to hurry.Anyway, I reached my boss's office and knocked on his door.

"Come in." He said. I did. I opened the door and walked inside. He was working on a file. Right after a few seconds, he closed it and looked at me.

"Get ready. We are going outside for lunch."

Anna's POV

"Get ready. We are going outside for lunch". He said to me

My shock was a natural reaction to it, followed by shame and pity. By the look of his eyes, I could tell that he knew that I had no money to eat.

I had nothing.

My parents asked me to leave and I did. Without ever taking anything and ended up almost jumping from the bridge.

He knew that I knew what he was doing and that heightened my humiliation to another level.

"Okay." I replied, almost whispered.

He tore his eyes away from me and stood up. He picked up his coat and put it on.

"Let's go." He told my frozen self. There was no denying that my face showed how much I was embarrassed. Still, he did not comment on it and instead walked to the elevator, nonchalantly. I followed him and made sure to look everywhere except his face.

I had a feeling that he knew I was avoiding him for a reason and for what reason but he did not say anything about it.

Anyways, we rode to the ground level in silence and walked over to his car. His driver opened the door for me and I climbed inside his car.

He slid inside from the other side of the car and settled down.

"So is there any specific place that you would like to eat?" He asked.

My face was already hot, his question made me squirm. Why did he have to ask that question? He could take me to a freaking McDonalds and I still would not complain.

"Umm... I can't think about any specific place right now. You decide." I answered him.

He stared at me for a few seconds then instructed his driver to a restaurant that I have not ever heard of.

His driver took us to a place I have never been to. Just by the look of this place I knew, it was a place where celebrities ate and not plebeians like me.

We both got out of his car and he led me inside the restaurant. He did not even ask for a place to sit, no, he just walked straight to an empty table in front of the little fountain in the middle.

He pulled a chair out for me. I sat down and he did the same. Without ever asking for anything, a waiter placed menus and brought two ice teas.

Iced tea. My favourite.

"Sir, do you come here a lot?" I asked him, looking around. People in suits and branded dresses were everywhere. There was no doubt now that we were in an expensive place. It screamed rich.

"Yes. Choose whatever you want to eat. I'm paying." He said and pretended to look inside his menu.

If he was a regular customer here then he would have known what was on the menu.

Anyway, I picked up my menu and searched for the least priced food. I chose a veg burger but it was still way too much for my liking. Maybe we really should have gone to McDonalds. The waiter arrived and we both placed our order.

Alex pursed his lips like he knew why I had chosen the dish. When the waiter left, he told me.

"I told you that I was paying. You should have chosen something more edible."

"I don't want to be any more of a burden than I already am." I mumbled.

He opened his mouth to tell me that I should not feel that way, but I continued with my sentence.

"Plus I am not that hungry. My stomach is still full of breakfast in the morning." I told him. By the look of his face, I could tell that he bit back his words. Instead, he stared off in the distance as he ran his hand through his neck.

"Okay. Tell me about your day. How was it?

Did you find your work easy?" The waiter came back with our order and I waited until he served us and left.

I gave him a small smile.

"It's great. People are helpful." I told him. He took a bite of his food and nodded.

We ate in silence after that when we both were finished with our meal, he ordered two glasses of juice.

"Janet will show you your new home but you need to get your stuff back from your previous house. If you want, then I could send someone else to retrieve it for you.

In case, you don't want to go back and do it yourself." He suggested.

My heart ached at his thoughtfulness.

Do people like him still exist?

HOW do people like him still exist?

And how did they not get contaminated living in this world? Living among corrupted, bad, mean people?

I felt tears prick my eyes. I swallowed hard before answering him.

"No." I shook my head.

"No, you don't need to do that. I will do it myself." I told him.

"Okay." He replied.

For a few seconds, both of us fell into silence then I spoke as he stared in the far distance.

"Umm..." I said to get his attention. He turned to me.

"Thank you for everything you did and are doing for me. It means a lot to me." I thanked him. For a moment, he looked taken aback by my words, like the confession caught him off guard.

Then he straightened in his chair.

"That's alright. You don't need to say thank you. That's what a human should do for another human." He said. My smile turned bitter - sweet.

'You will be surprised by how little humanity has left in people.' I wanted to tell him but I did not. Instead I repeated my words.

"Still, I am so thankful for your help. You helped me when I needed it the most. I will be forever grateful. And thank you for the new house arrangement this fast." I told him.

He did not say anything.

Waiter returned with our glasses of juices and we both drank it in silence. Then, he paid the bill and off we went.

I returned to my work and later Janet came to pick me up and drop me off at my new home. Handing me the keys of the house, she said, "You won't encounter any problems here.

You will live here and every month you could pay me your rent. Like you asked for." She told me.

I thanked her and entered a home that will be mine for the rest of my life.

Well as long as I could afford it.

I was so bloody exhausted that after eating things from the pantry, I just went inside my bedroom and fell on the bed.

I instantly passed out.

I woke up with a jerk, in the middle of the night.

I thought I heard a noise.

Somewhere in the house a glass broke.