The Royal and The Housemaid

happiness does not last forever (34)

When the meeting ends, the lights come back on and William announes. "Excuse me. I have some buisness to take care of."

With this he walks out of the door, motioning towards me to follow him. I fall into step with him while he talks on his phone. We walk back to his office from where I can see that it's turning dark outside.

He puts down the phone and turns to me. "I think you've had enough for one day. You should go home and get some rest."

I nod and start to walk towards the door when he calls after me. "Cassandra?"

"Yeah." I reply, turning towards him.

He holds out a Samsung Galaxy Note to me. I take it and ask. "Why this?"

"You need to replace your old phone if you plan on being my assistant." He tells me. I thank him and then he says. "You can collect your cheque from the front desk."

"Really?" I ask surprised.

He nods and before I know what I'm doing. I throw my arms around him screaming. "Thank You!"

What surprises me the most is that he hugs me back for a brief second before I compose myself and pull away. My face feels hot and I know for sure that I'm blushing like crazy.

"You're welcome." William says and I walk out of the room and head towards the front desk.

"Helen, William said that I could collect my cheque from you." I say as I walk upto her.

She holds out a paper to me which says. "$2000." I think that my eyes would pop out at any second now. So, I turn on my heel and head for the exit.

Just before I leave the building something blonde catches my eye which makes all the happiness drain from my body.

Ashley.

Why can't she let me be happy for one minute?

She sees me staring at her and struts over.

"What are you doing here?" She asks me.

"May I ask you the same question." I try to stand upto her.

"In case you have forgotten. My Fiancé owns this company." She glares at me.

"Your Fiancé?" I ask bewildered.

"aka William Blake." She replies.

"But you guys broke up." I try to tell myself that she's lying.

"We got together and he proposed to me." She says and walks off leaving me shocked.

In a state of shock, I walk to the bus station and catch the bus back to the hospital without stopping at the house to get changed, I go straight to my mother. I take the elevator up to her room.

When I open the door I find Ella flipping through a magazine. She looks up when I walk in and stands up saying. "Hey!"

Without replying, I start crying and fall into her arms. She holds me close to her and asks. "What happened? Is everything alright?"

After a couple of minutes I find my voice again. "Nothing's alright!"

I pull away and I sit down on the bed's edge. Ella sits opposite from me. After a few minutes she asks. "Do you want to talk about it?"

I feel like keeping it to msyelf but then I know she's my sister and decide to open up.

"When he asked me out that night and then gave me the job. I felt as if I actually stood a chance to get him but I guess I was wrong."

"What makes you think that?" She asks.

"I ran into his girlfriend on my way out and she told me that they're engaged." I stifle a sob and look at my sister and ask.

"Have you ever been in love with someone you can never have?" I ask her. She shakes her head but I go on anyway.

"It hurts! It hurts a lot! You want someone who doesn't want you. And in my case it's only worse. He's already taken!"

There's a knock on the door and Ella opens ot to reveal the doctor standing there. He walks in and says.

"I know this is not the right time to say this but your money has run out. You need to pay the next installment." He says.

I push away all thoughts of William and Ashley and tell myself.

You mother needs you. All that you do from now on effects her too. So, stop being selfish and be thankful to God that you got that job in the first place!

I reach into my bag, pull out the cheque and follow him out to pay for my mother's treatment.