When Love & Hate Collide [Completed]

Chapter 1 - The Entrance

As I stood in front of the large estate, my new work place, I shivered in spite of the glorious sunny morning. I told myself, I can do this and stepped inside the enormous gates but no matter how much pep talk I had been giving myself, I could feel an air of chill all around me. It must be the jitters of starting a new job, I told myself again and kept walking the gravel road which would take me to the main mansion.

The bus had dropped me on the main road around 500 meters away from the gates. It was another one kilometer walk inside the estate. This job is surely going to keep me in shape, that is, if I am able to keep this job, my mind spoke to me again.

"Don't be a pessimist. It will work. You will make it work," I literally spoke aloud to myself this time and kept moving.

After another ten minutes of walking, I reached the entrance door. Pulling myself to my full height of five feet six inches, I knocked at the door. At first there was no reaction, but after trying it louder the next time, I heard some rustles behind the door. A little later, a girl opened the door. She appeared to be in her early twenties and was wearing something of a white satin gown which kept falling off her shoulders. Bringing my eyes back to her face, I noticed she was irritated and was waiting for me to state my reason for disturbing her.

"I am Melanie Griffin. Mr Albert Clement sent me here. To work as a model for Mr Norberto Fritz," I said tentatively.

The other girl looked me up and down, then scrunching her nose she said in an annoyed tone, "Didn't he tell you about the back door?"

With that she turned around, without bothering for my response. I was a bit lost at this reception. Mr Clement didn't mention anything about the back door. He didn't even mention a Mrs Fritz. But there was no point in wondering at the door. The girl obviously had not liked being disturbed to open the door and if I didn't hurry, the door would have closed back on my face, leaving me with no other option but to disturb the other girl again.

Worried about the closing door, I quickly stepped inside. It was nine in the morning but most of the curtains were drawn in, turning the house into a dark alley. I tried to listen to the voice of the girl and follow it. On my way I crossed a large sitting area, an exquisite stair case leading to God knows where, a number of other rooms on either side but doors for all of them were closed.

Without waiting around, I kept walking towards a small shaft of light coming from the other end of the corridor. Reaching there, I turned towards the light on my right and found there to be a large hall like room with hardly any furniture. There was only a couch in the center of the room, a mattress with few clothes scattered around at one end and a wooden partition at the other end of the room. Apart from these few things, the room was empty. But what clearly made the room stand out from the rest of the house was was the large amount of brightness. The curtains had been drawn back, filling it with bright daylight, unlike other rooms which were drowned in melancholy darkness.

I entered the room to find the girl who had opened the door for me standing on the other end. She was still wrapped in that white gown like dress, showing off her left arm and shoulder as well as her long legs through a high slit. She was holding the dress against her chest, stopping it from falling off completely.

Coming closer inside the room I noticed the girl was holding a cigarette in her right hand, blowing off rings of smoke, next to the open window. I was highly surprised with her state when a gruff voice behind startled me, "Get back to your position, Greta."

Turning around I found myself staring into the eyes of the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life. He was a tall guy, above six feet, had slightly wavy hairs and icy grey eyes. He was wearing black jeans and a black shirt with all buttons opened revealing a highly toned body as if he went to gym regularly. He had a bored look on his face and his eyes were fixed on that other girl, Greta, I heard him call her.