Home is where the heart is

RICHARD "We got forty six individual applicants but I ticked some boxes and narrowed it down to just ten applicants." "Just ten?" Richard McCaul asked as he readjusted his tie and shrugged into his black suit jacket. Truthfully, Richard wasn't interested in how many people that applied for the job. He just needed someone, fast. His housekeeper and cook of over twenty years had just decided to take three months off to go stay with her daughter who had just given birth. At first, he was reluctant about letting her go but that would be selfish and insensitive of him if he declined to give her the three months she had requested. Maria, his housekeeper and cook, has been nothing but of great service to his family. So, he had given her the three months she asked for and had also signed her a fat check. Being the CEO of one of the country's top three biggest Estate development company, gave him the opportunity to get whatever he needed at every point. But that wasn't who Richard was

AVA The city of dreams. And fortunes. And bright lights. Do not leave out the bright lights. That was what Ava had heard all her life about Bellamy city. The city where anything goes. The city where only the fast and the strong survives. She thought they were all myths until she had finally seen it for herself. At first, she had thought the bright lights were fireworks till she had realized they weren't. Moving to Bellamy was a big decision for Ava, since she had spent twenty three years of her life in Salta- a countryside, just outside of Crocs. After three years of taking care of the only family she had left- her grandmother- who still died, she was left with no choice than to move. A father she never met. A mother who abandoned her on her grandmother's doorstep and never returned. Grandma Sherri had taken her in and loved her till she'd got sick. Ava had done her best to return the favour, that she had to forfeit her college scholarship just to take care of her. Grandma Sh

RICHARD Out of the ten applicants Victoria had interviewed from 9am till 2pm that Thursday morning, she had decided on just three. One looked efficient but wouldn't stop batting her eyelids. Victoria asked her why she kept doing that and she had said that she had blepharospasm. It wasn't anything serious that would prevent her working efficiently but Victoria wasn't taking any chances, as it already made her uncomfortable. Sorry. You have to go, Victoria said, and then rather told her that she'll hear from them soon. Sorry. Again! Shoving them aside, stacking the three CVs on top of the rest, she exhaled in deep exasperation. She had to get someone real fast before Richard's daughter gets back. Knowing she had to tell him the extent of the interviews, she gathered up the three files without looking at them and went into his office. Richard was expecting her to brief him about the success or failure of the interviews, but judging from her expre

RICHARD "I still think she's a bad decision. I can get someone better. She's like a child." Victoria informed Richard, immediately they returned to his office. Richard was with Mr. Xavier when she got back, she had to hold her horses and wait till the papers were signed and eventually left. She had her reservations about Xavier Co. She thought it was a bad investment but Richard was the kind of man who never gets out of what he had made up his mind about. Still, Victoria always gave him a piece of her mind. Richard, still sitting at the head of the table in the boardroom, with the papers and empty water bottles scattered across the table, met Victoria's intruding gaze. "It's good that she's like a child. At least, I won't feel like I'm in danger around her," he said, as he loosened his tie and rounded his desk to sit on the recliner. "She hates bacon egg muffins too. That's a good thing right?" Her voice sounded wary, which had Richard glancing up a

RICHARD Richard knew he'd got to ask the question that had been on his mind since he saw her in his kitchen. He needed to know to sate his curiosity. He'd never been particularly interested about a woman's hair, but hers? It just stirred something in him. He'd never seen a red hair so curly and frizzy like her's. It reminded him of an artwork he'd seen at an exhibition a long time ago- Taylor had literally dragged him to one. It wasn't anything about a hair or a woman but it made him think of sunsets and rainbows. That was just what Ava's name made him think of. Sunsets and rainbows. And her name? He'd never met an Ava before. He even liked how it rolled off his tongue. Christ! what's wrong with me? It had just been few hours and he was already so weird and had never felt that way around anyone before. Her eyes pierced into his as she lulled over his absurd question. Richard was sure he would never ask anyone that, so what's going on? She casually