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Ding, ding, ding, ding,Amanda slapped the loudly rung alarm clock off the dresser close to her bed.She lazily opened eyes, still feeling a little tardy from the previous day's merry. She sat up and looked down at the time on the fallen table clock.“Shit, I’m late” she yelled as she briskly jumped out of her bed and hurried to the bathroom.~~**~~**~~“Miss Amanda! Miss Amanda!” she heard someone's silvery voice call out her name loudly, Enough to bring her back to earth. Amanda had been so worried appearing in public like this. She knew soon the paparazzi would be on her tail; she needed to be on high alert.Amanda turned to see who the caller was. And is doing, her eyes fell on a tall, young, white guy who had successfully brought her mind back to the Wright Publishing house.“Yes” She answered then quickly stood up from the where she sat. And at that exact moment she felt the eyes around her pierce through her soul. What could she do? That was the life of a celebrity.“The Chairman of this prestigious company will like to have a word with you in the conference room.” The young man said, wearing a wide smile and demonstrating with his hands.“Oh, really?” she asked, surprised. She wasn't actually supposed. She thought her fame had earn her the spot already. She concealed her thought with a shy smile and took not her gaze from the handsome young man as he spoke.“I know right? I’m surprised too. You are the only applicant he seems to be interested in.” He went on, leading her to the elevator.“Hmm.” She sounded, following after him.“Oh,” He quickly punched the floor number in the elevator once they were inside and dusted his palm on his trouser. With an outstretched arm, he said, “I’m Nelson. I’m an intern; I work directly for the chairman.”Impolite to just stare, she replied softly “Nice to meet you.” taking his hand in hers “I’m Ama—"“Oh, I totally know who you are, I mean there is not a person in this building who doesn't know who you are.” He interrupted, blushing fully red.“I must be really famous in this side of town.” She thought aloud.“You are famous in every side of town. I can’t believe I’ll be working with America most gorgeous actress. Who would believe that?” He asked rhetorically after the elevator door opened and they stepped out of it.They walked through the hall way leading to the conference room when all of a sudden Nelson stopped.“What’s the problem?” She asked, suddenly confused.“We are here. I should warn you, Mr. Wright is a strict man. Just prepare yourself cause he’s might throw you off.” He advised. Feeling scared for her already.“Thanks Nelson, I assure you I won’t disappoint you.” She said holding his hands.Amanda had no idea why she had said that but she wanted to make feel at ease. She made him feel like she was doing it for him which in a way she was. He was a fan and she wanted to prove to her fans that she could easily get a life outside Hollywood, outside Troy Humphrey.She smiled at Nelson, assuring him and then, walked into the conference room.Nelson could feel multiple fire works sparking out of his head. He took out his phone and immediately twitted—I'm about to explode. I just met Amanda Udoh and soon she and I would be work colleagues— He added a grin emoji and the clicked send.~~**~~**~~"Ma’am, ma'am!” the cab driver called intending to wake the sleeping lady in the back seat.“Yes, yes.” Kate mumbled as she tried to get comfortable on her seat. “Why are we stopping?” she asked the driver.“We are here.” He announced, looking at her from his front mirror.“Oh, I’m sorry, I slept all through the trip.” She said stepping off the car. She stood a while checking the address on her phone to confirm she was in the right place.“Kate!” she heard someone call out her name. She was surprised because she never assumed anyone here would know her.“Kate!” she turned around to know where the voice was coming from then she saw a beautiful lady in a cream, drop neck, chiffon blouse tucked in a skinny deep blue jeans, standing on her porch. The lady called Kate's name again, waving and Kate reluctantly waved back totally perplexed.“You are Kate, right?” the lady asked, not leaving her position."Really? Is she asking after yelling my name a thousand times." Kate wondered “Yes I am.” She replied regardless.“Oh, one sec.”Kate watched the lady quickly go into the house and back out almost immediately. Then, she found the lady approached her, flaunting her lovely smile.“HI.” The lady, now halting in front of Kate, greeted.“HI.” Kate replied.“I’m Elena, my parent live across from Amanda. I just came around for a visit."“Nice to meet you Elena.” Kate said, slowly letting out a sigh of relieve.“Amanda dropped her keys before leaving this morning, she asked us to give it to you when you come.” Elena informed and then, handed Amanda's house key to Kate.“She knew I was coming?” Kate asked not really addressing the question to Elena who was still standing in front of her with her same iconic smile on her face.“I guess.” Elena replied, signaling the driver to bring out the luggage.“Thanks.” Kate said.“You are welcome. Let me help you with that” Elena offered, collecting the luggage from Kate.“Thanks a lot.” Kate appreciated again. Almost taking step away from the car, she then remembered she had not paid the driver. She quickly took out some cash from her purse and paid him off.Swiftly, Kate followed after Elena who was already at Amanda's front porch waiting for her to come open the door.“Is this neighborhood always this quite?” Kate asked, pushing open door and getting into the house with Elena behind her.“Yeah, pretty much. Except on festive period.” Elena replied, rolling the box to the living room.Kate's eyes did a quick scan around the house and was impressed that Amanda found a beautiful and simple apartment in a serene neighborhood. She still was worried about the security of the place.*****Mr. Wright laughed hard as he listened to Amanda express herself in the interview. This surprised Tony who sat across from Amanda at the conference table for he knew all she did was avoiding the real question she was asked. Tony noticed Amanda was playing on the Chairman’s common sense which was odd because he had always known the Chairman to be an impervious man. This angered Tony so much, his head was in discord.Amanda had never worked in any type of company before, she had no concrete knowledge about business except playing the role of a business woman or a secretary in a movie, which, at this point, she planned to use the ideas from her business movies as her strategy in reality. In reality, the only other job she engaged in, aside acting, was assisting her dad in his gym but that wasn’t something she wanted Mr. Wright to know so, she locked that information in the safest part of her sub conscious instead. “So Miss Amanda, are you aware that the position you applied for
*****“Oh my God Amanda! What spell did your boss cast on you? I mean, you've only just started working or this guy and you are already talking all dreamy like a girl who is in love.” Kate deadpanned then, took her glass of Juice from the kitchen counter to the dining table.Kate had been present all through Amanda’s relationships and breakups. And none had she witnessed that made Amanda glow like she did now. Amanda had never really fell in love before, kate wasn't even sure if her friend knew how to love. Although, Kate considered Amanda be loyal and faithful to her partner but that wasn't enough to rule out the fact that Amanda still saw dating as a sport. Now she pitied the man Amanda kept talking about for she knew he might suffer the same fate in the hands of Amanda. Kate thought Amanda's behavior was caused by the nature of her Job. Like she had always said, 'show business is all about keeping up appearances and being perfect for the cameras.' Kate had a bad feeling about th
*****Kate, of course, had spoken to Nelson about the picture situation just as she had promised Amanda she would. Amanda was a bit relieved and impressed on how her manager handled the matter and not scaring the boy off in the process; Nelson apologized to Kate and then to Amanda promising not to post any more pictures.“I never intended to cause any trouble,” He expressed, sadly “I was just overly excited. I’m sorry.”Nelson was cute when he was apologetic. Or, at least, Amanda thought he was and she'd be a monster if she could still stay angry looking at those puppy eyes ogling back at her. “It’s OK.” Amanda said. She knew she wasn't offended by his pictures, she understood his intention pretty well. But for Kate sake, she dared not let him know that. “I’ll catch up with you later, let me see her off.” She mentioned instead.“Are we good?” Nelson wanted to be sure his actions didn't eat away his friendship with Amanda.“Of course we are.” Amanda affirmed,, assuredly. Taking his
********"Are you sure you were not followed?" Mr. Sebastian Cosgrove, a motivational writer asked, handing a glass of scotch to Wright Junior who finally, was seated on the second single arm chair in Mr. Cosgrove's living room. "I wasn't. I parked my car in the Primy hotel's parking lot and I took a cab down here. No one knows I was coming here." Wright Junior replied, watching Mr. Cosgrove sit on the arm chair across from his.Mr. Cosgrove was a well-known motivational writer. His books had touched millions of lives. Despite his break from writing, he still received letters from his readers who were thankful to him. He had been close friends with Wright Junior's father since college. They both had the same passion for writing and the moment one became the CEO of Wright publishing, the other became the first writer to be published in it. Mr. Cosgrove had been publishing his books at Wright publishing for fifteen years and after the death of Mr. Wright younger brother, things chang
**********“Knock, Knock”Amanda tilted her head on hearing the knock on her office door and smiled a bit tiredly after seeing who it was. “Wow! Look what you’ve done with the place.” Amazed, Nelson felt like he had just walked into a stranger's office. “You know what they say, keep a woman in a room and watch how things fall into place.” He praised Amanda, noticing how she had managed to tidy the hopeless office.Amanda nodded in satisfaction, also appreciating her effort “A new broom sweeps clean.” She voiced “This office was a mess I couldn’t even figure out how he finds anything amidst the shambles.” Amanda dusted her hand on her brown, knee-length skirt, holding steadily a satisfactory smile on her face at the sparkling, new, well organized office. “You are amazing.” Nelson complimented, clapping his hands cheerfully.“What? Were you thinking because I’m a celebrity I can’t handle chores?” She asked, smiling at Nelson who nodded his head slowly.“You can take a break. The cafe
********Amanda got to the office too late. Her boss was already in front of his desk and scattering everything back on the desk in search for something. The sight of this angered Amanda even more. She immediately practiced her breathing exercises to control herself from blurting out painful words to the man who clearly was not grateful for her hard work.“You are back.” She managed to say he she entered into the office. The closer she got, the clearer she witnessed all her effort spent on arranging the office brought back to base one.“What have you done to my office? Where are my files, my records, the manuscripts, everything that was here?” Wright junior yelled pointing at his now busy desk. Nelson secretly hit Amanda lightly on her hand, bidding her farewell and then escaped.She gave him a quick nod and then shifted her attention back to Mr. Wright Junior “I arranged them accordingly in your shelf.” She said gently, walking closer to the tall shelf standing at her left. “This
*****“Thanks a lot for the groceries. You do know how to always take care of me.” Amanda smiled standing beside Bridget in front of her car. She wondered to herself what have she done to deserve a mother-like friend like Bridget. “Are you sure you are ok?” Bridget asked with concern, noticing Amanda's smile fading and her eyes dull with worry. Bridget could tell something was bothering her friend but Bridget gave Amanda a curious look. Encouraging her friend to open up.“Of course I am. Just a little tired from work today.” Amanda told Bridget instead, still not enough to convince her.“I hope you are not over working yourself?” Her question laced with concern, she asked.“I’m fine Brid,” She replied assuredly “I just need a warm bathe and I’ll be fine.”Bridget gave out a silent sigh. She realized that as much as she hated her friend working in that company, she will never succeed in talking her out of it. Amanda had a bucket filled with secret tears and this worried Bridget so muc
******Amanda sat in her car watching as reporters crowded the entrance of the company; she was so furious and scared at the same time. As Amanda observed the hovering reporters, she realized that they were ready to devour anyone who was unfortunate to walk through that entrance.Amanda locked herself in car instinctively, sought out the dark sun-shades and scarf she made sure to always carry in her bag in case of emergencies like this. Amanda immediately lowered her head to avoid being spotted, wore her sun-shades and wrapped her scarf around her head. From what she met, she needed no one to enlighten her on the impossibility of passing through the entrance so, she hoped for an immediate divergence. Instantly, she felt her phone vibrate in her purse; she dipped her jittery hand into the purse and took out her phone. “Very convenient.” She sighed as her eyes recognized the caller’s name on her phone screen. She picked it up without hesitation “Hey Nelson!” she said to it, her head st