Jasmine.
I didn't want to go back.If I was strong enough, I would have gone on a hitch hike to England and hide away from the world.The snide remarks, the indifference, the comparison between Amanda and I, and the choking loneliness I had felt when I was there.Jane and Rachel kept texting me, asking what happened and why I left suddenly. They were the only true acquaintances I had made during my time in that city and here I was, leaving them behind without an explanation.But how do I tell them my stepsister was behind the reason of my displacement?I sighed softly at my loss.The Castor Mansion wasn't really big on the outside, it had a humble appearance and often made people think my stepfather was a humble man. The inside, the one where no one from outside the family was allowed to see told a whole different story.The gardener, a man I had grown up with was the first person to see me when I drove in."Back so soon?" He asked the moment I came down from the car as he helped me carry my bags out."Did you miss me so much you couldn't resist coming back?" He teased, swatting me playfully on the head."I was fired from my job," I said plainly, there was no need to lie to Gardener Jared, he could always read me like an open book."Why?""Amanda happened and a major mishap at work convinced the owner to finally let me go so here I am, ready to confront her," I told him, I was clearly exhausted at this moment and all the energy I had conserved for when I saw Amanda was depleting.Gardener Jared sighed, he looked a bit disturbed but I knew he would try to sound upbeat because of me."I can't tell you what to do because I would be lying to myself, I'm mad for you and I know you don't deserve such things," He patted me on the back, his facial expressions telling me everything he couldn't say.He wasn't a man of many words.Gardener Jared was the one I cried to whenever Alexander or Amanda did something to me and my mom refused to look my way. I couldn't go to Charles because I hated him.Fourteen years ago, he could read me like a book. He didn't have kids but he had a wife whom he loved dearly, she died five years later during childbirth.Jared had continued to treat me like a daughter. He resembled my dad in some ways and made me miss him more whenever I remembered he wasn't the one."Are they inside?" I asked the dreaded question.Jared looked at me then raised his head upwards but he didn't say anything. I followed the direction of his eyes and turned around to meet the eyes of Charles.He didn't look happy."I wasn't expecting to see you today Jasmine, this is a pleasant surprise," Charles said yet his tone of voice suggested that me being here wasn't in any way pleasant.He probably brought one of his mistresses over.I forced out a fake smile to mirror his, "It shouldn't be a surprise because I'm sure you're well aware your daughter made me lose my job," I said indifferently.Charles rolled his eyes, "That job wasn't beneficial to you or this family in any way dear, don't act like we just didn't do a huge favour for you," He snapped at me, rolled his eyes and walked away from the garden.I pretended not to see a flash of red hair duck into the house."He brings that one home alot, your mother pretends not to notice them," Jared said.I almost jumped out of my skin, I had forgotten he was here and got scared shitless."My mother loves to pretend a lot of things aren't happening, so far it doesn't spoil her image or the perfect family she has created with Charles, she doesn't care."This time I didn't wait for Jared to reply, I dragged my suitcase, picked up my bags and walked towards the entrance of the house.Amanda might not be home yet but Charles would know where she was.I didn't know why I felt disappointment when I entered and saw that the house hadn't changed, everything and everyone was exactly the same while I went through some sort of internal crisis. It was annoying to say the least.Charles was seated in his office, the flash of red hair I had seen minutes ago had been real because here she was, looking flustered yet perfectly dressed.I guessed Charles knew I would be coming to his office. He didn't want me to actually see them, maybe just suspect but no concrete proof."May I ask you what you're doing here? I believe you have a living quarters upstairs far away from my office," He said, he reclined into his chair and placed a finger on his lips, his eyes were fixed on mine."Good day," I said to the lady who ignored me, "Where's Amanda?" I asked him plainly.He raised an eyebrow at me, "Amanda? The woman is twenty five, I don't control her movements or make it my business to know her whereabouts," He added a chuckle to make me feel stupid, no doubt about it."You and I know you have the location of your children on you and at all times so please, don't start with the games. I am so sorry for giving you a cockblock but I would love if you told me where she is," I tried to explain to him, I was quite adamant too but he was also stubborn."No," He spat at me, "You're irrational Jasmine, you'll cause drama and I don't need drama. Amanda would be back later so you can yell at her all you want in the four walls of this house," He said unrelenting.At this point, the red haired was next to invisible because we only had eyes on each other.I nodded, "Thanks for wasting my time Charles," And I walked out of the office and towards my room.My family was filled with the most toxic of people.******She came back at the dead of the night. Giggling like a toddler and staggering enough times to make me confirm that she was drunk.She probably wouldn't have something tangible to say to me. But mom was with her and I needed answers or I wouldn't be able to sleep.I literally ran down the stairs."Jasmine, are you a child?" Mom snapped once she confirmed I was the one and not a burglar or something worse.The eyeroll I gave her at this point was disrespectful but I had no desire to care "I am not but since you guys made it your personal mission to make my life miserable and run me out of a job, I guess I should say I am a child," I spat at my mom angrily.Amanda giggled again, she looked absolutely wasted up close and smelled like vomit. She was disgusting."Your job is stupid," She said, giggling in-between like some sort of hyena, "We did you a favour and took you away from that dreadful life."I turned to my mother who looked me dead in the eyes."Well she's right of course, I don't approve the method she used to get what she wanted but she's right about your job being stupid and not befitting your degree," Mom said calmly, even at the point of death she would always be calm.I hated it. I hated her. I hated them."And now what? I'm here, what do you guys want with me?"Mom rolled her eyes, she must have felt like my hysterics were beneath her at this moment. She turned to Amanda."Get up, let's get you in bed.....""No," I shouted, loud enough to wake everyone that stayed within this four walls."I stayed awake because I needed someone to explain the reason why you guys did such a thing, I don't ask you guys for money, I don't ask you guys for anything and I come for your stupid vacation and the one thing I have going for me, you guys decided to ruin it," The words poured out of me at this point and I couldn't stop talking."After everything that happened before......""What happened before?" Mom interrupted me, she walked closer to me now, so close I could have counted her eyelashes.I gulped."That's what I thought, nothing happened and all this is for you. We did everything because of you, for your future," She didn't give me the opportunity to say anything after that.She held Amanda who was halfway asleep now but her eyes never left mine as she dragged her upstairs.Somehow, my future seemed bleak and out of reach.Jasmine.The meeting was silent yet felt so noisy. We had all come to the kitchen unintentionally and now it felt like a bomb was about to explode."Stop making it seem like we did a bad thing to you, Jasmine, that job of yours wasn't even fit for a woman of your status," Mom said the moment she walked into the kitchen and saw me.And what was my status? No one seemed interested enough to tell me.Ignoring her seemed like the best thing to do at that moment."Besides there's something else available for you here, much better," She took a sip from my cup of coffee, made a face that consisted of disgust and annoyance, probably because of the sugary taste of the drink."You never did learn how to prepare a proper cup of coffee with the adequate amount of sugar and milk."I made a weird face at her the moment she turned her back."I can see that," The small smile on her face did not move an inch until Amanda and Charles came into the kitchen too.Amanda held unto her head, "Why is everywhe
Jasmine."You must be the new assistant, sorry for the rushed resumption," The red haired man talked really fast the moment his eyes landed on mine and he confirmed my identity.Charles and my mom had made me attend a one hour lecture about everything that was to be known about his rival.I had this tingling suspicion that Charles had a crush on his rival at this point."It's okay," I smiled at him, "Well I'm a bit nervous but it's okay," I admitted the truth.He placed his hand on my shoulders and gave me the widest grin of all times."You'll hardly see Mr Warner, just send him emails and schedule his meetings and such. No need to worry, he's not a really bad man, he's just human," He tried to calm me down with soothing words about how the boss was one of the best employees in the world.Mr Ambrose Warner, fifty seven years old politician with the cleanest records ever. In my stepfather's voice, no one had the right to be that clean.Two children. Twins. A grandchild from the female t
Jasmine.That goddamn son of the devil himself wasn't seriously denying the fact that we knew each other.Was he?"We don't, I met Miss Castor outside your office seriously hyperventilating and almost going into shock," His words weren't harsh but I could feel the sting on me, "They need to be some sort of orientation for staff in the office here."I rolled my eyes at his words and turned to Mr Warner."Sir, you asked me to be here," I said confidently now. Or as confident as I could be without turning to look at Alexander.His eyes narrowed down on me and while I couldn't determine if it was disappointment or annoyance, I certainly knew I had made some sort of first impression on him and my task of seducing him was going to be really hard."Yeah yeah, I need you to take down some notes during my interaction with Mr Castor......," His eyes widened this time like he had come to a realization, "How peculiar, you guys share the same last name.""It is a common last name so it shouldn't be
Jasmine."There are a lot of colors you can match together to give a room a warm feeling, once someone walks into it, they would feel this sort of connection with the ambience and might not want to leave.......""Jasmine," The voice was sharp and curt. Feminine. The reason why I dreaded and loved coming to work for the past two days."Yes Ruby," I looked up from the design I had been working on into the sea green eyes of the one person that made sure she annoyed me every single day.She grinned, showing her pearly whites."What are you working on? I called your name multiple times and you didn't even flinch to show you were ignoring me," She said while taking a seat opposite me and then propped her legs on the table.I made sure I pushed them off."Come on Jasmine," Ruby pouted."Whatever I'm working on is none of your business Ruby," I teased her, making sure my pout mirrored hers.Ruby happened to be the assistant make up artist that gave Mr Warner a push up whenever he was going to
Jasmine."The last thing I want to do is overwhelm you Miss Castor, I don't want you running away like my last assistant," Mr Warner said, his eyes were focused on the screen in front of him.Those were his first words to me the moment I entered his office. No hello, no how was your night. Nothing."Good morning Mr Warner," I greeted wearily. I still didn't know what to make of him and I have been working with him for quite some time now.I guessed he didn't expect that because of the rapid blinks that followed my words. "Good morning Miss Castor," The sides of his mouth lifted up in a small smile. "Take a seat please," He pointed at a chair directly opposite him.I took the seat while trying to stifle a yawn. Last night with Amanda had taken a toll, she wanted to talk about anything and everything that would bring me to the discussion of Alexander but this time I watched my words. I wasn't interested in talking about him. I was sure they would run into each other one day. After all
Jasmine."What? That's wrong," I denied it immediately. It wasn't the truth and was nowhere close to the truth.Ruby giggled and wriggled her eyebrows at me, "I saw both of you and I saw the way you looked at him when he walked into the office, like you couldn't believe such a fine specimen of man had graced this earth," She explained to me."What are you talking about?," I asked stupidly because I didn't understand what was happening anymore.I had only seen Alexander once and he denied knowing me. When did Ruby witness an interaction between us that involved me staring at Alexander like he was something new."You got the whole story wrong Ruby, did you listen to our conversation?" I asked her before she could reply the last question.The smile on her lips turned down and so did her eyebrows, she looked confused."I didn't listen to your conversation but I thought your facial cues were enough to show that you had a crush on him or something because he was really handsome and most of
Jasmine.Sometimes I felt like Ruby knew more than she let on, like she knew what I planned to do and was perhaps even sent by any member of my family. Charles, mom or even Amanda."That dress just hugs every curve in the right way," She screeched when she saw one of the dress she had personally picked for me. The red coloured bodycon like dress with ruffled sleeves and some sort of corset that seemed to push my breast upwards. I felt like a character from one of those medieval movies Amanda loved to watch when we were younger."This dress is too revealing," I tried to reason with her, my hand reaching towards the cup to pull it upward. There was no way I could wear this to a fundraiser event, not even to seduce a man.I could feel the stares and hushed whispers already. What a prostitute the presidential candidate had chosen as a second. Mr Warner would be so embarrassed, he wouldn't invite me for anything again and that would limit my chances.Ruby had other ideas on the other hand
Jasmine."What's she wearing?""Why would she wear something as skimpy as that? Does she think that this is a clubhouse?""Who even is she? Some sort of assistant?"I could hear the whispers from every part of the room, the women and men I was introduced to by Mr Warner and even the celebrant."And who is this beautiful young girl? I haven't seen her before....." The celebrant had started when she was done with the show of love with Mr Warner.I honestly felt the most inadequate when I stood close to her. She had the most vibrant red hair and looked really beautiful with the sort of natural makeup I knew Ruby would love to try on herself. And her clothes, they were purely designers and quite expensive.She even smelled expensive.Mr Warner placed his hand on my shoulder and brought me forward a bit, "She's my new assistant after the last one left under mysterious circumstances, I decided to show her around and allow her help me.""After all, her job is to assist right," The celebrant