Closing the door behind her, she turned to see something on her bed and she stopped in her stride, squinting her eyes to determine what it could be. She had left nothing at all on her bed when she left it this morning, so it could only be from one person, and that was Cameron. This must be what he meant when he said something about the gift he was preparing. With a small smile on her face, she walked to the bed to take a closer look at whatever it was. She definitely knew that she was going to have to thank him when he got back from work. This was really nice, she thought even though she hadn't seen it yet. The package was wrapped in a gift box with a ribbon tied in a bow at the top. Slowly, she sat down beside it and opened it, unwrapping the wrapper after getting rid of the bow. This was making her feel like she was a little girl on a Christmas morning, unwrapping a gift she had been expecting from her father. She finally got the wrapper off the box and with a sigh, she opened t
Five years ago Ruby smiled as she sat in her room with her phone in her face, as she talked to her parents. They were coming from the airport after a week in China. They had both traveled for work and would be home any time soon. A twenty year old Ruby was happy about this because she had missed them. She had not been at home when they left. She had been at her cousin; Savannah’s place. Fondly, the short woman was called Savvy, and she loved her nickname as well. “You seem a little bit pale, Mom,” she said as she eyes her mother. Thankfully, it was her father that was driving and not her mother. She was always jetlagged after a long trip like that. Her mother smiled. "Yeah, I admit I need to rest but what can I do? It's just not easy to put food on your table, now, is it?” she said, teasing her. Ruby wasn't a child, but she was treated as one, always. She didn't blame her parents though, she was the only child, but sometimes, she reminded them that fact. “You know you don't ha
Five years later This was the first time in her life that she wished she hadn't lost contact with her secret benefactor who had helped her through college. She needed the solidification of having a backbone at the moment, the hope that she could yet again, rise about her circumstances and be who she wanted. Ruby sighed as she walked to the restaurant that was only a few blocks away. She was meeting her boyfriend tonight, and even though that should cheer her up, the fact that she had just lost her job five hours ago was pressing down on her. She was just going to have dinner with him and go home. She could have gone home straight, but they had already made plans, and today was his birthday. That brought a half smile to her face. Roy was a nice guy, even though she saw a side of him that sometimes made her wonder if being nice was just a cover for who he really was. Or maybe she was the bad person, thinking like that about her boyfriend who had been nothing but supportive of her.
Still the same night "I just don't want you anymore.” The words kept ringing in her ear as she looked at him. She just couldn't believe this. Why was he suddenly being this cruel to her, showing her the side she had always wondered about?“Is this some sort of joke?” she asked as she picked his hands but he removed them sharply. “Do I look like I'm joking?” he asked her, a stern look on his face. He shook his head. "Look, Ruby. I don't want to hurt you, that's why I wanted to leave it at that, but you're making a face as if I'm a bad person. I'm not.” He said. But he was! He was cruel and being an ass for no reason, or maybe there was one, so she asked. "Why? Why are you doing this? Did I do something wrong? Is that it?” she didn't care that her voice was starting to rise with the tempo. "If that's it, please. Let me apologize.” She said. Roy rolled his eyes and grunted. "Oh, please you can't. How can you apologize for being a prude? I can count the number of times you kissed me
Cameron looked beside him at his five and seven years old children already dozing off to sleep. They should be in bed, but he couldn't leave them at home alone as he couldn't find a babysitter for the night. Their last nanny quit a week ago because she couldn't understand his kids. At least, that was the silly reason she gave when she submitted her resignation letter. Tonight, he had dinner with his family; his parents, grandmother, and sister, and he had told them he would be bringing his children over as well since he couldn't find someone to stay with them tonight. They should be in bed, not out here in his car sleeping. Thankfully, it wasn't a school night, so they would sleep in tomorrow morning. He should talk to his best friend; Lee, if he could talk to his wife for him. She ran an agency that hire people to work as a temp in a company. Maybe she could get someone who was interested in working as his nanny or something. The car soon rolled to a stop and Mr. Paul; his driver
Ruby didn't know how far she had walked, from the restaurant to her house, but she did, with the box that was packed at the restaurant in one hand and her bag in the other. She walked to her apartment and got into the elevator. Thankfully, it was still working. If she had to go up to her apartment through the stairs to the third floor, she would have been exhausted. Finally, she got to the door of her apartment and unlocked the door, the bunch of keys already in hand. As she pushed the door in and walked by it to enter into the apartment, the edge of her dress pocket was caught in the knob, pulling her back and making her fall down flat on her ass. Thankfully, the box of food she was holding wasn't that much affected, but the content of her bag was scattered on the floor. Frustrated, she sat there instead of getting up and letting lose the wail she had been suppressing in her. She began to shake uncontrollably, crying as she remembered everything she had gone through in a day. Her
Ruby had her head resting in Olivia’s lap as she cried, while Olivia had her right hand in her hair, massaging her scalp and hoping that would get her to stop crying. She was still burning with fury but she tried to not show it for her dear cousin’s sake. It wasn't easy to go through what Ruby had just in one day, so she would try to stop her from crying. Besides, crying was good, it meant that she wouldn't keep it in and later hurt herself from the compressed emotions she felt. "Do you think that I don't dress well?” Ruby asked Olivia suddenly, turning her body so that she was now facing her. Olivia's hand stopped massaging her scalp and she stared down at her. She sighed, wondering how best she would answer her. She shook her head slowly and said. "No, Ruby. I would say that you can do better if you want, but if you want to go with this, nothing is wrong with it. You're a beautiful woman, and no matter what you wear, including a sack of rice, you'll look good.” Ruby smiled, and
Someone was shaking her awake, but Ruby just wanted to sleep for five more minutes. She didn’t have a job to go to anyway, and it wasn’t as if she had a date she was going for. She seriously just needed her beauty sleep. She was going to sleep more and see if the person would leave her the hell alone. “Wake up you brat. You can't just stay in all day without going out to look for a job.” The voice said and Ruby groaned. She popped one of her eyes open to look at the annoying person and it turned out to be the only person it could be. Olivia!“Leave me alone, for goodness sake. I just want to sleep for five more minutes.” She said. "Well, you've been saying that since six o’clock and this is seven o’clock. I'm going to work in an hour but I sure as hell won't leave you at home to continue your moping around routine.”Ruby rolled her closed eyes and then she opened them to look at her cousin who decided to be annoying today. She had lost her job and her boyfriend a week ago, so why w