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 said. "We're here sir.” Cameron looked up to see that they had stopped in front of the restaurant. “Thank you, Paul.” He thanked the older man, before looking at his son, Summer. He shook him awake. "Hey, Sum. Wake up, we're here now. Let's go see grandma.” Summer moved and then he opened his eyes to look at his father. He rubbed his eyes and yawned before nodding his head. "Okay, Daddy.” He said. Cameron started to shake his daughter awake after that. "Hey, Spring. Wake up, let's go see grandma and grandpa.” He said. Spring opened her eyes, her brown eyes like her mother’s stared up at him. "Let's go meet everyone.” He said again, and she nodded. They all got out of the car and he smoothened Spring’s dress before holding each of their hands and walking them to the restaurant. They walked into the restaurant and to the stairs that led up to the second floor where his family had rented the whole space for the night. That was definitely his mother’s doing, he knew. He shook his head and smiled. She was always wanting people to know that they were rich. When he inherited the company five years, it had only been a company worth millions of dollars, but he had buried himself in work and made it into billions of dollars company. He knew that his father was proud of what he had made the company into, but he couldn't be more proud of himself for staying sane in the process. Before they started up the stairs, his eyes went to a drama that was happening at the end of the restaurant, with a man standing in front of a woman he couldn't really see her face. He was talking loudly suddenly about how weird the woman dressed and he felt like dropping the hands of his children to go punch the hell out of him, but he couldn't do that. His life was an attraction for the press and paparazzi, so he couldn't afford to do that if he didn't want to wake up tomorrow morning to his face in every newspaper with an absurd headline to go with it. He always wondered why some men were ass to women, especially to the ones that loved them, and embarrassed them in public like this. Signing, he began to climb the stairs, his kids at either side of him. Soon, they got to the top of the stairs, and his kids removed their hands from him to run to their table where his family was already sitting down. Smiling, he walked to them and greeted everyone before taking his seat. His mother was still busy kissing Spring’s cheek that she didn't hear him greet her, and when she dropped her on the seat beside her, she looked at him and asked. "You don't think you should greet your own mother?”Cameron smiled with a shake of his head. "That's because you weren't focused on me when I came here. You were so busy with your grandbaby that you didn't notice me. If I didn't know better, I would say you don't love me as you used to.” He said. His mother rolled her eyes. "Cameron Ezekiel MacMillan, I don't think I raised you to whine like a child, did I?” she asked and everyone laughed. "He’s always whining like a crybaby.” His younger sister said, smiling, and their mother gave her a look that shut her up. “Hello to you too, Sarah,” Cameron said. "You look okay.” He said. Sarah grinned at her brother for teasing her, because teasing him right back. "You look like a tall alien with that nasty suit you have on.” She said. “Sarah Louisiana MacMillan, shut your mouth this minute, and let's eat.” Their father said and they all laughed. They started to join hands to pray for dinner, something Cameron minded doing. He wondered what the point was when his wife had died the way she did, but as usual, he kept his opinion to himself and close his eyes as his father said the prayers. Everyone else echoed their amen, but he didn't, his mind going right back to the woman downstairs whom the man had insulted. He couldn't even see her face, but he felt a tug in his heart for her. No one should go through that kind of humiliation in public. He shouldn't care, in fact, he didn't know why he does, but he did. Sighing, he shook his head mentally. That was there cup of tea anyway, not his. After the prayer was said, they started to eat, and his father asked. "Hey, Cam. How was the office today?”Drake loved to ask his son that every time they met because he loved the answer he got. He was really proud of his son, no matter what was happening in his life, like not thinking about settling again and just going out with various women who were only with him for his money. “It's going well, father. The new wing we're building is almost done and we'll have the opening party soon.” He said. Emily smiled and rubbed her palms together. "Oh, that's good. I love the sound of a party. We should know the thyme soon so that we can prepare.” She said. Cameron looked at his mother with a smile at what she said. "Of course, Mom. I'll let you know.” He said. His grandmother chuckled and said to his mother. "Of course you do, Emily. You don't seem to do anything these days other than shopping and going to parties.”"Mom, stop nagging my wife,” Drake said. “Yes, Dahlia, stop nagging at me. We should talk about Cameron getting a wife.” Emily said. Cameron stared at his mother and then at his father, before looking at his grandmother. Of course, he should have known that something was up when they asked him for dinner suddenly. God, he wasn't even in the mood to talk about this again, but he knew he had no choice but to listen through.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
"Ms. Hardin?" Ruby heard a voice call and she jerk out of her thought.That meant that it was almost her turn, seeing as the woman they had just called was beside her. Her nervousness increased and she tried taking a deep breath so that she could calm her nerves down a notch. It was just like that, no problem at all, but she was prone to riling herself up like that all the time.It wasn't her fault, it was probably how she was wired, plus it was Olivia’s fault for not hinting to her about the job before this morning. Now, everything was a disaster.It wasn't only her work life that was a disaster though. Her love life was the worst, but she couldn't think about that now. She shook her head and muttered to herself again, wanting for this interview to be over as fast as it could.She had prepared all the way here in the car for the interview and she had even practiced some of the questions she knew they always asked in common. She just hoped that her nerves wouldn't get in the way and
Ruby walked erratically, not sure of what to do. She was left with nothing but the clothes she had worn this morning. Her bag had been stolen, which meant that she had no money for a bus or cab. She walked to the bus stop even though she was sure she couldn't board the bus without any money.The rain was falling so heavily, and it had drenched her to the bone if that was a thing. She wanted to go into an alley and scream her throat out, getting out the fury that she was feeling.She was so angry at herself and if she had a chance or even the courage to do so, she would have taken a blade to her wrist even if it was just to punish and not to kill herself.Why was she so stupid, so much that she had forgotten something so important? She asked herself.Her dress, or rather, Olivia’s dress, clung to her body with the rain that had drenched her. She was starting to feel the cold creep into her body so deep that her teeth were starting to clash.She was beyond a reasonable doubt, hopeless
“I've been calling you all day to know how the interview went.” That was the first thing Olivia told her as she entered their apartment later that night. She dropped her bag on the kitchen counter before coming to sit with her on the couch. Ruby sighed, just at that moment, remembering that she had lost her phone earlier. “I had the craziest day today, Livy.” She said, and then she explained how stupid she had been today at the interview she went for. As she narrated the event, Olivia stared at her with her eyed widened in surprise and her mouth opened as if she had never heard such stupidity before. “What the hell, Ruby?” Olivia asked, frowning. “You don't have to say it, Livy. I definitely know that I had been a fool. I was just so uncollected and nervous that I ruined the interview.” She said. “And you're this calm? You lose your phone and your money but you're this calm? How?” she asked, wondering if she had missed the part where her cousin had cried her eyes out. Her eyes
“That's how I got a job as a nanny.” She said to Olivia. She had a pleased smile on her face, talking to her because she knew that it was something she would be happy about. As she predicted, Olivia smiled, marveled at the way luck had shone on her. "So, what's the name of the people you're supposed to work for?” she asked her. Ruby shrugged her shoulder. "All I have is a name, and nothing more. I also know I have to look after two kids and the house is in the rich neighborhood of New York. I think it's in Hudson Yards.” She said. "You should have asked more questions about who you would be working for, you know.” Ruby nodded. "Yes, I really should have but I was half happy and half nervous about the whole thing. I couldn't even eat the lunch the woman bought for me properly.” She said. Olivia threw her head back and laughed like a crazy person. "Of course, you can't. She bought you a salad and some crazy ass diet person meat that tasted bland.” She said. Rolling her eyes, Ruby a
Slowly, she followed him, looking around the living room as she went. The design of this house must have cost a fortune. She could see that everything smelled of class. The first thing that came to her mind was that this place was made with gold because of the color of everything, including the couchesThere were about six large couches and a single one placed together around to form a large but cozy half circle, and she recognized the designs from one of those sleekly glossy magazines Olivia use to bring home every once in a while. They were part of the ones they had tagged "one in a kind” by a renowned carpenter that made all his furniture by hand and with the most expensive wood Bocote. The couches had been labeled as a little above two hundred thousand dollars, and Ruby was just marveled.The floorboard on the floor looked like a teak wood, which she had also seen somewhere in the magazine. The curtains looked like they had been handmade and shipped from some Turkish village. They