Chapter 4 - Someone from the past

Miss Lia White,

You have been given the job for the position of Project Handler at Daltons Corporation. You may join starting today, please reach the office by ten in the morning. We apologize for the delay and congratulations!

Lia can't help but stare at the message and re-read it for the hundredth time. She can't even actually comprehend it at the moment because Lia is just sitting on the couch in her living area, reading that message and seeing if there's any kind of negative connotation she has missed, in case they are trying to tell her that better luck next time but she can't read anything like that. It makes her happy but nothing's yet settling in.

Forgive her because it's the next day and she had waited for a call all day yesterday but nothing had come. Lia had tried to make herself feel better that maybe they were just busy, ignoring the possibility of not being selected but even in that case, she should've been receiving a message.

Today when she had woken up at seven, which wasn't her usual time but really early then normal, Lia out of habit picked up her phone after making herself coffee and it's certainly all that had happened. She's still sitting with the coffee in front of her and Lia glances at the wall clock, it's already been thirty minutes since she had woken up. She doesn't require so much time dressing up usually but this is going to be her first day at work and she can't really believe it before she sprung up and squealed in happiness. Such a bummer that Lia has absolutely no one to hold hands of and run around the house just so she could share the level of excitement she has running through her body and blood streams because it's as if she's living a dream, hoping nothing goes wrong after this.

Lia rushes in to take a shower and spends another fifteen minutes after stepping out of the bathroom to select an outfit. She decides on a button up shirt with formal pants and a blazer. After she's done doing her minimal makeup and tying her hair into a low ponytail, Lia glances at the clock and it's already around nine once she's done. It took her way longer than she had expected so Lia skips breakfast, she can simply grab something in the canteen or anywhere near during her lunch break because the last thing she wants is to be late on her first day at work.

So Lia slips on some heels as she rushes out of her apartment locking the door. Sitting into the taxi next, Lia glances at the clock and it's nine, the office is not that far away. Only around twenty minutes' drive from there and Lia really could've just had breakfast but then again, reaching on time is important and she can eat there anyway. She isn't hungry either so there's that, Lia quickly takes out her phone and dials Emery's number.

"Hello." Lia says and Emery seems to be busy, obviously so because it seems to have slipped out of Lia's mind that Emery gets to work at nine in the morning.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! It slipped my mind but I just wanted to tell you that I did get the job. The confirmation came in the morning and I'm on the way." Lia says quickly and hears Emery gasp into the call, sounding happy and Lia smiles. She's happy herself and so much that she can't really even process the amount of it filling her. It may take some time to settle in but the moment it happens, Lia's sure when that happens, she'll jump around all the time.

"Lia? Oh my god! I'm so happy for you. We'll talk later, okay? I love you, bye!" Lia agrees and cuts the call, keeping the phone back into her hand bag and looking down, Lia wonders if she'll ever be able to not be in awe of New York. Everything has been working so well, Lia has moved to her dream city and has done not just that but also found a job. The kind of job she wanted. She's on the top of her own little world and after what feels like an eternity, Lia finally feels actual genuine happiness blooming within herself and that makes her really content with life. All she can hope for right now is for it to not change. Consistency would be the greatest thing she still wants to achieve in life. Being mentally okay as well.

She arrives in front of her office and the moment she stands in front of her, looking at the building, her heart starts racing because she still can't believe this is happening but maybe now, the feeling of this entire thing happening is coming to her and she loves it. Loves how she's gradually moving up to reach her peak happiness because this has been such a foreign emotion to her in the past so many years and life recently has given her quite a lot of taste of it. Beautifully so because she remembers being so happy moving to New York, going out to shop, shifting to her new apartment here and Lia still believes that she hasn't yet recovered from that very thing. To have such a big achievement and accomplishment of a goal is definitely going to take some time. Maybe hearing the words 'you are hired' will give her a lot more than a text.

Lia goes straight to the elevator and happily clings her handbag to herself trying to keep her level of excitement down. She doesn't want to look like she's beyond happy surrounded by people she'll probably have to work with. Lia is going to keep it professional because can she even believe being a project handler at the Daltons Corporations?

When she arrives the seventh floor, Lia walks to the receptionist and watching the middle-aged lady again gives her a feeling that she'll go well along with her.

Lia stands in front of her table and the lady looks up at her, immediately passing Lia a smile.

"So you got the job, I'm assuming." She says and Lia looks at her batch which has her name on it.

Lia nodded her head with so much excitement that the lady chuckles lightly at that, "I'm happy for you. You seem like a hardworking, young woman."

Lia composes herself, standing straight preventing herself from moving around in happiness as she replies, "Thank you so much, Mrs. Jones."

The receptionist starts doing something while talking to Lia as she says, "Oh, no need for that. You can call me Audrey." Lia nods her head at that.

Audrey pulls up some papers and hands them over to Lia. "You have to go the same room and meet Mr. Lucas. This is your schedule he asked me to hand over to you. Then you'll have to immediately go to get your ID proof made or you can't walk into the office which for you is on the ninth floor. Good luck on your first day here."

Lia nods her head at that and she is definitely looking forward to what the day has for her because it looks like she's going to be busy and that's what she wants. Lia wants to be occupied with work because that certainly makes her feel like she's doing good at life. Lia loves working and there's no end to that at all. She's always been like that, especially since the past few years. Work was all she had and now it's all she wants.

Lia feels better than yesterday walking into the same room. The huge difference being that today, she has the job and that makes her feel so good that Lia can't seem to decipher when had the last time been since she had felt like this.

"Good morning, Miss Lia." Lucas says as she walks over to sit in front of him.

"Good morning, sir." She says back and Lucas pulls out a few documents before her.

"Oh, you don't have to call me that. Address me as Lucas. Congratulations on the job, by the way." Lucas says and Lia nods her head watching him search through the papers for something specific.

Once he's done, he pulls out a paper and slips it to Lia's side. "Take this to room number seven on this floor only to get your ID proof be made. You can collect it today when you get off of work." He explains and Lia listens carefully.

"This floor is all about work that doesn't actually involve work, if you get it." Lucas says as he puts back the file of documents back into the drawer and Lia nods her head. This explains why there aren't even a lot of people on this particular floor.

"I'll explain to you about your first project because my partner who does that is on a leave and I don't really have any interviews to take today." Lia can't help but notice how he sounds way more relaxed than he did yesterday and that really goes to show how professional he is when it comes to doing his job.

Lia cannot resist it when the words leave her mouth, "Is that what you do here?"

Lucas looks at her giving her a smile and that helps her relax, "No. I'm the office documentation manager. Since it's such a huge company, I take care of the resignations, people who get fired or hired and whether all the paperwork regarding the employees is thoroughly done and maintained. Although I do have to take interviews four days every month." Lia can't even fathom all that he has said because that seems like so much work and also makes her realize how huge this corporation is. Makes her want to sink in the fact that she has gotten a job at such a huge company. She's proud of herself. She should be because she has earned it.

"Interviews every month seem so unrealistic, like how many positions are available?" Lia needs to shut up because she isn't here to have a conversation but to work.

Lucas chuckles at that before nodding his head as if trying to indicate that he understands Lia's curiosity. "Plenty because people get fired if they don't give in the results. This company works very seriously, surely so because I look over the people and the CEO himself looks over me, my work and also what I take care of. Strict business but also, not every time people get hired. It's hard to enter this workplace, but you did. Congratulations on that again."

Lia is stunned. So this is what the key is behind the flourishing rates of this company. She's taken aback but also admires how deeply involved the CEO himself is. It makes her really happy that he's invested in the work. She likes that.

"I'll gather up about what your first project will be and the details regarding that by the time you get your ID proof work done." Lucas says and Lia nods her head. She can't help but notice how he has the most hectic job she has ever seen someone have. She's aware he has people to help him but still, it all comes down to him at the end of the day.

"You'll start working by tomorrow. Quite a lot of formalities need to be done before you start with your job."

Lucas picks up the phone and asks for someone to hand him over the file he must have asked them to. Not a while later, someone knocks on the door and enters with a file in his hands.

"Go through the agreement papers and sign them. You can only start working once you've done all of these procedures." Lucas explains and Lia's brows knit together trying to find an explanation to what an argument paper is needed for.

"It basically says that if you're found sharing official details with any other company or doing fraud, you shall be sued." Lia sighs because she really does go through the papers even after Lucas explains that because that's what everyone should be doing. The documents do include only as Lucas had mentioned while she signs them turning over the page and starts reading this through.

"It says company's privacy is a matter of concern and if you ever risk that you will have to pay the loss done by it." Lucas explains again and Lia nods her head, going through it after signing the papers.

"It's basically the same thing." Lia says and Lucas nods his head.

"Just making sure of everything from every possible angle." Lia understands that because it is such a big company and she's sure there are plenty with their eyes on this one to put down. She likes the precautions because she doesn't quite care, she will never be bothered by any of it so this doesn't worry her at all, not even one bit and she reads through the entire file signing each page. This is none of her concern but she still makes sure to read it thoroughly just to be safe and aware of what she's agreeing to.

"Done." Lia announces as she places the file on the table, slipping it to Lucas' side and she's sure she did probably take about thirty minutes to be over with this.

Lucas picks it up and quickly skims through the pages before putting it on the side table near him.

"You can head over to room number seven now. Give him this paper and come right back here so I can explain your work and everything else." Lia listens to him before agreeing to that and grabbing the paper as she walks out of the room and watches Audrey standing while a man is conversing with her.

He has a Starbucks coffee in his hands while he has a mask over his face and Lia can't help but notice the familiarity from the guy, she had seen in Starbucks yesterday. It's oddly similar and her eyes went wide on realizing that he's the same guy. The biggest thing giving away that is the aura of this man, just as rich and strong as yesterday and Lia can't help but notice the way he leans against the table while he looks like he's having a serious talk. Lia had not expected him to be working here as well but she also can't help and stand in her place as she observes the man.

Lia has to move. She needs to be but something about this man and having here stuck on her feet was there because every single time she could not seem to have taken her eyes off of him. He looks intimidating, so much so that when Lia feels him turning to her side, she completely vanishes away and disappears.

She'll face him some other day because it definitely won't be today.