chapter one

CHAPTER ONE

ROXANNE'S POV

"Happy 18th birthday to you Roxanne" The orphanage overseer said to me. She removed her spectacles to have a better look at me. She was putting on a black turtleneck shirt which looked quite expensive, at least in the eyes of an orphan. She was a woman in her late 40's

"Don't you think this dress too revealing?" She asked as she frowned at my tight calf length flare gown that revealed all my body curvatures. It certainly wasn't my fault, for I had outgrown all my dresses as I hadn't received any new dress for the past three years

"I'm not sure ma" I answered with a slight bow and a silent prayer on my lips

She had long lost interest in what balderdash I had to say and was scribbling on a check which she handed over to me.

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FOUR YEARS LATER

I sat at the reception room, waiting for the receptionist to attend to me. She was an angry looking beautiful lady who had her black hair tied behind her in a ponytail. She was seated on an elevated platform fifteen feet away from where we, the job seekers sat. She had a laptop in front of her and was angrily hitting the keys thereby filling the room with the keyboard's rattle. The room was very spacious and beautifully rich as the gold chandelier alone was enough to feed all the job seekers till their old age. The metal chairs themselves were screaming bloody rich as it was so smooth and extremely beautiful. The receptionist had on a stern look that her beautiful face turned ugly and eventually became one of the contrasting things in the room. I was one of these contrastable too as my faded red polo and my long gown gave me out as a poverty stricken fellow.

I had left the orphanage four years ago but didn't land on any steady jobs, so I had to make do with any available menial job.

"You there! Come with your documents, and make sure they are arranged in their proper order" the angry bird receptionist retorted pointing to my direction and scowling as I moved towards the elevated desk with my file.

She grabbed the file from me and started flipping it through

"Where's your birth certificate?" She asked finally looking at me.

I sneezed and then replied as polite as ever "I'm an orphan, I only have the certificate of orphan hood given to me by the orphanage I grew up in"

She eyed me, and flanged the file away, thereby scattering all the papers to the north, south, east and west of the office.

"You're and orphan and you want to be the secretary of this great company?? No you can't. Use the door to the typist section and make appropriate corrections to your CV and your application letter". She said turning back to her computer and muttering some inaudible.

I was utterly confused as to what I was to correct in my document, as I had made sure everything was at the right place in my work.

"Pardon me ma'am, please what necessary corrections do I need to make in my CV and application letter" I asked carefully, not wanting to anger the already furious lady in front of me.

Her reply began with a condescending look and then another eyeful of eyeing and a click of the tongue "You'll change the intended position to that of a cleaner, not just anyone is fit to be a secretary and certainly not some rejected baby" she said before calling on to the next aspirant.

I was bewildered and clearly wasn't getting the picture the furious chick was painting. The words "rejected babies" spilled out of her rose pink lips like some mucus. I was angered and at lost for words as i stood, staring furiously at her.

If I was embarrassed before, it was certainly a joke as the next words that flew out of her mouth were scorpion poison themselves. "You bloody bastard, why are you still gawking at me? You better fling your smelly shitty self out of this room and into the gutter you were found. We don't have room for gutter children here. The only available position for you here is as a cleaner where you'll at the least make something shine. Since you obviously can't shine".

I bowed my head in shame and gently bent to pick the sprawled papers on the floor. But was surprised to find them already picked and held out by a calm and beautiful lady who happened to be one of the already employed cleaners.

"Thanks, you're very kind" I said, blinking back tears of embarrassment and shame.

In reply she gave me the sweetest smile, and led me quietly to the typing room. I watched as she made some little conversations with the lady on the computer, prompting the lady to begin work on my case.

"I'm Tarella, nice meeting you. What's your name" She asked in a husky voice

"Roxanne, Roxanne Williams" i responded taking in the blue jean, black top and black sneakers she wore as they certainly looked expensive, hinting to the fact that she was indeed receiving a very handsome salary.

"You mustn't waver; you should make the necessary changes so that Dera, the receptionist will forward your name to the CEO. You might get a chance when employed, to talk to the CEO about your Secretarial qualification"

I gave her a lizard nod as I couldn't trust my voice to say a sentence without me breaking down in bitter tears. I thought of how much stress I had gone through just to get a degree in Secretarial studies. I was devastated as to the turnout of events that I was in a daze

Tarella walked back to the typist and got my document and gently stapled them into my file. Her quiet feature went through my document and brought them back to me, nodding in approval.

"Go back to her, and display your file on her table, she'd include your name" She said smiling again, this time around almost revealing her dentition.

I went back to the reception room and placed my file on her desk. The receptionist smirked, took the file and typed my name into the laptop.

"You're number 8. Use the stairway to the fourth floor. When your number is called, you head in to the CEO'S office for your interview" she said still having the smirk on her face.

DERA'S POV

I watched as the girl walked with her long gown that was close enough to sweep the floor. I was glad with the turn out of events, for she had a first class honors in Secretarial degree and I was definitely not going to allow the bitch the opportunity to get the position before me. How dare her, a mere orphan dream so big.

I smiled triumphantly as she did my bidding, quickly changing the changeable and inserting the right position fit for her type. With that, at least the CEO will have no opportunity to notice her witch like beauty or even her voluminous bosom.