Chapter 1: 1
Cinderella, Almost everyone knows her name. She was a kind and sweet girl who caught Prince Charming's attention and became his Queen and they lived happily ever after. But wait! Why am I telling you about Cinderella when she isn't even a character in this book? Just forget it...
Our Story takes place in a time when the world is divided into many kingdoms, and kingdoms into four major classes. The first and the highest rank is Royalty that includes the King, Queen, Prince, Princesses, the Dukes, and the duchess.
The second is the privileged class or the Gentry. The people who are just next to the royalty, and own major businesses with tons of money. The third ones are the Middle class or the Yeoman, The people who own a little land or a fair amount of property. And then comes the fourth class, the lower class, or the commoners.
There is a constant fight between all the last two classes as they want to crawl up the ladder of this class system and often fall badly.
Annabella, a bright girl with round wonder-filled eyes, belonged to a commoner's family, but she had a dream. She wanted to become a well-known designer and earn herself a name even though she was just a commoner.
The door of her crooked red house swung open. She hopped out while gripping around her bag tightly. Her short brown hair flew around in the air. The sky was clear today, making her smile ear to ear.
"Mr. Sun!! Shine brightly on me today!!" She hopped cheerfully and waved her hand towards the sun.
"Bells! What are you doing here? Aren't you late for work?" Someone spoke to her. She looked around and saw a car stopped beside the road, it was her neighbor who was a taxi driver.
"I am, WHy?" She asked.
"Because you missed the last bus!" He replied.
"What? No way!" She looked down at her wristwatch with a frown. "Shoot! I am late!!" She bit her lip.
"Hop on! I will take you." The old man started the engine as he spoke.
"Thank you, Uncle Steve!" Said Bells and hurriedly entered the car.
The morning was especially busy at CinderWood. It was one of the largest cities of the Kingdom, it was also a business center and generated a ton of income per year. One could say it was the backbone...no it was one of the vertebrae of the Kingdom. Bells worked as a minor designer at a leading company named "Bronze". Though the branch she worked at was smaller as compared to the other branches in the bigger cities, it still had huge importance because this was the place where the business was established.
Bells looked around at the towering skyscrapers with determination. She knew many commoners who had made their way up the social ladder and had changed their lifestyles.
While her head was filled with the thoughts of her bright future she suddenly noticed the car slow down. She looked to the other side and noticed a roadblock. She started sweating, it was already late. She lowered her head and peeked through the windscreen. Amongst the tall buildings, there was one that stood out the most. It was her office. She could see it from the other side of the road from a traffic blockage.
"Uncle! I think I should run…or I am going to be very late." She grabbed her bag and ran out of the car. With all her might she ran on the pavement. The sun that she was praising a while ago suddenly started to melt her with its heat.
Her chest started hurting because she was exerting too much force on her lungs while running. The building started to come closer. The road was completely jammed for as far as her eyes allowed her to see.
Finally, she pushed the glass door open and stepped into the building. She tried to normalize her breath. She then hurriedly made her way to the elevator that was packed, Bells pressed the button and waited for the doors to close. In a few minutes she was in the office but the manager who treated her like an eyesore was waiting for her at the door with a wicked smile.
"Annabella! You are late!" The manager had rolled a bunch of reports into a cylinder and bashed her head with it. "You know what that means?..." He grinned.
"I promise this won't happen again." She begged him.
"YOu will get a pay cut!" He said and smiled at her once more before leaving.
Anna's expression became sour and she gritted her teeth.
"Anna!! Why are you so late? And what is wrong with your face? Are you okay?" Anna's only friend Eli rushed over to her side as soon as the manager left and gave support to the body that was swaying around.
"I missed the bus today and had to run to the office," Anna replied in a tired tone. "I thought today was going o be great but it already sucks, I missed the bus and now I have a pay cut,"
She pouted and made her way to a small cabin in the corner. "Don't lose heart! I am sure something great will happen to you today." Eli patted her shoulder.
"Yeah right! I haven't been able to approve a single design of mine for the past three months. They say I have no skill. I am afraid if this time my design isn't approved, I will lose the job." Anna brushed her fingers through her hair tiredly and pulled out her sketchbook from under a pile of files.
"You know...The President of the company is going to visit today. I have heard that he will personally choose the dresses for this year's annual Royalty fashion show." Eli whispered joyously.
Anna's heart leaped and there was a spark in her eyes.
"Really? You mean the...the President, Like the one who owns this place?" She shuttered in excitement. She couldn't contain her excitement.
"This is so great! I just have to find a way to show my design to him so he can judge it personally,"
In the office management was biased towards its workers, only those who had a little influence would get their work approved while the commoners with no background would get pushed down. Anna believes that her designs were revolutionary but the management was biased and wouldn't let her talent shine as it should.
Anna pushed her chair backward and opened the small cabinet under her desk that had a few bags in it. She took out one of them and peeked inside it. "I am sure if I send this to the President somehow, he would love it."
"Tsk...tsk...tsk, Look who we have here." A sarcastic voice rang in Annabelle's ears and she stiffened up, her grip around the bag tightened up. She knew who it was, Grace Phillip, The daughter of a Baron, who owned larger farmland in the countryside. She was one of the recognized designers of the company just because her father had backed her up.
"Why are you here?" Asked Anna in an annoyed tone.
"Well I was thirsty so I thought you could buy me a cup of freshly brewed coffee from down the street, I have heard that they have a wide range of expensive drinks."
Anna frowned, "Go buy it yourself! I am not your servant."
Grace rolled her eyes and scanned the surroundings, she then held her head and spoke in a soft voice.
"Ouch! My head," Grace winced out suddenly. And a few of the workers around them looked at Anna with a suspicious gaze.
"What happened to you, Grace?" The manager was on the ground and he too heard her painful groan.
"Manager! I was asking Anna to do me a favor and buy me a coffee because I was tired of working overtime. I even skipped my meals just so I could complete the designs, but she shouted at me." like a delicate flower she trembled and spoke in a sweet voice. Anna's hand-formed into a fist. The Manger shamelessly frowned at Anna.
"Go get her a drink and be quick."
Anna glared at them without a word, She took the card that Grace was holding out for Anna and walked out of the office.
Chapter 2: 2
It took Anna about an hour to get two cups of coffee from the shop down the street because of the enormous crowd. Her feet trembled because they had no energy left to stand up straight but she tried hard to get to her office in one piece. She waited for the elevator quietly while resting against the wall and sipped out of one of the cups that she had bought for herself. The bag that she had accidentally brought along with her was hanging down one of her shoulders.
Finally, the elevator doors opened and Anna stepped in. The elevator was empty and it made her feel happy. After pressing the button on her floor, She stood in the corner and waited for the doors to close slowly.
"Should I put some mud in her coffee?" She looked down at Grace's cup with a wicked smile, While she was thinking about giving up on her evil plan, a hand stopped the doors from closing. Anna frowned and was about to curse but the doors opened slowly and her eyes met a pair of calm hazel eyes.
Thump…
Anna heard her heart jump, and a wave of warmth spread in her chest. The guy slowly stepped inside and pressed the top floor button.
Anna was staring at him shamelessly. He was a tall guy with wide shoulders and a well structured body. His complexion was fair but not too fair, he had a sharp jawline and dark filled eyebrows. He looked like a model freshly out of a magazine.
While Anna was busy complimenting his body with her eyes, the guy seemed a little uncomfortable under her lustful gaze and he turned around at Anna and just before he could say anything the elevator stopped with a jerk making Anna unstable. She was about to fall but the guy grabbed her shoulders, Anna's grip around her cup loosened and the coffee fell on the guy's shirt.
Anna's face paled when she saw his eyebrow's squeeze together. He was definarlty in pain because of the hot coffee.
"I...I am so sorry!! I didn't do it on purpose." She shrieked and freed herself from his grip. Sh ehurridley placed the other cup on the floor and patted the guy's shirt with her hands.
"Get your hands off me," He spoke in a low voice, making Anna pause. She looked up at him with a scared expression.
"I seriously didn't mean to spill it over you." She spoke in an apologetic tone. But he didn't pay any attention to her and looked away. He unbuttoned the upper few buttons of his shirt and glanced at his chest that was red because of the burning hot coffee. Anna's heart sank.
'WHat have I done? I am sure he is really mad at me for ruining his shirt…'
"We are stuck in here! Send help!" While Anna was twisting her fingers the guy pressed the emergency buttons a few times. Though his voice was low Anna could sense how annoyed he was.
She looked down at the spilled coffee and it suddenly struck her. She unzipped her bag and pulled out a white shirt. "Here! You can wear this, I didn't mean to ruin your clothes." She extended her hand and offered the shirt to him. The guy who was trying to keep a fair distance from her looked at the shirt she was offering him. Though he was suspicious of her actions he had no other choice then to take the short from her.
"Are you going to stare at me while I change?" he asked. Anna's face flushed and she looked away. But the walls of the elevator reflected his body in it even when Anna was looking away. She closed her eyes tightly to not annoy him any more.
WHen he was finally done changing Anna opened her eyes and looked at her designs short, perfectly wrapping the guy's body. The golden embroidered cuffs and collars circled his arms and neck and complimented his unique physique. She was awed at the sight of her hardwood coming out in such a perfect manner.
The guy looked at the door where he could see Anna's drooling eyes. He gave her a deadly look before looking away. The elevator started working again and the guy breathed out a sigh of relief. The doors opened and Anna's floor arrived. She stepped out of the elevator without looking back at him but she could feel the unfriendly gaze on her back.
"Gosh! WHy did I have to make him feel so uncomfortable? ANd what happened to my heart suddenly?" Anna rubbed her chest and walked into the office. Sh esaw Grace in her cabin flipping through her sketchbook leisurely.
'What are you doing here and why do you have my designs?" Anan placed the coffee on the table with force and pulled out the sketch book from her hands and frowned at her,
"You think I was trying to steal your designs? Don't get over yourself...YOu will never get recognized with these lousy drawings of yours." She spat out those words and picked up her coffee.
"Huff…" Anna closed the sketchbook and sat in her chair devastated. Eli moved her cahir closer to her and asked.
"I am sorry i couldn't stop her,"
"It's not your fault." She replied and opened her bag. She pulled out a dress from it. It was also white with golden thread work that made patterns on the thin fabric. The dress was an elegant party dress, it wasn't over done but it had a sense of elegance to it. Eli was mesmerised by the dress and she asked Anna excitedly.
"Are You going to submit this one?"
"I was going to do it but it was supposed to be a couple's dress. But I don't have the shirt anymore." She pouted.
"Did you lose it? Or was it stolen?" Eli reacted impulsively.
"No...Actually," Anna bit her lip and she snesed her cheeks heat up when hse though of the guy from the levator.
"I...I accidenetly spilled coffee over a guy and had to give him the shirt as an apology." She poke as quickly as she could and tured around so that Eli would not notice her blushing cheeks.
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