Chapitre 4: On the Day their Destinies Intertwined

One whole year of getting to know each other, of meetups and hangouts, of late night talks and early morning greetings, of keeping a hidden relationship – and now, Kai and Aria, whose love grew over the course of time since their meeting, were ready to face the world.

They walked up the stairs and through the front door of the Soleste mansion. Once inside, they found the current head of the Soleste family waiting for them on the foyer stairs.

Gallahan Soleste.

He shared the same breathtaking features as his son, though unlike him, his face showed little to no emotion. A tall and muscular man with a fair skin tone that had a rosy tint. He lived up to his tremendous prestige, what with his gripping aura that held a sort of power that only he possessed.

"Father, this is Aria, my girlfriend."

"It's nice to finally meet you, Aria."

Aria tried her best to introduce herself without stuttering. But it seemed she still had a long way to go. Aria ended up stumbling over her words despite her efforts. There was no doubt she fell short of his expectations.

Upon seeing a hint of displeasure in Gallahan's seemingly emotionless expression, Aria was immediately overcome with a great sense of consternation.

"My son told me all about you. How wonderful. There's nothing quite like young love," he said in a detached tone, and though he did so with a smile, it did not reach his eyes. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I need to get back to work."

Kai explained that this was nothing uncommon. But that didn't change the fact that his father was disappointed enough to cut their conversation short. That first meeting with Gallahan said it all.

Aria wasn't welcomed there.

---

Not too long after meeting Kai's father, Aria was placed in a predicament.

It just happened that Aria didn't get hired at any company she applied for after she quit being Georgine's contract slave. Now, she's about to run out of money. That's when Kai told her that Gallahan wanted to let her try working in their company.

"I know you're serious about becoming a singer and that you don't want me covering for your finances," he said. "So, why not work with us in the meantime and try auditioning again after you've saved up enough?"

Also, it could be a good opportunity to earn Gallahan's trust and favor.

She did as he advised and took up his father's invitation. Of course, Aria didn't expect to get any special treatment only because she's dating Kai, but apparently, that's how it appeared to Gallahan's employees. They would smile when she's looking and then mock her when she's not.

Aria soon learned that Kai and Gallahan's relatives were pulling the strings from behind.

"Here. You signed up for this, right?" Kai's uncle sneered as he shoved pile after pile of paperwork on Aria right after she arrived at his office. "Get all of those done today."

"U-Umm, but isn't this f-for a different department, Sir-"

"Do you think I care? You work on what's given to you."

A scornful boss. Envious co-workers. A toxic environment.

Soleste Enterprises was a literal Thunderdome.

When she came back to her cubicle, she found the other employees snickering among themselves. They seemed to be taking their breaks now, and yet, here she was being expected to keep working.

Sighing in exhaustion, she trudged to her workspace and did her best to ignore all the not-so-pleasant stares they're giving her way. Once she reached her table, however, she noticed something that made her heart stop instantly.

Aria paled. "Where are they?"

All the documents she'd worked hard on for the past few days were nowhere to be seen. She tried to calm down and look around, but she couldn't find a single piece. The panic that rushed through her made her forget where she was as she crawled on the floor to search around her cubicle.

At this, everybody burst out laughing. "Oh, weren't you gonna discard those?" one of them asked, feigning concern. "We thought you'd need some help cleaning your table. It's garbage day, so we had to throw out all the trash."

"N-No, they're not… T-They're important-"

"I think they're already in the dumpster," another cut in. "Better hurry, or else the boss will release his thunder."

Without another word, she hurried to the dumpster outside the building. Her eyes bulged wide in shock and horror when she spotted her folder, which had her name on it, sticking out from a pile of discarded cartons that had just been heaved into a garbage truck. What's worse, it was now about to leave.

"Wait, p-please!" she shouted at the driver but to no avail. "M-My documents!"

Aria made to sprint after the moving truck. Along the way, she stirred quite a scene, and she swore some of the witnesses pulled up their phones to film her. But Aria had no time to pay attention to them.

Not when the papers began to slip away from the fastener of the folder. Not when a strong gust of wind passed by and blew off all of those hard work.

And now, there's a flock of papers gliding in the air like confetti.

"N-No." Her soul might've as well left her body just then.

Aria picked up the papers that already landed on the ground before chasing after the others. She tried holding back her tears while she ran all around the street to catch them – nobody stopped to help, nobody cared. There was no way she could keep her job at Gallahan's place after this incident.

'Why? Just why isn't anything working out for me?' Her tears fell at the same time rain began to pour, soaking all her documents and ruining them for good. 'Is there no place for me after all?'

Upon returning, she informed her supervisor about what happened, but since Kai's uncle and other relatives turned out to be the ones who ordered it, as revealed by her coworkers to threaten her, she received nothing but a suggestion that she should just move to another job.

"It's for your own good," her supervisor told her with fake sympathy.

Gallahan never said a word when Aria quit, and Kai never got to know what happened because she didn't want to make any more enemies of the Soleste's.

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