Cinderella for Hire

Andrea had to leave fairly early in the morning because she had a study group booked for today. I nodded groggily and went back to sleep. But before I did, I could've sworn she tucked me in more properly into my bed. I could sleep in my own bed again, finally. When I woke up a few hours later, I went to the bathroom across from my room and stared at myself in the mirror. Holy crap, did I look awful.

My plans for today were probably searching an art store nearby and buy supplies for my next painting since I've already ran out of my primary colors. I was standing in front of the mirror still, cocking my head to the side as I contemplated to pop the pimple on my chin when suddenly I could hear the door outside slammed shut.

I jumped and my heart pounded against my ribcage. Nick wasn't supposed to be back this early. He told me he was staying at least for a couple of days before he'll be going back to New York. I could hear loud footsteps going around the apartment in a hurry and wondered if breaking into this loft was even possible given the security and all.

Looking around the room, I found no effective weapons and in the end, I grabbed a bottle of mouthwash in hopes that if it was a burglar, I could…

I stared at the mouthwash. I could give him fresh breath?

I opened the door to the bathroom and tip-toed to the living area where, thankfully, a very disconcerted Nick was running around, flipping his laptop open and at the same time, viciously typing with his phone. I frowned.

"Nick," I croaked groggily. I was still sleepy and I was having the worst headache ever.

"Was someone here last night?" he barked and I felt insulted. No "good day, April," or "hello, how are you holding up?" or something. So typical. I walked over to him nevertheless, plopping at the seat across from him.

"I had a friend, Andrea—"

"Was anything of mine been tempered with while she's here?"

Scowling, I said, "Andrea would never do that! And even if we did, what use did we have for it?"

Except those expensive wines in the kitchen but…given his current temper, I might as well shut up about it for now. He was tapping fervently on the laptop's touchpad, looking like he wanted to hurl. And suddenly I was really worried when he leaned back and closed his eyes, ignoring his ringing phone as he breathed out raggedly and pushed both of his hands at the side of his head.

"Nick, is there…something wrong?"

"I didn't back it up in my laptop, the files."

"What files? What happened to the original ones?" I asked softly but he just shook his head, looking really sick. "Nick."

"Proposed plans," he breathed out. "For this big shot, long-term client and the meeting is in 2 days from now. My dad wanted to present it himself if I couldn't make it back to New York in time and I told him that it was in my folder at the…at my office's PC," he said, rubbing his temples. "But it wasn't there. Everything was wiped out. I honestly don't understand this. Zara never approved anyone coming in the damn office so how on earth…"

"Is it really important?"

"What kind of question is that, April?" he shot, angrily. "Of course it is! We worked on this for almost 3 years because of the ridiculous demands that that bastard Simmons wanted. He's our biggest benefactor, despite being a pain in the ass to work with. We had no choice. When he wanted something, we must give him the exact thing that he wants. I kept the meeting notes, records and most importantly plans stored in my computer and it's all gone. No one else had the same copy of files and I just can't—"

His phone blared again, cutting him off.

"Why aren't you picking up your phone?"

"It's my father. Like hell I'm going to tell him that I didn't know what happened to those files. I just can't right now," he stopped, looking distant. "I'm as good as dead."

"Stop beating yourself up this much about it," I cried out, sitting next to him. "I mean, this Simmons guy he…he can understand, right? I mean—"

Oh hell, I didn't know what to say because there didn't seem to be a loophole around this.

"He's invested in a number of companies," Nick replied. "It's not a big number but still. The last time he put his trust into a consultancy company in property sector and said company failed him, he stopped funding them."

"So get another benefactor," I said cautiously.

"That company went bankrupt a year after that."

Oh boy.

I couldn't really digest everything In right now because I, too, had a huge headache (but that was from drinking too much. I was so never going to touch another alcoholic drink in my life) and everything just went by so fast and even Nick was talking ridiculously fast – it was hard to catch up.

Plus that stupid phone wouldn't shut up.

"What if it got hacked? Your computer, I mean."

"Yeah, I've thought of that," he replied, rubbing his face as he got up. "So the guys from the tech department are working on it. I'm not expecting much though. It's gone. How can you retrieve something that's already gone?" he said, groaning aloud as the phone in his hand rang again.

"You should probably take that."

"I know," he grunted, pressing a button and going out to the balcony. As uptight as he was, I had never seen him that stressed out before. And even though I was still angry at him for turning me down, I couldn't help but feel really sympathetic for him. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and tell him it's going to be okay or something but I could see where that would go.

I couldn't help but feel as if I had something important, business-wise to tell him though. Gosh, what was it?

As I thought long and hard about it, suddenly I could hear the ringtone of my own phone drifting in the air. I jumped on my feet and went to my room, accepting the call. It was Caleb!

"Good morning, sunshine! Have you arrived?"

"Yep," I answered. "And a good morning to you too, monsieur. To what do I owe this surprising…call?"

He chuckled and said, "I'm actually in a dire need for your help. But I have no idea if I should fly out to New York myself."

"What is it?" I asked, curious. Caleb Fulton in need of my help? This ought to be interesting!

"I just found out that my best friend is getting married and I'm kind of bad at these wedding things. I wanted to give the future-newlyweds something meaningful and special but I have no idea what. So I thought maybe that the most creative person I know, i.e. you…help me out with the gift?"

Stunned, I asked him, "you want me to help you choose a gift or something?"

"Yes."

"How about a toaster?" I said after a while.

There was silence on the other line before Caleb jokingly said, "okay, maybe you're not the most creative person that I know."

"Can you come out to New York?" I asked.

"Why?"

"I have something to show you. I think it'll make a perfect gift but honestly, it comes with a hefty price tag."

"I don't really mind about the price tag as long as…it's not hundreds of thousands or anything," he said. "When are you free?"

"Whenever," I answered a bit too fast. I wondered if Nick needed my help…?

Of course not. What the hell could I do about this anyway? Nothing. Yep.

"So I'll text you the details of my flight then. See you then?"

"See you."

I gazed at the flowers that Caleb gave me. I placed it in a glass vase and filled it with a bit of water.

Maybe it was because of sheer boredom (or probably, stress) or because Caleb was just that fun of a guy to hang out with, but I was getting excited at the thought that I would see him again because honestly speaking, I thought I wouldn't see him again for a long time.

And maybe, even if I couldn't contribute anything to Nick – business-wise – but you know, I could just cheer him up somehow. I just didn't know how yet.