Chapter 1

{Four years later}

It was a Monday morning and quite like any other mundane day. Annette woke up with a start, cursing the alarm clock that blared Baby by Justin Bieber, as it read 7 am in bright red letters. Rubbing off the remnants of sleep from her eyes she stretched and turned it off.

She thought to herself that the plus point of having a song you despise as your alarm is that it’s so annoying that it almost instantly wakes you up. The inevitable downside is that the tune will probably be stuck in your head the entire day and tends to echo in your mind during the most crucial moments.

Stumbling across the cold marble floor of her apartment, she pulled open the drapes and sighed at the beautiful view if the sun rising over the city that her east facing apartment provided. Waking up to this view, every morning, filled her with a sense of hope and renewed vigour. With one last glance at the waking city, she made her way towards the bathroom.

Everything she did in a day was timed to the very last second. Why waste more time in doing things that can be done in less time? She thought of tardiness to be a disease with symptoms ranging from laziness to unprofessionalism and worked hard to keep herself from falling prey to it.

She decided to go with a beige formal shirt under a navy-blue blazer and paired it with a matching pencil skirt. She tied her dirty blonde hair in an elegant bun, her go to look. She seldom let her hair down, both literally and figuratively speaking. A quick peek at the watch told her that it was seven twenty-five and she was on time.

Most people won’t really understand the small joys that she derived from such things.

She smiled to herself whilst putting on her favourite pair of Jimmy Choo's knowing that she had adhered to her twenty-five-minute morning routine. This somehow made her look forward to the day she was going to have.

Tossing the house and the car keys in her bag, she left the apartment. She made her way towards the Starbucks around the corner that she frequented every morning to collect her breakfast which usually consisted of a sandwich and coffee. Not really a healthy choice but the thought that at least she wasn’t skipping meals was enough to reassure her that it was okay.

"Miss Annette!" Ray, the barista hollered from behind the jam-packed counter almost instantly as the bell chimed announcing her arrival. The strong aroma of coffee overwhelmed her olfactory senses. She wondered if it was just her or did the smell of freshly ground coffee make everyone feel all warm and comforted.

"Here is your chicken sandwich and a double shot expresso with two sugars to go!" He said, handing over the Styrofoam cup and a well wrapped sandwich to her. She smiled thinking that he was probably one among the few well-wishers she had left.

"Thanks Ray!" She hollered over the sound of the maddening Monday morning office rush bidding adieu to the friendly barista who had served her a cup of goodness every morning for the past three years.

At seven fifty-five sharp, the clicking of her heels resonated through the lobby of Rodriguez and Co's as she made her way to her office. Eight o'clock on the dot, she set her bag down on her desk, ready to start off another fruitful day.

Being the Senior Marketing Manager of one of the most prestigious architectural firms at such a young age wasn't an easy task, but she managed just fine. She loved her job; it was her passion and dare she say that she was good at it. Though it was relatively new as she had started only a year ago but she was thrilled to be finally working her dream job.

"Morning, Miss Riviera. I wish you’d come late at least once; a lot of people have big money riding on that in the office pool. Will you ever be late?" Her boss, Zacharian Vitaly Rodriguez, informed with a mischievous smile on his face.

Yes, she had known about the office pool, apparently, a lot of people bet that she would be late to work but it’s never going to happen. She had a perfect record, she thought as she shook her head at her boss’s remark and did a quick take on the startled employees who were looking at them fearing the outcome of this.

She knew far too well that her boss would not take any serious action about this and to be honest, she didn’t care for it much either. It wasn’t a big deal and she did quite enjoy the silent sighs she heard everyday that she walked into work knowing that one of them had lost some money. She had come to notice that her boss too was in on her fun.

Zach, as she had come to call him after way too much persuasion on his part and she had hesitantly agreed that too only when it's just the two of them or in her head. With his tall-lean built, broad shoulders, mischievous green eyes and wide dimpled smile he had captured the hearts of many a female employee at the company.

Him being the co-CEO at the mere age of twenty-eight only added to his appeal and his charms could get any girl to fall at his feet. Any girl, but not Annette Rosalie Rivera she thought to herself, proudly.

"You ask the same question to me every morning Mr Rodriguez. I think you ought to know the answer by now." She replied loud enough for all the employees who were listening in to hear as she walked into her office.

Zach stood at the doorway with his arms crossed and she could quite literally hear the sighs of the women in the office. Shaking her head she proceeded to go through her schedule paying no heed to his flirtatious smile as her one true love is and forever will be her job. No amount of whimsical men with charming smiles could change her decision.

"Where’s the fun in that? Live a little, Ms Rivera. See you at lunch." He said before continuing under his breath- "If you ever take one." With one last wink and walked out of her office.

Even though he could be rather difficult to deal with at times, there was something about Zach which seemed to draw her in. She thought to herself about how glad she was that she was not stuck in some clichéd work culture hierarchy, it's nice to be able to hold a conversation with one's boss.

"Heard that!" She replied, referring to his bitter muttering.

It was true though, usually worked through lunch and had her lunch brought to her cabin. She didn't mind as it gave her an opportunity to get a lot of work done before hand much to the liking of her punctual nature. Also, she hated the idea of eating in the cafeteria, alone. Or worse, with people. She wasn’t much of a people’s person and liked to keep her private and professional life as separate as possible.

"Miss Riviera, you have a nine o'clock with the Ventura group in board room number six. They need to finalize the deal today as the work needs to be completed in six months." Felecia, her PA popped her head in and reminded her about the upcoming meeting.

Felicia was twenty-four and quite good at her job, never late and there was this shine of bright ideas in her eyes that made Annette want to be a better role model for her. Annette saw a lot of herself in her, with the right kind of motivation, she'll do great things, she mused.

"Could you fetch the files that I had asked you to review? Let’s have a final read through before we go in." Annette instructed.

"Sure." She nodded and left.

Annette looked through the various sticky notes on the underside of her table that Zach liked to make fun of to see what she had in store for the day. It's the only way she kept track of everything. Felecia had told her time and again that she wasn't even needed, that her boss can manage just fine with her excessive planning skills.

Annette admitted that she was a bit of a over planner, it wasn’t a bad quality though. This quality was probably what had made her land this job.

"Here you go." Felecia re-entered her cabin with a file in hand. After revising and reviewing the file for the nth time they set out towards the board room.

They spent almost an hour showcasing their ideas for the new design, taking down the necessary changes and negotiating a deal. The contract was finally signed after making sure that the investors were well informed of their preposition, they left the board room.