“Serenity!”

“Serenity!” *Knock knock*

Her eyes fluttered open at the sound of her name. It took her sight a short moment to adjust to the light sipping into the half-opened window located to the side of her bedroom. She had always enjoyed sleeping with her windows open from childhood, simply because she liked how beautiful the moonlight looked when it touched her room’s mottled flooring. For some reason, Serenity felt at peace that day. She took in a deep breath and let go before stretching her long limbs along her bed. She paused in her position, contemplating if laying down again would be the right choice. Just then, a listless yawn escaped her lips, and she extended her limbs once more before slowly allowing her feet to make contact with the cold floor.

The coolness of the tiled ground caused a startle and her eyes abruptly fell to her feet in confusion.

Where are my slippers? And why hasn’t my dad given me my new rug as yet?

These unanswered questions floated into her mind as she scrambled around her room in search of her fluffy bedroom slippers. In the corner of her room, just at the side of her window, laid her ‘BITE ME’ slippers. They were pink, her favorite color. Might sound like a cliché to you, but Serenity was possibly one of the biggest fans of the color pink because it just looked so soft to her. Her room was dressed in pink everything, but only the “cute” shades, according to her anyways. Just as her feet swallowed up the comfortably warm slippers, she heard the knocking sound again, accompanied by her name.

“Serenity?” *Knock knock*

She supposed that today must have been a special day because the staff never bothered her this early unless it was important. So, she finally responded.

“Yes Miss Cato?”

“Oh! Perfect! Your dad is asking for you,” she replied, a little nervousness laced in her words.

Serenity’s father wasn’t a bad boss, so she conjectured the possible reason for Miss Cato’s nerves. She was no expert, but her attendant sounded nervous as hell, and she wanted to know why. Yet, she could not bring herself to ask. She was never a nosy person, and she did not want to start now. For this reason, she gathered herself and opened her door. When Miss Cato saw her, she seemed to have been a sweating mess, like a pig which had been running around all day. This intrigued Serenity even more, yet she said nothing on the matter.

“Good morning Miss Cato,” she greeted politely with a nod of her head as she gracefully walked past the aged woman.

“Good morning Miss,” the woman greeted back, her eyes casted on the ground.

Interesting, Serenity noted, and figured that this must have been a very serious matter if Miss Cato, her most beloved housekeeper, was this tense. She was best friends with the woman’s son for crying out loud, which made Miss Cato her mom by default.

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?! Her mind kept raging, yet she did not ask.

As if Miss Cato could sense Serenity’s dilemma, she held the young woman’s hand in hers and reassured her saying, “it will be a great opportunity for you. I promise.”

“What?” she finally let her curiosity show as she enquired. Her tone quite entertained. Her birthday wasn’t for another six months so it could not be a surprise gift. She was neither married nor was she expecting, she was essentially very single

and even more scared to mingle

so that was not a cause for any gift. The only other thing she could think of was the fact that she had successfully completed her bachelor’s degree at the age of Twenty-Two. There! She had found the reason!

So why was Miss Cato this nervous? The answer was unclear, but she was tired of standing still. She would never find out if she waited in the hallway. And so, they began their walk to her father’s in-house office.

Serenity greeted her father with a hug, a kiss, and the jolliest good morning as soon as she entered the tall brown double doors that were the entrance to his office. He smiled happily at his daughter; the wrinkles very evident now on his face. He sighed deeply, a contented sigh. Serenity breathed in excitedly and expectantly now. She wasn’t a spoiled kid, but she enjoyed receiving gifts. And now that the thought had landed in her mind, there was no way to contain her excitement. Her father was just happy to finally have his daughter qualified enough to take on some more responsibility in the family business.

They owned many popular resorts all over the world; it’s called the Serenity Resorts named after his daughter. Her father had long wanted to start up a business, but he could never quite figure it out. When his wife had fallen pregnant, he invested all his savings and eventually he struck gold! With his newly incurred wealth from his investments, he built a small resort in his island’s tourism town. He named it after his daughter for good luck and in time, the success grew until they were able to expand regionally and internationally.

Serenity and her father were now sitting in front of one another.

“Do you remember Boss?” her father’s voice interrupted the plethora of thoughts racing through her mind.

“Hmm?” she asked in confusion then continued, “I don’t think I know someone named Boss.”

Her father chuckled a little louder than usual to which she gave him a small smile. She hated thinking about that guy. It always put a dry taste in her mouth. She wanted to roll her eyes and speak negatively about him, complaining about how awful he was to her when they grew into adolescence. But that could not happen. Serenity did not want to upset her dad, so she played it off.

“I’m serious dad,” she held her chin as if she was in deep thought, “we know someone with that name? What kind of name is that anyways?!” she flailed her hands in the air a little exasperation in her voice.

His laugh came in even harder waves as he held onto his stomach. She was satisfied now that she was sure he wasn’t upset.

“I remember him dad. I just don’t like the fact that I do.” She finished and her father’s eyes found hers immediately. His dark brown irises searching her light brown ones.

He sighed, “I still don’t know what happened between you two, but I am hoping you guys will fix it. He is a crucial part of this deal between our resorts and their restaurants. It is like a blessing that his father and I even met the way that we did.” Her father couldn’t help but reminisce each time he thought about the funny encounter they had seventeen years ago. It was one of his favorite memories to recount and Serenity had grown tired of it by now. Especially since it was because of her and that demon spawn that her dad even had this memory. She wished she could go back in time and just walk away when she thought of it.

The young woman chuckled.

“Dad, I have heard this story a million, maybe ten million times,” she smirked.

“I know I know,” he answered defensively before continuing, “it’s a damn good story though.”

“Ha!” Serenity faked a laugh and playfully tapped her dad’s shoulder.

“Anyways sweetie, you’re going to Thailand in a week. I want to put you in charge of our Thai project for some time,” the old man placed his hands in the pockets of his pants as he completed his thoughts.

“WHAT?!” Serenity was in shock this time and could not hide it. She could not pretend it was alright because she knew exactly who was in charge of the Thai project. Her enemy; Boss. There was no way she would willingly go there. Her skin crawled just thinking about working with him.

“Look Serenity, you’re going there no matter what. So, you could either go willingly, or I could force you. And you know I do not like forcing you to do things.”

Serenity sighed. She did not enjoy having disagreements with her dad, but she stood firm and did not waiver, “I hate him dad!” she yelled and stormed out of his office. With her cheeks puffed up from how fuming she was and her face contorted in the most venomous expression possible, she marched straight to her best friend’s room. Eric would know what to do. He had to.