Battle

The new beginning..

Ayana stood in front of the mirror. She was wearing a black office skirt with a white blouse. Her hair combed neatly into a half up half down hairstyle. This is the first day of her first ever job. She wanted to look decent. She applied some concealer to hide the bags under her eyes, mascara and lipgloss. She looked like she had her life together.
Letting out a satisfied hum she grabbed her things and walked out the door. Lizzie was already waiting for her outside shoving a bagel in her mouth.

Climbing in the car, Ayana greeted Lizzie with a bright smile.
"Damn girl you clean up nice"
"Thank you Lizzie! Here I got you coffee" Ayana replied handing Lizzie the tumbler.
"So how are you feeling?" Lizzie asked taking a sip.
"Okay I guess" Ayana shrugged.

Soon they were parked in front of a big building with the huge sign 'Grant Capital'.

Walking into the building, Ayana was stunned. The place was huge and the marble floor reflected the lights in the building so beautifully. They took the elevator to the Eleventh floor to the office. Lizzie gestured to Ayana to settle down at a desk beside hers. The desk was big with a computer and telephone on top of it. Ayana's desk was right by the huge glass window. She could see the entire city from up here. Ayana stared out the window getting lost in the beauty of the city when Lizzie broke the silence.

"Alright, so this company provides financial services. My job here is to take care of the documentation for the clients. You'll be my assistant. For now, you'll just be communicating with the clients and listen to their needs, make a report and pass it to me and I'll take care of the rest. If you need anything just let me know." Ayana nodded taking in all the information.

The day went by with Lizzie introducing her to her colleagues and teaching her about the work. It was 5pm and they were ready to go. As they were about to get in the elevator a beaming voice came from behind. "Lizzie! Who's the hottie?" Lizzie turned around rolling her eyes. "Hey.... Brad. This is Ayana. Ayana, Brad." Lizzie introduced them with no enthusiasm in her voice as the tall brunette made his way towards them.

Ayana gave a polite smile with a slight nod.
"Hey Ayana, wow you're beautiful. Why are you leaving so soon? Wanna go grab a coffee or something?" Brad winked flirting miserably.

"Hi Brad, I appreciate the gesture but...." Before Ayana could finish speaking, Lizzie was pulling her into the elevator "See you tomorrow Brad, Bye!" Lizzie replied.
Ayana was confused.

When the elevator door closed, Lizzie looked over to Ayana "That's Brad. He's an asshole as you can see. He tries to have sex with pretty much every girl he lay his eyes on. But Ayana I have to warn you, never ever reject him outright. He's got a big ego and he's the boss's cousin. So he's got the power to do anything." Lizzie explained.

~time skip~

It has been six months since Ayana started working at Grant Capital. She spent these past months giving her all at her job. She was client's favorite. She even made friends with pretty much everyone at the office. Everyone adored her. She was the person who everyone would go to if they needed help or advice. She worked hard to save money and got a place of her own while Lizzie moved into her old apartment with Ed. Ayana spent her weekends mostly hanging out with Lizzie and Ed at their place or with Mason and Clay partying the nights away.

She kept herself occupied. She haven't thought about James in a really long time. She was finally feeling great. She even went on dates a few times with a lot of persuasion from Lizzie and Ed. But it just didn't feel right. It didn't bother her too much though as she wasn't planning to settle down with any of them. She was finally happy with what she had and she wasn't planning on ruining it for herself ever.

-----

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Grunting Ayana reached for her phone from the night stand. Her head was aching. God, I'm not drinking on a Sunday night ever again. She thought to herself knowing damn well it's a lie. Rubbing her eyes Ayana got off the bed and made a beeline for the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and hopped in the shower. Walking out of the shower with a towel around her she popped an Advil into her mouth and took a big gulp of water.

Ayana made herself some coffee and spent some time looking out of her apartment balcony at the sky painted bright blue until her phone started blowing up. Rolling her eyes, she took a seat at her vanity and got ready for the day. She threw on a royal blue knee length office dress. She decided to leave her hair down. Grabbing her things, she made her way out of her apartment and walked towards her office building as it was just a few blocks away from her new place.

She greeted everyone with a small 'hello' and a bright smile as she walked into the building towards the elevator. As soon as she stepped foot in her office floor, she heard her name being called left and right. Mondays were the worst. She would never have time even for lunch. But she always handled the stress with a big smile on her face. After about three hours of returning client's calls and staring at the computer screen, she decided to take a short break.
"Hey Lizzie, want some coffee?"

"Yes please...I need some caffeine in my system if I'm gonna have to stare at this shit for the next few hours without losing my mind" Lizzie stated pointing to the files piled up on her desk. "One black coffee with no sugar no milk coming right up" Ayana cooed and walked over to the coffee machine at the corner of the office.

"Hey gorgeous" Brad whispered in her ear startling her. "God Brad! How many times do I have to tell you. Don't creep up on me like that!" Completely ignoring her anger, he continued "I'm going to a party tonight. Wanna be my date?". He was standing too close behind for her liking. "No Brad... I'm not interested".
"Oh come on baby stop playing so hard to get. I know you want me" he said pushing his hip on her ass rubbing his hands on her waist. And that was the last straw. All the pent up anger from the past six months came out when she turned around and punched him square on his jaw causing him to stumble back. "Oww! You fucking bitch!" He growled holding his jaw walking over to her. Feeling scared, Ayana grabbed the closest thing she could find, which was a decor piece and threw it at him. He quickly dodged it. The piece hit the wall and fell to the ground in pieces.

At this point, everyone gathered around them and pulled Brad away before he could do something to Ayana. "You will pay for this" Brad gave her a death glare before walking off. Lizzie gave Ayana a tight hug "It's okay. You're fine". Few hours went by with Ayana resuming to her work but she couldn't concentrate. She had a feeling that she was going to be in big trouble. Looking over to Lizzie, Ayana asked "Hey Lizzie, how is he? Our boss, is he scary?"

Sighing, Lizzie replied "I don't know Aya. I've only met him once at the annual party. He rarely comes into this office. He just stays at the top floor. He's not the kind who makes conversation with his workers".

"I'm fucked. I can't lose this job Lizzie. I just got an apartment" Ayana ran her hands on her face.
"It wasn't your fault Aya. It would be stupid for him to fire you. Plus you're like the best with clients. Don't worry everything will be fine." Lizzie squeezed her shoulder.

Hours went by with no calls for Ayana. She tried to focus on her work without worrying too much about it. Maybe Brad was just all talk.

After a long day, Lizzie and Ayana packed their things up to leave when Ayana's desk telephone started ringing. They gave each other a panic stare before Ayana picked up the phone with shaky hands.