Chapter Two

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The alarm blaring like a loud siren jolted Daisy from her beauty sleep. She yawned and dragged herself out of bed. She walked passed her mirror and was able to take a quick look at herself. She looked like a bloody mess. Her eyes were swollen with droppy eye bags underneath her eyes, Her blonde hair was locked in twists and knots. She looked skinny and her skin, pale. She had not had the time to take proper care of herself with this Ad campaign coming up.
She gasped as her eyes widened "Shoot...The Ad campaign"
Her eyes shifted to the harry- potter themed clock that sat on her nightstand.
Yes, Daisy was more obsessed with magic and fantasy than actual reality. She even had her own collection of wands and spell books from the Harry Potter movies that she bought cheaply on Amazon. For something she got on Amazon,She was crazy obsessed with it and guarded it jealously. They were basically her babies.
Weird right?
Who likes to be normal anyways, she thought
She often said, "The real world was created for people who were too afraid to dream".
The time was exactly 9:15 am and she needed to be in the office by 10 am to make her pitch.
Daisy panicked "No, no... I am going to be so late. Cullen will kill me".
Daisy frantically dashed into the bathroom to shower.
There was no time to spare when she got out of the shower, she was already terribly late. She quickly grabbed her navy blue corporate dress from the chair beside her bed, a set of underwear and her lucky scarf and threw them on
Today, she really needed all the luck she could get.
She tied her hair up in a bun and applied a little concealer to hide those droopy eye bags that made her look like she had not slept in ages which clearly she hasn't. She also applied mascara and red lipstick to give herself a bold-ready-to-kill-it look.
She took one more look at the mirror to take a final assessment of herself before stepping into the office a.k.a the lion's Den. She realized that she didn't look red carpet ready but with the little amount of time she had, she looked presentable.
One quick look at the clock hanging on the wall and it was already 9:45 am.
How did the time fly so fast?
Her stomach growled
She was hungry because she did not even have the time to eat dinner before going to bed last night but as it stands breakfast was a luxury of time she just could not afford.
"I will get muffins and coffee when I get to the office", she thought to herself
She scampered through her work desk in her bedroom to gather the documents she would need to make the presentation. She was never an organized individual and that explained the reason for the pig-style state of her room. Clothes and documents have now taken over the floor and bed in her room.
What was the point in staying organized when in a matter of seconds her room goes back to looking like an earthquake just hit her home? Besides, it's not like a lover has seen the four walls of her apartment for ages.
Didn't one need to have a lover before they visited?
That's right. A lover she had not and lately, her love life was already growing cobwebs so she wouldn't be getting any action any time soon.
Right, back to her crazy morning
She grabbed her keys, out the door she went and locked the door behind her
           *              *                *
After driving like a crazy person on the road, she finally made it to the office at 10: 15 am.
Thankfully, the meeting was moved up to noon due to the delay in the flight of the clients.
Daisy was not really into astrology but it definitely looked like the stars were in her favour today.
She got into her office and started a final rehearsal for her pitch.
It had to be perfect!
There was no other way she was going to make regional manager except for getting this account owing to the fact that she just started working here two years ago. So her entire career was riding on this chance and she cannot scratch that WILL not blow it.
Ridgemont group of companies is one of the biggest tech companies in the world and to be in charge of their product advertisement would be the biggest achievement for Daisy. If she gets the account, her co-workers and boss would worship the very ground she walked on.
The thought of that appealed very much to Daisy.
After going over her presentation over and over again. The time to make the actual presentation finally came. For someone who has spent the last three weeks preparing for this presentation, Daisy was sure nervous as hell.
"You can do this", Daisy mumbled to herself as she approached the board room. She took in a deep breath and walked in.
"Alright thank you everyone for being here. You may please be seated. Let's begin", said Cullen Steinfeld as he motioned for everyone to take a seat which they all did.
"Daisy McCartney, We are ready for you," Cullen said
Daisy got up from her seat and her legs felt like jelly. Her heart was beating fast as she began to walk towards the front of the room. She clenched tightly to her laptop and pressed it hard against her chest.
"You got this," she said to herself and turned around to face the people in the room. She plugged her laptop in and her screen was being projected.
After an hour of talking, going through financial reports,  design as well as analysing profit margins. Daisy's presentation was finally over and she heaved a sigh of relief as she headed back to her seat. The faces of the clients were virtually almost unreadable because they kept straight faces all through the presentation. Their lack of reaction caused an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach
Did they like it?
Or was she just babbling for the past hour?
"Can somebody put me out of my misery", she thought to herself as she nervously kept tapping her foot on the ground and clenching her fist. Something she was always known to do since she was little.
"Thank you Daisy for that presentation. Can you give us a minute" Cullen said to her.
Daisy got up and packed her stuff, heading out of the boardroom
"Oh and Daisy, wait for me in my office", Cullen added.
Trying to play it cool, Daisy smiled at him and walked out of the boardroom, straight to Cullen's office.
It felt like an eternity before Cullen finally walked into the office. He graciously strode to his seat.
"So Cullen, what did they say?... Are they going to give me the account?... Did they like my presentation?... I know I could have done...", Daisy was babbling before she was interrupted by Cullen
"Ok... slow down there missy... Just breathe" Cullen said trying to calm Daisy down but Daisy was not having it
"So, what did they say", Daisy said with so much anticipation in her eyes
Cullen took in a deep breath and said "They thought your presentation was brilliant."
"So I got the account" Daisy cut in saying, with a smile forming a wave on her face
"Will you let me finish?" Cullen said
"Alright, Go ahead," said Daisy, already smiling from ear to ear
"They loved your presentation but...they just did not think it was a right fit for their campaign.  I am so sorry Daisy. I know that you wanted this" Cullen said while staring at her with so much sympathy
Daisy was too dumbfounded to even speak
"I know you really wanted this but you know how this thing works, you win some, you lose some. So why don't you take the rest of the day off, you know to gather yourself", he said
Daisy got up without saying a word and left Cullen's office. Everyone at the office gathered around her, wanting to know the outcome of the presentation. She just ignored them and walked to her office. Daisy was too disappointed in herself to even speak. She felt like her soul just left her body and her living corpse was what others could see.
Was she being too hard on herself?
Hell yeah!
But how does one feel when they have worked so hard for a particular thing and still did not get it?
She headed straight for home.
The remaining hours of the day went by in a blur as Daisy lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling and replaying the earlier events of the day in her head. In one hand, was her last sense of pride and in the other hand, was a glass of champagne. She had completely downed a whole bottle of champagne.
What else could she do?
Where else could she possibly drown her sorrow?
Who could she share her pain with?
No one
Why?
" I don't have friends, no boyfriend just me," she said out loud as she hiccuped.
Do I call Mum?
Yeah right, Make her worry over you
No, you know that's a terrible idea.
She thought to herself as she put her pillow over her face and screamed into it
"Well since today is already such a terrible day why don't I just make more bad decisions", she said to herself and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. She was already very tipsy.
Anything to forget the earlier events of the day seemed like a good idea.
She got up from the bed and started undressing, stripping down to just her underwear. She walked haphazardly to where her pile of clothes were and ransacked it, throwing clothes everywhere.
"Yes this is the one", she said as she smiled mischievously to herself. She headed to the bathroom to freshen up, got dressed, did her hair and makeup and ordered an Uber.

                   *               *                  *

Standing outside the club, there was an exhilarating feeling that coursed through her vein.
There was something about making wrong decisions that felt so right and tonight she was going to be making a ton of those.
The loud music blasting from inside began to warm up her blood or was it all the booze she had been drinking at home. She really couldn't tell but she wanted to forget that today even existed in history.
She began walking into the club like a girl on a mission and she wasn't leaving there until she achieved it.
She was going to make sure that she forgets that this day ever existed in the sands of time.
After a few shots of tequila, she was ready to dance the night away and every other thing that made today a nightmare. She moved to the dance floor and started swaying her hips from side to side in response to the music.
The music washed over her like hot water after a long day at work. It worked wonders on her once tensed body. She was now free from the shackles of work, enjoying herself.
At least that was what she thought.
It was all fun until she felt something hard press against her. She moved a bit further and a few minutes later she felt it again. She had had enough of this disgusting fella and was done with his antics. She was about to leave the dance floor when she felt a hand pull her to himself and the other hand was placed on her buttocks. She struggled to free herself but his grip was just too strong. She could smell the strong stench of alcohol coming from the man.
He was drunk.
So much for bad decisions
"What am I going to do now?" Daisy thought to herself as she began to panic.

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