A to Z by #summerlove54

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Thanks to Milos Kitkovitch for this amazing video of the NYC skyline!!!
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MY CONFESSION:
This is my first time writing. So please bear and be patient with me. Although comments and criticisms are welcome to help me improve. Reads and votes would be a huge encouragement for me and very much appreciated!!!
This story is pure fiction, resulting from an over active romantic imagination. Any similarities to any person, place or anything is just pure coincidence.
Please do not copy or reproduce.

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Chapter I

"This is life!" Zoe smiled as she spoke loudly to herself, pleased and proud of what she has accomplished in life so far. She has achieved what she had been dreaming of by working hard all these years of her life. She looked around her new, well-furnished office with a window view of the East River. At twenty-seven, she was just promoted as the VP of the Investment Division of the well known Alliance International, Inc., a diversified financial institution. She has a very posh apartment in Manhattan, decorated by one of the top interior decorators of the city. To top it all, she is dating Ted Minor, the senior lead attorney of the company's legal department, who is smart, well dressed and very ambitious. It has been  three blissful months since she and Ted  had been dating. Ted is a safe choice, with no surprises, she hopes! He is a stable choice. Stable means a secure career, then he is. He professes his love for, he does not show it openly and not as often as she would like him to. He says that their relationship is not on display for everyone to gawk at and criticize. She is fine with that. Anyway, showing love openly is over rated. She was so focused on her career that Ted is his first "real" boyfriend. Now her life has finally come to fruition. It is just perfect!

Her parents, Drs. Jonas and Beatrice Johnson, have met Ted once. His father was not impressed. He found Ted to be somewhat arrogant, full of himself and narcissistic for his liking. Her mother on the other hand said, "Sweetie, I hope that you are not just settling?" To Zoe, it was food for thought since they don't usually voice their unsolicited opinion on her choices. What were they implying? Did they know something she didn't?

"What do you mean settling?" Zoe asked.

"It's just an observation. We are just saying..." her parents responded. Zoe was wary of those open ended comments, especially coming from her parents who had been always not in any loss for words to say since they were both professors and experienced lecturers.

Zoe Johnson was a straight A student from elementary until she graduated from college with a degree in of Bachelor in Economics and with the honor of summa cum laude. She has has blossomed to become a beautiful, intelligent and very confident that she could overcome whatever problem or task was presented to her. After graduation, armed with a proficient resume, she immediately landed a job at the Alliance International, Inc., but she continued furthering her education until she earned her Master's degree in Business and Finance. As expected, with hard work and excellent business acumen, she easily climbed the ladder of success in no time. With success came maturity and sophistication. Now, Zoe is a perfect picture of a successful smart, beautiful, elegant, sophisticated woman!

Since she graduated from college, she has worked hard to get this point in her life, which meant she had no time for herself, rarely took vacations except for the long weekends she afforded herself to do so and visit her parents just to decompress. Ted went on vacations with his buddies, he called "the boys" since their schedules almost always conflicted. Long extended vacation was one of the sacrifices she offered to the goddess of success. With her new promotion she thought that could afford to relax and go no a well deserved vacation to free herself from the humdrum life she is leading.