The Darkest Days

78. Hired

Cedric answered a phone call. 

"Hello? 

Are you sure?

Well, that's exactly the opposite of what I wanted. Sonia failed at her task, fire her. Also, make sure that word gets around. I want this failure to affect her career.

No, stop everything. It's too late. We can try to pull out the articles. Threaten all the publications that Linhardt group will not invest.

Yes, I'll talk to my father about it. He'll have to take over from here."

Suddenly, his face darkened. "Dad might not take the news well. He'll get mad at me."

*****

Audrey was warming up for a dance practice session when Lydia arrived. 

"Hey, good morning." Audrey greeted while stretching her leg over a rod.

"I think I'll pull a muscle. Should I call a doctor beforehand?"

Audrey chuckled. "You'll be fine. First days are kept low."

"Hope so."

"Just be glad you're finally starting what you've been postponing for two years."

"I think this is why you came into my life. I legit wouldn't have joined had you not practically dragged my a** here."

"You're welcome."

The teacher walked in with a douffle bad on her shoulder. "Hello. You're the new student?"

"Yes. Lydia Marano." They shook hands.

"So have you ever had any sort of training in dance before?"

"Do nightclubs count?" Lydia looked at Audrey, who amusingly shook her head.

"Then I'm afraid not."

"Alright." The coach nodded. "Let's start with simple routines today."

After an hour and a half, they were let off. Lydia complained about her shoulder pain and Audrey soothened it with a gentle massage.

"You're good at this." Lydia muttered with her eyes half closed. "Change your career."

"I learned massage points by a coworker of mine. Her name was Harvey, she taught me a lot the stuff I know."

"Thank you, Harvey. Hope you're doing good."

"I hope." Audrey added with a smile.

"So, how was your date with Ethan yesterday?"

"Yesterday was a long day. I met up with Monica, too. By night, I was done with the world but my youngest sister insisted on going out and created a scene at a restaurant. It was just.. a long day."

"You should spend time with your family."

"It's not like I don't want to. But morning was booked for the Ethan thing. For lunch time, Monica contacted me. Do you think I can turn someone like her down? I have to maintain relations, it's a weird, secondary, but important aspect of my job."

"I understand. Even I have to go out a lot sometimes. Even if I don't feel like it. And you can't say no to 'important' people."

"Exactly my point!" Audrey snapped her fingers. "And after all this, I talked with Liam and though it started good, somewhere in the middle, insteead of getting back to normal, it deepened the cause of our troubles. And we knew this is not what we want, yet both of us kept going."

"He must've seen the pictures."

"He did but then.. ugh, he knows it's not real.." she trailed off with a sigh.