Emancipation

thirty three

My phone's buzzing noise wakes me up from sleep as I reach out for it and in a sleepy state answer it, "Hello."

"Am I speaking to Ms. Lillian Vince?"

When the other person's professional tone hits me, my eyes shoot open as I sit up in bed, wrapping the sheets around me, "Yes?"

"You have an interview today at ten with Steven Fuller for internship program at Clark Enterprise. You're receiving this call because you did not acknowledge the mail sent to you yesterday." She explains and I slap my forehead for being so careless.

"I'm really sorry for the inconvenience caused. Thank you so much for the call, I will be there on time. Do I need to report early?" I ask, my eyes moving to the empty spot on the bed next to me and then to the clock, seeing that it's eight in the morning.

"Fifteen minutes prior is alright, Ms. Vince. You have to report to the front desk of the tenth floor." She informs and I thank her again before hanging up.

I go to my mails in the phone and immediately respond back to the interview mail. God! I've never been this careless with official things. I'm glad that the name she mentioned is someone James has never introduced me to. All I can hope now is that he doesn't recognise me either, which is really tough but I already applied under my maiden name so that the interview call I receive is not because of the name Clark.

The bedroom door opens and a very sweaty James steps in wearing a white plain t-shirt sticking to his body and running shorts. He looks at me in surprise, "You're up early for someone whose exams ended yesterday."

"And you're not dressed for office yet. Are you showing lethargic work behaviour, Mr. Clark?" I grin and he smirks, coming to stand by the bed as he removes his apple watch, keeping it on my bedside table before putting one knee on the bed and his hand on the headboard to lean forward and kiss me. I return the kiss, slowly making my peace with the fact that I don't mind exchanging a morning peck without brushing my teeth first.

"Someone kept me up all night, I wonder whose fault is that." He grins against my lips and I push him away, making him laugh. "I would ask you to join me in the shower but I'm already running late and I don't think we'll be done in ten minutes."

"James!" I exclaim in disbelief, facepalming and his laugh fills the air as he moves inside the bathroom. I would never get used to the way he teases me about such stuff.

I get up from the bed, sliding into my shorts and tank top from last night before moving out of the bedroom to go in the other room where all my clothes still are. I pull out cream button down and black skirt formals for the day before I go through my files to see that I have all the documents ready for the day.

Something tells me I should mention the interview to James but a huge part of me knows that he wouldn't let me sit for it. He'll just make a call to Hale who'll push my application through. I didn't tell either of them that I've applied through the general process of HR recruitment — Carrack is the only one to whom I mentioned and I don't think he'll ever state it in front of anyone.

"Lillian?" James peaks inside from the bathroom and I step out of the closet to see him. "You've got to stop disappearing in this room, I get a little freaked out when I don't find you in bedroom."

"Where else would I go? We're moving out soon anyway." I remind him and he smiles, nodding.

"Are you going somewhere today?" He asks before turning around and I bite on my lip.

"I might, not sure." I call out.

He doesn't respond to me so I assume he's busy getting ready in the closet. Since bathroom is empty, I take the chance to follow my morning routine and also take a shower. The interview is around ten, so I don't dress in formals because that will also save me a conversation with James.