I Became A CEO After Divorce

“Please,” Eloise pleaded, looking into the owner’s eyes with desperation. “I make a really good waitress.”

“And yet you still aren’t a high school graduate,” the owner, a middle-aged woman with humongous pearls, grimaced at her. “We don’t accept the likes of you in here.”

Eloise pursed her lips together and crumpled the resume in her hand. “And that’s why your business is failing,” she bit back, causing the owner’s face to become red.

“What did you just say?” she exclaimed in anger. It was almost laughable how she looked so much like Barney the dinosaur—that is, if Barney was red. But she didn’t have any time to laugh since she had to run out before the owner caused a scene.

“Come back here, you little shit!” the owner yelled, but Eloise had already made her way out of the small restaurant.

She looked down to the ground and kicked an innocent little stone on the corner of the road.

“What a shitty life,” she muttered under her breath whilst taking out a piece of paper from her pocket.

“There goes my last stop,” she said, crossing out the name of the restaurant that was supposedly hiring for a new waitress. She wasn’t aware that you had to at least be a high school graduate to be qualified as one of their workers.

At this point, she had already wanted to give up. She was already working two jobs, for god’s sake! She worked in a convenience store at dawn and as an assistant florist during the morning. She wanted to try her luck to get an evening job at the restaurant, but luck wasn’t on her side.

Eloise looked down to her phone and smiled when she saw the bright smile of her brother on her wallpaper. He was the very reason why she’s working so many jobs right now. After being diagnosed with Leukemia just a month ago, he has to undergo treatment as soon as possible. But with the money she currently has, she knew that she had to take up more jobs to pay for his treatment.

She couldn’t give up, so she started walking once more, hoping to find a “hiring” sign from the restaurants in the area.

She smiled in delight when she finally saw a “hiring” sign after hours of walking. However, she quickly stopped when her phone suddenly rang.

She answered the phone with a slight frown.

“Mom?”

“Eloise,” her mom said in a worried tone.

“What’s wrong?” she immediately asked.

“I don’t know what to do, Eloise. He just suddenly collapsed and—”

“Calm down, mom,” she said, although she was feeling more frantic than ever. “Tell me what happened.”

“It’s Cameron,” her mom finally said. “He’s in the hospital right now.”

“Shit,” she cursed under her breath.

“I’m on my way.”

***

“Babe,” Vaughn greeted through the phone. “Aren’t you going to come home today?” he asked.

“You know that I have a shoot today, baby,” Alina said in a sweet voice, instantly making Vaughn smile. “I’ll go home tomorrow.”

He cleared his throat as he remembered the conversation he had with his parents just moments ago.

“Break up with that woman and start a family of your own already, Vaughn. You’re not getting any younger, and I’m sure you already want to inherit our family business,” that is what his mother had told him.

“Have you thought about what I had asked you yesterday?” he opened up.

Alina sighed. “I—I can’t, Vaughn,” she said. “I don’t want to carry your child yet. My career as a model is only starting out. I can’t ruin my body for a baby.”

He pursed his lips together but hummed in response. It was understandable. His 24-year-old girlfriend is only a rookie in the model industry, while he was already a 28-year-old with an established name as a conglomerate.

“Okay,” he said. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then?”

“See you tomorrow, baby,” Alina said, reverting back to her flirty self. “I can’t wait to see you and probably…have some fun.”

He smirked and shook his head. He already knew what Alina’s definition of “fun” would be.

“Can’t wait,” he said before finally turning off the phone. However, even after their sweet conversation, he couldn’t get his mother’s words out of his mind.

With that, he called one of his closest friends, Xavi.

“Let’s drink,” he said without any introductions.

“What?” Xavi asked, obviously woken up from his sleep. “I was already sleeping, you little shit.”

He scoffed as he got the keys to his brand new Harley Davidson. “Call the others and meet me at the Royals.”

“Whatever, man,” Xavi said with a yawn. “I’m going back to sleep.”

“I’ll be paying,” he said as he started his motorbike.

“Well, why didn’t you say so?” Xavi exclaimed, his mood taking a turn. “We’ll be on our own way.”

Vaughn smirked as he revved up his engine. “That’s what I thought.”

He arrived at the Royals and was surprised to see that all of his friends were already there.

“What’s up, man?” Xavi greeted. “We already ordered some drinks.”

He took a cup and filled it with hard liquor, downing the liquid straight to his throat.

“Woah, slow down,” Dylan, one of his friends, said. “Why did you call all of us out to drink?”

“Same old,” Vaughn said, taking another drink.

Xavi chuckled and shook his head. “Don’t tell me—is this about starting a family again? Your parents are still on that?”

“Yes,” Vaughn said. “And I think they're serious this time. They don’t want to give me the company until I have a family of my own.”

“What?” Red exclaimed. “That’s bullshit, man! You’ve been working at your company since we graduated.”

He nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t even know.”

“Well, have you brought up the topic with Alina?” Xavi asked. “You’ve been together for two years now.”

“That’s another problem,” Vaughn said. “Alina’s not open to having a family yet. She wants to focus on her career now that bigger brands are recognizing her. And I don’t think my parents would approve of her, too. They’ve never really liked her.”

Dylan clicked his tongue. “Well, you’re right about that. Your mother practically doesn’t speak whenever she’s around.”