A Cup of Fate; Billionaire's Encounter

"You should know better than to look at where you're going, ugh!" Nadia muttered, her voice filled with anger, coffee dripping from her clothes.

She was ready to rant all over the person that collided with her, but as she looked up, her anger turned to shock.

It was Leonardo Montero, the CEO of Blumy Records, the company she had applied to and was scheduled for an interview tomorrow. He was standing in front of her, his black suit stained with coffee.

"Say that again?" Leonardo replied to Nadia's muttered words, his voice soothing yet terrifying. Nadia had heard of how Leonardo was, but finally experienced it herself.

His confidence and authority just by standing alone could melt anyone, his height, his hair, his blue eyes, no wonder he was a playboy, every woman would fall at his feet.

Leonardo went further, "You can't speak?" Nadia's eyes narrowed, her anger rising again, but she clenched her fists to subdue her anger. "I'm sorry, sir... I should have been more careful," she replied.

Leonardo's eyes widened in shock, he clearly was at fault, why did she apologize?, he scorned and walked off. Nadia was ready to put out some harsh words, but retracted them because she knew it might affect her forthcoming interview. She picked her bag and left.

"***"

"Why didn't she react? I clearly was at fault, even though I didn't sound like it," Leonardo wondered, as he sat down, sipping his coffee and finding a solution to the altered contract, the reason he came to the coffee shop to cool off in the first place.

The signing was in a few hours. Suddenly, he got a message from the board that the contract signing had been postponed till tomorrow evening. Leonardo let down a sigh of relief. "At least I have a little bit of time till tomorrow, and by then, I'll have gotten an assistant hopefully."

There were two openings in the company, and Nadia had applied for the second, an auditor.

Relieved, he picked up his phone and made a phone call. "I should call one of my bitches over to cool me down."

He was a rich young handsome and famous single, of course, he had women at his beck and call. Now, his mind was calm, he left for a hotel and then went back to his office.

"***"

Nadia was home, Ella was still in Julia's, Nadia's best friend, and she needed to prepare something for her to eat and take to school, as Ella had school early and she herself had an interview early tomorrow.

Nadia thought to herself, while slicing up vegetables. "That fool, he should thank his stars I'm really in need of a job and I applied at his company. If not, he would've learned manners immediately, speaking to me like that, and he was the one at fault."

Nadia thought, her hands hitting the knife so hard, slicing the vegetables into silly pieces.

"And that stupid Frank, apologize to a child? I should've bent him over my lap. No one talks to my child like that!"

Ella, Nadia's daughter, and Frank, her classmate, had gotten into a fight because Frank insulted her for not having a father, and went further to call her a bastard, and to top it all up, Nadia was asked to apologize to Frank because his mum happened to be a patron of their school, and her donations were important.

Slicing the vegetables so hard, she missed and cut herself. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!!" She let out a scream, and suddenly the outburst of emotion weighed her down. She bent over the kitchen table and began to cry. It was too much for her to bear alone.

She had been struggling to take care of herself and Ella, doing freelance jobs and accumulating whatever she could get. Her father had been helping a little, but remarried after the death of her mom, and so she was barely with him. And even with all of the issues, she still kept her head high throughout, and she was tired.

After some minutes, she got up, treated her cut, and went to wash her face. "You're strong," she said to herself, facing the mirror on the wall.

She continued cooking, and before she was done, Ella had come back with Julia.

"You're good, Dia?" Julia asked Nadia with a sign of concern.

"Sure, love, I am," she replied with a fake smile. Julia stayed for a while, they all laughed at Ella's fight in school, and Julia slept over.

"***"

"Love you, monkey!",Nadia waved at Ella sitting in a taxi with Julia, it was the next day, and she had offered to take Ella to school because of the interview Nadia had.

Nadia rushed to the bus stop and got the next ride to the company.

During the ride, she kept wondering how Leonardo would react when he found out she's the one he had an encounter with. Finally, she got to Morio, where Blumy Records was located. She was 30 minutes early. She finally got to Blumy Records 20 minutes earlier than the actual time.

"Good morning, I'm here for the interview, please," Nadia said to the receptionist.

"Good morning, ma'am. You're quite early," the receptionist replied in a friendly tone.

"Yes, I was so anxious I just couldn't sleep, and so I'm here," Nadia replied with a smile.

The receptionist signaled for her to sit. "Well, luckily for you, the boss couldn't sleep either. He's in the office," the receptionist told Nadia. "Hold on, I'll let him know one of the candidates is here early. Maybe he might just begin the interview now," she added.

Nadia with an appreciative tone replied, "Yes, thank you very much."

The receptionist had gotten to Leonardo's office to inform him.

"If it's not time yet, I see no reason why I should attend to her, serve her something, she will wait and don't disturb me like that anymore," Leonardo replied, his head bent on his desk.

He had stayed up all night because of his contract problems, and so he was grumpy.

The receptionist walked off in silence, and he immediately called her back.

"You know what? Since you just disturbed me, you might as well call the person in. I'll probably dispose of them myself, anyway," Leonardo ordered the receptionist.

"Yes, sir," she replied, walking off. She came back and directed Nadia to Leonardo's office. "This way," she said.

"Thank you," Nadia replied. She got to his office, took a deep breath, and knocked. "Come in," a deep yet soothing voice answered from the other side of the door.

She opened the door and greeted, "Good morning, Mr. Leonardo."

"Yes, good morning..." He raised his head up from the table, and his eyes suddenly widened in shock. He stuttered but then replied, "You?!!"

There was a sudden silence...