After having an ‘alcohol-free’ party with Jake and Noah on Monday, I was glad at least my office was ‘Jake-free.’

That party had almost traumatized me with the pile of lies we had told Jake. From making up excuses as to why Lucy couldn’t come to the party to getting pampered like the goose that laid golden eggs, I wanted to forget that nightmarish day.

And I certainly did when I was flooded with extra work for the rest of the week.

My alarm blared early on Saturday morning. I groaned in my sleep, already on my third round of snoozing, when the reality struck me. Photoshoot. That was today! I snapped my eyes open and looked at the time on the clock.

I heaved a sigh of relief. Just enough time to catch the bus.

Hopping out of the bed, I quickly changed into the outfit I had prepared last night. My phone rang just as I entered one leg into the tight slacks. I cursed under my breath, worried that it was an important work call, and stumbled across the room to pick up my phone.

It was my mother. I groaned aloud and wedged the phone between my ear and shoulder. “Hello? Mom?”

“Good morning!” my mother greeted me in a suspiciously energetic voice.

“Good morning,” I mumbled back, unable to fake my enthusiasm to match hers. I heard a faint thumping noise in the background and frowned. “Is Dad working on something?”

“You can hear that?” There was a shuffling noise. A door shut, and the thumping noise disappeared. “Your father’s repairing the refrigerator. It broke down last night.”

I plopped on the bed, trying to put my other leg in the slacks now. “Water leak?”

“Not sure,” she sighed. “He’s always talking about cars and mechanics and whatnot, but he still can’t fix a refrigerator! It was better with you here.”

I rolled my eyes at her nagging. “He sells cars, Mom. Of course he’ll talk about them.” I switched my phone to another ear. “And why haven’t you bought a new refrigerator already?”

“It just takes a couple of hours to fix.” She tsked. “Why waste money on a new one—”

“It breaks down every month!” I made an exasperated sound. “Why don’t you ever buy anything good? I’ll transfer the money to your account—”

“Oh, I forgot the pan on the stove!” she cut me off. “Wait!”

I made a face at her forceful attempt to change the subject. Mentally making a note to still send her the money, I said, “I have an extra shift at work today. We’re going to the yacht for a photoshoot, so I need to leave early—”

My mother cursed in Hindi, and then suddenly started shouting, “Doesn’t that blood-sucking leech have anything else to do on a weekend?! Why does he keep calling you? Will he only be happy once he sees everyone working for him dead?!”

I was momentarily shocked by her train of expletives. “Mom, calm down.”

“Calm down?!” she shouted. “You got sick last time! That’s why I told you to come back home on weekends! Why do you keep working unnecessarily—"

“Oh, god.” I put the phone on speaker and hurriedly did my makeup. “Will you slow down? I won’t tell you anything if you react like this!”

“But—”

“They’ll pay me overtime, Mom,” I applied the lipstick as I spoke, barely decipherable. “No one’s forcing me to work.”

“I still hate Noah,” she huffed out in anger. “That nefarious little demon.”

Noah’s name out of my mother’s lips sent a jolt of panic through me. I winced at her insult, smearing mascara on my eyelids. I hurriedly tried to wipe it with a finger and said in a panicky voice, “He’s not like you think he is. He’s…nice.”

There was a long beat of silence, and then my mother asked, “Who are you?”

“What?”

“Are you really Isla?” she asked in a dead-serious tone. “Did you bang your head on the wall?”

“No! Why are you so dramatic?” I gave up on removing the mascara and hurried to put on my sneakers. “Can’t I have a nice boss?”

“I have been hearing you curse him out for the past two years, Isla Rose,” my mother said. “And he’s suddenly a nice boss?”

My stomach churned. I already felt queasy from all the lying last weekend. And here it was again. Another lie that I had somehow gotten myself entangled in. My mother had barely warmed up to the idea of me having a boyfriend—though that was also a lie back then. At least she had started liking Noah after they met, but I had introduced him to her as Nolan.

Now what? I couldn’t dig myself deeper and go on with my day.

“Isla? Are you going to confess or not?”

“Fine!” I hated how she knew when I was hiding something. “Promise me you won’t be angry.”

“I promise.”

I swallowed the nervous lump in my throat and said in a single breath, “The man you met last time isn’t Nolan. I mean, his name isn’t Nolan. It’s Noah. And he is my CEO. Yes, I’m dating my CEO.”

There was a pause—my mother probably was digesting my half-rap performance. And then shouted in a thunderous voice, “Isla Rose, are you freaking kidding me—”

“You told me you wouldn’t get angry!” I cried out. “I need to leave now. Bye!”

I heard her say some more choice words, but I quickly cut the call. I looked at my red face in the mirror and sighed. What else could I have expected from her? When did she not get angry at my choices?

My heart was still thumping wildly from that call when I reached the office. The chartered bus was parked below the building, and I saw the employees gathered around in the lobby, ready to depart for the sea. I heaved a sigh. Made it in time. Sitting in a corner to wind down, I took out my phone to check for any messages.

Reached office? Noah had texted some time ago.

I quickly replied. Yes. Skipped breakfast because I was running late :(

There was no reply from him. I shrugged and pocketed my phone. Noah, Rachel, and the models were supposed to arrive directly at the venue. He must be driving right now.

“Isla!” Sarah called out from the other end of the lobby. “You’re here! Take your name tag.”

“Thanks.” I took the tag and hung it around my neck. “Are we leaving soon?”

“In half an hour. As soon as the props are loaded in the trunk.”

“Oh, okay.”

I looked around the lobby. Everyone was busy doing something or the other. Sarah hadn’t assigned me any task yet, so I just walked over to help others load the props as well. Thirty minutes passed by quickly, and I hurried back from the bathroom, the last person to board the bus.

“Everyone’s present,” Sarah ended the headcount as I entered the bus. “Ready to depart!”

There were only two empty seats in the very front. I took the window seat as the driver started the bus. I leaned my head against the window and looked outside. Barely a minute had passed—when the bus halted again.

I turned around to see what happened, but everyone was as confused as me. Just then, the bus door slid open. A familiar silhouette walked up the short flight of stairs. I sucked in a quick breath. Noah stepped onto the bus, his hands full of packages, and said with a charming smile, “I got breakfast for everyone.”