The Start

"This is my phone," the driver says, once he leaves my old suitcases inside this house that is worth more than me. Then he extends a card, "I’m at your complete disposal from seven in the morning to ten at night, unless it’s a special occasion. That's the boss's orders. I'll be here tomorrow morning at seven to take you to the office."

I stare at the card for a few seconds and then at the driver's face. Samuel Michaels.

My poor person's instinct is to tell him I don't need his services and I can find a way to get around on my own, but I have to remind myself that I'm starting a new life of luxury and comfort. So, I just smile at him and nod.

"Thank you, Samuel," I say and grab the keys he gives me before leaving. And when I turn to inspect the house, my head presents me with a series of images that I struggle to ignore, but cannot.

I will live here for a long time next to a tall woman with long black hair and shiny brown skin.

I squeeze my eyes shut and let out a cry of desperation, trying my best to miss her face. I raise a hand to smack my head and distract myself. Luckily, that helps.

I really don't need to see her face and fall in love with her only to be disgusted by her and come to hate her before I even meet her. It already happened with Julie, I don’t want to go through it again.

"Fuck, who cares," I complain aloud, letting out a laugh of surrender. Maybe I can still ignore her, but at some point I'm going to see her face and I'm going to see our kids.

I'm going to see our first dates, our first kiss and how we start to love each other... but I'm also going to see all the fights we're going to have and I'm going to see myself stop loving her as the years go by.

And all that before I even have a chance to meet her in person.

I've been through all that once, I don't see why it has to be any different now, but I want at least a little bit of adventure and surprise in my life, so I focus on getting to know this huge house. And then on making a big dinner just for me with the extravagant food they left on my new smart fridge that I don't even know how to use.

I know inside me that I'm just a lying parasite who doesn't deserve any of this, but I'll make the most of it anyway.

The master bedroom is amazing, it has a bed so big I didn't even know beds that size existed and a window that spans an entire wall with thick blue curtains that move with the help of a remote control.

I unpack my clothes to arrange them in the closet and laugh when my rags only cover a small corner of the place.

I take my special pill to calm the tumult of my thoughts and then I head to my new bed. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I fall unconscious like a cow, sedated for the night.

But I dream of my new girl, Genova.

I can't escape her face in my dreams or her voice. She's sweet and a little shy at first, but the way she makes me feel is incomparable to any relationship I've ever had before. She gets me, she understands me better than anyone ever has.

I dream of the life Genova and I will have together inside this house, including a little dog that runs all over the house. It's such a different relationship than the one that appeared in my future before that I can't help but wake up in a good mood, even before my alarm wakes me up.

I jump out of bed with more excitement than I've ever felt in my entire life and in just seven minutes, I'm showered and dressed, ready to go and start the first day of my new life.

Samuel is already waiting for me when I leave the house, leaning against the black Mercedes he drives.

"Good morning, Mister Claude," he greets when he sees me, moving to open the door for me.

"Good morning, Samuel. You can just call me Beau," I say and he nods before getting into the car as well. For 30 minutes of driving through the city I make conversation with Samuel, asking him hundreds of questions about what awaits me until we arrive at the Lambert building, the biggest one on this whole street, "Are you coming with me?"

"No, there's someone waiting for you at the front desk," he answers and gives me an encouraging smile, "I'll be here to take you home at five in the afternoon, but you can text me if you need more or less time."

"Okay," I take a deep breath and open the door, "Go do something wild and fun while you wait."

"I always do," he replies in his formal voice, making me laugh and relax just a little.

Surprisingly, I walk into the intimidating building and through the glass doors without my shaky legs collapsing. The guards look me up and down and I gulp, waiting for the moment when they recognize that I don't belong here, but they let me in without a problem.

There's not much to see on this first floor, just a very wide white reception area with the company logo, fancy couches and lounge areas as the waiting room and the employee corridors, for which you need special access.

I approach the guy sitting at the reception desk and clear my throat.

"Good morning, I’m Bernabeu Claude," I introduce myself, muttering my full name because I hate it, "I have a meeting with Charlie Lambert, I was told there would be someone waiting here for me."

"Mister Claude, good morning. Give me a moment," he says with wide eyes, as if he knows exactly who I am. He touches a button on his earpiece, "Samantha, I need you at the front desk right away. Bernabeu Claude is here."

A few seconds later, a short girl arrives from the stairs, breathing like she has run down fifty flights of stairs. She puts her wrist where I thought a card would go and arrives in a mess of afro hair, flying all over the place.

Samantha. Sammy. Sam.

She takes a second to tie all that hair back with a rubber band and then approaches with a smile that pretends to be formal, as if I hadn't witnessed all that.

"Welcome to Chicago, Mister Claude. My name is Samantha Mason, I'm an administrative assistant to Charlie Lambert," she introduces herself, shaking my hand vigorously before turning to the receptionist, "Victor, give him a temporary pass."

"Temporary? Am I not worthy of a chip?" I ask, trying to be funny, but Samantha gets flustered, as if she thinks she really offended me by offering me a temporary pass, "It was a joke."

A bad one, apparently.

"Oh," she releases the air, forcing a small laugh, "If you decide to take it, the chip is applied on the fifth floor. There are employees who aren't comfortable with that, so we offer it after a few days."

"Okay..." I agree and follow her as she walks inside again, "See you, Victor."

"See you later, Mister Claude," he replies and hands me a card with which I can access the rest of the building next to Samantha.

My very good friend, Sam. A sister, almost.

I only had to see her face to have it clear as day, this girl will be in my life for a long time and our friendship doesn't seem to have an expiration date, which immediately makes me feel warm inside, but I can feel her nervousness as if it were my own.

"You can call me Beau," I say as we step into an elevator, to make her feel more comfortable. Samantha blinks many times as if she wasn't expecting to hear my voice, but nods, "Can I call you Sam?"

"Yes, of course... You don't like Bernabeu?"

"No. I like to pretend my full name is Beautiful," I joke, making her actually smile for the first time, but she immediately swallows and looks nervous again, unsure. I'm much taller than her, but I try to lower myself a little until I'm closer to her face, "I'm just your new coworker, there's no reason to treat me any different."

"Charlie Lambert wants to meet you in person, he's in awe of you. I think that makes you a little different from the rest of us," she admits and my heart stops just a little at the importance of those words.

She is right. From now on, I will be someone different from the rest.

We reach the 27th floor at that moment and I find myself outside the most important place in the building, where a brilliant billionaire man I stole an idea from is waiting for me.

I have to remind myself once again that he doesn't know I stole it from him and he may not even have thought about it yet.

I walk beside Samantha, past a large desk that I imagine is hers, until we reach Charlie's glass door where his name is etched, above the most important title of all: CEO.