Violetta's POV

Today's the day. The day things are going to change. I did my usual morning routine and while at it, I took the time to explain to my children how things would work for the second time.

I explained how the driver would pick them up and take them to the new apartment, not forgetting to give them the code to ask him before getting in the car. I also advised them to make sure to be kind and polite to anyone they met while there.

We were devouring breakfast when Nickolas spoke up. "Is Paul coming with us?" he asked. "Well, Paul isn't here now. Don't worry, he'll visit often. Nothing much will change ok, just a better house with better food and toys. I promise," I said assuring them things would be fine. We rounded up our meals and waited for Anna to come, except for me. I wasn't ready yet because I preferred to eat before dressing up and putting on makeup.

I got to my room and put on the outfit Anna put together for me out of the clothes we had bought. I put on the grey turtle neck blouse and cream pants, along with a bright-colored short heel. The outfit was complimented by a silver ring and a brown bag. I took a moment to admire my cramped room for a moment, remembering this is where most of my adult life was spent.

I made my makeup simple, putting on some blush on my smooth cheek, tinted lipgloss on my already pink lips, and mascara on my long eyelashes. I then wet and brushed out my fluffy hair, leaving it down and holding it back with a hair clip on a side, letting all the curls glisten with water on them.

Before I had finished up, a knock was heard on my apartment door. I quickly put on my jewelry and rushed my kids over to the entrance which I opened. A big man was standing at attention with his hands behind his back, dressed in a black suit. We greeted one another and then he led me to the Toyota he came with. We all got in, and he drove us to my children's school.

"Hey guys, remember to say goodbye to all your friends. You'll be going to a new school tomorrow." I said with a comforting smile. "I love you all so much" I uttered, kissing them all on their cheeks and sending them off to their last day in their current school.

"We're heading over to the office now" he started, driving off. "My name is Heli and Mrs. Anna has assigned me to your children's care and safety. I'll be picking them up from school as well as dropping them off too. She has told me the new school they'll be attending," he spoke.

"Oh, and I'm not only available for school. I can also drop them off wherever they would like to be, with your permission of course. The estate you'll be living in has many areas for activities like swimming pools, arcades, daycares, malls, and even tutoring institutions so there are many places they could go to as well as many children they could make friends with. I start work by 7 am and end by 7 pm. If you ever need me to take you somewhere, please feel free to ask. I'm at your service" he spoke professionally, explaining everything.

Heli looked like your basic bodyguard with black brown hair and brown eyes to match. I think I'm wrong for finding him attractive. We talked a bit more and it turns out he's 29, married to his pregnant wife, and has been working at the company for about 3 years now.

We soon arrived at the large building, greeted by many people in all kinds of outfits scattered across the large land. He accompanied me off to the 30th floor and led me to my new boss's office before he then left. I knocked on the door and arranged myself while waiting for a reply.

I was soon answered by Anna at the door. "Good morning," I greeted receiving a good morning from her too. I walked into the office to find the same man from before in a tight black shirt with his head pressed into the documents on the table. He had square glasses on and I'd be lying if I said I didn't get lost in his appearance for a second.

"Violetta, as you know, this is Mike Mariano, my dear brother, and your new boss. Today you won't get straight to work, instead, we'll be working on your social media management and bookkeeping skills as well as your ability to work under pressure, listening skills, and how well you understand and deliver" she explained. "Is that understood?"

I nodded quickly, trying to look ready even though I was jumping inside.

"So what will we start with today?" she implored. I stood there for a second before realizing it wasn't a rhetorical question. "W- well you said we would work on my social media management and,"

"So you do listen huh," she creaked, cutting me off. "With that confirmed, let's begin," she recited, strolling out of the man's office with me behind her. "For the first three hours of your day, you'll be taking a social media management course. Mike has accounts on Instagram, and Twitter for some reason. I forced him to get one on TikTok and the rest on all other platforms are for his brands and businesses. All these accounts will be managed by you and I hope you won't disappoint" she clarified. "I won't" I reassured her.

We walked into a room down the hall to reveal a black long curved table with multiple lack chairs surrounding it as well as a smart board plastered on the wall, complemented by the concrete peach-themed walls. "This is Damian, your teacher for today," she said pointing at a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Hello, I'm Damian," he announced setting out his hands, and gesturing for me to shake them, which I did. "I'll be teaching you everything you need to know about social media and bookkeeping. The rest is on her." he recited again, sending Anna a half-hearted smile. "Well then I'll leave you to it," said Anna, and right before she exited the fancy office, she turned to me and said, "You're rocking that outfit, and I love your hair".

I didn't stop blushing for the first thirty minutes of the lesson. Pretty embarrassing. I'm sure Damian thinks I'm into girls now. The three hours had passed and I learned a lot of things about social media like good times to post, analytics, target audience, and much more. Damian and I spoke for a while more about life and I informed him I had three kids leaving him shocked.

Damian didn't tell me his age but he is married with two children which means he should be in his early thirties. Anna soon barged into the office with the same smile on her face making her flea-blue gown swing and her blonde long hair move a few strands over to her shoulder.

I said my goodbyes to Damian and followed her out of the room. "You seem to get along well with people. That's good" she praised. "Oh, thank you" I acknowledged.

"Tomorrow, Damian will round up the social media class but for now, we'll test out your bookkeeping skills," she ambled promptly, making her light blue heels clink on the glass-like floor. We got in the elevator with other people and eventually stopped at the fourteenth floor where I was informed it was the finance branch.

We got off and a massive brown-themed room, with a sitting area distributed, black divans, and a receptionist's encasement was revealed. We walked down the room, Annas' heels still rattling on the brown footing. She led me to a large double oak door to reveal a similar room to the one upstairs.

The room was fancy-looking with the same black table and chairs. It had a bigger smartboard than the one upstairs and was larger in space. This room was filled with many people in different clothing and attire, all focused on their work, although, when I walked in, all the ladies and gentlemen eyes shot directly toward me.

I spotted a few glances and stares from women and men. Some were kind and admiring while others were with hate and judgment.

My heart rate sped up and my breathing quickened as their eyes pierced into my skin. I hated the attention and couldn't help but think they noticed all my flaws.

Anna then spoke up, "This Is Violetta Rossi, Mr. Mariano's new assistant. Please treat her well as she'll be here for a while." Anna announced, leading me to an empty chair at the side of the room.

I sat down and was handed a few documents by a woman with short, straight brown hair and a mannered smile. "These are the expenses," she said, directing her comment to Anna. "Thank you, Ari," she said politely.

"Violetta, all you need to do is sort out these expenses into the cash book and ledger. It's okay if you don't know how to do it well or if you make mistakes, there's a class with Damian tomorrow to take you through it. But for now, do what you can. I'll be here in an hour to see where you've stopped." she explained, leaving me in the room with weird eyes still concentrated on me.

It was hard to begin, considering I couldn't stop shaking my life away for the first ten minutes. Eventually, got to work, sorting out the expenses into the cash book when I heard a blonde girl with bands whisper "I'm sure she doesn't even know what she's doing, she's just one of those prostitutes he likes" She gossiped amongst her friends giggling quietly. I tried my best to ignore it and blinked back my tears, acting like I didn't hear.

I put everything necessary into the cash book and began to work on the ledger.

About an hour passed by and I had finished the task given to me. A brunette tall man came over to check what I had done and it showed in his eyes that he was Impressed. He gave me a pat saying a good job right before Anna walked in.

"How has it been?" she asked. "Great!" I replied, hoping my voice didn't crack to reveal my closeness to tears. "Usually, when these finances are done, it's dropped off at Mike's office for him to check but from now on, it will be dropped off at your office for you to check."

I have an office. I hope she isn't playing with me, I thought as I walked out of the room with the ledger and cash book in my hands. I guessed the expenses were just like tests for me. I didn't know they were all real expenses of the company.

"Go over to Mike's office and drop it off, then you can have your thirty-minute break. I'm heading out for a while but I should hopefully be back by the time your break is over. The cafeteria is on the tenth floor. If you're done eating before I'm back, please wait at the reception hall on the sixteenth floor. See you later!" she said walking away from me to the other end of the brown-themed enormous room.

I walked over to the elevator, with the documents in hand, and clicked on one of the three elevators available waiting for it to get to my floor. I got in when it arrived and pressed the sixteenth-floor button then waited to be carried up, gazing at the view outside through the transparent encasement.

The elevator arrived at my destination soon after and I walked out heading to the oak door which I knocked on. "Come in", the deep voice of the man on the other side said. I opened the door and waddled in quietly. "Anna told me to drop off these documents with you," I clarified. "Are those the ones you did?" he implored.

"Yes, they are,"

"Drop it and get me some coffee," he spoke, commanding me. Is this guy daft? There's something called manners. I thought I was meant to be on my break anyway. I obediently dropped the documents on his wooden table and asked "Milk and sugar?" desperately trying to keep my cool. "No milk, two cubes of sugar," he responded without squandering time. "And don't forget my order. Get it every morning by 9:20 am. I hate late people just so you know" he said rudely, freeing the documents I had dropped.

Son of a bitch. Idiotic foolish bastard baboon.

I shot glares at him with my eyes and walked out of the room, angry from his rude manner of speaking. I couldn't help but remember my father's words to me. Before making my way to do as he asked, I branched at the nearest restroom and sobbed quietly.

Where do I find coffee now? Remembering Anna said the tenth floor was the cafeteria, I made my way there.

Walking in, I was astounded. The whole floor was the cafeteria right when you walked in. You would probably not be able to find a friend in this massive hall even if you tried your hardest.

There were many people from different departments dressed in all forms of items of clothing. I noticed that people from the finance and law departments were always wearing black and white and those from the administrative department wore suits and office jackets of different colors and designs. It made me question my choice of clothing.

The hall was filled with fancy, good-quality wooden tables accompanied by designed chairs. There was a great section of the hall that was most likely connected to the kitchen where men and women served food to the workers. The floor was a light shade of brown and the walls were even lighter. The whole room melts like pastries and magnificent meals. I walked over to the canteen and asked if I could get a black coffee with two cubes of sugar. The woman politely listened and after less than a minute, she brought the coffee in a paper plastic cup and handed it to me.

"That was extremely fast," I thought to myself walking down the pathway and making sure to look around the room once again. I got back to the sixteenth floor, walked over to the oak door once again, and knocked on it. I was immediately let in and I thereafter delivered the hot coffee to the man.

He looked up at me and we locked eyes for a quick second and I was so sure I had seen the man somewhere before. "You worked at that bar downtown right?" he inquired. "Yeah, it was one of the part-time jobs I had" I admitted. That must be why he looked familiar but I felt like I met him somewhere other than there. I just couldn't place my finger on it.

I went back down to the cafeteria and was attended to by the same elderly woman from earlier. "What would you like dear?" she asked politely. "What do you serve?" I questioned. "We serve everything, just mention what you would like", she spoke assuring me.

I looked around and spotted a woman getting pasta and meatballs and another getting something that looked like lasagna. They were all getting their meals in a blink of an eye and it was served fancily on a metal tray with flowered patterns on it. "Can I get a cheeseburger and fries?" I asked, testing to see if they had everything or just elaborate food.

"Sure, and would you like a drink with that?" She questioned. Wow, they did have that. Maybe I went easy though. "Yes I would, can I get an Oreo milkshake and please could you add a fried chicken breast to my meal?" I asked, testing the woman once again. "Of course," she said going off into the kitchen area.

In less than two minutes my meal was delivered on a tray, neatly served, and in large quantity. The chicken burger was exceptionally big and the fries were inside a round shallow bowl and were filled up to the top. My Oreo milkshake was in a large cup with a straw sticking out from its center and I was also given a moderate cup of ketchup beside my massive chicken breast on the plate. I was truly amazed. Such little time and such a large amount of food.

The hall was really big so it was easy for me to find a spot to sit down which I did. I noticed that immediately after a table cleared out of people, some cleaners came to sweep the floor of that area and wipe the table with a damp napkin which they immediately disposed of. The whole place was spotless but there were many unfinished meals on the table. I understand that because the food was served in large quantities, but I will most definitely finish mine because I love food.

I ate my meal happily, enjoying all the flavors as it melted in my mouth. The chicken skin was crunchy and the inside was succulent, delicate, and soft. The burger meat was similar to the chicken breast and was perfectly seasoned with just the right amount of sauce and cheese. The fries were crispy with not too much or too little salt and the Oreo milkshake was sweet and cold, perfect for a sunny day.

I wiped my plate clean but before I got up to carry the plate a young woman took it from my hands explaining how when people finish eating, we are to leave the plates on the table. I thanked her and left the room with a satisfied stomach and went over to the sixteenth floor for the hundredth time.

The food had cured my sadness from earlier.

I waited patiently for Anna, running my hands through my full hair to calm myself down. The big meal made me sleepy, dragging my eyelids down. I sat up straight trying to keep myself awake but failed, giving into my sleep with the delicious taste of the food I ate still lingering in my mouth.

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Hello everyone. Hope you're all doing well. My new goal is 30,000 reads as I've said before. I decided to not belittle my hard work by keeping it low. Please help me reach my goal and feel free to make comments and vote.

I apologize for not being consistent with uploading and promise to make a better effort.

Q and A
1. What do you think of the office?

2. What's your opinion on the girls in the office and their manner towards Violetta?

3. How do you see Mike?

4. Who's your favorite character so far?

Stay tuned for the next chapter... THE ENVELOPE.