The smell of pancakes permeated the penthouse kitchen as I flipped one fluffy cake after another while humming a tune stuck in my head. Despite waking up to the arrival of my monthly nemesis, I was in a surprisingly good mood.

When I checked the drawer to retrieve the box of tampons I had stashed there, I found another box of the same brand stocked. And now I couldn't wipe the smile off my face. I found the gesture really sweet considering I had pushed Atlas away so many times.

My happiness led to a surge in the need to do something for him in return. That's why the sudden plan of making pancakes for breakfast. Whenever Atlas woke up before me he always prepared breakfast for us so it was only fair that I did the same. I was no cook but I prided myself on my ability to make pancakes from scratch.

Thankfully, Atlas kept a fully stocked pantry and I didn't have to search long to get all the ingredients. Popping a strawberry in my mouth, I put another pancake on the growing stack beside me and turned off the stove.

Just as I turned around to grab the plates from the island, I heard the elevator in the foyer ding. I froze at the sound, heading whipping in its direction.

Was that room service? Did Atlas wake up and order something? I glanced in the direction of the bedroom but there was no movement there. If Atlas had woken up he would have come to find me first.

Maybe it was the cleaning staff. But they didn't usually come when we were here.

The sound of heels clicking against the floor followed as the doors shut close. That definitely wasn't the cleaning staff. My heart thumped in sync with every click of the heels. I was about to make a run for the bedroom to wake Atlas up when a blonde woman walked inside the living room.

She halted when she noticed me behind the kitchen island, tilting her head to the side as her blue eyes scrutinized me. Her tall stature and the perfectly curated look were intimidating enough but it was her aura that made me want to cower. She had a presence that screamed power. Something I severely lacked.

"Who could you be?" she asked, her voice sweet but sharp.

I opened my mouth and realized too late that I still had a half-eaten strawberry in my mouth. It tumbled down the marble counter, leaving splashes of red in its wake.

Embarrassment tinted my cheeks as I shut my eyes, cursing myself. Great!

My first instinct was to apologize for my existence but then I realized that she was the stranger here. A stranger who had somehow entered Atlas' high-security penthouse.

So I squared my shoulders and lifted my chin, trying to emulate her. "Evelyn. And you are?"

The woman's eyes lit up with amusement while her red-painted lips tilted up into a smile. "Ah, that Evelyn. I finally get to see you. I'm Iris. Atlas' cousin."

My brain stopped working after hearing her name. She was the sister Atlas always talked about.

Of course, she could enter the penthouse whenever she wanted. It was a miracle she hadn't called security when she saw me standing in their kitchen stuffing my face with strawberries. And then dropping the same on the counter like an animal.

"Oh. Hi," I said, mustering what remaining dignity I had left. "I-I should call Atlas. He's uh...he's sleeping."

I had already rounded the kitchen counter and took a step in the direction of the bedroom when she stopped me.

"No, that's okay. I can—" she paused, her gaze dropping to my body before a smirk formed on her lips. "I guess I have interrupted something. My bad."

She didn't sound apologetic at all. My brows furrowed as I followed her gaze and for the second time, I had the urge to fade into thin air.

I was in Atlas' T-shirt. It was too big for me and fell to my knees, making it look like it was the only thing I had on. Fuck!

"It's...it's not what it looks like," I rushed to explain, taking an involuntary step back. "I'm not—"

I'm not what? I'm not completely naked under your brother's t-shirt and I'm wearing my own pajama shorts but I did sleep with him? Even an idiot could tell there was no point in explaining. But I wouldn't be me if I didn't put my foot in my mouth.

The smirk on her face only widened the more I talked. And as my luck would have it, Atlas chose that moment to saunter out of the bedroom and hug me from behind. He buried his face in my neck and inhaled deeply. "Good morning," he said, his voice thick from sleep. "What did you make? Smells good in here."

If I was embarrassed before now I just wanted to die. I scrunched my eyes shut, accepting my fate. This was it. There was no point in trying to save face.

Iris laughed aloud, startling Atlas who immediately let go of me. When I opened my eyes, Iris was still grinning while Atlas scowled at her.

"What the fuck, Iris? What are you doing here?" Atlas asked with his hands on his hips. While I understood his annoyance, him standing bare-chested with only his black shorts on wasn't helping the case.

And to my absolute mortification, the marks I had so proudly made on his neck and chest last night were fully visible. With a shriek, I came to stand in front of him, trying to hide his giant form with my body.

Atlas tried to step in front of me but I pushed him back again. "You need to put a shirt on! Now!" I said.

To that Iris chuckled and waved me off. "Relax. I have seen worse." She then looked past me to meet Atlas' gaze. "Remember that girl from your high school? What's her name?" she asked, snapping her fingers as she tried to remember.

"Vicky, Daisy, something. That was some wild shit!" she exclaimed before focusing back on me. "You won't believe the scene I witnessed. It was—"

"It was nothing! And you are leaving!" Atlas yelled, drowning her voice. "Why are you even here?"

"What do you mean why?" Iris asked as she made her way to sit on the couch. Propping one leg over the other, she placed her hands in her lap. The epitome of grace and elegance. Complete opposite of me. "I told you we would talk later. So I came to talk."

"I just"—her gaze flicked to me—"wasn't expecting you to have company."

"But..." she said, elongating each syllable. "I'm happy I came now. Otherwise, I wouldn't have ever gotten to meet Evelyn."

Atlas pinched the bridge of his nose, heaving a deep sigh. "Well, I guess there's nothing that can be done now," he mumbled more to himself than to us. "In a way it's good you are here."

He then turned to me. "You can tell Iris about the volunteering thing. She can get you in touch with the people immediately. She knows them even better than me."

I widened my eyes at him. Surely he could understand that I could not have this conversation with Iris when I gave her the worst first impression in history worst first impressions.

"Ooh, what about volunteering? Where?" Iris asked, looking at me expectantly.

I looked back and forth between the two who looked completely unfazed by the situation. Griffins were a weird lot.

***

Standing outside the Dean's office, I took a few deep breaths before knocking on the door. After hearing a faint "Come in", I opened the door with clammy hands and was greeted by the Dean's brilliant smile.

"Oh, Evelyn! What brings you here today?" she asked as she put away the file in front of her. "Please take a seat."

"Good morning. I just wanted to discuss a few things with you about the project," I said, sitting down on the chair across from her. "And hopefully also get your approval for it."

She pushed her gold-framed glasses up and took the papers I had brought along with me. "What's this?" she asked, flipping the first page.

"The hockey team is planning to volunteer at a local NGO for youth. It's called Brighter Tomorrow and it helps kids from underprivileged backgrounds to develop and pursue their interests in arts and sports," I explained, repeating the words Atlas had told me a few days ago.

The Dean hummed as she kept reading, indicating that she was listening so I continued. "I talked with Atlas Griffin, the captain of the Eagles. He said that the majority of the guys were ready to volunteer and I thought it would be great for the project if the media team covered it. Lots of content to post. It would be good for the team as well as the university."

She finally looked up at me, her face void of expression. My palms began to sweat under her intense gaze. "You came up with the idea?" she asked.

"No," I said, wiping my hands on my jeans. "I-I had help."

Atlas had told me to lie and say that it was my idea when we were going over this yesterday. He would surely yell at me for saying his name but it'd be the right thing to do. Besides, one quick search would show the organization's connection with the Griffins and it would only raise doubts. It was better to come clean.

"Umm... the organization is founded by Atlas Griffin's family," I said. "That's how I was able to connect with the right people so fast. But if we are going to use the Uni's social media accounts, I'll need your approval and signatures on those documents."

"Why didn't you come to me before going to the organization? Don't you think you should have taken my approval before doing all this?"

"I—" My blood ran cold. She was right. Of course, she was right. This was huge. I should have gone to her first and discussed it with the team before going ahead with it. I was so caught up in getting ahead of Derek that I pushed everything aside. I shouldn't have—

Wait! What if this was a test?

I met the Dean's gaze who was still looking at me with an impassive expression. If she was angry, she'd have immediately rejected the idea and canceled everything. She still could but at least she was giving me a chance.

Straightening my spine, I met her gaze head-on as I began to explain. "The hockey team had already decided to volunteer amongst themselves regardless if we went ahead with the project or not," I said. While I had agreed with Atlas, if the team had rejected it nothing would have happened.

"I happened to meet the right people at the right time. It would have been a lost opportunity if I hadn't spoken when I had the chance." Meeting Iris was more coincidental but it was true that her involvement accelerated things.

I took another deep breath and squared my shoulders, feeling more confident now. "Of course, we wouldn't— more like we couldn't proceed without your approval but that doesn't change the hockey team's plans. I just preemptively did the preparations before coming to you."

"If you don't approve, we will stop immediately. The organization knows as much and has only agreed to the hockey team's involvement so far. But it's for a good cause and I believe covering it will be great for our department as well," I said, finishing off my speech.

The dean stared at me and my heart started to thud in my chest at a dangerous pace. If she stared any longer, I would pass out.

But then she smiled and it felt like the sun had shone on me after days of darkness. "I agree with you on that. Now, tell me where I have to sign," she said, picking up her pen.

I couldn't help the grin on my face as I leaned over the desk to show the space for her signature. We talked some more about the volunteer work and the entire media project as a whole. The Dean seemed happy with how things were going and said as much in her feedback.

"A project and a team are only successful if the leader is a good person. At least that's what I personally believe," the Dean said. "Samantha has been such a great team lead for the past two years, setting the bar higher than it has ever been."

She smiled brightly at me. "I'm happy to see you raising the bar even higher with your work."

"Thank you so much but I feel like you are being too generous with your praises," I said, fiddling with my fingers. "I haven't done anything close to what Samantha has done."

She shook her head. "Never undervalue yourself, Evelyn. After I attended that one meeting I had no doubt that you'll be a great lead."

"That meeting? All my ideas were shot down there though."

"And you still gave the center stage to someone who deserved it at that moment," she said. "I have seen a lot of teams and attended even more meetings. It takes a lot of courage to take a step back and admit when someone else is right. You did a great job there. Even today you didn't try to sell the idea as your own when you could have easily done that."

I felt my cheeks begin to burn and I averted my gaze. "It seemed like the right thing to do."

"It is but not everyone does the right thing. That's what sets you apart. I'm happy that the media team has you to look up to," she said.

"Thank you. It means the world to me," I said honestly.

She smiled and looked at me for a brief second before speaking again. "Say, do you have any internship plans for summer?"

"Internship?" I parrotted, finding myself at a loss of words.

I did have a plan to apply for internships at the start of the year. It was one of my goals for this year. But now with the problem of my dad's debt, I wasn't sure if I'll be able to do an internship.

My current plan for summer was to take on as many part-time jobs as I could and also find some freelance gigs to pay off the debt as fast as I could. With the crazy interest rate my dad had agreed to, I couldn't afford to stay in debt for long.

The dean must have taken my silence as a no because she picked up a printout from the stack on her desk and slid it across to me. "An old colleague and friend of mine has a media agency in London. They are looking for interns and the criteria are very specific," she said.

The printout had the agency's name on top in big bold letters and 'Looking for interns' in the subheading. However, it was the picture of Big Ben on the right-hand side of it that held my attention.

Big Ben. London. United Kingdom. That means going to a whole other country!

"Of course, this is going to be posted on the media department's homepage to give a chance to every student who wishes to apply, but I feel you are best suited for it," she said. "So if you are interested in applying I wouldn't mind putting a good word for you."

I looked up at her with wide eyes. "You would do that?"

She laughed. "Of course. It's a great opportunity and it will benefit you immensely. There's so much to learn. Besides, my friend has asked for my opinion on it and has specially requested to send my best students his way for consideration."

"That's really gracious of you. I just... I don't know what to say."

"That's okay. Think about it and let me know what you decide. Just keep track of the deadlines," she said, smiling. "You can take the printout with you."

I thanked her again before taking the signed documents and the printout from her and exiting her office. In the days leading up to my meeting, I'd replayed all sorts of scenarios in my head at least a hundred times. But none of them were even close to what actually transpired.

The Dean basically confirmed that I will be the new lead for the media team. And she offered to recommend me for an internship in London. London!

It took my brain time to process everything but once it did, I couldn't stop grinning like an idiot. I won. I finally won! Against Derek, against my past, against everything. I got a little misty-eyed as I stared at the printout in my hands. It looked like my ticket to freedom at that moment.

That's when I decided that I would go to London. No matter how hard I'd have to work for it, I would get the debt off my shoulders before summer. I won't let this opportunity go.

With a newfound determination, I marched towards my car while going through the job role, required qualifications, and documents. I needed to go home and make some calls. See if any of my friends' workplaces had a vacancy for the weekends. Maybe I could even check if any of the stores had early morning shifts available. That way I could take full advantage of the weekends.

I was so busy formulating possible plans that I didn't notice the figure leaning against my car.

"You must be so happy with your disgusting self," a male voice said.

My head snapped up and narrowed in on Derek. He was standing in front of my car door with his hands crossed and a menacing look on his face.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

He scoffed and took a step forward. "Oh, don't act all innocent now. Everyone knows what you do. As long as things work in your favor you don't mind stooping to any level, don't you?"

"What are you talking about?"

Derek had this crazed look in his eyes that made alarm bells go off in my head. For the first time since I'd met him, I was actually scared of him. My eyes kept darting around to check if anyone else was there. Anyone that could help if things went south.

Because honestly, I didn't know what he had in his mind. He was blocking the door for the driver's side of the car, forcing me to stay here with him. I didn't like this situation.

Derek took another step forward, making me take a step back. "Aren't you sleeping with Griffin? That's how you got the team to volunteer at their organization, isn't it?" he sneered. "All so you could go and flaunt your accomplishment in front of the Dean and get in her good books."

I looked at him with wide eyes as I took another involuntary step back. My heart raced and sweat formed on my nape. He knew about Atlas and me? How?

"How do you know about the volunteer project? Were you eavesdropping outside the Dean's office?" I asked, trying to sound unfazed by his words when in reality I was rattled to my core.

"I was. But that's nothing compared to what you are doing. Sleeping around to get favors..." He grimaced, shaking his head. "I always knew you were a slut, but I didn't expect you to be a gold digger as well."

My hand raised on its own accord and before I knew it, I had slapped Derek across his face. The sound of my palm meeting his cheek echoed in my ears as his head whipped to the side with the force.

Without a word, I walked past him and got inside my car. My hands were shaking as they clutched the steering wheel, my right hand still stinging from the slap. I turned the key and for once, my car started immediately without any fuss. Pulling out of my spot, I drove off without sparing a second glance behind.

What did he know? What did anybody know to put labels on me?

If anything his words only cemented my resolve to succeed. I was going to London. No matter what.