Chapter 8

Ava’s POV

“SUSAAAAAAAN!!!!” I shouted out loud in excitement as I stared at the new email which I had just received.

“Ava, what is it? Why are you shouting?” Susan immediately asked after rushing into my room. I almost laughed at how battle-ready she looked as if she was expecting to come beat up someone for me. She was even holding a knife in one hand.

And yes, sadly after graduation, I had difficulty finding a job.

I even reached a low point in my life, becoming depressed after being rejected many times and my money for rent was running out too. Soon I would have been forced to return back to my childhood neighborhood to move back with my mother. How embarrassing. But I would not allow myself to be a freeloader and live off Susan no matter how much she said she would not mind.

Even while having a degree, job hunting turned out to be a nightmare because of this very hard economy of ours. Many of the entry-level jobs were now demanding years of work experience to even an MBA which I had not yet earned. I had also sent out many CVs with no replies.

And so, seeing this email from a huge international company called Payne Enterprise, saying that they were hiring me as an I.T intern, was a dream come true! They stated that they had found my LinkedIn profile and liked what they saw. If I had known some LinkedIn profile would get me the job, then I would have tried to use it some more. The only reason I even had one was because of some research project that we once did. One which required me to have an account there.

“And guess WHAT? The job is in NEW YORK CITY! They said they will pay for everything, including my flight there and accommodation too.” I added as Susan sat down on the bed and was now reading the email too.

“All this just for an IT Internship? It sounds a bit doggy.” Susan then said to me after reading the email. “You think so?” I added now, no longer looking as excited as before as I noticed the huge paycheck amount included too. It was what a manager and not an intern should earn.

“I am just worried about you, considering how there is now stuff like human trafficking and fake jobs.” I gave her a small thankful smile for being worried about me.

“Then I will not go,” as I said this, I was back to being depressed again. I had bills needing to be paid and was supposed to now be supporting my mother, not the other way around.

“But I could call my brother and ask for you. He has businesses there in New York and knows all about the place.” Susan quickly uttered upon seeing how sad and defeated I had become.

As she said that, some hope quickly arose in me. If this job turned out to be true, then I would be set for life. Having a huge company name like Payne Ltd on my resume, was sure to open many doors for me.

It took only two days for Susan to bring me a reply from her brother. The wait for an answer was excruciating as I hoped that this offer was legit.

And luckily for me, it turned out that it was.

“My brother had a talk with the CEO himself and he confirmed that it was legit,” Susan said to me with an excited smile on her face too.

“I am so happy for you; you totally deserve this.” She then added while hugging me and I happily hugged her back.

“New York CITY! Here I come.” After saying that, I quickly rushed to accept the job offer, called my mother, and started packing.

The next day I boarded my all-paid expensive flight to New York. To make it better, they had booked business instead of economy for me. The flight was short and before I knew it, I had arrived.

A chauffeur was already waiting for me with a nice black looking car.

“Hello, miss, my name is Benjamin, but you can call me Ben. I was sent to meet the company's new intern and drive you to your new home.” the young ginger-haired man said to me in greeting with a cheery smile. Weirdly his voice felt familiar as if I had once heard it somewhere before, but I shook my head at that. After all, Ben lived in New York and I had never been here before.

While I greeted Ben back, he quickly came and helped me carry my bags to the car.

“Free flight ticket, free accommodations to having a chauffeur give me a ride, Payne Enterprise, sure knows how to take care of its Interns,” I then said to him with a smile as we sat in the car and were now driving to my accommodation.

“Uh yeah,” he first answered with some hesitation.

“I think it's only the special lucky ones who get that,” he then added with a playful smile while quickly tuning up the radio to some song, before I could pry some more.

“Are you sure we are at the right place?” I asked Ben as I stared in unbelief at the five-star hotel where his car had stopped at.

“Yep, we are at the right place,” Ben replied while staring in amusement at my reaction. His brown eyes twinkled with mischief too.

“If you say so,” I added, still shocked. I knew to even stay one night in the cheapest room in this place, cost the same amount as my rent for two months.

A valet, a teenage boy, quickly came and helped carry my stuff. Ben then left as he had some meetings to attend to. He told me to go to the reception area, my name would be there.

After entering as we reached the reception area, some snobby mean-looking woman stood there. I could tell she was mean and snobby from the way she was eyeing me and my casual outfit as if I did not belong there.

“What are you looking for here Miss,” she then asked me in a snobby tone. As if I had come there to beg for money or something.

“I have a room booked here for me,” I replied calmly even though I wanted to slap her silly for being so judgy and mean.

“Name,” she then shouted rudely while taking out a book, as if I was just wasting her time.

“Avania Smith.” I relied quickly wanting to get away from her mean energy too.

“I don’t see any Smith here,” she then said rudely again without even looking properly at the book.

I could not help but breathe in deeply to calm my now raging anger. I hated dealing with difficult people like her.

“Check again,” I said calmly, “And waste my time? People like you cannot afford to live in such a prestigious place as this,” she meanly replied. Even if it was true that without Payne Company paying for everything, I would have never stepped foot into such a place like this, it did not mean this lady had the right to be so rude to me.

“Check again,” I finally growled through clenched teeth while giving her the meanest look that I could master. If she gave me another rude demeaning reply, I was ready to beat her to pulp and get kicked out of this place for bad misconduct.

“Okay, okay, let me check again.” She then said like prey upon noticing my rage-filled eyes.

“Ghetto people,” I heard her lowly whisper in mockery.

I then relaxed a bit as I saw her thoroughly look through the book this time.

“It can’t be, someone must have made a mistake.” She then uttered after looking as if she had found my name.

“What? What is wrong again,” I snapped at her, tired of her nonsense. All she had to do was to give me the damn keys to my room so I could get away from her and go rest.

“It says here that your room is The Presidential Suite...” She responded in shock.

“And what is so wrong with that?” I replied unable to see what could be so shocking and was special about that room.

“It costs a million dollars per night. And is our most expensive and VIP suite of the hotel.” She added in simpler words to make me understand.

After hearing her utter those numbers, a shocked sigh quickly escaped my lips.

Who the hell was willing to pay a million dollars just to stay in some bloody room for a single night? And I was supposed to stay for the whole year of my internship. How many millions was that going to be?

“I totally agree with you, someone must have made a mistake.” I finally said now in agreement with the snobby witch. It must have been someone from Payne company who made the mistake when organizing my accommodation. We had to fix this; I did not want to end up responsible for making the company lose millions because of some room.

After hearing my reply, she quickly went to the phone and called her other coworker to help sort the mess. Apparently, he was the one who did the night shift while she did the day shift.

“Brad, why did you put Avania Smith’s name for the Presidential Suite when she looks like she cannot afford it.” The woman then said on the phone making me glare at her for the petty Jab. With a mean smile, she even put the phone on loudspeaker so I could hear the reply. We were both expecting Brad to admit he made a mistake and have me given the right room. A cheaper room maybe. On the lower floors.

“This is no error, Anna! Stop being a snobby bitch and give Miss Smith her room.” Upon hearing Brad’s reply, I could not help but release a small laugh, it seemed I was not the only one who hated her attitude.

“Bu…but who is paying for it? Usually, only A list celebrities, CEO’s and important people like ministers, stay in there. She does not look like either one.” Anna then responded while looking a bit taken back.

“Two words…Mr. Payne.” I was shocked as Anna quickly dropped the iPhone making it crash into the floor with the screen breaking into pieces upon impact.

Not even caring about the phone she instead looked at me like a frightened kitten.

“Miss Smith, I am so so sorry about my behavior. Please don’t tell him about this. I did not know that you were one of his people.” Anna then surprised me again by rushing from her counter towards me and begging for forgiveness.

“Um okay, just don’t treat people like that ever again,” I responded to her in an unsure voice, while wondering what the hell was happening.

“Please let me personally lead you to your suite.” Anna then quickly said while trying to please me. It was so comical, this change in attitude of hers.

“What is so special about Mr. Payne, that he has you shaking and affected just by his name only.” I finally said, deciding to ask as we entered the elevator. All I knew was that he was the CEO and Owner of the company where I was going to be interning.

“He owns this Hotel and all the other high paying ones around the city too. Getting fired by him or making him angry will mean never getting hired by any company or hotel ever again. He has connections everywhere. But it is his brother Aleksander who I am more afraid of.” Anna then said to me in reply but this time she was talking to me like a person.

“Brother? And why,” I queried some more.

“No offense but I will not tell you considering how close you are to Mr. Payne. I will get into more deep shit if he comes to know that I am also talking shit about his brother.” Anna replied looking scared. I almost wanted to tell her that I was not close, nor had I even personally met this Mr. Payne. But I stopped, thinking of how she would then go back to being a snobby bitch to me if I told her so.

The elevator doors then opened to show golden floors and a white well-designed wall. In the middle of that large hallway was only one large door in the middle.

“You are such a lucky woman to have him. I wish I was you. The whole floor is yours. Enjoy.” She then said while looking at me in envy and closed the elevator door, disappearing from my sight.

As she did so, I paused wondering what she had meant about me having him? Did she really think that I was having an affair with Mr. Payne? At that thought, I could not help but let a loud laugh out. I didn't even know the guy.

After opening the door and entering the Presidential suite, all I can say was that I was truly amazed.

The valet boy who had gone ahead of us left my bags and left.

Another man dressed in butler attire waited for me there.

“Hello Miss Smith, my name is Arnold. I am the butler and caretaker of this suite. I will be here 24/7 to meet any of your needs. You let me know whenever you need a personal chef, massage, bartender, tour guide to even an entertainer. I will arrange it all for you.

“Hie Arnold, a tour of this huge place would be nice,” I finally spoke after being speechless as I gazed at the room more like a hotel-sized mansion. And to think it even had a personal butler too!

As he took me through the tour, I felt like this whole suite looked like it was meant for more than 10 people. There was everything, from my own sauna room, indoor pool to the biggest and gigantic Jacuzzi that I had ever seen. Let us not even talk about the bedrooms, from the gigantic closet that looked like a clothing store on its own, a personal cinema room, a bar room to this amazing kitchen meant for a master chef.

“Um thank you, Arnold, I will call if I need any more assistance.” I finally said feeling tired and wanting to rest.

He did a small bow and left.

After he did so as I stood in my gigantic luxurious bedroom meant for a queen, I could not help but slap myself really hard on the cheek. I was just making sure that I was really awake and not stuck in some realistic dream.

Things like this were not supposed to happen to people like me.

Or maybe Susan was right on her comment about this being dodgy.

What kind of company in their right mind would rent out a million-dollar per night suite for an intern?

Needing answers, I quickly sat on the giant bed and took out my laptop. Connecting to the free internet of the suite, I started researching more about Payne Enterprise.

And Let’s just say I got shocked to find out that Mr. Payne was some mean looking Russian 50-year-old guy with grey hair. He started Payne Enterprise, 30 years ago and was bloody filthy rich. Apparently, it was not only hotels, but he also owned major shares in all the famous companies too from Amazon, The Johnsons’ products to Apple.

After seeing that old guy's picture I finally stopped searching about him. Being given the gift of living in some million-dollar suite suddenly seemed so little compared to how much money this guy was worth. He was some bloody billionaire soon to be a trillionaire if he continued like this in the next 20 years. With thoughts of finally going to work tomorrow, I finally fell asleep.