What is it like to sleep with your boss?
Meredith Florrick woke up in a hotel bed, and as she opened her eyes, the memories of last night's passionate encounter with the man beside her flooded her stunned and now blank mind.
The man she had slept with was none other than Terrence Sterling, her ultimate boss and the powerful owner of the largest company at Auroraville, Sterling Corporation.
Rumors had it that any woman who dared to climb into his bed and try to become Mrs. Sterling would eventually disappear without a trace into the darkness of Auroraville, with no happy ending ever heard.
Meredith Florrick was still young, and she sure wanted to live a few more years.
It seemed that the best course of action was to sneak away before he woke up, making a swift exit while she still had the chance.
She carefully got out of bed, picking up her torn clothes from the floor.
The state of her clothes indicated just how intense last night's encounter had been.
The whole situation was purely an accident – she and her colleagues were having a dinner gathering downstairs in the restaurant, she had a bit too much to drink, and then everything became a blur.
She had thought it was just a vivid dream, having forgotten the details of last night and how she ended up in this room, only vaguely remembering herself being on top the whole time...
She could only conclude that she had made a move on Terrence Sterling.
Anyway, Meredith Florrick had made a pretty hurried and awkward escape that morning, without noticing that she had dropped a resume when she grabbed her bag...
***
At Briarcliff Lofts.
She returned to her rented room, and it was just seven in the morning, when her roommate and best friend, Fiona Woods, emerged from her room: "Meredith, why are you coming back from outside? You didn't come back last night?"
Meredith and Fiona Woods were both orphans who grew up together in an orphanage. They went to school together, entered clubs together, and leaned on each other for support.
Feeling embarrassed, Meredith quickly spun a lie: "Fiona, um... last night my company had a dinner gathering. It was at the restaurant downstairs of Grandmere Hotel. It was a bit far, and I had drunk too much, so just not to wake you up, I stayed at a colleague's place for the night."
"Oh." Fiona Woods didn't think much of it and replied woodenly, "By the way, can you give me the resume I asked you to print? The recruitment ends today, and if I don't find a job, I'll be left high and dry."
It was only then that Meredith remembered, but when she rummaged through her bag, she realized that the resume form was nowhere to be found, and she was unable to recall where she had dropped it.
Meredith apologized, "Fiona, I'm sorry, I lost it."
Fiona Woods smiled softly, "It's okay, I'll go print it myself later. Besides, I probably won't get the job anyway, I don't have a degree, it's not easy to find a job. If all else fails, I'll go check out the factory, or maybe just Walmart. When you make it big in the future, just don't forget about me."
Compared to Meredith, Fiona was far behind in looks and education, which made her feel insecure and sensitive, and she said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.
"Fiona, how can you say that?" Meredith encouraged her, "We promised to share the good times and the bad, what's mine is yours. When I have money, I'll take care of you."
Fiona suddenly asked seriously, "Meredith, if we both fall for the same man one day, would you give him up for me?"
Meredith smiled, "In my heart, you always come first. There are plenty of men out there, we can always find someone else. You're my one and only sister."
Fiona smiled back, "I was just making fun of you. Now go change and head to work, you smell of alcohol. Try to drink less in the future."
"Okay." Meredith entered her room, feeling anxious at the thought of going to work. Though she was just an intern for now, the chances of encountering someone like Terrence Sterling, the CEO, were slim to none, but she still worried.
If Terrence Sterling found out it was she who had slept with him, he would surely see her as a vain and scheming woman, throw her out of the company, make it impossible for her to survive in Auroraville, or even make her disappear from the world altogether.
The women who had 'vanished without a trace', as rumored, were all said to have all been discreetly dealt with by Terrence Sterling.
Terrence Sterling was a man standing at the top of the pyramid, while she was just a lowly ant at the bottom, two parallel lines that should never meet.
Meredith shook her head, choosing to believe last night was just a dream, and she prayed that Terrence Sterling wouldn't remember her.
The room was quite dark last night; he probably wouldn't remember what she looked like, right?
At the hotel room.
Terrence Sterling finally woke up. Now he was sitting on the bed bare-chested, and his disheveled, seductively sacred hair exuding an untamed allure.
His finely chiseled features exuded some chilly sharpness, his robust chest radiating overflowing masculine charm.
Suffering from a splitting headache from the hangover, Terrence Sterling tried to recall the events of last night.
If not for the red stain on the bedsheets, he would have thought last night had been just a dream.
His gaze fell on the carpet where he saw a resume form: "Fiona Woods..."
So she's the woman from last night?