01

“Ruby, you are such a darling. Thank you so much for doing this for me,” Sebastian said to Ruby. She smiled back at him, “It is fine Seb. And also, it’s not like I am doing it for free. You are paying me for this.”

“You deserve it darling.” Sebastian was ready to leave now. He bid bye to Ruby and went his way.

7-Eleven is a departmental store and Sebastian owned one of the franchises. Ruby is a part time employee there. And she was asked a favor by Sebastian to fill in his place because of prior plans. Ruby had agreed since she could make some extra bucks. As soon as Sebastian left, Ruby got into work to fill in the empty aisles.

Ruby is an orphan and stayed at multiple caretaking homes and had eventually grown out of the system without getting adopted. And now she had to fend for herself. With no one as a family member, she has been struggling to make ends meet. Except for her best friend, Mia, whom she had met during high school, she has no one to say as her person.

There was the bell ringing, which was the indication of someone entering the store. Ruby heard a girl’s voice. She did not look up at them yet and continued to fill the empty shelf.

“Baby, which flavor should we get this time?” the girl’s voice spoek. In return, a man’s voice came, “Get whatever flavor you want honey. Or wait.. Just get all of ‘em. I am sure we can make time to try them all.” The girl giggled in response and grabbed a few boxes of mixed flavored condoms. She dropped a few down and bent down to pick them. Ruby saw the girl’s face and smiled, “Is that all?” she asked. The girl blushed and replied, “Yeah. That is all we need. Please bill them.”

Ruby halted her work and walked near the counter. And she heard the customers’ voices again.

“Do you think you can make time this weekend as well? I mean… you did not spend it with your girlfriend. You were with me,” the girl said. The man smirked, “Of course, baby. Don’t worry about anything. She won’t know even if we elope.”

Ruby traced her eyes towards them. To say she was shocked would be an understatement. There was her boyfriend, Adam, with a blonde girl in his arms. And they were buying condoms. And also they were talking about his supposed girlfriend, Ruby herself.

Adam and the girl came to the counter. He looked like he was a little ashamed. He was not aware that his girlfriend worked at this particular store.

“Ruby? You work here?” Adam asked. His voice was mixed with a slight shock and a little casual.

“Why? If you knew that I worked here, would you have gone to some other store to get condoms?” Ruby spoke with anger. She was trying her best to not shed any tears in front of them.

“Well.. yeah.. I guess,” Adam trailed his words. He was not even trying to tell her that it was not what it looked like. Was it not the first dialogue that comes out of anyone’s mouth when they are caught cheating on their partners?

“I guess? Huh? So you were cheating on me all this while? And now that you are caught red handed, you don’t even want to make an effort to be sorry for it?” Ruby screamed loudly. The blonde girl exchanged looks between Adam and Ruby. She was not sure if she was supposed to say anything.

“What do you want me to say? Sorry? Really? You don’t behave like a girlfriend. You are always working. And you have no time for me. And upon that our relationship did not bring any benefit for me. Why do you think I want to be exclusive only to you?” Adam raised his voice as well. Ruby exited the counter and gave a tight and hard slap on Adam’s face. “We are done with this shitty relationship.”

“Hey, What up?” Mia said with a wide smile plastered on her face as soon as she saw Ruby on the other side of her door. Mia is a cheerful person and she comes from a pretty decent family. But Ruby is not the one to take advantage of it. She had always wanted to be independent.

“Nothing is up. Everything is down,” Ruby replied sorely. Mia let her inside. They entered Mia’s room. Her room was as wide as Ruby’s entire apartment.

Mia rolled her eyes at her friend’s dramatic dialogue. They fell silent for a moment before Mia decided to speak.

“You look dull. Did something happen?” Mia asked when she noticed the lost look on Ruby’s face. By now, Ruby had tears in her eyes that were threatening to roll down. She was already struggling to make ends meet. And now a broken heart was added to her misery list.

Mia immediately reached out to Ruby and gave her a hug. “What happened huh? Tell me Ruby.”

Ruby sniffled in some tears and told her what happened. “It was not my shift at the 7-eleven. But I was filling in for Sebastian. And, Adam had come into the departmental store earlier with a blonde girl… they were there to buy condoms. And apparently he has been seeing her for a few weeks now.”

Mia’s nostrils flared with anger. She had never liked Adam in the first place. She had found him too good to be true. But she had sided her opinion for Ruby’s sake. Before Mia could speak anything, Ruby continued, “I know you never liked and tolerated him for my sake. I feel like I have let you down.”

Mia rubbed Ruby’s back in an attempt to soothe her, “Don’t worry. You have not me down or anything. It is good that the garbage took itself out of your life. You deserve better.” Mia’s reference for Adam made Ruby crack a little laughter.

They part form the hug. And Mia brings in some juice for Ruby to gain some strength. “So, how are your other works? Were you able to find another for Coffee shop replacement?” Mia asked.

Ruby was recently laid off from her job as a waitress in the coffee shop that she used to work at. The coffee shop was a flop for the owner and he had to lay off a few employees inevitably. She had no say in that because she was a part time employee there. She had barely managed to score that job.

Ruby shook her head in response to Mia’s question. She was worried about her college tuition fees as well. The new academic year was about to begin but she was yet to pay the fees.

Sighing, Mia turned to Ruby, “You know, you don’t have to worry about these. I can help you pay these for sometime until you get another job and start the next semester at the college.”

Ruby shook her head as a no and Mia took a seat next to her on the bed.

“Come on, Ruby. I am your only friend and family. Who else is going to help you if not for me?” Mia asked, concerned. Mia knows that Ruby loves her but she can get on Mia’s nerves sometimes for trying to be highly independent and refuse any help from her.

“I will find a way,” Ruby said, closing her eyes and thinking how on earth would she be able to find a way to solve all of her problems.

“When? How?” Ruby had no answer for Mia’s questions, so she simply ignored that and rolled onto her side on the bed.

Mia shook her head and pulled out an ad pamphlet from her bag and placed it in front of Ruby.

“What is this?”

“Get your ass up and read it. Although I don’t encourage you to do it, I could not turn a blind eye to this opportunity. It might help you,”

Ruby sat up straight and took the pamphlet from Mia’s hand. She rubbed her eyes to get a clear vision and began to read it.

It was an ad about a surrogacy agency. They were looking for a healthy, young woman to become a surrogate mother for the people who cannot have kids biologically.

Ruby looked up at Mia who was busy on her phone, “Is this legit?”

Mia smirked without taking her eyes off of her phone, “Are you considering it?”

Ruby alternated her looks between the pamphlet and Mia’s face, “I am not thrilled by this. And nor is this exciting. I am just asking for its legitimacy.” Ruby was secretly considering it in her mind but did not dare to voice it just yet. If this was legit and came with good incentives, then why not? This was what she thought at this moment.

Mia nodded her head, “I looked them up and they are fully legit and their testimonials are pretty good. Maybe you should try going to their office and see how things work.”

Ruby’s eyes widened at her friend’s explanation. It would not hurt to try it once, She thought.

“Alright. I will check with them and see,” Ruby agreed and Mia simply nodded her head, “Now, get up, we are going out. I want to have coffee.”

Ruby gave her a look to which Mia defended herself, “Definitely not the one where you worked at.”

Ruby threw a pillow at Mia and walked to the bathroom to get fresh. She was done sulking for the day and needed some fresh air.

After 15 minutes, they left the house and headed outside. Since Mia had a car, they arrived at a nearby coffee shop quickly.

While Mia was still parking the vehicle, Ruby led herself towards the coffee shop without waiting for her friend.

Ruby was accidentally bumped into by someone. She was already in a pretty bad mood and this irked her more. She hissed irritatedly, “Can you not see properly and walk?” She rubbed her pant which was wet with coffee now.

“I am sorry. I was on a phone call,” she heard a man’s voice. She looked up at him, he was tall, pale skinned, had blue eyes, and was extremely handsome, a sight for the eyes. Ruby shook her head, it was not the time to admire his features.

“So what? You should see and walk properly,” She almost screamed.

The man looked equally irritated as she was, “Listen, I said I am sorry. I was caught in a phone call. And this place is not even up to my standards. I would not come to places like this.”

Ruby just could not believe her ears. This man not only dropped his coffee on her but also is being rude. She was about to open her mouth to give a perfect comeback to him, but suddenly she was grabbed by Mia.

Mia apologized to the man and he left soon and not before he gave Ruby a nasty and disgusting look. Another man followed the handsome guy, whom Mia did not miss eyeing.

“What is wrong with you? It was his mistake. Why did you apologize to him?” Ruby asked Mia, angrily.

Mia sighed heavily, “Did you not see who that man was?”

“Who is he?”

“He is Luke Sawyer. He is one of the billionaires in our country and he owns the largest oil and refinery company in the world.” He looks and behvaes cruel but his credentials sounds like every girl's dream lover.