Growing up in a single-parent household, Sophia was raised by her grandmother and always dreamed of having a complete, healthy family of her own one day. However, her dreams were shattered when, upon reaching adulthood, she was diagnosed with a health condition that threatened her hopes for the future. Despite this devastating news, Sophia ventured into the dating world, determined to find someone who would love her unconditionally. In her early twenties, she thought she had found that person, only to discover that he was using and manipulating her. The toxic relationship lasted five long years, leaving Sophia disillusioned and convinced that she would never find true love. Just as she was about to give up on love altogether, a chance encounter with a former classmate reignites her hope. But this isn't just any man-he's the most powerful person in the city, someone every woman seems to want. Adding to her hesitation, Sophia is six years older than him. Should she risk her heart again and pursue a relationship with him, or should she protect herself from potential heartache? Sophia faces a difficult decision: to trust in the possibility of love once more or to guard her heart from further pain. Why is this powerful man interested in dating someone older than him when he could date anyone his age? Is it lust or genuine love?
"I think that it is time for another therapeutic session. We need to put in our vacation request for a week off!" Samantha looked at Sophia. "Yes! I agree with you. But where would you like us to go? Any idea about our vacation destination?" Sophia 's interest was picked as she quickly put down her fork to discuss the vacation idea further. The women were on their lunch break. Both worked at the same company, The Bloom Marketing Corporation, a multi-billion-dollar marketing company.
They had just finished working on a project that required a lot of their time and energy; so, they were ready to take a break from work. Sophia's full name was Sophia Anderson. She worked as a marketing manager at the company and Samantha Baker worked as a Marketing creative assistant. Although Sophia was thirty-one years old and Samantha was twenty-five years old, that did not stop the two women from becoming best friends. Samantha has been Sophia's roommate for the past three years. So, every time Sophia and Samantha would go on a vacation, they would call it a "therapeutic session" because they would feel happier and stress free while on vacation.
"What about Pirla Island? I could use some island fresh air along with the vitamin sea haha!" Samantha suggested an island trip to Sophia. "An island trip sounds fun! let us check to see how many vacation times that we have left. Since we have just finished with this project successfully after a non-stop six months of workload, we deserve a breather!" Sophia was on her phone checking her employee account to see the amount of vacation time she had left. "Yes! Time to release some stress! Do you think the boss will approve it?" said Samantha. "Of course, she will!". "Boss" was what they would call Sarah every now and then. Sarah Murphy, Owner of Bloom Marketing Corporation, has been a great boss to her employees. She and her husband oversaw everything at the company to make sure everything ran smoothly. She built the company from the ground up. She had a bachelor's degree in business management. She started to work in her business while she was in college. She had a full-time job while being a full-time student. She was an independent beauty consultant for a beauty supply company. The way that she would sell most of the beauty products that she had was through all the connections that she had made while in college. Since she was good at doing makeup, she would occasionally showcase her make up skills at any student club events that she could participate in. By the time Sarah finished college she had already established a huge customer niche for her marketing business.
Most of her classmates had become business owners or friends who would later refer her to prospective clients. It has been more than ten years since she successfully launched her business. Fast forward to today, the business has been going strong. She had been married to Nethan Murphy for twelve years and had one son and was now pregnant with a daughter. Nethan was also thirty-seven years old and had become her business partner when he married Sarah. He had been a good business partner and a good husband. While Sarah was at her office going through some documents, a notification popped up through her computer. She looked at the request and smiled when she saw Sophia and Samantha's vacation requests. "Where are these girls going to go this time?" Sarah wondered. She had always encouraged her employees to take care of their physical and mental health. She would only decline a time off request if she had too many employees requesting time off at the same time, because otherwise, she would be short staffed. She believed in fairness, and self-care when it came to her employees. As for the company benefit, everyone got a full health benefit package after six months of working with the company, two weeks of paid vacations with five days of paid sick days off after a year, and an annual one-week company retreat for the employees.
The retreats would usually be a trip to another state at five-star hotels with everything included for the employees. The retreat would be for the employees to have fun and release some stress. She believed in having a proper mental health balance when it came to navigating work and personal life. After two years with the company, employees would automatically be qualified for a full month of paid vacation while every other benefit would remain the same. After three years, they would have a day added each year to their vacation until they quit or retired. She encouraged the employees to take their vacation each year as they would not be able to carry them over to another year, and the same with sick days.
As Sophia and Samantha were coming back from their break after sending out their request, Sarah called them over to her office. "Hey ladies, could you please come over for a moment?" "Oh no! we are in trouble Sophia!" Samantha joked to Sophia. Sophia glanced at Samantha but did not say anything. The two ladies then headed toward the office. "Yes, Mrs. Sarah?" both women entered the office at the same time. Sarah asked all her employees to call her by her first name. She liked it better this way. She wanted her employees to be more at ease with her by being less formal with her name. She believed that it eased the tension a little bit between a boss and an employee by reducing the formality a little bit while still being the boss. "Please, have a seat. First, I just want to say thank you again to both of you for a job well done regarding finishing the project. You both are great team players, and you have good work dedication" said Sarah while smiling at Sophia and Samanta. "Thank you, Mrs. Sarah." Both girls replied at the same time. "I just approve of your requests. Also, as you probably already noticed, business is growing fast; and we are going to have a lot more work coming in soon. One of them is going to be a huge milestone for us if we manage to get this account. I am not going to talk about it now, since a lot of employees are not going to be here in two weeks. I am going to have a meeting about who is going to be assigned to this project when you both get back from your vacation."
"Therefore, I want you both to enjoy your vacation, do not be thinking about work, have fun and as always, it's an order!" said Sarah with a serious tone.
"Yes, Mrs. Sarah, we will have fun." Said Samantha.
"That is good then! "Where are you ladies going for the vacation by the way?".
"We are going to Pirla Island."
"That is nice! I have not been there yet, but I have heard that it is a really nice place. Well, don't forget to take a lot of videos and pictures to show me when you come back, because I am going to be looking for great recommendations when I decide to give the island a visit."
"Oh, yes, we will."
"Well, that is all I have wanted to say for now, please you may go back to finish your work if you do not have any questions for me." said Sarah. The two women shook their heads at the same time in a negative manner letting Sarah know that they did not have any questions. They then each went back to their respective workstations to continue their work.
Chapter 1 Sophia and Samantha's Workplace
03/07/2024
Chapter 2 The Beginning of A Great Friendship
03/07/2024
Chapter 3 A little Background Story
03/07/2024
Chapter 4 Sophia's First Boyfriend
03/07/2024
Chapter 5 The Beginning of The End of The Tumultuous Relationship
03/07/2024
Chapter 6 The End of The Relationship
03/07/2024
Chapter 7 Facing The Painful Truth
03/07/2024
Chapter 8 Another Chance At Life
03/07/2024
Chapter 9 Moving On
03/07/2024
Chapter 10 An Unforgettable Trip and Night
03/07/2024
Chapter 11 The Emergency calls
14/07/2024
Chapter 12 A Late-Night Work
14/07/2024