CHAPTER ONE: PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Let’s start with the definition. According to Oxford’s dictionary, pride is defined as the consciousness of one’s dignity. It is the feeling of deep pleasure and satisfaction of one's achievement and achievement of closed ones. But there is no way to measure the amount of pride we carry with us till someone tries to test it. Pride has both pros and cons. It can be a form of self-esteem or a form of arrogance. It all depends on your personal take on it. On the other hand, prejudice is defined as the opinion or idea based on false information rather than a reason or experience. it influences one’s attitude and behavior towards them. It is the dislike, hostility, or unjust behavior towards people or things with any apparent reason. It won’t be false if I say every single soul in the world has prejudice about one thing or the other. And honestly speaking, it’s no one’s fault. it’s just human nature. And Austin and I were no exception to it.

After a week of hide and seek and his attempts to get rid of me, the time had finally come for us to meet. Though there were times we almost met, he was quick enough to avoid me. After the scary first official encounter in presence of Mrs. Hasting, we barely had seen each other. and let me tell you it was not my fault. The guy went all length to avoid me. He was never to be found at his house which was the only place I knew of him. I had no choice but to wait for him to quit his silly act to carry on with the job I was assigned. it took a week for him to realize that I was not going to back down that easily. So he obviously hatched plan B.

Like my daily routine for a week then, I reached the Hasting’s CASA at 9 am sharp. When I say CASA with the capital, I literally mean it. it was technically a house but not less than a palace. I almost got lost for the first few days. i didn’t know which way lead where. though there were direction boards wherever possible, it was still too hard to navigate the place. so after the third day of relentlessly searching my way for an hour or two, I made a simple road map for myself. It was simple (main entrance> straight to the main door> walk till you reach an intersection> turn to right > walk till you reach the wooden hallway> open the last door of the hallway> and bravo there you were). The library was large enough to be a university library. Curated with books from writers all across the world, the place was heaven for bookworms like myself. From biography to politics, suspense to a romance novel, thriller to philosophical, you just name it and it was here. It was a great learning experience for me for last week in this heavenly place except for the fact that I was not doing what I was supposed to be doing in the place. As always, I reached the library with the help of the roadmap and was sitting down to compile a few pieces of information I gathered from the house staffs. I was quite engulfed in the writing that I didn’t notice someone standing at the table next to me.

“Hello there”; some said.

It almost made me jump from my seat. There he was the almighty himself full in flesh. dressed in a chic black velvety sweat, he was staring at me like he could eat me alive with his eyes. It was quite intimidating to tell you the truth. But I tried my best to compose myself.

“Did I scared you?”

I took a deep breath not to lose my calm and looked at him for a while without realizing that I was staring at him. Frankly, I was not even blinking like we were having a staring contest.

“ I know I am handsome but staring at me like that makes me uncomfortable. You can blink your eyes”

As soon as he said that I realized how stupid and weird it was and looked away. It took me a while to actually come to a realization that The Austin Hastings was there. And in my disbelief there I was staring at him AGAIN.

“I can give you my photo if you want. You can pick it and look at it anytime you like. you can have all the pleasure you want”; he smirked while saying that.

“ Excuse me”, I said

His words startled me. Why on earth would I want his picture and have any sort of pleasure? What was he implying? Is he trying to be funny?

“ Don’t be embarrassed. Girls really love to keep my pic as their DP. It’s very natural for girls to be smitten by me, they can’t just help it. So I can understand how you are feeling.” He smirked again.

Wait for a second, what? That’s not being funny, he is just obnoxious. What does he think of himself? Prince Charming of some sort.

“ No, I don’t like you.” I rushed through my words, the wrong choice of words. He was finally there and making him uncomfortable or angry was the last thing I wanted to do. I had to handle the situation better.

“ I am sorry. I did not mean it like that. I am just saying that I am not interested in you in that way. I have a job to do here. That’s all.”

“Oh my bad, I don’t like to work with the people who don’t like me. I think we can’t WORK together now,” he said with pride in his voice.

Prince Charming, well more like an obnoxious rich spoiled brat. What does he think of himself? the entire universe is supposed to fall in his feet. I had not seen such an aggrogant person in my entire life.

“Don’t worry, you will be thankful to me later. That’s all for us then,” he stood up as he said that and making his way to the door.

That made me stand on my feet too. I got this work after so much effort and it’s going to end just like that. After a week of testing my patience, he came just for fun. He was just me contemplate my life. How easy has life has to be for him to have such little empathy for other’s situations? How insensitive and irresponsible is he? But I was kind of desperate,

“Can you at least hear me out?”, I said politely despite my anger.

“No worry dear, I will make sure to send you my picture to grace your life.”

What was I hearing? How was I supposed to react to the situation? Was he testing me or having fun? I was unable to comprehend what exactly was happening.

“There you go, a souvenir from my side”

I was lost in my thought when he sent me his picture. A picture on beachwear and a picture in a suit. I was losing my mind to fully understand the undergoing of the situation. What was he planning with this? To stage me up as a crazy fangirl who disguises herself for the work. Whatever it was, I was not going to give in.

“ Sorry I don’t mean to offend you but I don’t want your picture or anything else from you. I just want your cooperation to get this thing done as soon as possible. It has already been a week and we have not made any progress. So Mr. Hastings, could you please take it seriously” I said with hope.

“You are smarter than I thought. I thought someone like you would not dare speak whatever you just said. Good for you” He said as if he was running a fact check on me.

“Someone like me”. Well, does he mean an orphan like or poor like me or without university to attend like me? What did he exactly want to say?

“ Anyways, it was nice meeting you, Miss Abigail…. What’s your surname by the way?”

Crossing the line again. He broke my patience and my tolerance for him. for that moment I didn’t care if I was going to be fired. He was curious how someone like me was for god’s sake able to even talk to him. So I should just help him with that.

“Well, Mr. Hastings for your kind information, orphans don’t have surnames. We are abandoned for which we were raised in the orphanage without knowledge of our parents or their name”

He was about to say something but I was in no mood to listen.

“ I am not done, Mr. Hastings. What do you mean by someone like me? Are you trying to imply someone who works for you has to right to speak to you? Someone who doesn’t share the same economical background is not worth to even talk? Someone who would fall for you at first sight and forget the work she is supposed to do? What is it exactly?”

I took a moment and then continue my outburst.

“ I get by now that we don’t want to do this and you are just trying to stall time. But you know and I know it’s not like I was dying to do this. It was the company who hired me which include you too. Judging by your attitude, I can figure that I am neither the first one nor the last. I may get rid of this but you won’t whether you like it or not. I just hope you are not as insensitive next time to ask an orphan their surname.”

“ I was not doing it intentionally. I was just trying to address you the way you were. That’s all. No need to be so defensive.”

“How naive of you, Mr. Hasting” I emphasized the last word intentionally.

I had lost my content. I had lost my control. all my pent-up anger and disappointment from a week were pouring out through my mouth. I knew I was a little overboard.

“ Don’t tell me you never made assumptions about people. When you see a person, you assume the person to be a certain way. What’s so offensive about that? You surely had made your mind about me even before met, didn’t you”

“ Frankly, I did. I thought you are someone who had everything but no appreciation for it from the way you had been behaving these last week. But I did not imagine you to be this obnoxious and outright insensitive. My prejudice was better than your actual self I guess.”

STOP Abigail. that’s too much. You are crossing the line there. my mind was telling me to stop.

“ Okay, Soldier calm down. I think that was over the top.”

It was. I knew it and he knew it but my pride was not ready to bow down. My pride was hurt from the very moment he said someone like you. I may not have a lot of things in life but what I proudly possess is my self-esteem and dignity and I was not letting anyone step on it so easily.

“I am learning that from the best I suppose. I have been patiently waiting for you for the past week. Do you how much time I lost? That’s 7 days, 168 hours, and 10080 minutes. My life may not be as interesting and valuable as yours but you have not right to treat someone like garbage and expect them to be fine. For the past week, I called you, texted you, emailed you, voicemail you tried every single way to reach you, and what you did? You filled my inbox with spam, send all kinds of pictures and content to my phone, and gave my number to God knows who to give me prank call. Don’t deny it, I know it’s you. How childish can you be? I have been tolerating all that till now but its just cross my limit”

There was silence like that we see in the movies before the war. I was catching my breath and he was just smiling there looking at me with coffee in his hand. I was not able to understand him. There I was shouting with my lungs out and he was behaving as if I was reciting poetry to him.

“ Do I sound funny to you?; I questioned him in rage.

“ Nope. It’s getting really interesting. Go on.”

“I am not there for entertainment. I am just putting forward my point of view. I get your Intention to not work with me. So I think it best we terminate my contract. “

My mind was telling me to leave the room. I had already said enough. But his smiling face kept bothering me. It felt as if he was mocking me. I had already lost my job so I was to going down with his silent mockery. Looking back I wished I had stopped there. But as an emotional fool, I did what I thought was right at that time.

“ Just before I go, I would like to say that I hope that you really find the right person for the job. Because of the way, it’s going I don’t think there is anyone who will willingly take the risk of being with you. If only your money, sorry not your’s your parents’ money was enough for your behavior. Seeing and reading about you in the news and magazines, for a moment I thought there is no way everything written about you is true. You can be the person everyone depicts you to be. Maybe you are misunderstood and this was a way to prove that. But the way you behaved till this moment, I could not agree more. “

His smile finally stopped. Bingo. But the aura around him changed instantly. he started walking towards me. I could feel the rage in his eyes. There were anger, rage, and a sense of hatred in his eyes towards me. For the first time, I felt a bit shaken. I could sense the tension in the atmosphere. But there was no way I was going to surrender.

“ Are you done?” He said after taking a final step towards me. He was barely an inch away from me. I tried to move but he grabbed my arms. I looked at him as if signaling him to leave me but his deep blue eyes only had anger and fury. There was something else but was not able to appreciate it at that heated moment.

“ No, sir”. I said as I tried to free myself from his grip. Refusing to admit being intimidated, I looked up and said, “ Just one last thing, I wish you all the best for your future. from the way I see, it is as dark as the coffee you have been drinking. A little advice from an orphan(i emphasized the word orphan), please try to appreciate the things and opportunities that you have in life for you never know when you lose them. it was not very nice meeting you. Thank you.”

The victory was what I felt when I said all I had to say. He freed me and I turned to leave the room. As I held the doorknob, I could feel him behind me. He held the doorknob and locked it. I turned to face him and there it was his infamous smirk.

“ Not so fast. You should hear me out too. I have been patient with you. I expect the same from you.”

“Sure.”That’s all I said clearing my throat.

“Sit down.”

“No, thank you. I am just fine.”

“As you wish” he again moved closure to me. I tried to stay calm and focused.

“Where shall I start? You describe me as a perfectly obnoxious, spoiled, insensitive, reckless rich kid who does not care about anything. But you missed out on one tiny detail. I can be ruthless. I don’t spare anyone whether male or female. Wanna see?”

I was trying to figure out what he was trying to say when he grabbed my arms again but this time tighter. I almost left a grasp.

“If you think I am all that written about me on tabloid then you should be surprised at this. You, my dear, may not be safe with me here. Don’t you think? Is this one of the things they say about me?”

He said it authoritatively as he held his grip tighter. I was as scared as I was angry at the person in front of me. We almost inhaled each other breath and I could hear his breathing. I was trying ways to escape the situation.

“According to your perception, wasn’t I supposed to do this too? he whispered into my ears.

I struggled to fight his grip but I could not. Provoking him was not the best option for me but I saw no other way.

“ Adding disrespecting women to the list. I so wished that was not the case.”

He laughed quite frantically but didn’t leave me

“ You are very interesting. I am liking you every second. Seeing you up close has been a pleasure I must say” he again whispered. He smiled notoriously and let go of me.

It was just unbearable. So I took a deep breath and collected all the strength I have and slapped him without a second thought.

“I hope this is also a pleasure for you. For a moment I thought I said something I should not say. I would be angry too. But the way you just behaved, you proved my every word right. What did you think? You could intimidate a woman with your vague masculinity. Just because you are stronger physically, you could threaten me. You must be very ashamed of what you just tried to pull. Your action just confirmed what kind of person you are. I am here to do a job that I earned through my hard work and yes I am in need of this job. But no way its more important than my self-respect and dignity “

Shaken by what just happened, I tried to collect myself.

“ I was just trying to……”

“Just what exactly?”

“I was just playing with you. There is no way I would do anything to you.”

“I was not, Mr. Hastings. But you just did not care. Meeting you was one of the worst experiences of my life. I wished I had never met you. You will have my resignation by the evening. I hope I will never see you again. Good Luck and Goodbye.”

I rushed to the door and promised myself never to return to the place again and never to meet the person ever again in my life