It was on a Friday in the middle of June in Hillsborough, California. The most popular and largest bookstore — is Sandy's Covers. A fine young man walked in and couldn't help but notice the blonde-haired girl scouring the shelves, resisted the urge to approach her and in a way flash, she was gone as she disappeared into thin air.

Slightly regretting his hesitation, he picks up a few books and proceeded to checkout.

"Good evening Mr. Levinson, that'll be 50 dollars and 39 cents." he hands her a hundred dollar bill and asked her to keep the change; "Do you by any chance know who that lady was, the blonde one, she was here a few minutes ago," he asked.

"I'm so sorry sir but it was my first time seeing her today," the storekeeper responded politely; he smiled, nodded, and left the store with his merchandise.

Mr. Keith Levinson was the CEO of a multibillion-dollar construction company Diamond Ace builders. He's dedicated his entire life to his work since he succeeded his father as the president of the company.

Maintains a mysterious lifestyle, especially his love life; puzzling the hearts of many women as he was quite easy on the eyes. Tall, brown wavy hair, green eyes, and the most charming smile that can make any woman swoon.

Diamond Ace was currently recruiting architects in the annex, a pile of documents filled with the candidates' resumés sitting on his desk on a Monday morning. He came across an Athenaïs Gauthier, the name intrigued him and her face was uncanny, then he had flashes of the lady he saw at the bookstore, he couldn't miss those stunning blue eyes anywhere, it had to be her.

Singled out her file to make sure she gets the internship and to be sure she was the one, he chose to interview the candidates himself, he wanted to meet this gypsy that vanished before he could say hello, he had flashes again of when he saw her and remembered she had a tiny wrist tattoo, he hoped she was the one and scheduled the interview the following day, which was way sooner than planned.

The interview is scheduled for 8 am the next morning, her file was the first one but she wasn't present, so he proceeded to interview the other candidates that were present, throughout the interview he couldn't focus, and his mind drifted toward her. Just when he was about to postpone the interview to the following day, his secretary buzzed that Athenaïs was present, she was 45 minutes late.

Keith tells his secretary that he interviews her next, tapping his ballpoint pen as she walked in. He took a close look at her, her hair ponytailed, revealing her graceful neck and then he spotted the wrist tattoo— It was her.

"I'm so sorry sir, I got the email this morning, I wasn't expecting such a prompt response," Athenaïs said as she took her seat. Keith opens her file and pretended to read it, rather he stared at her from his side eye.

"Athenaïs Gauthier... that's a unique name, you're not American are you?"

"My father is French, my mother is American..." she apologized again for being tardy.

Keith kept browsing through her file not saying a word then he buzzed his secretary to dismiss the rest of the candidates that they'll be interviewed the following day.

"What are your hobbies Athenaïs?" Keith asked with a slight frown, " I love to read Mr. Levinson, by the beach in the evenings" her phone starts to ring in her purse, she nervously opens her purse to turn it off but it slips from her hand and the contents of her purse spilled to the floor; Keith helps her and sighted a party invitation that was planned for that night at a popular location. 

He chuckled silently, "you love partying?" Athenaïs, a little embarrassed of her clumsiness, gave a crooked smile.

"You're hired Miss Gauthier," Keith said, Athenaïs eyes lit up with excitement, "Thank you so much, sir, you don't know how much this internship means to me.

"I was impressed with your resumé, work starts tomorrow morning by 8, I'll have my secretary email you the details, don't be late," Keith said and took his leave.

She sprinted to the elevator and took a taxi home. Athenaïs is a 24-year-old grad student from UCLA, who moved to Hillsborough to pursue her career in architecture. Athenaïs lives in a shared apartment in Baywood with her friend Martha Wright, a girl she met in school.

"I'm so happy for you, I told you you were gonna get it," her friend Martha said.

"We should celebrate, what are you wearing to Tina's party?" Martha asked while browsing through her wardrobe for a dress.

"I don't think I'm going, work starts tomorrow, and I can't afford to be late on my first day," Athenaïs said.

"Come on... we don't have to stay long or drink, let's just show up, it's worth celebrating" Martha protested.

"No Martha... No can do,"

"Pleaseeee... ok I'll do the dishes for a month"

Athenaïs sighed "you really wanna go to that party don't you?"

Martha nodded and grinned. "Fine! but one hour and that's it!" Athenaïs said.

Martha squealed in excitement.

The party was nothing outside the obvious, there were people, punch, Jell-O shots, beer, hippy music, and all the works.

Martha let's go back home," Athenaïs insisted.

"But we literally just got here... come on have a drink, mingle! You could meet someone," Martha responded as she poured Athenaïs a drink in a disposable red cup.

Athenaïs, reluctant to conform to Martha's influence, took a sip and another and from a sip, she chugged down several cups of the alcoholic punch, and the tipsier she got the more she wanted to drink, till she could drink no more.

Then it occurred to her that she had to head home to prepare for work the following day. She could barely walk, and staggered in search of Martha but all to no avail.

So she thought it was best if she headed home, Martha will find her way on her own. The initial plan to spend an hour turned out to be 3 hours. It was almost 2 am.

Stood by the sidewalk to fetch a taxi and that was when a group of scoundrels noticed her, knowing she was drunk and vulnerable, they approached her in the guise of being helpful but she knew better and tried her best to ward them off but they became violent and tried to hurt her and that was when a man swooped in and scared them off. It was Keith.

He came to the party location supposedly to stalk her, he wanted to know what she was like and no matter how creepy that seems; he was glad he came, imagine what could've happened if he didn't show up.

Scared, confused, and intoxicated Athenaïs fainted, Keith drove her home, he knew her address from her resumé. Surprisingly Martha was home with a guest.

"Please look after her, she had a little too much to drink," Keith said.

"Thank you so much, are you a friend of hers?" Martha responded.

"Doesn't matter... just make sure she's fine" Keith said and drove off.

When Athenaïs woke up she could barely recollect anything that had happened the previous night, all she remembers is that she was trying to get a taxi and the rest went blurry; then it occurred to her that she has to go to work.

She jumps off her bed but Martha told her not to worry that a lady called to inform her she shouldn't come to work that day but the next.

"That's such a relief... imagine showing up late again and hung over, I'll get fired for sure and it'll be all your fault!" Athenaïs said with a whimsy frown.

"Come on... don't pretend like you regretted it, I know you met someone last night, he dropped you off, nice catch by the way,"

"What do you mean? I didn't meet anyone," Athenaïs said.

"But of course you did, he was very handsome, he dropped you off and left... what a gentleman," Martha responded.

Athenaïs reflected deeply and thought back to a man who rescued her from the thugs that tried to harass her.

"I think I remember, some guys were trying to harass me, and then this dude just came from nowhere but I can't remember what he looked like, "

"Oh, I do..." Martha said and chuckled.

On Wednesday at 8 am, Athenaïs came to work, her first day. She was posted to work in the annex. The recruits supervisor, HR, and office Casanova, David Mendoza.

A seminar for the recruits was about to hold in an hour, Athenaïs got familiar with the dynamics of the office and met a few of her colleagues.

David gave Athenaïs a quick tour around the office.

"This is the break room, the cafeteria is on the east wing, do not order the Cesar salad," he teased and Athenaïs laughed.

David made advances to charm Athenaïs, gave her more attention than the other candidates and Marie noticed, the secretary to the CEO.

Marie and David used to be a thing until he broke up with her recently, seeing him flirt with Athenaïs aggravated her a little bit.

The seminar was about to start and David escorted Athenaïs to the conference room.

The speaker and COO of the firm, Mr. Martin Levinson, Keith's younger brother. He introduced himself and educated them on the company's code of conduct.

"It's a pleasure to announce the second speaker, to round off this seminar with a special announcement, Mr. Keith Levinson."

Keith mounted the podium and expressed his pleasure to see them and made a special announcement in his speech.

"I love young talent, seeing so many young faces in architecture gives me so much joy, I have to say this is the luckiest set of recruits... if you're interested in having a future in this company then this is your chance to move from being a temp to being a permanent staff and paid architect," Keith said.

The crowd started to murmur, it's every architect's dream to work in Diamond Ace, the pay is handsome and the side attractions are so tempting.

"I will be working on a project soon in a matter of weeks, a resort in Tampa; I'm in search of new and fresh ideas,"

The murmuring grew louder, the crowd was pumping with excitement.

"You have three weeks to come up with a design and plan, every candidate will submit their design and if you make it to the next level, you'll be informed to come to pitch your idea to me, personally, any questions?"

Someone in the crowd raised his hand, "Mr. Levinson, is this position for just one candidate or a few?"

"Very good question, what's your name?" Keith asked.

"Jayden sir, Jayden Grouse." He replied.

"Well, Jayden this position is for just one candidate, only one candidate will be selected, so you have to pull all the stops and think out of the box, I want my mind blown,"

Another person raised their hand, this time it was a lady.

"Will the winner be working on the Tampa project, or will the other architects take over? Sarah Wilson"

"No Sarah, the architects will not oversee your design, you'll be working directly with me on the project alongside other architects, and to motivate you more, the winner will instantly stop being a temp and will be given an architect position, a company car, and a company apartment here in California and the same pay with other architects, is that clear?"

Sarah nodded and sat down.

"I want everyone here to see this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, I've not done this in a while but I have a good feeling with you people," Keith said, staring at Athenaïs for a few seconds.

"That will be all, best of luck."