Alexandra stared up at the large building in front of her, nervously clutching a paper. She felt grossly underprepared for this, new country, no family, barely any belongings and now a new job? She took a long deep breath and slowly pushed open the door and made her way into the hall, her shoes making a clicking sound against the pristine marble floor. Her stomach twisted, Alex honestly couldn't tell if it were from nerves or the lack of food. She hadn't had a proper meal since she arrived here.
She didn't even have a real home, she had been hopping from hotel to hotel, staying at the occasional 24/7 cafe and she was just about out of the small amount of money she had brought with her. She didn't even have a phone, but that wasn't what really bothered her. She didn't want anyone from home trying to contact her, especially him. Her heart couldn't bear the sight of that man. Her entire life had crashed and burned when she entered that room and saw him with another woman.
But she wouldn't let that get her down anymore, no. She was starting a new life and she wasn't going to let a man ruin her life, "Can I help you?" An uninterested voice asked, snapping Alex out of her thoughts. She looked up and there was a woman sitting at a large front desk.
"I'm here to put in a job application."
The woman sighed, "Your name?"
"Alexandra Lisowska," she replied.
The woman raised an eyebrow, "What an odd name, you aren't from here are you?" She asked.
"No, I just moved here from Ukraine." She shifted and tucked a strand of her unruly red hair behind her ear, the woman seemed amused by that and wrote down her name.
"I'm Ayse," she said kindly, "I'm fairly new here too, truth be told the majority of the staff here are from other countries. Our employers are very generous." To be honest Alex couldn't care less where the rest of the staff were from, she just wanted a job so she could feed herself.
"I'll send the application in, is there a number we can call to update you?"
Alex shook her head, "No...I'll check back here tomorrow." And without another word she turned and left heading back to the cafe she'd been hanging at for the day. She didn't know why but the idea of being the new girl at the bottom of the workplace food chain sounded like agony.
But she had to start somewhere.
"Did you put the application in?"
Alex exhaled as she slumped down at the barstool and the barista handed her a hot cup of coffee, "I won't know until tomorrow," she mumbled bitterly. "Is it even going to be worth it, a maid position?" How humiliating. Her scrubbing someone's floor? "I don't know why I thought it was even a good idea, Maria."
She'd rather burn alive, but the pay was good. "Because you said working at a cafe was beneath you," came her quick response, an eyebrow raised. "Oh come on Alex, wipe that miserable look off your face. This is the land of opportunity, you won't stay a maid for long. I know it." She couldn't help but let out a bitter scoff upon hearing that.
"How does one rise from being a maid?"
"Well, I heard a story actually." Maria grinned and leaned forward, "Apparently the head of the company fell in love with a maid...or maybe a receptionist?" She paused to think, "One of the two, and well he had a kid with her and now he's the heir apparent to their company. Or well...companies. That family owns half the capital, it's insane, they say they are descendants of the ottoman royal family."
Alex burst into a fit of laughter, "Maria you let your imagination get the best of you." She had only known her for a day, and she was already the strangest girl she'd ever met. "Seducing the owner of the company I want to work for...." she scowled, "It's disgusting."
"I would."
Alex's eyes narrowed. "I'm not ever going to be a one-night stand with multiple baby daddies." One of those homewreckers already ruined her entire life, she wasn't about to be one. She had standards, and being a disgusting disposable woman was not on her list.
But that was...an interesting story, "You know the name of the woman?"
"Mahidevran," Maria replied, "She's a beautiful woman...she came here once. Cheekbones of steel.... she tipped me really well too. I was able to pay my rent with that tip alone, could you imagine being that lucky?"
"Are they married?"
"Ha, no, his mother won't let him marry, couldn't tell you why." She brushed her hands off on her apron, "Apparently he's had multiple women at once, I swear I wouldn't be surprised if he had a harem or something."
Rich people were weird.
"Stop watching those dramas on TV," Alex sneered standing up, that's all they had on tv here. The petty and endless drama was exhausting to look at. "This is the 21st century, not the 16th. Get a grip." Was that harsh? Perhaps it was but she was a blunt person, if she heard something stupid, she'd call it out.
Maria rolled her eyes and walked off to tend to a customer who'd entered while the two women gossiped. Alex stood up and took a seat by the window and stared out the window, blue eyes fixed on the large building across the street. It was the largest building in Istanbul, and the idea of working there was daunting. And the idea of meeting the man who ran that empire like business was even more daunting.
Did he really make a maid rich? Her child the future heir to a billion-dollar corporation?
She bit her bottom lip and tapped her finger against the table, she had standards. She'd never stoop that low, she wasn't hungry for money. She had dignity and self-respect, she'd never throw herself at a rich man.
She wouldn't.
Never in a million years.