"The theme was solely decided by you, if you don't remember. " Ashley rolled her eyes and ended up saying.
By the eighteenth birthday party, Skylar meant a party where it was just the two of them in a local hot-pot shop.
It was just her drinking while Ashley kept a check on her.
"Alright, fine. But it was fun." Skylar leaned back and threw her one arm over the back of the couch before spreading her legs to get comfortable. "Anyways how did your interview go?"
Ashley paused, thought for a moment and replied. "I got selected."
Just don't bother asking as what!
"Pfft." Skylar choked on her Coke. "You what?"
Actually, it was Skylar who told her about the demand for a Sous chef at The Divine. She was the one who applied for the job in her stead and forced her to go for the interview.
"I got selected. I have a joining from tomorrow."
"That soon?"
"Yeah." Ashley didn't think of it before but it was really soon.
She doubted if Michael even analysed her culinary skills before giving her the job. Was it because he wanted to present a girl with good professional status to his family?
"Oh my gosh! Wait a sec! How could you not tell me before?" Skylar squealed. "We need to shop!"
It was met with a straight no from Ashley. "I have a lot. Moreover, they have a uniform. "
"That I know! But working as a Sous Chef means you would have to present the details of the dishes to customers. And the potential customers are definitely going to be rich-ass men. One of them might end up falling for you and then you would need to go on dates. And for dates, you would require pretty outfits!"
Going on dates?
Ashley smiled bitterly. "You really have to think that far?" She was sure that the dating phase wouldn't appear in her life anymore.
Whatever chances there were before had been ruined now. At least there was no hope for the next three years.
"What's wrong in thinking?"
"You done?" Ashley stared at her with a blank gaze.
"For now, yes." Skylar blinked with a happy smile, just like that of a child.
"Let's not talk about it anymore. I haven't yet wrapped my head around what's happened."
Skylar gave out an 'I give up' signal to her. "Anyways, my mother is again forcing me to accompany her to a kitty party." That was a deliberate attempt to change the topic.
"Oh gosh." Ashley laughed out loud. "Who is the host this time?"
For as long as they had been friends, Ashley had grown used to Mrs Rodriguez's love for these kitty parties.
Mrs Rodriguez loved showing off and was a hard-to-please lady. And as per Skylar, it came as a shock to their entire family when her mother liked Ashley at their first meeting.
She liked her to the point that if she had a son, she would have gotten him married to Ashley right away.
Anyway, the second thing Mrs Rodriguez loved was to drag Skylar with her to these parties. She was very focused on ensuring Skylar a fixed social place in the higher class.
"It is Sofia Jonnes."
The smile was wiped off her face.
"Sofia Jonnes?"
"Yup, the mother of Michael Clark. You must know him. He is your soon-to-be boss."
The name had indeed rung a bell, but she did not know the woman was going to come out as the mother of Michael.
And definitely a lady whom she would be officially meeting in two days as her potential future daughter-in-law.
That thought just made her uncomfortable. Ashley shifted at her place.
"What kind of lady is she? Um- what kind of family is theirs?"
Now that Ashley thought about it, Skylar's family have shared very good relations with the Clarks.
She had talked about their relations here and there at times but not about how they were as a family.
And even if Skylar might have, Ashley never paid any attention before.
She had not known before that she would one day get associated with the family in any way.
"You really getting interested in your boss's family?" There was amusement shining on her face. "Let me tell you beforehand, even if the chance arrived, never get involved with them. All of them are just a bunch of weird stuff."
That grabbed the attention. "What does that mean?"
"Did that come out too scary? Oh, I am sorry about that, but I wanted to have a good start. Joke apart, there is nothing to be afraid but all of them are entirely different from each other."
"Aren't we all different? What's supposed to be weird in this case?"
"They are different to the point that when all of them come together there is just a different vibe in the environment." Skylar got chills remembering that. "The vibe is eerie and it doesn't help that they still have to continue the pretence of a close-knit family."
"Are they not?" Everyone thought they were.
"They used to be. Not anymore. Now there is just a pretence."
"Then why do they all still live together like a happy joint family?"
"Partly because of the orders of Jeremy Clark and also because none of them want to get the property off their hands."
That went deeper than Ashley imagined. But she still could not understand why Michael wished to marry her.
"So is there any condition somewhere in the family that whoever gets married first gets the biggest share or something?"
"As far as I knew, there is none as such. However, the elders in the family are really picky about the partners their children date. I tell you, it's going to be so difficult for the children to get married just to anyone."
"Why so?"
"I think it is because of what happened to Elena Clark."
"Who is-?"
The conversation was stopped by the beep of the alarm.
"Oops, that's my cue. I need to go." Skylar got up and hugged Ashley.
"I thought you were staying." Ashley got up after her.
"No darling. My father has set me up for a business meeting in London."