Indulging the Billionaire ✔️

7. Fired

Sanaah was fidgeting the entire drive towards the orchard. It had been almost eighteen hours since she last saw them all. After that, she had a few hours to put together her outfit and work on the remaining files online. The next-door neighbour decided to show up with a casserole.

Everything felt surreal and new to her. No one in New York did that. She had no idea who stays beside her flat because she never bothered to visit them. Again there were only two flats on her floor. All she knew was there was one teenager who keeps on blasting angsty 80s music.

As much as she liked to blend in with the crowd at Minnesota it was impossible.

She was dressed in Stella McCartney pink Kallie shorts, showing off her bronze skin. Along with that, she wore Tommy Hilfiger's white cotton top. It felt appropriate with her Jimmy Choo silver pumps. For the first time, she felt cursing herself about not packing knee-length boots. Carrying a purse felt too much but she had to keep her phone somewhere so she decided to carry her Louis Vuitton bag.

Adjusting her Burberry sunglasses she squinted at the sun outside. Eight in the morning was too early for her but she wasn't going to let Zander win.

Her cheeks heated up at the thought of him. Obviously, Nina and he were an item and she was shamelessly gawking that man. She was not going to let him cheat because that's the worst kind of pain, being cheated on, in the world. Besides how hard can it be to stay away from him?

***

As soon as she entered the orchard Lenon spotted her. She gave him a wave and when he waved back a smile pulled at her lips. Sanaa could be friends with him in spite of his slang and awful flannel. That's something she had to accept it.

"Ready for work?" Lenon blinked his eyes at her but shook his head instead of as she walked towards him. The driver went away after she told him to swing by evening to pick her up. She also had his number just in case.

"As ready as I can be" She whispered, tightening her hold around the bag. The store was still closed which meant she was not late. During the entire ride, she kept on checking her Chanel watch.

"Umm...never mind. You have to pack with Neil"

She raised her eyebrow at that, "But he's the manager"

"It doesn't matter. The store doesn't open till another hour so he'll show you how to pack. I have to go do some deliveries with James"

She quietly stared at the farmhouse, hoping to get a peek of Zander.

Lenon cleared his throat," Zander had conference calls today so he won't be joining us"

Her cheeks flamed at being caught but she shrugged anyways and walked in search of Niel. She didn't have the chance to talk with him one on one.

"Good morning" She greeted pushing the door of the storage room.

Neil who was in the middle of throwing apples in the bag. Is that it? She thought staring at the way his hands were working at inhuman speed.

"Hi morning"

"So what should I do?"

Neil blinked at her, "Umm are sure you can work in that?"

Offended she looked at herself and then back at him, "What's wrong with my outfit?"

Neil folded his lips in and shook his head, "Nothing. Just put these gloves on"

Her nose scrunched up when she noticed the thick dark gloves. They looked disgusting and she didn't want to harm her skin by putting those on. When Niel gave her a side glare she immediately picked them up.

"You have to wear gloves so that the germs on your hands don't get on apples. They are fresh from the cooler and already been  labelled so the only thing we have to do is pack them in peck apple bags for storage."

They get right to packing right away after that, and Sanaah quickly figured out that the job is easy enough but incredibly boring. It is simple. Just open the bag, hook the strings on either side of pegs so it stays open, put labelled apples in until they weigh ten pounds, twist the bag strings, put the bag into a box, and repeat.

It doesn't get boring when Neil starts talking. Well turns out he's quite a chatterbox. She finds out about his early education and that he has a business degree from Wharton. It's impressive and unlike Lenon his accent is thick. Neil is half Irish American which explains the reason behind his accent.

Nina is his half-sister and has been getting into trouble lately so he asked Zander for work. That's how she ended up working part-time. Her college is a few streets away so it's easy for her to get there after her shift.

"What about you? Why did you choose Minnesota of all places?" Neil questioned after they were done with few boxes.

Colour drained her face at that and she shifted her head around. There was no way she could reveal the real reason she was visiting Minnesota. He would tell Zander and she would be thrown out of orchard without a thought.

"I wish I had an interesting answer. It just seemed like an escape I was looking for. My friend, Josh suggested this place so well here I am"

Inwardly she cringed referring to Josh as her friend. If anything he was opposite of the friend. Neil didn't need to know that. He accepted the answer and moved on finally to something else. A sigh of relief escaped her lips.

"So how did you end up working here of all places? You have a Wharton degree?" She asked after a few more minutes of the idle chat. That question was going in her mind ever since he told about his degree. It was impressive and he would get a job anywhere in New York in the blink of an eye.

Neil laughed, "I was waiting for you to ask that. It's a funny story actually. Back in college, Zander was my roommate. We have been friends for a while. After our finals, he asked me if I was interested to be a manager at his orchard. I said yes"

"That's crazy" She breathed. It was too risky and something she would have never agreed.

Neil laughed, the sound echoed around the room, "I know. That's what everyone said to me. I had a job offer but still, I did not think twice before saying yes to Zander"

"Wow"

"What about Lenon?" She questioned further

Neil hummed while throwing the apples in the bag, "Lenon and Zander have been friends since forever. He was doing his degree in marketing or something when Zander called him up. The next day he was at the orchard with his bag"

She couldn't wrap her mind around it. Two of them drop their entire career and everything just because of Zander. It was crazy to think about what would have happened if the orchard wouldn't have been successful. She would have never got the chance to know any of them.

"Weren't you guys scared?"

"Hi" Zander poked his head inside. She stilled at his voice and stared in the direction of him. He was wearing a red and black striped flannel with tight skinny jeans and his infamous boots. For some reason the hat he was wearing made him look like a cowboy.

"Done with meetings?" Neil laughed knowingly. What was that about?

Zander groaned, "I hate them. Why do I have to endure those painful hours?"

She was surprised at that. Wow. Wasn't he supposed to enjoy sitting in his air-conditioned room and work? He is the boss for Christ's sake.

"You don't like working in your office?" She asked unable to hold herself.

Neil laughed, "Oh no. Zander here would rather work extra hours in the orchard than talk with those suitans"

"Suitans?"

Zander grinned, "Suit aliens. I came up with that"

He seemed proud of that. His dimples digging into the side of his cheeks as he said that. Such a dork!

"Of course you did" Sanaah rolled her eyes while handing the bag to Neil.

"What were you guys talking about?"

"Sanaah was interested to know why did we end up working in the orchard"

Zander flashed his teeth, "Did you tell her it was because of my highly intelligent brain and good looks?"

"Are you always this modest?" Sanaa questioned, an amused smile on her lips as she weighted another bag. It was exactly ten pounds.

"Well, I try" Zander shrugged, wriggling his eyebrows at her. Was he trying to flirt again? God, she was so done.

Neil grunted, "Why are you here again?"

"Because Neil I will kill myself if I have to hear one more second of data analysis graph" Zander exhaled dramatically.

"You should have sat one more second then" Neil snickered, his eyes focused on the weighing machine.

Sanaah giggled at the look on Zander's face.

"You're so mean Neil"

"I think you deserve" Sanaah sweetly said

Zander groaned, "Now you too?"

"I couldn't resist"

"That's it you both are fired" Zander huffed while Neil and Sanaah laughed at his face.

***