Chapter 49: Side Job Offer
The next morning arrived quietly.
Sunlight slipped through the thin curtains of Sienna’s bedroom and landed gently across her face, as if the world had decided to greet her with unusual kindness for once.
For a few seconds, she lay still, blinking slowly at the ceiling, her mind blank and peaceful.
Then, her eyes widened.
She sat up so quickly that the blanket slid down to her lap without warning, her hair falling messily around her face as one thought crashed into her mind like an alarm bell.
Her phone.
Without even bothering to fix her appearance, Sienna reached for it on the bedside table, her fingers moving faster than her still half-awake brain.
She unlocked the screen and quickly checked her call log, her heart pounding with a mix of curiosity and nerves she wasn’t ready to face.
There it was. The call record with Zachary was not a dream. Not her imagination.
"Oh my god..." she whispered, staring at the screen as if it might suddenly change its mind. "So all of that actually happened...?"
Her shoulders slowly dropped, and then, without realizing, she covered her face with her free hand, letting out a soft groan that sounded like a mix of embarrassment and disbelief.
"His side job offer was real?" she muttered into her palm.
Worse, she had accepted it without shame because she needed more money to survive this month.
Sienna sighed deeply, seated at the edge of her bed. Then, she shook her head as if trying to physically remove the memory from her mind.
"How could you agree just like that?" she scolded herself under her breath. "Are you out of your mind?"
Her hand dropped, and she stared at her reflection in the dark screen of her phone, narrowing her eyes at herself.
"Girl, you are not Ava," she continued, her tone firm, as if she were delivering a lecture to a particularly stubborn student. "You don’t have a fancy certificate. You are not some professional chef who can flip a pan and make people cry from happiness."
She paused, then added dryly, "The only person who cries from your cooking is probably you... when you burn it."
A small sigh escaped her lips.
Still, despite all the criticism, there was something else lingering beneath it, something lighter, excitement.
Sienna pressed her lips together, then shook her head again, this time more gently.
"Girl, this is a side job," she said, trying to sound reasonable. "Extra income. You need this! You don’t want to survive this month without eating instant noodles every day, right?"
She nodded to herself, as if settling an internal argument.
"Yes. Exactly. This is a smart decision," she concluded.
Though the faint smile tugging at her lips suggested she wasn’t entirely convinced.
With a deep breath, she stood up from the bed, stretching slightly as her body adjusted to the morning.
But just as she took a step toward the bathroom, something made her pause.
His voice started to replay in her mind so clearly that it almost felt like he was standing right behind her.
"Sienna, it doesn’t really matter how good your cooking skills are... If you can only cook simple, home-cooked food, that’s okay. We’re not picky..."
She frowned.
"We?" she repeated softly.
That single word suddenly felt... suspicious.
Sienna slowly turned her head, as if the answer might be hiding somewhere in her room.
"Who is ’we’?" she murmured.
Last night, she clearly remembered asking him how many people would be there, who they were, and whether she needed to prepare for anything special.
And what did he do? Of course, he dodged the question like a professional. She remembers him saying, "No need to worry about those. You only need to agree with the offer."
Sienna took another deep breath.
"Zach, you know what? You are so suspicious," she muttered.
She began to imagine herself walking into a villa filled with strangers, expecting five-star dining, only to find herself standing there, holding a frying pan and wearing a confused expression.
"Great," she sighed. "You might accidentally start a food disaster this weekend."
But instead of panicking, she found herself chuckling softly.
Because somehow... she wasn’t afraid.
Annoyed? Yes.
Curious? Definitely.
But afraid? Not really.
Shaking her head, she finally continued toward the bathroom, deciding that worrying about mysterious "we" people could wait.
Right now, she has a job to get to, and hopefully, good news is waiting for her there.
The morning passed smoothly after that.
A quick shower was enough to wash away the last traces of sleep, and by the time Sienna stepped out, her thoughts felt clearer, lighter.
She dressed in her usual formal clothes, choosing something neat yet comfortable, then stood in front of the mirror to fix her hair. She let it fall loose over her back.
"This looks normal, right?" she said in her reflection.
After applying light makeup, just enough to look awake and alive, Sienna stepped into the kitchen, where something she had neglected for days quietly waited for her. Her coffee maker.
She paused for a moment, staring at it like it was an old friend she had accidentally ignored.
"Oh..." she murmured. "You still exist."
With a small smile, she walked over and began preparing her favorite morning latte. The familiar routine felt comforting.
The sound of the machine and the smell of freshly brewed coffee filling the air were enough to calm her morning.
She leaned against the counter, holding the warm cup in her hands, and took a slow sip.
"Well, even you can’t cook as deliciously as Ava. At least you can make perfect coffee..." She tries to humor herself.
The tension from the incident with Angie and Anna had finally lifted, at least for now.
And she remembered Riley’s confident words from last night, that today, they would see a satisfying result.
Sienna smiled faintly, her fingers tightening slightly around the cup.
"I wonder what kind of chaos you created this time, Riley..." she murmured.
Knowing him, it wouldn’t be something simple.
And somehow, that thought made her even more eager to get to the office.
Because today wasn’t just another workday.
It was the day everything would finally be revealed.
Sienna finished her latte, set the cup down, and grabbed her bag.
"Alright," she said softly to herself, a small smile forming on her lips. "Let’s see what kind of surprise is waiting for me today."