1.01 New Beginnings

THIS IS THE SECOND CHAPTER! CLICK HERE FOR CHAPTER ONE!

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Previously...

Amelia, born and raised in the busy city of Bridgeport, got an irresistible job offer in the small town Riverblossom Falls. As she had just been insulted by her co-workers calling her a workaholic, it all worked out pretty great. She said goodbye to her parents, took her few belongings and moved into a shabby Riverblossom Falls motel while frantically searching for an apartment.

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Amelia's first night at the motel seemed to be yet another test of her willpower and stubbornness.

Having gotten used to living in a pretty new apartment building with well isolated walls and a firm structure - the wind now howling outside her window and the beams of the old house making weird, creaking noises made her uneasy to say the least. She awoke several times during the night, convinced that some predator animal was standing outside of her window. Naturally therefore, as morning came, a rather sleepy Amelia got up to get ready for the first day at her new job.

As things turned out, the Mineor Inc. office building was one of the downtown ones that she had scoffed at just the day before. Now that she could see it up close however, it looked more imposing and intimidating, with its black marble walls and big, sparkling windows.

Amelia licked her lips nervously, straightened out her skirt and shook her head to make her hair fall in a natural way. Right as she was about to take the first step towards her new life, she heard a voice from behind and a moment later a man was standing in front of her.

”Hello there, you must be Miss Sterling!” The man looked very cheerful with a big smile on his face that was partly covered by a thick, dark beard. Both his hair and beard were black with silvery streaks in it. “Just the way I like it” Amelia thought before forcefully clearing her mind and stretching her hand out to him.

”Yes, that's me.” The man took her hand in a firm grip and shook it, holding on to it for a moment longer than she had anticipated while his steel gray eyes stared straight into hers.

”I'm Mort Termine, very pleased to meet you Miss Sterling. We have been looking for someone like you for quite some time, I am sure you will fit in perfectly here.” Amelia was dumb struck for a moment. This was Mort Termine, the mastermind behind the company's success? In her head she had made him up to be an elderly, obese man with white hair and a hot temper. This man seemed to be the very opposite, although he certainly wasn't young. She guessed him to be around forty-five, maybe fifty.

”It is very nice to meet you, Mr. Termine” she exclaimed, ”and I'm so honored to get this opportunity to work for your company”. She hoped she didn't sound like a suck up. That wouldn't be a very good label to get right off the bat.

”I’m glad to hear it. I was just about to go inside to do the Monday briefing; I assume you will want to attend?” Amelia was flustered. What did he mean? He was the boss, and she was new, why would he ask her what she wanted?

”Yes, yes of course, that sounds good.” She finally replied, some confusion still in her voice despite her attempt at disguising it.

”Great! Follow me, then.” Mr. Termine continued and led Amelia towards the steps.

He carried on with his cheery conversation until the very moment they stepped inside the conference room where the meeting was to be held.

Amelia's head was swimming with impressions as she left work that evening. When she got back to the motel she immediately slipped into a hot bath and went through the day in her head.

It had been chock full of meetings, introductions and hard work. She had wanted to impress from the start, and without tooting her own horn, she had the feeling that most of the office workers had gotten a good impression of her. Well maybe not Mr. Termine's assistant Laura, she had seemed cold and standoffish.

But overall, to sum up the day, Amelia was pleased. The work seemed very rewarding and of a high standard. Right on her level. And the other employees, well, while they were small town folk, she rather enjoyed their company. She had only seen Mr. Termine at the morning meeting. At the end of it, he had been whisked off by some black suited men and a few minutes later she had heard the distinct noise of a helicopter taking off. No one in the office had even looked up from their desks, so she supposed it was a regular occurrence. “One day that will be me”, she thought to herself, one day she would be the CEO with the money, the helicopter and the penthouse suite.

After a nice, long bath followed by a quick, cold shower (due to the water dispenser apparently being drained pretty rapidly) Amelia decided to go out. She didn't have much food and, as she had determined the day before, the kitchen wasn't very inviting anyway.

The local sports bar where she soon found herself was a small, dark place with mostly liquor on the shelves, as it turned out.

But they did have some food, and Amelia wolfed down the questionable pasta dish as if she hadn't seen food in days. While eating, she noticed a man sitting on a bar stool a couple of meters away from her. He was watching her. Amelia smiled to herself.

”I bet these hicks aren't used to seeing women like me.” She examined him from the corner of her eye. He wasn't really her type, but she wouldn't mind a bit of harmless flirting. As Amelia handed her empty plate to the bartender and stood up to leave, the man made his move, casually walking towards her. She was amused. This guy was pretty self-assured. She looked up at him with a coy smile as he stood in front of her.

”I'm sorry for bothering you” he said in an excusing manner ”but I was wondering where you got that jacket, it's just my wife's taste, she would love it.” He smiled honestly. The smile on Amelia’s face had disappeared instantly and she felt like the blood in her head had done the same. Her first thought was to turn and storm out of the place, she was so humiliated. But on second thought she realized that this man wasn't trying to make fun of her and she hadn't really lost face - no one could know what she had thought.

”Oh... Well, I got it in a boutique in Bridgeport a few months back. I don't think they still have it in, though, I'm sorry.” She tried to smile as kindly as he had as she nodded a goodbye and left, hanging her head to hide the deep blush on her face.

The incident at the sports bar had humbled Amelia enough, so that when she was invited to a small dinner party a few weeks later, she didn't see herself as above the other guests, even if they were small town folk. She started getting ready hours in advance, nervously choosing a dress, fixing her hair and making sure the nylon pantyhose didn’t have any holes in them.

One shouldn't overestimate the power of humiliation though, because the fact that Mort Termine was the dinner host, probably had a part in Amelia's excessive preparations as well. She had only met him a few times since that first day, but every single conversation between the two of them had felt meaningful and interesting. Amelia thought highly of her boss's boss's boss, and this would be the first time she visited his downtown apartment.

At 8 o'clock sharp Amelia arrived at 8 Roth Square. If she had just arrived there from Bridgeport she wouldn't have thought much of the building, but by Riverblossom Falls standards it was huge, and Amelia's perception of things had shifted quite a bit during the last few weeks. She looked up at the building in awe.

And to top it all off the Termines lived on the top floor. As she went through the street door, a familiar voice hollered behind her.

”Hey, Amelia, wait up!” It was Mort's assistant, Laura. She seemed more cheerful than Amelia had ever seen her before, and she was dressed in a very pretty purple dress that hugged her tiny form beautifully. Amelia waited, holding the heavy door, while Laura ran towards her in her sky high heels.

”Thanks!” Laura exclaimed breathlessly. ”I've been running for five minutes! The cab broke down and I just didn't have time to wait for another one. I know how much Mr. Termine values punctuality. This is my first invitation here, you know, I'm so nervous – aren't you?” Amelia marveled at the sudden change in Laura's behavior. She had never spoken a word to Amelia without necessity, and now she was rambling on as if they were buddies.

”Yeah, I'm a little nervous.” Amelia lied. She was incredibly nervous. The elevator doors opened and the two of them went in. The moment the doors had re-closed, Laura turned to Amelia and said in a low, confidential voice:

”I'm engaged! Oh, we were supposed to keep it quiet, but I just can't contain myself, isn't it wonderful!?” She didn't wait for her new found friend's response, but pulled her into an energetic hug.

”You know I was hung up on Mr. Termine for so long, it feels sooo good to finally have someone who appreciates you back, you know?” Amelia nodded distractedly. The doors opened and they both went into the hall, full of anticipation to see Mr. Termine's fancy apartment.

Nothing terribly exciting happened at the dinner party. It was a nice little gathering, a select few of Mr. Termine's employees. By chance, Amelia was seated next to the host and she just couldn't help looking at him a little extra whenever she thought no one saw her.

Taking the tour of his apartment had surprised her and opened up a new side of him to her. It wasn't at all pretentious, as she had anticipated. The style was, if it could even be called a ”style”, was very casual and down-to-earthy. Excepting the incredible view, no one could have guessed that this was the home of a person with money.

Amelia admired her employer for this, but at the same time she couldn't help but think that if she had been in his shoes, she certainly would have done things differently.

As the night progressed the guests said their goodbyes one by one. No one seemed particularly interested in staying, except Amelia. When she was the last one left, having accompanied Mr. Termine to the door to say goodnight to Laura, she offered to help clean up the dishes. Mr. Termine obliged her, seeming a bit distracted and out of sorts himself. As they entered the small kitchen they met Tilly Termine, Mort's daughter.

”Oh, sorry dad” she said apologetically ”I was just getting a glass of water. I'm going to bed.”

”Don't worry, honey, you don't have to sneak around just because I have people over, you know that.”

”Yeah, I know, but I just feel awkward.” Tilly glanced at Amelia and then back at her father. ”You have fun, I'm off to bed.” She said with a crooked smile.

Her father cleared his throat and went to get the rest of the plates from the dining room.

”All good things must come to an end” Amelia reminded herself as the clock struck two. She stood up from the comfortable armchair where she had been sitting, talking about work with her boss for what seemed like only a couple of minutes, in actuality a couple of hours.

”I guess I should go...” She said meekly and motioned for the door.

”I'll follow you to the elevator.”

”Thank you for tonight Mr. Termine. It's been great, I'm sure the others think so too.” Amelia said, taking her boss's hand to shake it courteously as they stood waiting for the elevator. Suddenly, without a word, he stepped in closely and looked into her eyes with a pained expression.

Amelia didn't know what to do. What did this mean? She didn't get the chance to ask. Mr. Termine took both of her hands in his.

He looked at her imploringly, beginning slowly...

”Miss Sterling... Amelia... I... I’ve never met anyone like you. You make me feel hot and cold at the same time. I can't stand being near you... Because all I want is to get closer.” Amelia stared at him in utter disbelief. Was this happening?

”Do you... Do you feel... Anything?” His voice was soft and demure. She couldn't stand it.

”Yes. Yes, I've felt it since the first time we met. But you're my boss...” She stared down at the floor, biting her lip anxiously. He grabbed her chin softly and tilted her head back up, willing her to stare back into his gray eyes.

”I don't care.” The words hit her like a huge wave of warm, enveloping water. He leaned in closer. She stood on her tip toes. They kissed.

For several minutes they stood there in the middle of the hallway, kissing passionately but calmly, furiously but softly. In silence they went back into the apartment. No words were needed.

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That's some romantic sillyness for ya! I just love Mort, he's adorable. And I also have to say, when I created him it was for blog picture purposes only, but they hit it off so well and finally I had to give in - they wanted each other! So I guess I'm breaking another challenge rule here (if I'm not mistaken you can't get your sims together with other CAS-made sims, right?). Sorry about that. Oh, and another thing, Mort isn't married! It's just him and Tilly so this is all proper and legit. :)

Now what did you think of the chapter?

/Alexandra

It's big foot!

"This guy is craaazyyy."

  Epic miss.