Chapter 7

"I ain't lying, you'll understand when I explain" she replied, still smiling. "I am a woman.”

“You care to explain this whole twist to me?” Niko took out a handkerchief to clean the sweat on his face, the twists and turns were already too much for him.

“I used a male AI voice to speak to you over the phone." Aaliyah explained.

“Oh shit” Niko stared at her, “ I guess the world is too advanced, it's all getting scary.”

Aaliyah laughed.

"But… Why did you use an Ai voice to speak to me though?" Niko finally let the question out.

She crossed her arms and nodded toward the Winxel building. "Your father owns the AI voice company, and I wanted to show you just how realistic our technology can be. I used it on purpose to introduce you to one of the many innovations you're about to take over.”

Take over? “They already want me to take over a company? Man… This is happening so fast.” Niko took a deep breath, then smiled nervously.

Aaliyah turned to check the time on her wrist watch, and that's when Niko noticed that she was wearing a golden watch all the while “Damn!” He said, more amazed by how comfortable and normal it was for her, she didn't even try to make him notice the watch, unlike other people who'd try to show their riches in anyone's face every single second.

“Niko, it's time for the hiring process, let's go inside.” She said, turning towards the building.

“What? Hiring process?” Niko’s forehead squeezed in confusion.

"I called you here because we're in the process of hiring new talent for the company," she explained, smiling.

“Oh so they want to hire me?”

"No ha ha…. Your father wanted you to observe how the entire recruitment process works, cos you're gonna be taking over the company soon."

Niko nodded, still trying to process the information. "So, this is part of me... taking over?" he asked cautiously.

Aaliyah checked her time again before saying "Exactly. But first, you need to see how things are run in this business from the inside."

“Okay”

Aaliyah gestured toward the entrance of Winxel, and they started walking toward the building together “There's gonna be a lot of cameras flashing at us right now. Try not to speak to them.” Aaliyah warned as she saw a crowd of journalists waiting right beside the entrance.

The moment the reporters spotted Aaliyah, they surged forward, cameras flashing and microphones extended as they asked questions.

"Hey, Miss Aaliyah, do you wanna tell us about this young man with you?" one journalist asked, almost falling to the ground as someone kicked his ankle “Damn it!” He cursed in anger “Watch where you're fucking going!”

Another journalist rushed forward asking "Is he a member of the company? What is his name?”

"Miss Aaliyah, Is the young man your boyfriend?" a third journalist asked eagerly, trying to catch Aaliyah's eye.

But Aaliyah didn't mind and so did Niko. They both held their heads high, ignoring the barrage of questions, knowing that their answers would surely be used for blog content, spreading false and misleading information.

“Man… the attention is too much, why does everyone wanna know me?” Niko felt overwhelmed by the flashing lights from cameras and the noise around him.

“Oh finally!” He took a deep breath, now relieved as they finally entered the Winxel building, leaving the pool of journalists outside.

“You like the place don't you?” Aaliyah asked, smiling as they walked forward.

“Like the place? I love this place for real. I never thought I'd be here one day for anything important.”

“Well you're here Niko, and no longer as a pizza delivery guy. You're here as a rising CEO.” Aaliyah knew Niko's never heard anyone speak to him like that. All his life, it was just insults, hardships and heartbreak. It felt good finally hearing someone speak to him like they believed in him.

“Thank you Aaliyah”

“You are welcome.” She said before pointing to a direction “Let's go this way.”

Aaliyah led Niko to a waiting area where they could sit and observe.

As they walked side by side down the hallway, Niko saw Vikkie and Trevor coming from a distance.

“Oh shit here we go again.” Niko wasn't pleased to see them again.

“What's wrong?” Aaliyah asked.

“See the lady coming right there?”

“The one with the big guy?”

“Exactly.”

“What about her?”

“She's my ex-girlfriend and things don't go so well whenever we meet.”

“Why did y'all break up?”

“Do you want the long or short story?”

“Short.”

“Good. We broke up cos I'm poor and she cheated.”

“correct yourself Niko. You are not poor, you were poor. It's in the past and your story's changing.” She put a friendly hand on his shoulder, shaking him a little bit.

As Vikkie and Trevor got closer, Niko kept his gaze forward, trying to ignore their presence. But Vikkie wasn’t sensible enough to behave herself even in a very organized location like Winxel.

She walked right to them saying "Well, well, look who decided to show up!" she sneered, her voice dripping with mockery.

“You've gone as far as coming into the Winxel building, what might you be doing here?” Trevor followed up with the mockery.

“Maybe he's tired of being a pizza guy so he's here to beg for a job as a janitor ha ha.” He bursted into laughter with Vikkie.

Trevor noticed that Niko wasn't ready to say a word, so he decided to trigger him “Listen to me Niko, this place is way out of your league. They only hire useful people like me and Vikkie, not inexperienced church rats like you.”

“Fool!” Niko clenched his fists and wanted to charge forward, but Aaliyah immediately held him back. “Be calm Niko, don't stoop to their level. You're above that.” She calmly whispered in Niko's ear.

Seeing that, Vikkie shifted her attention to Aaliyah, giving her a once-over. "And who’s this?" she said with a mocking tone, looking directly into Aaliyah’s eyes. “Are you his girlfriend? Huh? Are you the unlucky girl that's decided to date this good for nothing fool?” Vikkie rolled her eyes, clearly trying to provoke a reaction. She made a face to signal an irritation within her, but deep down, she was just jealous of the sight of Aaliyah standing confidently beside Niko, especially since Aaliyah was undeniably more beautiful.

Aaliyah looked at Trevor and Vikkie from head to toe then answered “Who I am doesn't matter. You guys came here looking for a job in this company, and if I were you, I wouldn't be insulting the new CEO like this.”