Prologue: Of all things unsightly

In the quiet hallways of Song Corporation, the sound of the clicking heels on the perfectly tiled floor echoed from the red-bottomed stilettos of the only secretary of the Corporation. A hiss left her lips, hands involuntarily reaching for her foot. The files that she was holding remained steady despite her sudden crouching.

"This is what I get for impulsively buying heels that are not meant for office work." Natalia rubbed the back of her ankles, the skin was red and looked close to bleeding. The girl could only furrow her brows, and with a click of her tongue, she took off her heels and held the pair in one hand. She walked barefoot towards her boss' office.

Yes, barefooted. Because what's life without a bit of sophistry?

Her steps, now unhindered from her heels ( beauty is nothing without pain), were quicker, more deft. And in no time, she arrived in front of her boss's office.

Swiping her hands underneath her eyes, hoping the eye bags underneath them, away (as if they would ever go away that easily) Natalia knocked on the door with an automatic smile she had mastered long before she entered the office life.

"Mr. Song, I have the papers you asked for." Her voice was chip, crisp, and confident. Natalia didn't bother on waiting for the answer behind the door, as she pushed open, her perfect little smile still in place. Even after she saw the frown marring the good looks of her boss.

" I did not say you could come in." The owner of the song corporation started but swallowed his words when Natalia unceremoniously dumped the files onto his table. He eyed the heels that were on Natalia's first before the smile that was on her face.

"I wasn't about to wait another minute and a half for you to gather your bearings before finally letting me in," Natalia said, her smile turning sharp. But the only thing she received was a blank look in return from her boss. "Sir, if I may."

"You may not-" Her boss started, his words had a strong hint of kicking her out of the office if she dared to continue with her words. But she at this point, hardly cared anymore. The secretary merely addressed her boss with serene eyes, as if she was already detached from the consequences if her boss got angry.

But his words were cut off- no, it was more appropriate to say that his words got stuck to the back of his throat and refused to come out when Natalia calmly and gently slid an envelope towards his direction.

The eyes of the young head of the Song corporation shook, and in return the smile on Natalia's eyes deepened. She was relishing every moment of this.

Natalia met the shaking eyes of her boss squarely.

"Sir." She started, her tone clip and clear, it wasn't high, nor was it fast. But it brought an unprecedented amount of anxiety to the young head of the Song corporation. Natalia however, didn't bat a eyelid, it was if she didn't see the distressed look her boss was shooting her.

"Along with the files that you asked for, I also came here to pass my resignation letter." Seeing that her boss was unresponsive, Natalia pushed her letter a little bit more towards her soon to be ex-boss with nothing but a smile on her face.

Mr. Song's eyes shook some more, looking like if you pinch his eyes tears would already drip down and leave a heavy trail of watermarks. However by the time he scrambled to get a word out, Natalia does what she does best, she cut him off once again.

This time though, she didn't do it with her words but with her actions.

Natalia turned around, in her hands her red bottomed heels swinging as she did so, and walked right out of the office with nothing but a humming tune of what sounded suspiciously like the tone of "material girl".

Left alone in his office, the head of the Song corporation snapped out of his dreary reverie with gritted teeth, he snatched the resignation letter that was left on top of his table with whitened knuckles.

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When Natalia came out, it was only then she realized how late it was. The city lights illuminated her face as she shakily walked out of the tall skyscraper she once called second home.

"God..." tiredly, the former secretary stretched out her arms, bag loosely hanging from her shoulders her red bottomed heels still clutched in between her fingers. With her free hand Natalia tried to rub the tiredness away from her eyes, of course it merely worked for a split second.

But her mood didn't stay somber for long, as she was still unusually happy.

Unusually happy for a person who was now unemployed.

Finding it futile in wishing her tiredness away despite being in a good mood, the woman walked forward with her free hand reaching for her phone in her bag. When she turned her phone on, the time was already 30 minutes pass midnight.

"Ugh, I forgot to have dinner." Natalia stopped in her tracks, suddenly realizing that fact. "But you know what? Who cares about food when I'm finally free of that guy's clutches!" Raising her hands towards the night skies, Natalia clawed the air, her heels clinking on her other hand as she did so.

"HEAR THAT SONG?? you can go and get your own three shot black coffee with one packet of syrup and three pumps of whip cream all by yourself!" Natalia shot a glare at the skyscraper behind her, the hand that was holding her heels pointed at the tall building with an accusing glare and an equally loud accusing voice.

The woman attracting more attention to her shouting than the fact that she's barefooted and looked like she needs all the eye cream and sleep she could get.

However, the woman was in too much of a good mood to care, and instead skipped to a nearby bus waiting area instead.

"Rest, read, eat and repeat!" The woman chanted to herself, gone was the elegant lady that once strutted the halls of a corporation too big for her own liking. Right now, there was only a image of a reader ready to devour a book.

Natalia giggled to herself, phone in hand heels on the other.

"Time to re-read, re-read, re-read." Her sing-song voice didn't stop even after she arrived at the bus waiting area, but it did stop the passerbys by blocking her way. Eyes was glued on her screen, the glow reflected Natalia's all time favorite lightnovel.

[Doki, doki! I'm starting a mischief deal prince!]

Was the name of the lightnovel that Natalia was hellbent on re-reading, it was a third rate novel that consisted of your typical Heroine, male lead, and villainess. The book itself wasn't good, but it was a source of good memories for Natalia.

"To celebrate coming out of prison after 7 years! Whoohoo!" More eyes were thrown unto her way as she shouted boisterously, letting go of he image as a secretary of a well known president. Even in her days in the orphanage, Natalia Ong never once got tired of rereading this book.

And that was because of one character, and one character only. The villainess of the novel, Leticia Medicci.

The daughter of the richest duke in a fantasy oriented setting in the novel a third rate villainess at best- Leticia Monique Valentina Medicci.

In the third rate novel, the villainess was the only thing that was worth reading for, and maybe the only reason why the novel wasn't outright considered as trash. Many had shared their sentiments online, that Leticia desperately needed to get her justice from the author.

However, it was far too late, because the author killed off the best character in the story just for the female and male lead to prosper.

"For the plot." The author stated online while shying away from public outrage.

This was her only comfort, and now, her only form of celebratory reprise.

Of course when Natalia found out that the author killed the only worthwhile character, she was one of the first people that boycotted the novel.

"You can't bring back a character you killed without fucking up the already fucked up plotline!"

But in the end she ultimately decided to read it again for old time purposes, of course she doesn't read it all the way to the end when they killed the villainess.

"Justice to the villainess!"

Would fill the page of the author until all social media accounts of hers turned private.

"Justice to the villainess." Natalia snickered to herself, leaving a comment on the illegal website she was on. It was almost like a ritual for her all these years. After the author posted the chapter where they described the horrific death of the villainess, commenting 'justice to the villainess' became a habit.

"Miss Ong!" However, Natalia's celebration was cut short, her eyes leaving the chapter on her phone to look at the shout that was coming from the road leading to the Song corporation's building.

What she saw made her instantly switch to her flight or fight response.

A horde of men in black suits, people that she could instantly recognize as Mr. Song's bodyguards.

"Miss Ong, the president wants to you see you!" The bodyguards clamoured from afar, Natalia felt her jaw slackening at the lengths her boss would go through just to get her back, he would even send his whole team of bodyguard just for this.

"I already left my resignation letter on your boss' table, leave me alone!!" Natalia shouted her grip on her phone tightened, she resisted the urge to throw her red bottomed heels on the distance between her and the horde of bodyguards.

Talk about overkill.

The woman started to back up as the bodyguards closed the distance between her and them-

She backed up until the last thing she heard was the loud honk of the on coming bus that she was waiting for to get home.

She barely registered the bus hitting her before Natalia's vision blacked out.