Early morning

Unfolding the newspaper, I spot the fifth article I have seen this week about cyborg parts being hacked. All the other articles I have seen were on my phone, so I thought that I was seeing them so frequently because they were curated for my interests. My interests being the company that has been making and distributing the cybernetic parts since it is the company that the man I just got engaged to is next in line to inherit.

I usually do not get the newspaper, but I convinced my fiancé to put the announcement of our engagement in the paper. The newspaper gives me nostalgia for a time I have never seen. Newspaper makes me think of the old television shows where the sky is blue, and the grass is green. I wonder if the sky was ever actually blue; some of the books I read in school mention that it used to be before the smog became so overpowering that it turned red but as far as I know it has always been a dark rust color except for the yellow it became when it rained. I know that there are some places where the grass is still green, but I have never been out of the city; I have never actually seen real grass.

My fiancé is Charles Harrington, heir to the Harrington group, and he promised that we would go on an engagement excursion to find the perfect place for us to exchange vows. I really want to get married where the grass is still green; it is like a testament to how something can have longevity and be real. We are going to be leaving tomorrow so I should get back to packing but I can’t stop thinking about what we might see outside of the city. He said that I do not really need to pack since we can just pick up anything I may need along the way. New clothes in every city would feel so extravagant but I cannot help but think about how so many people have trouble getting new clothes. When I walk to work, I see children whose white button-up shirts from their school uniforms have turned orange from being outside too long in the smog.

The Harrington group is responsible for most of the pollution, and many of the other corporations responsible for the pollution have closed because they could not compete with us. The government determined the Harrington group liable for the damages done by smog. The sunlight cannot reach the ground, so it is nearly impossible to get enough vitamin D from that alone and the plants need artificial sunlight to grow so fruit is expensive. One of the subsidiaries of the Harrington group, Harrington Tech, invented metal bone supports that grow as people age in the same pattern that organic bones grow. The metal bone supports are surgically implanted as soon as someone starts to walk. With how scarce nutritious food is, Harrington Tech also made metal arm supports which are usually implanted before someone starts school with just enough time to heal before their first classes.

I had my metal arm supports implanted three months before I started kindergarten. I healed faster than most of my friends, but that is probably because my parents both have high ranks within the Harrington group, so I was gifted many fresh fruits and nutritious foods from their coworkers who were members of the Harrington group themselves. We may not be related to the family that owns the organization, but they treated me like a daughter before I was even about to join their family.

I have been working at companies owned by the Harrington group ever since I was a teenager which is not very surprising since they own most of the companies that are still open. I have always known that I would get a high ranking in the Harrington group since both of my parents have high ranking positions and that seems to be the only way to ascend since it seems everyone fighting for a role gets the same education. But I never imagined that my ascent would be catapulted by marrying the heir; he is almost like royalty. Charles told me that he would give me a job on top but that is not why I love him.

I feel like we were destined to be together. As a member of another prestigious family, the Washington family, it was always expected that I would marry well but I never expected that my marriage would be to the son of the wealthiest family around. I remember the day he asked me to be his girlfriend, it was an ordinary day, but it felt like my feet did not touch the floor on my way to work and when I got there he was in my office with flowers. I never considered him before that moment because I thought that he did not like me that way but how could I reject him in front of all my co-workers especially since so many of them were his family members.

He proved himself to me afterwards. Charles told me that he fell in love with me the first met we many years ago when we were children at one of the dinners hosted by the organization. He was the only person there the same age as me there since many of our parents’ coworkers’ children are older, so we ended up talking all night. He must have been so lonely all these years; his family expects so much from him and he needs to be carefully of who he talks to in order to not soil his family’s reputation in the public eye.

After he proposed to me, I was appointed to the position of head event planner for the extravagant dinners put on for the most important employees. It almost seemed like the engagement was also a promotion within the organization. My soon-to-be father-in-law, Lucas Harrington, told me that our extravagant dinners are important for maintaining sponsors. But I don’t think that we are endanger of losing sponsors since most of them oversee our subsidiaries. It seems like they are spending their paycheck where they earn it, but they must just be determined for their projects to succeed.

The first dinner I am in-charge of planning and hosting is happening tonight and I probably should be paying more attention to finalizing the last details for that dinner instead of packing for tomorrow’s excursion. It has been a week since he proposed but I have not been able to even think about planning the wedding because I was immediately given the project of the end of the first fiscal quarter’s celebratory dinner. We did not make a lot of improvement this quarter but none of the other corporate groups took the lead that we have over the market.

I have been working day and night to prepare for the dinner tonight. I needed to determine what theme the party should be and order the caterers and decorations accordingly. As I fold another shirt, I cannot stop myself from worrying about how the dinner will go. This dinner will solidify my place in my soon-to-be husband’s family and since his family is held is high regard by the public, it will also determine the public’s perception of me.

The sun is practically impossible to see through the smog, but it is supposed to be rising right now so once I pack a little more, I am going to visit the caterers before going to the office. I need to make sure they have enough raw foods to be ready to cook the dishes for tonight so that each guest gets a freshly cooked meal. I wanted to make this feast a buffet, but I was told that the guests deserve the finest and most fresh foods and that the guests having to serve themselves would be an insult. Even though I have been invited to the dinner as a guest, I know that I am going to be working the whole time and I am not going to make the people I am in charge of serve me because I already know that the other guest will be treating them poorly.

I have worked with so many of my colleagues that I am now in charge of; I choose Harrington’s Bistro to cater the event tonight because I used to work at their location in the city, and the crew there are the only people that I could trust to have everything ready in time without serving reheated frozen foods.

I have known most of the catering crew there since we were in elementary school. We all had a strong bond since we were hired at the same time, trained with each other and worked together for five years. Three years ago, I had to leave the catering crew because I was promoted to a marketing position. I was not really allowed to reject the position, but I was able to convince the Harrington group to let me stay working with the subsidiary linked to the bistro instead of their clothing company like they wanted. I was chosen to move onto marketing because that is what my father does and they probably wanted me to work for one of their fashion companies because my mother, Sarah Washington, is the lead fashion designer for the haute couture fashion house owned by the organization.

The marketing job was miserable since cooking is my passion, but I was able to make sure the bistro’s ambience did not change too much when I was in that position. The bistro felt like more of a family restaurant than one that is part of a huge corporation.

I would help with the catering crew’s larger orders when I did not work there just because my friends would have to work when I was available to hang out. It felt like I was given that marketing position just so I could not spend time with them anymore. But the position of head event planner must have been chosen for me because of my dedication to the catering crew.

All this reminiscing is going to distract me from heading out today so I should zip my suitcase and run to the bistro. I have to put this newspaper someplace special, but for now I will just put it on my bedside table.

“Are you going to be in the kitchen with us tonight?” Corey said as I walked into the kitchen of the bistro.

“Sorry, guys. I have to help guests to their seats when you all are going to be cooking, and Boss Harrington wants me to give a speech right before the meals get served. I will see what I can do, people will probably not be showing up to be seated before you start cooking.”

I could hear the hope in his voices as he said that, so it hurt to let down the closest member of my crew. Corey Thomas Hale has been my best friend since we were both five years old. Inez and Daisy greet me and I could see the disappointment in their eyes after hearing the news, but I know that they were not really disappointed in me, they were disappointed with the situation that we found ourselves in.

Lonnie came out of the pantry. “We are all set for tonight. We will get started on prepping the food to where we can just heat it up on site, but you should head to your office. I cannot imagine what this day will be like for you do I wish you the best and hope this event runs smoothly for all of us.”

Lonnie Frazier is the most responsible of our friend group, and I don’t know how I could survive without him. I was running late, so I followed Lonnie’s advice and started to walk down the street. I needed to be at the office in time to accept the delivery of Mercury Orchids. I chose orchids because they are a symbol of love and strength, but I had to order them from a different planet because they no longer grow on Earth.