STANLEY’S POV
I arrived late at the usual joint and thought the welcome party would have started but I met Tina, Amanda and Bea alone having fun. I first thought Petals went out briefly but when I didn’t see her in the next few minutes, I was forced to ask for her.
“Did she not come?” I asked, looking around the restaurant
“I did gave her the address, I don’t know why she’s not here” Tina lied blatantly and Bea was forced to react to her shamelessness
“Try calling her then, she might not be able to find her way” I suggested but the three of them only exchanged glances
I sighed.
“Don’t tell me none of you have her contact” I continued and they all slowly shook their head to my surprise
I slowly fished out my phone to dial her number but she didn’t pick up no matter how hard I tried so I was forced to get up and leave their midst.
“I’ll check her up at the office. You can have your fun, I will pay at the counter” I declared and ran out of the restaurant to look for her.
***
As soon as Stanley got out of the restaurant, Tina rolled her eyes and threw the steamed bread in her hand on the table angrily.
“I don’t know why he’s so fond of her. She’s not even worth the position” she gritted her teeth
“Is that why you gave her the wrong address? Won’t the CEO be mad if he finds out?” Bea freaked out and Tina slammed her hand on the table
“Why are you afraid? She cannot tell him so forget about it” she spat out and drank a bottle of beer to half before standing up to leave for the day
“I wonder why she hates her so much” Bea muttered and Amanda shrugged.
*****
PETAL’S POV
I waited for so long but no one showed up and I couldn’t contact no one. It suddenly dawned on me that I had been fooled. She gave me the wrong address intentionally and got me waiting while they had their fun in another place.
“I should have noticed when she volunteered” I said to myself before dragging my tired self out to get a cab home.
As I stepped out of the restaurant, a heavy rain poured down all of a sudden which made me ran back inside the restaurant with immediate effect.
“Fck. Today just had to be filled unfortunate happenings” I cursed under my breath as I watched d rain pour with all its might.
Since the rain looked like it wouldn’t stop all night, I decided to have my seat till I can order for a cab and get a ride home but an unexpected savior popped up in front of me.
“What are you doing here? Are you waiting for someone?” the voice asked and I looked up to see Ray staring down at me.
The shock reflex made me spring up in front of him.
“No, I am not waiting for anyone. I just wanted the rain to slow down a bit and grab a cab” I replied honestly and he handed a cup of coffee to me
“You should drink this to stay warm because I don’t think the rain will be stopping anytime soon” he replied, checking the rain from the huge glass window
“You didn’t have to give me your coffee though” I muttered with a low voice but he heard me anyways.
Raising his hand to show me the other cup, he said “It’s okay, I have two cups after all” and I smiled before having my seat once again.
“Do you want to ride with me? I came in my car” he proposed, pointing to the black car outside the restaurant
I hesitated a bit as I dragged my response, “Ahh… I don.. don’t” before he cut me off
“You don’t want to ride with me? That’s saddening. It’s not like we are strangers” he commented and I waved my hands quickly to distort his idea
“I just didn’t want to inconvenience you” I defended myself and he chuckled
“It’s not like the car has only a seat. How are you inconveniencing me? Don’t be stubborn and ride with me. I will drop you at home” he firmly stated and I had no choice but to follow him.
He did drop me at home and I was glad I didn’t let my pride get in the way because the rain only poured the more instead of stopping. Since I was tired from all the unnecessary stress I passed through, I just washed up and slept off while leaving my phone in my bag.
By the time I woke up the next morning to prepare for work, I met countless missed calls on my phone from a strange number.
“Did something happen? Did Mei get into trouble once again?” I gasped, struggling to dial the number once again before she came out of her room
“What trouble are you talking about? I didn’t do anything” she defended herself and made wonder who else would have been so worried about me to call that much.
I called back but the person didn’t pick up so I just dressed up and went to the office to continue my work for the day. I didn’t make mention of the incident that happened the previous day and that made Bea and Amanda uncomfortable.
I concluded that since I do not have any reason to associate with them except work, I would stop trying hard to get myself familiar with them.
“Please get ready for a meeting in the next two hours” I announced to them and Tina countered me as usual.
“We have to be on the field by then” Tina blurt out and I slammed my hand on the table in anger.
I will not take any nonsense from her anymore and I have to let her know by putting her in her place.
“Manager Tina” I shouted
Rolling her eyes, “It’s Tina”
I paused before responding “Whatever”
“Tina, I see no reason why you should fix your schedules in the same time with mine. I have the authority to call for meetings and they have the obligations to take permission from me. We do not need any field coverage for now since we are focusing on internal publication and if you are in dire need of field information then you can go alone” I fired before turning to the team members
“Anyone absent from the meeting will have to face my punishment” I threatened to their surprise.
They were not expecting me to flare up that way, I had been so gentle with them that they thought they could bully me like they wanted.
“I might not be the team leader you all wanted or you can have any notion you want about me but I deserve my own respect too. I am trying my best to prove my worth but it seems you all just hate me even before my arrival. Well, it’s not like I care about the hatred but please let us be professional” I added and left the room for a while
I was not sure if my words were enough to threaten them but I did give them a piece of my mind and that made me feel relieved. Upon getting back to the office, Stanley already came around and immediately I greeted him, he started to fire me.
“How could you not show up at the meeting yesterday? We all gathered because of you but you left us hanging. You should have told us that you were not interested instead of not showing up” he lashed out
I wanted to argue that I was given the wrong address but just decided to shut up.
“I am sorry sir, I had something urgent to attend to” I apologized and he stopped the nagging.
He must have not expected me to just apologize that way but I didn’t even have the strength to argue so I just apologized.
Later in the day, after the meeting, I went to the restroom to relieve myself and as I was washing my hands in the sink, I heard the girls giggling about how I went speechless in front of Stanley.
“I was so taken aback by her actions this morning. I thought she would keep her head up high for long but she melted at the sound of the boss’s voice” Amanda jested
“I don’t know if it’s right to do this. She didn’t even do anything wrong” Bea remarked but Amanda told her to just enjoy the show and not get involved
“I am just worried she might end up like the last team leader” Bea sighed and that caught my attention
What exactly happened to the last team leader?
What they mentioned about the former team leader kept lingering on my mind all day even though I was so busy with the articles to be submitted for the rest of the week. I resumed work after lunch before Stanley suddenly walked into the office. “We will be going for the Greens Island tomorrow for news coverage. There’s something exciting going on and we have to be the first to publish it. It would be awesome if we can get an exclusive interview with the director on site” he announced and Tina clapped “We will be stepping out after all this while. I am so happy I could cry right now” she giggled and Amanda followed suit with a low “I am so happy too. I can't wait to run around in freedom” My eyes rolled at their words because it's not like they were ever so busy they couldnt live the life they wanted. I was surprised that Stanley's company doesn't make their employees work their lives out all in the name of trying to get and scoop all the exclusive news out there. My former workplace
By the time I woke up the following morning, I was hot as coal. I wondered why the room was so hot when I opened my eyes but I discovered that I was the one emitting the heat.“Sh!t” I mumbled as I felt my hot forehead.I should have known that it would result to this after standing under the heavy rain for more than thirty minutes.I tried standing up from the bed but all my hands and legs were extremely weak. My head was also splitting into two, thanks to the explosive headache going on in it. I struggled to pick up my phone to call someone’s attention but I remembered that I had none of their numbers and I would rather die than call Stanley.“Let’s just hope I don’t die” I said to myself before giving up.I stared at the roof for several minutes before losing the battle to sleep. The next time I woke up, I saw a blurry figure in front of me and wondered whoever the person was.My eyes were closing and opening slowly as I struggled to keep them wide open but at the sound of the fami
“Where are you going to?” Pamela stood up as I stood up too“Going to ask why her name was there of course. I stood in the rain for those terrible and horrible minutes while the rain was pouring hard on me. I am in this state because of the darn coverage but what?” I yelled on top of my voice and turned sharply.As I reached for the door’s handle, things suddenly became blurry and I didn’t know when I landed on the floor.I fainted.Different indistinct chattering around me woke me up and my eyes were greeted by streams of white light as I opened them to find myself in a strange place. A big face with an almost bald head greeted my eyes as soon as my vision became cleared, making me jump up in fear.“Who are you?” I yelled before scanning him from head to toeHis white coat and stethoscope around his neck gave him out that he was a doctor and he just came to check up on me that moment.“Are you feeling better? Well seeing how you jumped up, you must be feeling good” he commented and s
Mei had been applying to modeling agencies because of her hot and sexy stature. She was taller than most of her friends, had slender legs and smooth milky skin that made her stand out so she wanted to put the beautiful figure to good use.She finally snagged a modeling deal with a company for a running commercial and fortunately Ray’s gym was used for the filming. Immediately she saw him, she could recognize him and rushed over to meet him.“Hi” she called out to him, smiling broadly as she ran to catch up with himHe turned to see who was calling after him and saw that it was Mei.“Hello, how have you been? Are you here to start some gym session?” he asked, smiling back at herShaking her head, she replied “No, we are here for an ad filming” “An ad filming? Oh for the running commercial?” he asked further and she nodded“I will be directing you. I hope to work with you smoothly” he added and extended his hand for a shake which she took without hesitation“I’m Mei by the way” she int
Joan Mimi walked into the company’s studio three days later to attend the scheduled interview. We decided to have a separate interview for both of them first before they do one together. She was in a white Camellia dress accompanied with a black flap bag and a white cover shoe.No lies, she was stunning and classy in her dress. I wowed at how elegant she was and how pretty everything on her down to her nails were shiny.“She’s freaking pretty, I am so jealous” Bea complimented from afarAmanda added by her side, “I know right. She’s as pure as a glass. I wish to be like her” “Even her skin is glowing from afar” Bea continuedEvery of their statements got me rolling my eyes continuously, I didn’t know why I was mad at someone who did absolutely nothing to me so I had to call myself to order.“It’s not like I am still in love with him so why should I be jealous or mad? I have to get a grip” I mumbled to myself and went in for the interview.Throughout the session for his interview, he
He was taken to their family hospital where he was attended to immediately by his personal doctor. I was kept waiting outside while Joan Mimi and his mother rushed in to stay by his side.I paced up and down anxiously as I waited to hear from them but no one seemed to be coming out even after two hours. I was almost going into a fainting mode due to the increasing anxiety when the thought of calling Monica and Irene dropped in mind.“I think I am in trouble” I declared and the confused ladies asked what I meant by that“That chicken head! That troublemaker pressured me to make him some instant coffee which he had never had all his whole life. I did as he told me and now he’s having a runny stomach, it’s so bad that he’s at the hospital right as I speak” I explained with a shaky voiceMonica let out a yelp from the shocking story I just told while Irene paused for a while before she suddenly burst into laughter.“Why are you laughing? Are you mocking me?” I shouted, getting angry at he
STANLEY’S POVI was happy as soon as I saw Petals walk into the hospital room with Mimi. I kept playing video games because I was bored to death and I know it would remain like that if Mimi comes back. We rarely talk or even communicate.The dating news that was released was because of my mother who insisted on marrying someone like her due to the influence of her family. I refused to have anything to do with her but my mother pleaded for just a blind date.“I am not interested” I insisted firmly“You will have to forfeit the right to your company” she threatened me“How can you do that? I am the owner of my company” I objected strongly and she cackled“Have you forgotten that I am the biggest shareholder? If you want to win over me then you have to fight for it” she remarked and it sank inShe was the one that set up the company for me and funded most of the things I had in the company even though I had been steadily paying her back but if she pull out at this time, I would be in deb
I raised my head to see what I collided with since it was rock hard and firm only to see half naked Stanley in front of me. The fear and shocked that gripped me was beyond control and I didn’t know when I opened up my mouth wide to scream but to my surprise, he kissed my mouth shut.That was another source of shock to me but this time, my throat was voiceless. My mouth hung open in surprise at how he could do that and when he saw that I had no energy to shout anymore, she stepped back.I didn’t think twice before I gave him a hot slap across the face and I was sure that he also wasn’t expecting that kind of reaction from me. It was at the moment when he grabbed his red cheek that I realized what I had done.“My hand moved faster than my brain” I mumbled and my forehead folded into a frown borne out of confusion.I tried crossing into the line of regret but my pride wouldn’t allow me. Something kept screaming that I wasn’t wrong and I decided to follow the voice even if it leads to me