CHAPTER 7

When Russell told me that he hadn’t told anyone the details of how I had gotten the job, I was a little doubtful. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, I just thought that he was a really nice person who was probably just trying to protect my feelings, but I did not need protecting. I was a big girl and I could damn well take care of my own problems without his help. Which was why I didn’t call him even though I had so many questions about the company. In fact, his number in my pocket was burning a hole into my skin but I ignored it because I was sure he had his own problems to deal with. Being the CEO of a company as huge as NNT couldn’t be easy, and I couldn’t start bothering him simply because I was nervous.

As I walked through the front door that morning for my actual first day, I braced myself for all the possibilities. I mentally prepared myself for the snares, for the whispers, for the gossip, and for all the side glances. I was prepared for literally anything they wanted to throw at me, so imagine my surprise when I walked in and instead of getting ridiculed and mocked, I got assaulted with a torrent of smiles and warm welcomes, and I mean genuine, honest to God smiles, or at least that’s how it appeared because in my experience, some people could be very good at pretending.

I was showed my desk and given my job description and before I knew it, I was starting to get settled in. With every hour that passed, I started to get confident. I started carrying my tasks out with more certainty, and when I had a question, I asked it without feeling like people were going to judge me. By the time lunch break eventually rolled around, I had gotten comfortable enough to ask where the coffee stand was. Emily, one of my colleagues who appeared really nice and approachable pointed me in the right direction, and I walked towards it. But just as I was about to pour myself a cup, I remembered my condition and promptly put it down. I had already had a cup before coming to work this morning. Surely too many coffees couldn’t be good for the baby’s health.

“I see you’re no longer interested in our horrible coffee.” A voice says suddenly from behind me, causing me to jump a little.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.” He says, smiling awkwardly.

“Sure. No problem.” I returned, not knowing what else to say.

“Uh, I’m Jason.” He said, stretching his hands towards me for a shake

“Elisa.” I replied, cleaning my sweaty hands on my pants before shaking his. Sweaty palms had become a constant in my life ever since I found out I was pregnant, and at first, I thought it was simply going to go away, but as more and more time passed, I realized going to be the new normal at least for the next couple of months.

“Where you here to get coffee?” I asked, in a lame attempt to make conversation. I mean, why else would he be here if it wasn’t to get coffee.

“That was the plan.”He replied with a charming smile. ”But to be honest, I think that plan is changing. Right now, I might be craving some actual food to fuel me for the rest of the day.”

“I know right?” I concurred, rubbing my belly, and groaning in embarrassment as it grumbled, agreeing that it need to be fed.

It’s the baby. I blamed it all on the baby.

“I know a nice burger place across the street.” He replied, laughing. “We could go together if you want. My treat.”

“Oh, you don’t have to.”

“But I insist. Consider it my way of welcoming you to the team.”

“Fine.” I agreed, finding no further cause to keep arguing with him. “But the next time’s on me.”

“Oh, so there plans to be a next time?” He asked with a teasing smile.

“Absolutely.” I replied. “That is if I don’t scare you away with my very boring company.”

“I think you are many things Elisa, but boring is not one of them.” He said those words staring at me in a way that made a chill run down my spine. My tummy was doing flip flops inside of me, and I literally had to clear my throat in order to break the spell.

Again, I was shameless enough to blame it on the baby and on hormones because there was no way I was going to admit to myself or to anyone that another man was making me swoon, and making my heart flutter barely two months after I literally got my heart shattered into a billion pieces.

At this point, all I could do was rack my brain in search of a topic change because as much as I wanted to keep squirming under the intensity of his gaze, I didn’t want the situation to get any more awkward than it already was, so I said the first thing that came to mind.

“So about that burger…” I began.

“Oh, yeah.” he replied, clearing his own throat and blinking rapidly, as if trying to get himself back to the present.

“Let’s do it.” He said, leading the me towards the exit and towards the great burger place he spoke about earlier. I followed quietly behind him and there was no denying that the silence between us was awkward. Still, it wasn’t unbearable.

Eventually, we got to the burger place and my nose suddenly became filled with a mixture of so many flavors. My morning sickness had started to kick in a lot these days and not all aromas seemed to sit right with me and my baby, but this one seemed to be doing everything right, and before long, my mouth began salivating.

There was a little bit of a queue because most people were making good use of their lunch breaks as well, but it didn’t take long before we had our orders and were ready to go. As we walked out of the small shop, I saw a car that looked a lot like Russell’s car, and for some reason that had me turning back a few times to make sure, but there really was no telling because all the glasses were up, and it didn’t help that hey were tinted either.

“Is everything alright?” Jason asked, looking behind, probably in an attempt to understand why I kept turning around so many times.

“Oh, nothing.” I replied, deciding to let all thoughts of Russell fall to the back of my mind. “I just thought I saw someone I knew that’s all.”

“I see.” He replied. “Anyway, I cannot wait to get back to the office so that I can dive right into this delicious goodness in my hand.”

“Well, that makes two of us.” I replied with a laugh, and just like that, all awkwardness, and tension that existed between us earlier had completely vanished into thin air.

Back at the office, everyone was either chatting excitedly or eating. Only a few people were actually still working.

Just as I settled down in my seat, ready to start eating my lunch, a tall blonde lady whose name I had come to find out was April literally flew to my side.

“Hi Elisa.” She greeted with an overly cheerful smile, I wondered how her jaws didn’t hurt. I hated judging people based on their appearances alone, but I couldn’t help but find her a little superficial. She was also the loudest in the room by my observation, and to me, her makeup was just too much. Still, I greeted her back with as much excitement as I could, which was nothing compared to her own eagerness.

“We’ve been looking for you.” She continued, earning a confused expression from me because I didn't think I had been in the office long enough for anyone to be looking for me,.

“Uh we? Who is we exactly?” I asked. “And, why were you looking for me?”

“Oh, just me and some of the guys.” She replied as though she was expecting me to have figured out as much. “We uh, we had some questions.”

“Okay?” I said, still not sure where the conversation was heading. “Questions about what?”

“Oh, don’t worry. We are having a team dinner later this evening. You’re coming right?We’ll ask all our questions then.

“Oh, but I…” I began to say but she cut me off.

“Oh come on Elisa. The dinner is partly to congratulate you on your first day of work. It would be a little rude to miss a party that was organized for you now wouldn’t it?”

“Well…” I began, but she cut me off. Again.

“Alright, we’ll see you then. Bye" She literally screeched, skipping away excitedly.

God, I really couldn’t get used to the high pitch of her voice, and why was did she away seem to be in a good mood all the time. Still, as far as bad colleagues went, she was the worst so far, and if that was all I had to deal with for as long as worked at NNT, then it wasn’t all so bad. If only I knew how wrong I was. The next day came with the arrival of one Ms. Jenny, who apparently was the department head, and had called in sick on the day I resumed which was why I didn’t get to meet her. She was about to make my life a living hell, and nothing could have prepared me for that.