Chapter 1

 Lackey

“You are such a complete disaster!” Yelled the chief director with a bang on the desk and Penny moved back in fright. She instantly felt all the air in her lungs trying to escape as his words pierced through the atmosphere.

 “How come you never do anything right?” his growl came out slowly.

This was not the first time he had yelled at her nor the first time he had insulted her, still again she felt furious. His words were like needle pricking on her skin each time he spoke. He made her feel worthless than she already is and she hated it.

“I'm sorry chief director,” Penny apologised again which turned out to be a headache for him, as the middle aged man loudly hissed and rubbed his temple.

“Just shut it Penny!” 

His words came out harshly. However, She simply nodded and remained silent like she had been spelled. Obeying him and carrying out his orders seemed to be the only two things she knew how to do.

Heat rose into her cheeks and tears were burning in the back of her eyes, but she refused to cry. She had swore not to show anyone her weakness in front of anyone and this man wasn't an exception.

 She could still vividly remember three years ago when she first came to the company. The thought of her dreams finally coming true back then invaded every inch of her body. However she was proved wrong because now, coming to work everyday suddenly felt like walking on fiery charcoal. 

Prior to this she had dreamt to work in one of the biggest writing and publishing agencies, and as if God had answered her prayers, she was being offered such a job. Though it wasn't a big one, it was nice enough to earn her monthly income. But now it was becoming something else by the minute. Everyone looked down at her and countless nicknames were entitled to her.

She was being called names like "Lackey" or "Brainless human" Penny understood why they called her those names that sometimes she doesn't blame them from doing so because she found herself being a lackey. 

And now she was being yelled at by her superior because she had forgotten to get an interview with a best selling Author who just left the country a few hours ago. 

“Penny,” the chief director's icy voice jolted her from her thoughts.

Snapping her head up, she met with his dark and impenetrable eyes. “Yes sir?” her reply came out almost inaudible, that she herself even couldn't almost hear her voice.

Narrowing his gaze at her, his voice came out hoarse and icy “Leave my office.” with that he turned his back on her.

Batting her lashes continuously, Penny tried to stop herself from crying. Trembling her voice came out, “I will take my leave sir.” with that she turned around and left the office. Penny knew that she was too tired and needed some rest, so she took long strides to her desk and began packing her bags.

 While doing so, Lacey, a colleague of hers, walked up to her frowning slightly as she spoke “You have developed a very bad habit..” she chuckled and sat on the edge of Penny's desk. “You always leave whenever the chief director yells at you for your foolish mistakes. Why don't you just quit then? It would be better that way than having you around.” 

Penny simply kept mum as she held onto her bag on the desk. Hearing the words from Lacey seemed to have created a sudden rage in her that the fingers clenching her bag were already turning white.

As much as she wanted to smack the ill-mannered lady in front of her, she restrained herself from doing so or else she would suffer the repercussions from it.

Although Lacey worked in the same department as Penny, she was not your average type of woman. She would do every job beautifully and well presented that would earn praises from the chief director. Rumour also had it that she was dating the chief director but Penny wasn't sure of it.

What Penny couldn't understand was why Lacey had so much hatred for her, even though she was far better than Penny. Perhaps it was because of Penny's beauty.

Regaining her composure, Penny let out a stiff smile and flung her bag on her back before turning to Lacey ``You should go to the washroom and take a look at your face. Your makeup seemed to have worn out and I think you should do something about it quickly otherwise the guys might go crazy by just staring at you.'' The last part of her sentence oozed with sarcasm making Lacey move her lips soundlessly.

The expression on Lacey's face was something to write about. Penny sucked in her laughter and grabbed her phone from her desk before flinging her hair on Lacey's face as she headed for the exit.

Just as she stepped out of the company, Penny finally breathed out in satisfaction. “Perfect,” she uttered with a small smile.

Opening her bag, she brought out her purse and looked inside. “Wow, just wow!” Penny uttered dramatically with an eye roll. 

What she had in her purse was something to make dinner tonight and now she would want to sacrifice it for a taxi. The walk to the bus stop would take at least 45 minutes by foot, thus it was cheaper than taking a taxi which would get to her house in 15 minutes. 

After mulling over the issue for a while, Penny decided to flag a cab. Unlike other days she was too tired to trek to the bus stop. A few minutes passed and Penny finally arrived at her apartment. 

“You are back early, anyways welcome back.” Jason, Penny's sibling, voiced out immediately he saw his sister's figure. He was too engrossed in his English textbook that he didn't even spare her a glance. 

Letting out a tired sigh, Penny refused to reply to him and took the route to the bathroom instead. Closing the door behind her, Penny rested her back on the door and took a deep breath before walking to the hand washer.

With the tap rushing with warm water, she splashed a reasonable amount of water on her face, trying to get rid of every uneasiness she had in her.

Shortly her gaze went to the mirror, and just by staring at her reflection reminded her of the insults the chief director threw directly at her. Without realizing her eyes welled up in tears as they ran effortlessly on her cheek.

Biting on her lower lip, she tried to muffle the sound of her sobs but failed miserably. Shortly she heard a knock on the door.

“Sis are you okay?” Jason's voice bounced inside the bathroom and she sniffed in.

“I'm alright dearest,” she grabbed a towel from the hanger and cleaned her face. “You should go back to reading...” she stuttered slightly “I will be out in a minute.” 

“Okay...” Jason took a deep breath before he added in a voice lower than before “If something is bothering you, I'm always available for a chat okay?” 

“Hummm” Penny hummed as more tears flowed on her cheek effortlessly.