Chapter 5

Raya

I stared dumbfounded at my new boss who was dressed in a white dress shirt and pants and had his hair slicked back at the end but ruffled at the front. It gave him this boyish look, though that was not the problem. My boss was none other than the a**hole who had poured coffee on me yesterday, and he had this sick smirk on his face.

"What?" I managed to ask after regaining my sense of speech.

"Your shirt..." he pointed to it, "...it gave quite the display yesterday."

I scoffed, "which you caused. How could you have poured the coffee on me when mine had been a mistake?"

"Whatever. It's in the past now."

I tried to reign in my anger, which wasn't really working, due to his smug face.

"Don't tell me that you're the one who sent that message yesterday."

"Which message?"

"The one telling me to come to a particular address by 7 am"

"Oh, that. It was a mistake due to my drunkenness, but that doesn't excuse your tardiness either. Why are you late?"

"I-I'm sorry about that". I couldn't bear apologizing to him, but he was my boss.

"That was not the question. The question was..."

"I slept in. I know it's not right, and I'm sorry"

He sighed, "fine. Well, what are we to do next?"

I brought out the schedule that the company/secretary had sent to me with my transfer last night, "a meeting with the board of directors. Then a meeting with the employees. Also, a list of projects and meetings with people, but for now, it's the meeting with the directors."

He stood up, "great. Let's go"

It was weird how eager he was. From what I knew, he was a party animal and hated to work, but from how he was behaving, it was like he was determined but also not serious about it. I couldn't really place his reaction.

"Right but..." I wasn't sure where the meeting room was.

He walked to the door, "are you not coming?" I hurried after him.

"Do you know the place? The meeting room, I mean?"

"You know, if you had just been serious enough with your job, you would have been around in time to receive the schedule and directions from the former secretary. I had to listen to her rant and advances while avoiding her hard-on cleavage"

Wait what?

"Yeah, don't be too surprised. It's how I speak. Anyway, all I'm saying is don't be late next time. Ask for directions from the receptionist and go get me a cup of coffee"

"What?" I watched as he left me outside the elevator, taking out his phone.

"The meeting room is on the fifth floor, by the way." The doors closed

Coffee? I mean that was normal but also... I wasn't just sure about the whole thing.

I hurried down to the receptionist's desk after the elevator came back up to take me to the lobby, and she hit me with that blank stare again.

"How may I help you?"

"Uhm... I was asked to get the directions for the building from you. Also, I want to inquire where and how you get your coffee around here..."

"You can either make them in the lounge on the fourth floor, but if you want a variety, you can get them outside, opposite the building. As for the directions, here..." She handed me a paper which I collected.

It was a kind of map, showing where and where each department and office was, "Oh my God, thank you."

"There's no need to thank me, I was just doing my job" and she went back to tapping on her computer.

I turned around with an 'oh'. Uhm, why was everyone looking at me and whispering though? I hadn't noticed it before, but I can see it now.

Ignoring that, I went out to the café where I got a variety of coffee and drinks as I wasn't sure what he wanted, and I went back to the company where I took the elevator to the fifth floor.

The door was closed tight, not that I was expecting it to be open and a sign in front of it said 'meeting-in-progress'. I probably shouldn't interrupt, with something as light as coffee, right, but I had to go in too, so I went in, after knocking.

The whole board of directors stopped their conversation to stare at me and I felt my heart drop to my stomach when I saw Mr. Steve Sterling, the chairman seated.

F*ck!

"I-I'm sorry, I..."

"Settle down", Mr. Sterling, the chairman said, and I stumbled to my seat.

"So within one month, we're going to expect a change to convince the shareholders." I wasn't sure what was going on.

"Alright then, I'll see what I can do."

His dad stayed back in the room when they had all left and Mr. Maxwell Sterling faced the chairman, "You didn't tell me that I had to prove myself to some shareholders, and within one month."

"Well, you can back out if you don't want to. The other option is still very open."

Mr. Maxwell Sterling scoffed, "Fine, whatever. Ugh!" He stormed out of the room while I wondered who to follow. I followed after Mr. Maxwell Sterling, of course, bowing slightly to Mr. Sterling, the chairman, before I left.

I placed the coffee box in front of him when he settled down in his office. He immediately picked up one of the to-go cups and took a sip out of it, which he let out almost immediately.

"What the f*ck! What is that?" He placed the cup on the table.

I opened it to see its contents and sighed, "It's black coffee, and that was an exaggerated reaction. It's not that bitter."

I placed it back on the table and turned around to get some napkins for him when he gasped slightly, "Oh my God, is that blood on your leg?"

I whipped around to confirm what he said and indeed there was blood on my leg.

That immediately sent me to my knees with tears sliding down my cheeks and he stood up surprised.

"W-what the f*ck..." I heard him say.