10. THE PAST

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?