Chapter Two - Dum Dum

She stood still without saying a word. She still held the cup and her phone in the other. She felt dizzy, and she wanted to throw up. She was in deep shit. She tried regulating her breathing by inhaling and exhaling slowly, but it wasn't working. "Oh, damn it, I clearly remember praying against this type of mistake before leaving the house, now I'm done for." She muttered under her breath.

    She was in his office. The very person Rosette told her to avoid. She bumped into the director, spilling her stupid cold coffee on his white shirt. Unexpectedly, he didn't say a word. No one said a word. She quietly hung up on Patricia and waited patiently for him to shout at her. But he didn't. He just told her to meet him in his office immediately and turned to leave with his underlings, that followed him around. 

    "The office has a dark telluride shelf bookcase along one wall, a leather sofa with a fur rug and Indian blanket, and a fireplace with bookshelves on either side. There are two antique clocks and a painting of two jazz musicians on the mantle. The desk is large, and there's a Captain-style chair with leather seats and a back. A bookshelf and matching file cabinet is behind the chair, and a ceiling fan to keep the air moving." Such a nice, well, most decorated office she had ever seen. She has been standing in his office for almost ten minutes, and he hasn't even made mention of the spilled coffee. She noticed that he was still wearing the stained shirt. His head bent and eyes glued to the paperwork scattered on his desk. She couldn't take a clear picture of him. Even when she bumped into him, she couldn't raise her head to look him in the face because of the embarrassment. But from where she stood, he wasn't half as bad as she thought. When Rosette told her to avoid the director, she thought maybe it was a cranky older man that gets angry over absolutely nothing, but no, she thought wrong. The person before her wasn't even up to his thirties if she's correct. 

    She took a deep breath. She would apologize to him; after all, she didn't do it on purpose, and both were at fault. If only his attention weren't on his phone, he would have probably noticed her, and the collision wouldn't have occurred.

    "Do you need someone to tell you to apologize for your carelessness?" he asked sternly without looking at her.

    “I..uhm..”

    “Are you a dum-dum?”

    “Pardon?”

    “I said speak up.”

    Dominique tried to keep her nervousness in check, but it wasn't working. 

    "I was about to apologize, Sir. "

    “Oh, I see. ”

    There was a moment of silence before he spoke up.

    “Name?”

    “Dominique.” Oh shit, oh shit. This was what the old lady warned her about. What's she going to do?

    “I said your full name, dum-dum.” He ordered.

    “Sir, it's Dominique Wilkins, sir.”

    She bit her lower lip and hummed softly. She used to do the humming to calm her nerves, but it wasn't working right now. She was freaking out. What if he finds out about the whole wrong identity issue? What was going to happen to her and even the innocent lady?

    He tidied up some papers, wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead, and raised his head. Dominique was stunned. This was different from what she was expecting. This man here was a beau. His crystal clear blue eyes lingered on her face before they finally landed on her coffee cup and then back to his papers.

    "I learned from Stan that today's your first day. Your first day, and you're already messing things up. Is that so, Miss Wilkins?"

    She quickly snapped out and came back to what he had just said.

    "Yes, Sir. Today's my first day, and believe me, I didn't mean to pour the coffee on you. I was just on a call with my friend, informing her about my day at work, and I didn't see you coming, Sir..."

    She held her hand over her mouth to stop herself. She was nervous, and when she was scared, she couldn't just control her mouth.

    "Oh, I see. You didn't mean it. I know; I'm well aware of that. You can drop the cup now. That cup is far more expensive than your old job pays you."

    Dominique smiled nervously and placed the cup on the table.

    "Sit," he ordered her, and she did quickly.

    "Did you read the paperwork Rosette gave you?" he asked.

    Dominique shook her head.

    “Make use of your tongue, Dum- dum.”

    Dum-dum? He had called her that before, and he's doing it again?

    "Uhm, no. I didn't read it, and uhm, Sir. I don't really fancy you calling me dum-dum."

    He raised his head and stared deep into her eyes. Heavens, he was gorgeous. His mustache twitched each time he called her name.

    "I'm not sure that with that attitude, you will last long here, Dum-dum," he said calmly.

    There was an awkward silence before he spoke up again.

    "Well, on that paperwork, there are three rules. Three essential rules should be the first thing to read about before moving into your office. Just so if you can't cope with the rules, you quit. So listen attentively, Miss Dominique. I won't repeat myself."

    He raised three fingers and smirked at her.

    "Rule number one, No one is allowed to use their phones during work hours unless I permit you to. " He let down a finger without taking his eyes off her and continued, "Rule number two, No one should be found in the cafeteria during work hours. If you need to eat something or take something, there's always coffee available, or wait till lunchtime and eat with everyone."

    He let down another finger, rose from the chair, and started pacing around the room.

    "The very last rule, Dominique. Nobody crosses the director." He stopped behind her, leaned toward her chair, and whispered, "And guess what you did? You broke every single rule in the motherfucking book. Wow, would you look at that?"

    Dominique gulped. "No, Sir, it's not like that. I didn't mean to..."

    He interrupted her, ”Then?”

    "I didn't mean it, Sir. I didn't notice you were on your phone, and I..." There was no use. She knew the more she talked, the more nonsense she sprouted out. 

    He walked back to his chair and sat down. He then brought out a long list of candidates. 

    “Dominique Wilkins, right?”

    "Yes, sir."

    "According to the records here, you don't have any experience at all, so have you ever worked in a big business firm?

    "No, Sir. I haven't."

    "Where did you get the confidence to apply for a job here with no experience working with small firms?"

    Dominique didn't know what answers to give to that question. She sat still, clutching hard to the hems of her gown. Her day was heading towards a wrong turn. This was different from what she had planned out as her first day of work. But here she was about to explain where she got her confidence from.

    “I just wanted to try..”

    "Here, we don't try, Dominique. We work with everything we got. Everything. " he interrupted her rudely.

    Dominique knew in the next two minutes, if this conversation continues, she'll pass out. She had never been this nervous before since the time she presented her science project in front of the whole school back in grade school.

    "I know, Sir, and I'm not here to try. I'm going to put in so much effort."

    “Proof?”

    “Huh?”

    “Apart from working here, have you had any other jobs?”

    “Yes, yes. I worked as a cashier in a mall and also as a...”

    Do you feel you are capable of working in the accounts department?

    “Sir, please...”

    He was clearly devouring her. It always cuts deep when he opens his mouth to say something. Really deep.

    “You resumed late too. Why? Why did you resume late?” he asked calmly and relaxed his back on the seat.

   She wondered how he knew about that, and she thought Rosette would have kept everything a secret. She was fucked. She could feel herself boiling up. She then took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair.

    “I woke up late, Sir. It wasn't intentional, I swear.”

    "I don't like latecomers, Dominique. Do you know what time I resume work every day? I'm always here before six in the morning. You should do better, Dum-dum." he said coldly.

   The name again, Dum-dum

    "Well, since you broke every rule in the book, it would be safe to say you're officially fired from here. Wow, wow. Would you look at that? Was she fired on her first day at work? Wow."

    She sat motionless for a second, unable to process everything that had just happened. She'd tried to come here as early as she could. She even had to wear a fucking gown. Something she thought in her next life she would never wear. She had tried her best but yet, it wasn't working out as usual. She was nearly on the verge of crying. She slowly rose to leave the office. Just as she was about to reach for the doorknob, she stopped and turned back to him.

    "This place sucks. Who the hell makes a bunch of stupid rules like no cellphones or no eating or other shit like that? You also suck as a director. You feel because you're above everyone, you have to bully or order anyone around. Well, boy, I'm glad not to be working here, Mister. Goodbye." she said boldly and quickly rushed out of the office before he said anything else. She was glad she had that off her chest.

    As soon she was out of the office, she slumped her shoulders and started sobbing quietly. She just lost her job because of her carelessness. She was really a dum-dum.