Chapter 1: Attending The Birthday Party

Alexandra's POV

“Sir?” I questioned, my shoulder slumped in disappointment. Tears were threatening to fall down my cheeks as I stared at my team leader.

“You heard me, Miss Acosta.It's all about quality control. I need you to redo this task to ensure we maintain our high standards,” Mr. Stephenson, my team leader, ordered coldly and I felt a knot tied in my stomach.

Taking a deep breath, “I understand you, sir. This is the fourth time I will be redoing this. Handling scope creep and project changes doesn't….” He interrupted me, his fingers halted on his laptop.

“Let's aim for excellence, shall we? I'm counting on you to deliver nothing but the best. Go do your work, Miss Acosta,” he instructed dismissively and I nodded with a heavy heart before walking back to my desk.

I wanted to scream but my heart felt really heavy that I wanted to just cry my eyes out. I dropped my head on my desk, slamming the files on it.

“I hate this! I really hate this!” I screamed in my head before raising my head and skimmed through the documents to see if there were any errors.

Just like every other graduate in Australia, their dream is to secure a position in Hicko tech corporation. I'm Alexandra Acosta, and I'm 22-years-old. I haven't spent up to a month here but I'm already getting frustrated with the redo-ing of my works.

I glanced at my wrist watch and saw that it was past 5 PM in the evening. Mr. Stephenson wants me to make some corrections before leaving, how on earth am I gonna pull this through?

I scrunched my face up before I heard someone talking to me.

“Are you okay?” I raised my head and saw that it was one of my co-workers that asked that. I furrowed my brows before giving an awkward chuckle.

“Uh… yeah. I'm good, thanks for asking,” I mumbled with a grateful smile. It was so rare for any of them to talk to me, all I could wish was for me not to get in trouble.

“I hate to ask this of you, but I'm really not feeling well today, and my mom needs me at home,” she explained and I met her gaze. I wanted to tell her that I saw her having lunch with others this afternoon, laughing enthusiastically.

“Oh,” that was the only sound that came out of my mouth.

“Could you please do me a huge favor and complete this proposal for me? I promise I'll make it up to you when I get back,” she blinked her eyelashes rapidly and I scratched the back of my head. I knew she wanted something from me.

“Miss Wang, I'm really sorry. I have much work to do before I leave today,” I explained to her apologetically. She rolled her eyes before nodding and continued her work.

“Please, I'm sorry. I wish I could help,”

“But you didn't,” I was about to respond when I heard a voice.

“Miss Wang, I can do that for you,” I turned my head to the direction of that voice, that's Sarah. She smiled sweetly and I felt my heart stung.

“Uhm…. I will do it!” I suddenly jerked up and went to Miss. Wang's desk.

“All I will have to do is resume very early tomorrow morning and do it for you. I guess I can,” she looked at me with widened eyes. I wanted to impress her, maybe this could be a good start for our relationship.

“Well, you don't have to. I hate to guilt-trip you, but if you think that you can help. Then it's cool,” she passed the files to me and I smiled brightly.

“Promise to buy me lunch tomorrow if you like my work?” I asked her, trying to lighten the atmosphere. She exchanged glances with Sarah before nodding nonchalantly.

“Thank you!” I gushed and went back to my desk.

I continued with my job until late in the night, everyone had gone home but I was still stuck on my chair.

The sound of my phone disrupted the silence. Picking it up, my eyes widened in shock when I saw who it was.

Geez, how can I forget something as important as this?! My best friend in college, Sophia, who just returned to Australia after leaving many years ago due to some mishaps I don't wanna remember.

Tonight was her birthday party and she had specifically informed me about it. I hastily began rounding up, picking up my bag and briskly wore my heels.

I picked up the call and dashed out of the office. Immediately after the party, I guess I will have to come back to the office to complete my work.

“Hey, baby girl. Where are you? I just got off work not quite long,” I explained in a rush, running out of the elevator. The least I wanted was for her to be mad at me, I was caught in a difficult situation that caused a stain on our relationship.

This is me feeling guilty and I had to make up for those years.

“Don't worry. I'm outside your company building,” I rushed outside and saw her car.

“I'm so sorry. How was your day?” I apologized, entering the car.

“Not bad, how was work today?”she asked, smiling before starting the car engine then I remembered something.

“Sophia,”

“Yes,” she turned to me. I flashed her an apologetic smile, clasping my hands together.

“Please, I forgot something important on my desk. I need to go get it really quick,”

“All right, no problem,” she stopped the car, and I got out of it before running inside the building. It just crossed my mind that I can actually be working on Miss Wang's proposal during the party. I rushed in, only to bump into a strong body and fell flat on the floor.

“Ouch! My head!” I whined.

I picked myself up, dusting my skirt and looked up to see how I just bumped into.

What?! It's the CEO. My eyes widened in shock.