Chapter 9
I THINK I MIGHT LIKE ZANE
Rita’s POV
I sluggishly walked to the new boss, Mr Finn’s office.
I was so scared and it was so obvious.
“There you are” Finn said.
I stood in front of the door, agitated to move closer to him.
But he ordered authoritatively and laughed hysterically; “Come closer and have a seat”
My heart raced, I trembled and managed to sit opposite him.
“I can see that you are shocked I turned out to be your new boss in disguise” Finn spoke.
“I’m… I am sorry” I stuttered.
“Why are you apologising?” He asked but I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t even look him in the eyes.
I thought he was jovial and nice but he wasn’t, he pretended to be. Ugh! This was a simple test that I have failed.
“You are sorry because you treated me like a low life sneaking into your comfortable life. You were rude, you underestimated me. You didn’t see this coming, did you?” He asked.
No, I never underestimated him, that’s just Me; I do not like to make friends. How do I explain that to him when he already misunderstood?
Evelyn was right, I should be friendlier and nicer and give new people chances to come into my life.
“I’m so sorry sir” I apologised again.
“Ah! Hahaha!” He laughed again.
“Your friend, err… Evelyn. Though she’s a little bit of a talkative but she won my heart but you, you are nothing to write home about” He shook his head continuously in disappointment. “Is there anything you want say?” He questioned.
“I… uhm, there’s nothing I can say to justify my awful attitude towards you. Once again, I am so sorry but I want you to know that I didn’t mean to. That’s not who I am, my friends , Evelyn and Adam will confirm to you that I am a good person for real, I swear” I pleaded.
“Too bad, Evelyn didn’t make any mention of that” He remarked.
“Please.. do not fire me. This is my only means of earning a living” I begged, my eyes were getting teary.
“Ah! No, no no. It’s too early for me to start firing people” He smiled.
“Thank you very much sir” I mumbled, still not looking up to him.
“And I need you to prove to me that you are good person” He added.
“What?” I exclaimed.
“You just said you are”
“Yes, I… I swear. I…am. I… promise to make it up to you”
“I love how that sound. Make it up to me. I have forgiven you though. But my eyes are on you. I’ld love to see your true character but if it turns out that there is no difference, it will trigger my anger and i’ll fire you ultimately” He uttered imperiously and I hiccupped nervously.
“Yes.. Yes sir”
“Very good, you can leave” He commanded.
My legs suddenly felt feeble, I felt sad and broken as I staggered sluggishly back to my department where my friends were waiting for my arrival and as soon as they saw me approaching, they ran to meet me.
“What… What did he say?” They asked me simultaneously.
Instead, I bursted into tears, wiped them off with the back of my palm so others wouldn’t notice something’s wrong. I headed to my seat and they trailed me behind, waiting for me to speak up.
“Did he fire you?” Evelyn asked and I shook my head.
” Not yet” I responded.
“What do you mean by not yet?”
“He said he’ll fire me if my behavior continues to disgust him. He’ll be watching me closely” I told them.
“Oh dear, what a headache” Adam remarked.
“You haven’t done anything wrong. You are such a sweet hearted person” Evelyn consoled me.
“He’s yet to confirm that. My first encounters with him revealed that I am not a good person.” I sniffed. “I have to keep my Job, I will make it up to him” I concluded.
“Oh My God. This Mr Finn Lakson is worse than his mom. What did he say about me? Am I also in trouble for running mouth? Oh Jeez! he’ll send for me too ny moment from now Evelyn began to panick.
“No, he is not mad at you” I said and she sighed in relief.
While I wondered what to do in this big situation I got myself into. Suddenly, my phone rang, it was Finn, we checked the caller ID together.
“Hello sir” I tried to compose myself.
“Come back to my office without wasting any time” He ordered.
“Yes sir” I rushed back to his office.
“These files, take them to the secretary” He pointed at the files on his table. I was startled.
” I do not work in the office. I’m at the minor sector. I do not have any business to do with papers and files” I told him, in case he didn’t know.
“Oh wow I see, teach me my work since you are the boss then” He said.Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.
Oh my God. I didn’t mean…
“No. I.. I was just trying to….” I sighed heavily. “Nothing at all, no problem”
I carried the files and was about to leave.
“There are unnecessary stuffs here that I would also love you to move out” He said.
“Okay boss” I responded in distress then exit his office.
I wanted to let him know that he could just call those in charge of sanitaries to do this for him but if this was a way to make it up to him, I guess it’s fine. Except that it took much of my time and left me exhausted. I’m sure he is fully aware that I still had my own work to attend to.
As if that wasn’t enough, he also delayed me during the closing hours; sending me unnecessary errands here and there but I dare not complain.
“Hey, hello dear” Zane had called me while I was still carrying out CEO Finn’s task.
“Hello Zane, we’ll talk in the next an hour, I should be home by then” I informed him.
“Uh? Are you still at work by this time? ” He asked.
” Yes. Bye Zane, call me back later” I disconnected the call quickly and sighed heavily. Sick and tired of this shit.
Soon Mr Finn came out of his office and walked towards me.
“Done with the assignment I gave you?” He asked.
“Almost done” I overreacted because I guess he was gonna throw at me another work to do.
“Good. Round up quickly and go home too” He ordered and I felt a little relieved.
Meanwhile almost everyone is leaving already, I’m sure they wondered why the new boss is picking on me on his first day at work. I also had to bid my friends Bye and in no time, I was done with my work. Finally.
***
I groaned as I threw myself on the couch, welled up with fatigue. Oh! what have I done to deserve this ill- treatment.
Wished Zane was a physical boyfriend whom could come give me a massage and make me feel good. Speaking of Zane, he called just at the right time.
“Hello my love ” He said.
“Hi” I mumbled. Because one, I’m stressed out already and two, I told him to do away with sweet words for now.
“What’s wrong with you Rita?” He noticed I’m downcast.
“Exhausted. Today’s a bad day” I told him as I got up the bed and went to the kitchen.
“You snapped at me when I called earlier”
“Sorry, I was frustrated. My new boss is making life miserable for me. He stressed the hell out of me with unnecessary stuffs yet he doesn’t seem to be pleased” I briefly told him as I put my food into the microwave, sat on the kitchen cabinet and I waited for my meal to get cooked.
“I’m so sorry about that darling. Almost all bosses are cruel and ungrateful and they make sure that they always get what they want” He said.
“Funnily enough, he came today. He’s as annoying as his mom” I smirked.
“My old boss was strict and an annoying person too but I tried as much not to get on his nerves” Zane told me. I loved the fact that he was ready to listen to my venting.
“Well I…I am at fault though. We already met before he became the CEO and I shunned him because he was a weird stranger” I said.
” Same way you wouldn’t get along with me when I first chatted you up” Zane chuckled.
“No offense though. I take it as being careful enough but he took it has me being rude to him” I told Zane.
I dished out my food and began to consume hungrily.
“His lost anyways. He doesn’t know your worth” Zane said; ” Let’s talk about something else”
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet but I’m such a boring person” I responded.
“Uhm, While we’re still taking things gradually, let’s know ourselves better” He suggested.
“What else is there to know?”
“I don’t know your people”
“That would be when we finally meet”
“No dear. Why starting another fresh introduction when we finally meet physically? Besides, somehow I feel like you’ll reject me eventually simply because you still do not sound interested in me and if we continue to take this relationship thing slowly, we’ll go no where” Zane said.
I can’t believe he was complaining now, does he expect me to be so mad in love with him already and began to rejoice about it like a fifteen years old having a first crush?
There was a moment of silence between both of us.
“Do you have any silbling?” He asked.
“Nah, it’s just me” I responded softly.
“It’s just me too” He giggled. “At least, we have something in common, it’s a sign” He said and I chuckled too.
“Got friends?” He interrogated.
“As you may already know me, I do not like to make friends neither do I like to mingle” I told him.
“Ah! You’re one hard girl” He commented.
“But I have two best friends, they’re also my colleagues at work. Evelyn and Adam” I told him.
“Evelyn must be the girl I heard her voice the very first day I called at work”
Oh. He remembered.
” She is”
” I can’t wait to meet these people that keeps my girlfriend’s company and make her happy. They gotta give me tips on how I can make you happy instead of having boring conversations with you every now and then” He said.
“Zane” I only called his name with no intention to say something else. I can feel it that he was getting fed up that I won’t admit that I like him too, Infact, he thinks I do not because I act like I do not.
“Anyways, I’m glad you have friends around you. Unlike me, I’ve got none. I love making friends and I used to have friends. I’ve got old friends. But now, things have turned upsidedown, I’ve got no one by my side but you” He said.
Such a sweet pick up line, I faked a cough.
“Any Ex? Or Exes?” Zane asked.
“An Ex. I once dated someone online” I told him reluctantly after several hesitation.
“Really? I can’t believe I’m not the first person you’ld date online”
“Anyways, I dated someone on Love station. That popular dating app that crashed few months ago. His name’s Jared ” I confided in him.
******
To Be Continued.