02

Sean Peterson

Work. Not my solace but a necessity for me to keep myself away from unwanted thoughts and loneliness. Being on top of the ladder doesn’t mean the person is always happy. There are always undesired, voiceless agonies, chaos, and sometimes dense, painful silence ruining the happiness and joy of being at the top.

Climbing the ladder of life alone hadn’t been easy for me when every single step felt heavy and the ladder seemed to be broken at some steps. But I had to. To survive. I did it myself without support because there was no one with me to encourage me, to look after me if I fall.

After numerous struggles to succeed and numerous battles with myself and the world, I was at the place where I aspired to be. At the top.

“Mr. Peterson, I do want to do business with you but the amount you’re offering under this deal seems to be quite less.” David Bill spoke, slipping the catalog file on the table.

I was at the dinner meeting with David Bill, a young, budding businessman. His father had passed him his rubber industry only a month ago. Honestly, I was impressed with him, I appreciated his approach. I saw capability in him.

Putting aside the glass of water, I put my forearms on the table. “Mr. Bill, XDS Autotech is a prominent company and we here do fair business. We make sure that our business partners never catch a glimpse of loss.” I paused, studying his features.

“I’ve heard that Mr. Peterson. I know there is no loss in this deal but my concern is the profit amount.”

I again sat straight and adjusted my suit jacket. “Mr. Bill, rest assured that it is the best amount being offered by any automobile company. If you still feel it’s less then let’s put it this way…you desperately need business partners to improve the image of your company so, high profit should not be your main concern at this point. And I don’t think I need to remind you how high your company’s image will rise if you do business with us.”

He knew I was right that’s why he agreed without thinking twice. After signing the deal, we stood up to bid our goodbye but before leaving the place I stopped to do one thing that was needed.

“David,” I called him informally. “I appreciate your working attitude. Keep working this way and you’ll reach heights.” I patted his back to which he smiled.

“Thank you, Mr. Peterson. It’s a big compliment coming from you.”

I had to praise him. Being a beginner he needed a little push to help him recognize his worth and to help him grow. I always praised good work, not caring if it’s small or big. Talent must be appreciated no matter what.

I bid the final goodbye and marched out of the restaurant to the elevator. I received a conference phone call from my best friends, Xavier Knight and Daniel Adams.

These two people were like eye-blinding sun rays that penetrated my gloomy soul, increasing the brightness level to a hundred.

“How it went?” Xavier asked, referring to the meeting.

“It went well. Now we have a new rubber supplier for our tire manufacturing unit.” I responded as I stepped out of the elevator into the parking lot. Sticking the phone to my ear, I marched towards my car.

“That’s like my Sean babe. I knew you would do it.” I rolled my eyes at Daniel’s stupid comment.

“Don’t you have a wife to call babe? Stop calling me babe and focus on your son and wife.” I rebuked. His son was now three months old.

“Who said I’m not focusing on my son? You are the one that is out, working. I’m at my home playing with my burrito.”

Smiling, I shook my head. No matter how much I complained or criticized his childish behavior, I had to agree that he always managed to bring a smile to my face. It was his specialty, his uniqueness.

I heard Xavier chuckle. “So, heading home now?” He asked.

“Yeah, need some sleep,” I mumbled. A sudden frown appeared on my face when my eyes landed on two women standing near my car, doing something that I couldn’t comprehend.

Were they trying to steal my car?

“See you tomorrow, guys.” I hung the call and marched towards them.

“What’s going on here?” I asked in a hard, stern voice.

One of them scurried away in fear when she saw me but one was still there. Slowly, she turned to face me and I frowned deeply when I saw a familiar face.

Miss Hart?

Her wide eyes made me raise my eyes in confusion then something dropped from her hand. I lowered my eyes to the floor and saw a knife. What was she doing with the knife?

“Oh, hello, Mr. Peterson. H…how was your m…meeting?”

Why is she stuttering?

“It went well. What are you doing here? And what are you doing with a knife?”

“Oh, it’s a mall, sir. A public place and I came for shopping. I…I shopped for a knife.” She laughed nervously.

Yeah, of course, I had asked a stupid question. It was a public place.

I just nodded my head and unlocked the car with the remote key and made my way to the door but stopped when she suddenly came in front of me, almost hitting my chest.

“Why are you blocking my way, Miss Hart?” I frowned as I took two steps back from her.

She scratched the back of her neck and opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. She mumbled something to herself then spoke, “I…uh, I want to know wh…what happened in the meeting, what all you talked about? Yeah, this is what I want to know.”

“Excuse me?” Was she even listening to herself?

“Actually I…I need to make notes so—“

“If I wanted you to take the notes I would have asked you to accompany me to the meeting,” I stated the obvious.

“Yeah, that makes sense” She again laughed nervously. What the hell is happening to her?

“Miss Hart, step aside, I have to leave,” I said a little firmly.

“No!” She shouted all of a sudden, again coming closer to me. “I mean… No, I still have something to talk to you.”

“Talk to me in the office.” I softly pushed her aside and took a step forward but abruptly stopped when my eyes landed on the hood of my car. My eyes bulged out.

It was scrapped!

“Fuck! Who did this to my car?” I yelled, rubbing the scrapped part of the hood. No matter how many cars I can buy but it hurts to see even a single scratch on my car.

“I swear it wasn’t intentional.”

I heard Miss Hart say. It’s her? Gritting my teeth I furiously glared at her.

“It was you? Why? Are you crazy or what?” I shouted.

“I swear I had no idea it’s your car. I wouldn’t have done it if I knew it’s yours. I thought it’s someone else’s car and—“

“Mine or not, you can’t do that to anyone’s car!” I banged my fist on the hood. “Damn!”

“Don’t do that you’ll damage it more.” She shrieked.

Seriously?

“Oh, now you care?” I snapped, glaring at her in anger.

“I’ll pay for the damage, I swear.” She said in a shaky voice.

“Pay? Really? Well, reality check, Miss Hart. It’s not always about money. It’s about what you did and why! Why for no reason you’d damage someone’s car? What was going in this stupid head of yours?” My voice came out in a roar. I was beyond angry at her.

“I had my reasons to damage the car but I’m sorry that it turned out to be yours.”

“Is this how you apologize?” My head tilted in disbelief.

“Yes. No. I mean, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I…I … Please don’t fire me from my job.”

Oh, wow, now she is giving me ideas.

I closed my eyes and rubbed my face with my palms. “Sean, don’t be angry. Calm down.” I mumbled in my head. Sighing, I looked at her. I had just signed a new deal and I was in a good mood but she ruined it.

“We’ll talk about this in the office tomorrow,” I said in a calm tone. I was trying hard not to snap at her again.

“In the office?” Her panic-stricken eyes studied me. “You are surely going to fire me, I know. Please, please don’t do this. Cut my salary but don’t fire me, please.” She begged.

Well, I wasn’t going to fire her as she was a very efficient employee and I could definitely get my car repaired in minutes but I had to teach her a lesson for her foolishness.

“Miss Hart, don’t make me create a scene at a public place. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I said firmly and after rubbing the scraped part again I sat in the car and drove off.

Lauren Hart

Oh no!

“He’s definitely gonna fire me.” I panicked. I ran my hands through my locks, pacing back and forth. “I need to do something.”

He already never saw me as a woman, he only saw me as his P.A —it’s not that I wanted him to— but I lost even an atom size chance of it. I knew I had no chance with him but seeing him daily was like a treat to my eyes. And I was going to lose my job too.

And he too called me CRAZY! Everyone ends up calling me that.

My mind was running a marathon, trying to figure out how to save myself from my own foolishness. All of a sudden, my mind screamed a name that could definitely save me. Ariana Knight, my best friend. She means a lot to my boss and he would definitely listen to her. I was on the verge of calling her but I stopped.

“I think I should first talk to him tomorrow and if he doesn’t understand then I’ll involve her. Yeah, that’s better.” I satisfied myself by saying so but I was fearing of how would I face him tomorrow.

“I told you it was a bad idea!”

I gritted my teeth at Christy’s voice. This traitor!

I turned and face her in rage. “Bad idea? I was doing it for you and what you did? You left me alone with the satan.”

“Hey, I appreciate that you wanted to help me but I was against the idea of car scrapping from the start.”

I sighed. I couldn’t be angry at her. It wasn’t her fault in the first place. It was me who wanted to quench my thirst for doing something crazy.

“It’s okay, Christy. I’m not mad at you. It’s me who is unlucky.” I sighed.

“But hey girl, your boss is too hot. It was the first time I saw him out of the screen.” She teased me as she punched my upper arm.

“Too HOT,” I agreed to her but included sarcasm in my tone.

“Hot-tempered. He’s gonna show me his hotness tomorrow by firing me. And I swear if I get fired tomorrow, I’ll burn your boyfriend alive because I’m in this situation because of him.” I yelled in annoyance, in one breath.

“Okay, I get it. I think we must head home before you burn this place down.” Saying that she dragged me to her car and led me home.

I couldn’t sleep for the whole night. I couldn’t find peace. Whenever I tried to close my eyes, images of me being thrown out of the company flashed before my eyes. I woke up way too early and after taking shower I kept staring at my work outfit for long.

I picked up my pencil skirt and rubbed the cloth with my palm. “I hope it doesn’t turn out to be the last day I wear you.”

I sat on the chair at our small four-seater dining table to have breakfast but the delicious sandwich before my eyes failed to lift my mood.

“Enough, Lauren. You’re being dramatic. You are taking this too seriously. It’s not you. Stop fussing over that might not happen.” Christy said, placing the coffee mug near my sandwich plate.

My lips curled down. “Christy, you won’t understand. I have been doing only one job since I have come here. I don’t want to go back to my parents.”

“Oh, come on, you’re acting like you won’t get another job! Your experience will provide you the best job in a prominent company, in case you lose this one.”

“So much for making me feel good,” I grumbled. “And I currently have the best job in the most prominent company in the USA. I don’t think I’ll ever find a job like this if I get fired and to be honest, I’m too much attached to this job, my post, my colleagues…and my boss.” I mumbled the last part to myself.

I abruptly stood up from the chair, pushing it back with my leg. “I’m going to work. My skull will split into two if I stay here for long, thinking about my job.” I marched out of the kitchen.

“But your breakfast?” Christy yelled.

“Eat it yourself,” I yelled back.

“You should have told me beforehand. I wasted my time by preparing breakfast for you. And resources too.” She yelled again.

“I’ll make it up to you. If I don’t lose my job, I’ll cook breakfast and dinner for two days.” I said as I came out of my room, taking my bag with me.

“I hope you don’t lose your job otherwise I won’t be able to forgive myself.” She mumbled lowly.

“Don’t worry, I’m not blaming you for anything.” I hugged her. “You okay?”

“No, but I will be. I’ll talk to him today and will clear the issues. I want to know the reason he broke up with me for. I want to know why he played with my feelings.” She mumbled.

“Do that and if he doesn’t obey then give me a call. I’ll make him spit out the reason.”

“Oh, you have done enough. Now go save your ass.” She laughed, detaching herself from me. I too laughed and went out.

With sweating hands and biting my lower lip in fear, I stood outside his office, contemplating whether to knock on the door or not. I was trying everything that could delay my dismissal but sooner or later, I had to face him.

“Lauren, do it now and save yourself from mental misery,” I whispered to myself. Taking a few deep breaths, I finally knocked on the door and entered his office.

“Good morning, sir,” I chirped a little actively, hoping for him to change his mood by listening to my chirpy voice.

Oh, come on Lauren, as if it is possible.

“Miss Hart, The car…”

Oh god, he hasn’t forgotten it yet.

I panicked. “Sir, I… please listen to me. It wasn’t intentional and I told you I’ll pay if you want me to, you can cut my salary but please, please, please do not fire me. I’m really—“

“Miss Hart.”

“I’m really sorry. I won’t do it again. Hell, I won’t even look at any car ever again. I’ll close my eyes before I could see any car. And if you fire me who would do your tie?—“

“MISS HART.”

Flinching, I abruptly stopped rambling when his booming voice pierced through my ears, making my heart drum louder. I gulped and stared at his standing form with wide eyes.

“The car accessories sales report I asked you to bring to me hasn’t reached me yet. Where is it?”

Huh?

My wide eyes now narrowed and a frown graced my eyebrows in confusion and surprise. Confused at his question and surprised at his relaxed tone. Was I dreaming?

Running my already confused mind in different scenarios, I asked a dumb question that no one in a healthy state of mind would ever ask.

“A…are y…you not firing me, sir?”

Stuffing his hands in his pant pockets, looking more handsome and hot than he already is, he strode towards me and stood at two hands distance from me. His ocean blue eyes staring at me with no emotions.

“Do you want me to?”

“What?” I asked.

“To fire you?”

“What, No!” I exclaimed loudly. “Why would I want that?”

I was extremely embarrassed. What’s with me and my mouth? Why can’t I keep it shut when required? I always end up embarrassed in front of him. What he must be thinking of me? Crazy? Fool?

You don’t have to worry Lauren as you’ll have more embarrassing moments. This is nothing. Just wait…

“Then go bring me the reports.”

I was snapped out of my dreamland and stared at his face, digesting what he said to me. He wanted me to bring him the reports means he surely wasn’t firing me.

“Miss Hart did you listen to what I said?.” He snapped fingers before my eyes.

“Oh, yes, sure.” I didn’t know why but I grinned as I said that and scurried out, bouncing.

Saying those words again filled me with excitement. The words I hated to speak were the only words that brought joy to me. In the end, I accepted that, yes sir, sure sir, okay sir, were the words I never wanted to give up on.

“I still have my job!” I did a little booty shake outside his office.