Chapter 2 – Petty Revenge

• Celine
• “What the heck was that?” I muttered.
• For a second there I thought my heart was going to stop beating. Thank God, it is still beating so fast.
• “Ok, take deep breaths. One, two and three, four and five.” I close my eyes, take deep breaths, and listen to the bird sing. In my head, of course.
• “Hm… no stuttering. Interesting.” Andrew looked at me with fascination.
• “What is so interesting?” I asked, a bit offended.
• “You. I’ve seen a lot of reaction from women when they meet the devil for the first time, but I had never seen anyone react like you. It is quite intriguing.” Andrew spoke with fascination.
• Huh? I have no idea what that means. I mean I used to stutter as a child, but it had been cured for years now. I don’t know why I had to stutter today. God, I hope I don’t get fired on my first day on the job.
• “Anyway, this way. Let’s go over the paperwork first.” Andrew directed me to his office and sat me down. He slid over the welcome packet and waited patiently for me to look it over.
• It’s a typical welcome to the company packet, which includes the welcome letter, rules, regulation etc. Then he handed me an abnormally long sheet of paper.
• “What is this?” I asked.
• Andrew gave me a weird smile before starting the charade of my new boss’s habit. In summary, Mr. Anderson is somewhat of a perfectionist psychotic coffee addict. The boss arrived at the office at 8 am sharp. His breakfast, lunch and dinner must be served with coffee - and every hour in between that.
• While Andrew deals with company work, my role taking care of his personal needs and make sure his day goes by without a hitch. Andrew also gives me the key to Mr. Anderson penthouse, which is 40 percent of my work. My task includes but not limited to cleaning, restocking, cooking, and guarding his property. Basically, all of his personal needs are my priority.
• “We are almost done here.” Andrew paused for a very much needed breather. “And here is the last form.” Andrew pulled out a sheet of paper and slid it over.
• This one is pink, short with one line of bold letters: Any sexual advance toward Mr. Anderson for personal gains will result in immediate termination of employment.
• “Huh? Sex for personal gain? What the fuck!” I cursed.
• Andrew burst out laughing before going on another charade of the previous twenty-two personal assistants before me. Their endeavor is inconceivable.
• “Isn’t this a bit too much?” I asked.
• “For the health of myself, the boss, yours and the company - please agree and sign right there.” Andrew pointed to the blank line for signature.
• I did as instruct without hesitation. There is absolutely no reason for me to disagree.
• “And you are done. Welcome to Anderson Corp. I will show you around the place and then you can officially start tomorrow.” Andrew chimed, happier then he should have been. As long as it is ethical, morally right, and legal, anything is fine by me.
• Andrew shows me around the company, starting with the president suite. Which consist of the president office, Andrew office, my desk, breakroom, coffee station and a bathroom. This is a secure floor, accessible to authorized personnel only. Below this floor is HR, Marketing, security, manufacturing and so forth as the level lower.
• What amazes me is the ground level, which contains a gym with state of art equipment, bowling alley, bar, pool table, indoor pool, and my favorite part the field room. Which is design for all sorts of sport.
• “Wow, this place is amazing.” I said, eye widen in amazement.
• “Yep, boss add this to promote healthy living. Employees are free to use these equipment as they please and on the weekend this place is open for family fun nights. All the food served here are free of charge.” Andrew explained, full of admiration for Tyson.
• “Wow, never thought poker face had it in him to be nice.” I whisper.
• “I’m sorry what?” Andrew choked. Shoot! Did he hear that?
• “Nothing.” I quickly dodge a bullet.
• We circled back to the top floor where he told me all about my new boss’s coffee taste and how he only drinks one brand of coffee. The expensive kind.
• “And here is the most important part, the recipe.” Andrew handed me a piece of paper.
• “6 ounce of water to 3 shots of expresso. No sugar, no cream. Wow!” I read it aloud.
• “Yep, the boss like his drink bitter.” Andrew replied.
• “He is a bitter man.” I whispered, and the man next to me burst out laughing.
• “You are not too far off. Nobody had ever called him that before. I have to admit, you’ve got guts.” Andrew praised.
• Should I be proud of that? I wonder.
• Before I could answer the question from the universe, “Andrew my coffee.” The devil answered, sending a shiver down my back.
• God, I hope he didn’t hear me earlier.
• “Dawson in my office.” His tone was full of irritation and anger.
• Andrew quickly made his coffee and threw me into the devil’s den. I slowly open the door to meet the man glaring gazed and flinched. Ever wonder how you are going to die? I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes. Celine Dawson death by the devil laser beam glared. Yep, that will be engraved into my tomb stone.
• “Come inside and close the door.” The devil demanded.
• Like the helpless little lamb, I did as told.
• “H-h-how m-may I I I bbee of sssseeerrrvice tttoo…” curse the fracking stuttering. Why happen now when I was fine earlier. “I I i…” I struggled.
• “Stop!” My mouth shut up on demand. “Write it down. I don’t have time to listen to you stutter all day.” I nodded.
• “How may I be of service to you?” I asked.
• “Since you have so much free time to be joking around with Andrew, why don’t you used it to clean my office? You are not allowed to leave until this office is spotless.” The boss demanded.
• Yep, he definitely heard me. I’m so screwed.
• “Now!” He demanded with all intention to scare me.
• For God’s sake, it’s like he can smell my fear. Every once in a while I would glance over to see him glaring at me. It is uncomfortable but I can’t refused the devil’s demand. So, I suck it up and tried my hardest to ignored the searing glared gaze.
• Time flew and by the time I was done the sun had set. The devil had disappeared, which means he has left and that means I can too. Finally free, I quickly packed up and rushed out the door. Only it didn’t go as planned. I ran headfirst into a giant mug of coffee as of it was place there specifically for me.
• “Dawson, what are you still doing here?” The devil asked, feigning surprised. I see in his eyes the satisfaction of revenge.
• This is my first day at work and I already don’t like this man. However, I reframed from speaking my mind and got on feet.
• With a fake smile I wrote, “I was just leaving,” and then passed by with every bit of caution.
• Once far away from the eyes and ears of the devil, I sighed in relief. A new town, new workplace, new community – I should be excited, but I felt out place. Why me, God? Why me?
• I got home extra late, lazy, and exhausted. I just wanted to sleep but my phone chimed, and my best friends face flash across the screen.
• “Hello.” I answer with a smile on my face.
• “Celine!” My mother chimed.
• From the way she looks, it seems she had just got home. She looks tired and her wrinkles had become more prominent. It’s only been a month since I left, and she seems to aged 10 years. Seeing her like this breaks my heart.
• “Honey, are you ok?” The therapist in her spoke up. “Let me guess, tough first day.”
• I sighed and nodded.
• “Let me rant.” And that was the start of a long and tireless rant.
• “Celine if you are unhappy over there, why not come back? I missed you.” My mother said.
• “Mom, I missed you too. But you know I can’t.” We both know I can’t.
• She frowned and my heart aches.