Chapter 5

• His gaze now turns to me. His face looks surprised to hear my request earlier. "Are you sure you want to get off at the convenience store over there? Our office is still far away, you know."
• "It's okay. There's something I want to buy."
• His eyes are now back to focus on the road. "If there's something you want to buy, just buy it. I'm waiting for you until you finish buying things."
• I shook my head. "No need. You better go straight to the office, or you'll be late."
• "But…"
• Before he could finish his words, I immediately pinched his waist. He seemed to grimace in pain as soon as my hand pinched his waist.
• "Yes, I'm sorry. Could you let go or not? I can't focus if you keep doing that." he asked, which immediately made me let go of my hand earlier.
• I looked back at the window. The morning sun rising from my direction made me feel warm, followed by several buildings on the side of the road. Until finally we arrived in front of the minimarket that I had shown him.
• "We've arrived. Are you sure you don't want to go to the office with me?"
• I took off my seat belt and looked at him closely. "I'm pretty sure about that. Now, where's your phone?"
• He handed his unlocked smartphone to me, which I quickly picked up. Then I entered my WeChat ID into his WeChat account and put it in the contact list. After that, I checked my smartphone to make sure that the contact was automatically added to my WeChat app, and gave it back to him.
• "Okay, it's done. I'll call you whenever I need you. And you have to be quick to reply to my messages, no matter how busy you are. Understand?" I asked, pulling the tie he was wearing today.
• "Understood, Master."
• I took my hand off the tie I pulled earlier and opened the car door. After closing the door, the car immediately left me alone at the minimarket. As soon as I saw his car had started to walk away from the convenience store, I turned towards the minimarket.
• "Welcome." The male employee greeted me with a friendly smile. I returned his smile briefly and walked towards the shelf that contained Soyjoy with various flavors which made it difficult for me to choose. Not knowing which one to choose, my hand finally moved to take all the flavors on the shelf. Then I walked to the refrigerator, took a few cans of energy drinks, and walked to the counter.
• "Just them?" asked the minimarket employee, to which I only nodded back. After telling me the amount I have to pay, I took my smartphone and paid for it with one of the digital payment applications that the convenience store accepted. Then I put my groceries in my bag and left the convenience store.
• I opened the Google Fit app and started activating the step counter feature. Then I walked out of the minimarket, headed for the office, which if on foot would take about an hour.
• My decision to decline his offer to take me to the office is not out of the blue. Considering we work in the same office, it should not be unusual for him and I to arrive at the office in his car. But my intuition told me that I shouldn't let him take me to our office, and my intuition is always right. Because of that, now I walked into the office and rejected his offer earlier.
• "It's tiring." I said, between my footsteps. "I never thought that going to the office would go this far. If only I use a vehicle or bus, it won't be very far like now."
• When I was about to continue my journey, a black car stopped right in front of me. I looked at the car with suspicion and prepared to run away from the car when the car window opened. As soon as I saw the person in the car, I started to feel relieved for no reason.
• "Lemme take you to the office. Your office is still the same as before, right?" asked the driver of the car, who turned out to be the person who had approached me in the hotel lobby, inviting me to get into his car. With some hesitation, I got into the car and fastened my seat belt.
• "You said you want me to call you if I remember you. How come you even offer me to take me to the office now?" I asked when the car I was driving was moving away from the path where I was walking earlier. His eyes didn't look at me at all and only focused on the road in front of him right now. Meanwhile, I turn off the Google Fit app and put my phone back in my bag.
• "When I saw you were together with him in his car, I became uneasy. So, I followed you until you came down to that minimarket earlier."
• "Then you were waiting for the opportunity to offer me a ride in your car, is that right?" I asked with a probing glance at him.
• He made no effort to answer my question at all, and turned the steering wheel and shifted his gear, making our position which was originally on the left of the road, now shifted to the right of the road. From afar, I saw a turn that would soon lead us to the office where I work, and that made me remember one thing.
• "How do you know if I work there? And what do you mean about you being uneasy when you saw me being together in Dominik's car?"
• "Dominik, huh? Hm…" Instead of answering my question, he muttered Dominik's name several times while tapping his finger on the steering wheel. "You already know his name. But you still don't remember me."
• I turned my gaze to the window, annoyed that he didn't even try to answer my question earlier. We didn't talk to each other at all, as if we were busy with each other's thoughts. I'm thinking about the person next to me right now, while I don't know and don't want to know what he's thinking right now.
• Without realizing it, we have already arrived in front of the office where I work. He steered his car to the car park and stopped the car.
• "We've arrived, Leah." he said, before turning off the engine. When I was about to open my seat belt and got ready to go out, he brought his face closer to me and immediately kissed me without asking for my approval. I was still surprised by his sudden kiss, somehow felt so familiar with his kiss, and let him continue to kiss me for a while before he finally let go of his kiss.
• "You don't reject my kiss at all. That means you already remember who the person in front of you is right now, don’t you?" he asked with a happy face.
• "Unfortunately, I still don't remember who you are. But I feel familiar with your kiss, and that's why I didn't reject your kiss at all. That's all." I replied, taking off the seat belt I was wearing earlier and getting ready to open the car door when his hand prevented me from doing it.
• "Wait here. Lemme open the door."
• Without waiting for an answer from me, he immediately took off his seat belt and got out of his car. Then he ran to the car door where I was waiting for him and opened the car door. His hands were trying to protect my head as I got out of the car, making me feel like an important person.
• "Thank you." I said to him, to which he only nodded his head and smiled a little.
• "See you later, my lady." he said, kissing the back of my hand, making my cheeks now start to heat with shame. Without realizing it, I looked around and saw Dominik, my dog, being surrounded by a group of female employees at the office lobby door. His eyes stared at me with an irritated face, which I didn't care for at all.
• I turned my gaze back towards Harris. "Why are you so sure that we'll meet again?" I asked with a surprised face.
• He laughed at the question I asked earlier while stroking my head gently. "Because we will meet again soon. Come on, go in there first. Or you'll be late."
• He pushed me away from him, while I was still looking at him with a confused face. He then waved his hand at me, causing me to clumsily wave my hand too before I turned my back and walked towards the lobby door. I passed Dominik, who was still looking at me with a face that still looked annoyed for some reason, while the female employees who had gathered around him were still trying to get his attention.
• Likewise, with me, who completely ignored his gaze earlier and walked towards the elevator. After waiting for a while, finally, the elevator door opened, and I went inside. Then I pressed the elevator button to my destination floor.
• Weird. How come I just found out that Dominik is popular at work, huh? Was it all this time that I didn't realize it?
• Fortunately, since no one was with me in the elevator made me feel relieved that I didn't have to coincide with other employees. I took my cell phone to check the clock. 08:55 AM. There are still five minutes before work starts.
• Once on the floor I was headed for, I waited until the elevator doors opened, and got out of the elevator. I walked towards the room where I was going to spend my boring days for the next five days.
• Come to think of it, it's Monday, right? Just yesterday I had a wonderful Sunday with my new pet who I just found out that he is my colleague. And now it's Monday. What a pity.
• Just a second. If Dominik also works in this office, that means he could be in the same department as me. I took my name tag which reads my name and position as Junior Public Relations and hung it around my neck. Then I walked excitedly to my room, hoping I could meet Dominik.
• Unfortunately, I didn't find Dominik. Instead, I met a fat middle-aged man who was almost bald and with our different height I'm pretty sure that I'm taller than him, is folding his arms, glaring at me.
• "Leah? Can you come to my office for a moment?"
• Don't tell me there's something wrong with my job. I hope I don't get fired. I said to myself. I followed the footsteps of a middle-aged man who was my boss named Tony Franklin. Annoying person if I may say. Always burdening his subordinates with unreasonable tasks, and if there is a mistake with the task he has been given, he doesn't hesitate to blame one of his subordinates who is assigned to do the task so that he is free from the mistakes he has made.
• Once in his room, he sat down in his chair and threw a pile of documents on the table with a displeased face. Then scolded me for not doing what he instructed me to do. I just kept quiet without listening to a single word. In my heart, I want to protest to our superiors to fire him. There have been many employees who have resigned because they could not stand his arbitrary behavior. Even as long as I've worked here, I've never seen he works, unless there's an impromptu inspection.
• "Did you hear what I said, Leah? Make sure this is over today!"
• "But,"
• "No buts. Do it or you can leave this place and find another job."
• Bastard! If not because I need money, I will get out of here!
• I squeezed my hands holding back irritation. Then I took out the pile of documents he asked me to fix and I immediately left the room.
• "Son of a bitch!" I shouted, throwing the pile of documents on the table.
• Shelly, my best friend as well as my workmate, who was busy munching on her chocolate biscuits, almost jumped in shock at what I did.
• "What's wrong? That egg-headed man is throwing a tantrum again?" she asked, handing the half-packet of biscuits down towards me. I took the biscuit and ate it all.
• "Just look at how much paperwork I have to finish today! Is he crazy?!"
• Patricia, one of my coworkers who was in the same department, immediately approached me, followed by several other colleagues. "You're still better. I and the others were told to work on all the documents that we worked so hard to work on last week by this afternoon. Crazy, huh?" said Patricia, taking the biscuits Shelly offered her and eating them up.
• "What if we just protest? Ask our CEO to fire him right now. How about that?" suggested Norman, who joined me at my desk with my colleagues who had already gathered in my room.
• "But we've never been to him before. What if after we did that, we'll get a rejection, then we all get fired for reasons modified by that damn egg-headed man?" I protested at Norman.
• He just waved a hand listening to my protest about his proposal earlier, as if it was nothing big.
• "It's fine." he said. Then in a whisper, he lowered his body. "I managed to gather evidence that could get that egg-headed old guy out of this office forever."
• We were all surprised to hear his statement earlier. Meanwhile, Norman seemed satisfied to see our reaction which seemed to be expected earlier. "Anyway, as long as one of us reports to the CEO, his career will end at once."
• "Then why don't you just talk? You said you already have proof?" asked Shelly, chewing on her last biscuit before throwing it in the trash.
• "That's the problem. I don't have any courage to report that."
• "So, what you said earlier was just a bluff, huh?" I said, taking one of the documents my boss asked me to finish today.
• "No, Leah. I mean it. The evidence I bring you right now is more than enough to fire our 'beloved' boss." said Norman with a super serious face.
• Everyone seemed to think for a moment before finally one of us started to open our voices
• "What if Leah sends it on behalf of us?" Patricia suggested, followed by nods of approval from all my co-workers, including Shelly.
• "How come I'm the one who sends it on behalf of all of you? Should it be done by Norman?" I protested.
• "After all, from the gossip I heard, our CEO is still single. And the best part is he's still 33 and he's good-looking." said Patricia, and my other coworkers nodded.
• "So, what does that have to do with our plan to get that egg-headed man out of our office?"
• "There is. Among us, only you are still single, aren't you?" asked Patricia, which made me turn to look at Norman and Shelly, two other people I know were single at the office.
• "So, you two… are already dating?" I asked with a face in disbelief at the fact I just learned today.
• They both looked at me with awkward faces. "Norman just asked me out today. And I agree with him because I've always liked him too." Shelly replied with a shy face.
• "I never thought. It turned out that I was the only one still single." I said, sighing in disappointment.
• "Therefore, I recommend that you will be the one who sends it on behalf of our department to the CEO of our company. Who knows if you will succeed in getting him to like you, then he'll agree with you to fire him? My suggestion is great, isn't it? "
• I rolled my eyes with a lazy face. "That's great from where? That's the same as taking advantage of other people for their interests."
• "Together." corrected Norman. "Don't forget, all of us are also victims of injustice. So, do all of you agree that Leah will be our representative to report to our CEO?"
• Everyone agreed to hear Patricia and Norman's arbitrary suggestion. Like it or not, I was forced to put down the document I was supposed to be working on and asked for evidence that Norman said earlier.
• "Okay. Tell me the name of the CEO. I have to give this evidence as quickly as possible."
• Everyone was surprised to hear my question earlier. They turned to each other as if they couldn't believe what they had just heard.
• "You've already worked here for almost four years, and still don't know the name of our CEO?" asked Shelly with a startled face.
• "Tell me or I will not give this evidence to him."
• "Dominik Lawrence. That's the name of the CEO you must provide this document with." said Patricia.
• Just a second. Dominik Lawrence? So, the dog who I just met yesterday, turned out to be the CEO of the company I work for?!