Elena's mouth was wide open, as if she did not expect to be rejected. I swear, that girl is faker than Kim Kardashian's booty.
Without giving another glance to Elena, he looked at me and said, "You better update my blacklist."
I perfectly knew what that meant. Elena, you ain't coming here ever again.
It was already late, so I decided to go home. Adam offered to drop me and I agreed. He saved me the trouble of finding a taxi. I sat in the front seat this time. I remembered how Mr Wilson got angry that I sat in the back seat when he offered to drive me back to the hotel. I smiled to myself. My smile did not escape Adam's eyes. He said nothing during the drive.
While we were on our way back, a notification popped up. It was from Mr Wilson.
'I'm proud of you.' Mr Wilson hit me in the feels yet again. I looked up to him and admired him, when he said he was proud of me (Something no one really said to me, except my darling and most lovable Lisa) it just made me so happy. Why? I don't know, I can't explain it.
This message really made my day.
No, I was wrong. The next message made my day. 'You're getting a raise.'
Yep, the way to a girl's (Ahem, mine) heart is through money. Just kidding. I'm not shallow. I totally deserve the raise. Who else could deal with Mr Wilson like the way I do? Except Lily, though. She's a guru. RESPECT.
The next day, I woke up with a smile on my face. Why not? I got appreciated; I got a raise; I took down the very fake Elena.
Sometimes when you're the most happy, you get reminded of everything imperfect in your life to dampen your mood. The same thing happened.
I stopped contacting Luke a long time ago. I was afraid that he would get caught when talking to me. Not going to lie, but Luke is irresponsible at many times. I guess that's just how men are. DON'T ATTACK ME, I know not all men are like that, but a majority are.
I don't know what's happening there; I don't know how grandpa is; I don't know how Luke is; I don't know how my parents and aunt and uncle are. I admit, I miss them. It's been a month since I contacted them. At least when I was staying in a dormitory away from my family, I could talk to them everyday on the phone.
Ah! My heart! I'm usually a happy-go-lucky person. I cannot stay angry or sad for a long time. I'm just too lighthearted.
Some people literally thought that I could not get hurt (emotionally). Like what? I'm not a robot. I do get hurt. I would just cry for some time and get over it. Like my grandpa used to say, pondering about those matters won't solve it. When I fall down, I have to get up and continue. Lisa was the only one who really understood me. Luke came close. And then my parents. Yes, my parents come third. I really miss all of them.
With a few tears in my eyes, I got dressed for work. Can you believe it? I work on the weekends too. If not for the high salary, I would have quit already. (The goddam contract which I signed saying that I owe a million if I quit: Am I a joke to you?)
I was quite absentminded in the office. Mr Wilson kept saying something, and I just nodded. We were walking towards his office from the lobby as he told me what to do.
"Give me my schedule by 8 o'clock."
"Uh huh" I nodded.
"Remind Mr Collins about our meeting."
"Hmm,"
Mr Wilson turned out and looked at. He clearly noticed that I was absentminded. I stopped walking since he stopped.
"Ms Brown, I'm getting married, be my maid of honour."
"Yes, Mr Wilson." I nodded before realising what he said. "Wait, what?"
He looked at me in thought before placing his palm on my forehead to check if I have a fever. I just stood there frozen, completely flustered by his sudden action. He retracted his hand and said, "Your temperature seems normal."
The warmth from his palm still lingered on my forehead, subconsciously I raised my hand to touch the place he touched.
"I'm just homesick, Mr Wilson. Sorry for being absentminded."
Mr Wilson stared at me for a moment before he turned and said, "Follow me."
With his spidery long legs, he took huge strides, making it hard for me to catch up. Walking in heels is no joke. I am still not used to it. I want me some flip-flops if I could. Oh, how I miss my comfortable sneakers.
Though I was falling behind, he had no intention of stopping.
"Mr Wilson! Wait!" I almost shouted. Taking small but fast steps, I tried to catch up to him. All the employees stared at me as I passed by their cubicles.
I followed him all the way to Mr Collins' office. I was huffing and puffing and trying to catch my breath while Mr Wilson looked like he was waiting for me to be done. He looked at his watch and looked at me as if saying, 'get over with it fast!'
I wanted to shout, 'TRY WALKING WITH HEELS MR. WILSON!"
Mr Wilson, totally ignoring my glare, knocked on the door and Mr Collins opened it.
"Ah, Chris." He smiled pleasantly at Mr Wilson. And then he looked at me, "Oh, you're here too?" He said with a hint of disdain. Dude, what did I ever do to ya? Why you keep targeting me?
"Well, hello to you too, Mr Collins." I said with a fake smile. Between the awkwardness among us, Mr Wilson coughed to break the silence.
"I'm planning on bringing her too." Mr Wilson said firmly as he gestured towards me. I honestly had no idea about what's going on, so I looked like a confused duck.
"Really? Her? I mean, she's beautiful, but.... I don't know." Mr Collins said as he looked at me. The amount of negativity from him is no joke. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"She'd be a good excuse." Mr Wilson clarified.
Mr Collins asked us to come in. I sat on the sofa while Mr Wilson sat opposite to Mr Collins. Both of them looked at me weirdly, which made me self-conscious. I know I am very beautiful, but what's up with the weird stares?
*gasp* Are you guys trying to sell me, I know I would fetch a lot of money, but still. Where's HR when you need him, oh wait, the head of HR is planning this. Welp!
"Maybe we can pull this off." Mr Collins said in thought.
"Excuse me, but what exactly is happening?" I asked.
Mr Wilson turned towards me and said, "We're going on a business trip to Country G."
"Um, can I say no?" I asked hopefully, but with one glare from Mr Wilson was enough for me to shut up. But I'm still okay. I'm getting to visit another country for free, I get to stay in five-star hotels. I mean, why not? Ya ya, I still have to deal with Mr Wilson, but I can handle him, hopefully.
"When are we going?" I asked. This plan was certainly out of the blue for me. They, on the other hand, seemed to have planned it long ago. Mr Wilson looked at me as if he was thinking if answering my question was worth it.
I frowned at him for doing that. He cleared his throat before saying, "Since the travel is only a few hours-"
Few hours? Um, no. The travel time was 8 hours on a plane. Yes, that means 8 hours, 8 LONG hours stuck with Mr Wilson with no place to escape. "We will leave on the 10th. That is, this coming week." He further said.
The 10th of Feb was only 4 days away. This plan was too sudden. Beside the fact that I am physically not prepared, I am not mentally prepared either. Come on, Mr Wilson. I'd like to see you find a better secretary than me!
"How long-"
"A week" Mr Wilson did not even let me finish my question. I rolled my eyes at him.
"Any problem, Ms Brown?"
"No. No problem at all." I showed him a thumbs up.
Three days passed so quickly, how I wished the time slowed down. These three days were actually fun. Mr Wilson was very busy, so he did not have much time to pester me. I found out that Adam's birthday was on February 29th, so technically he was only a little below five years old. Sad guy though, he could celebrate his actual birthday once in four years. How did I know about this, you ask? I found his resume the other day when I was in the archive. He looked so funny in the picture on his resume. He did not look like himself at all. Must be because of the very huge (they were very big, not exaggerating) black-framed glasses. I spent 10 whole minutes laughing. I'd stop laughing, but I'd get reminded of the photo and start laughing again, earning glares from Adam. After I finished laughing, I felt that I was mean and bought him lunch to apologise. Since he knew I was "rich" he did NOT hold back when ordering. When he was giving his order to the waiter, I gave him dirty looks, but he showed no signs of stopping. He ordered some god-knows-what fish just because it was expensive. He does not even like fish! He did not touch the fish, he had it packed instead. If I knew I was spending this much money on an apology lunch, I might as well have a good and worthy laugh.
It was 5 in the morning when Mr Wilson called me. I am a lazy person, I'm sure we established that fact. I was in my bed all cosy when I got the call. I looked at my phone, 'The devil'. I grunted and said, "Screw you!" it was 5, give me a break. I did not pick up the call, I went to sleep instead. Those five minutes of sleep you get before you get up are the best.
Mr Wilson did not give up. He called me again and again. I wanted five minutes, was that so hard! I finally gave in and picked up the call. "What, Mr Wilson?" I said with a hint of annoyance.
"Ms Brown. Are you ready?" He asked seriously. Like what? He did not tell me that we were travelling this early in the morning. I'm not ready at all. Heck, I'm still in bed.
"Uhhh…. We're leaving now? You did not tell me." He did not tell me for real. He never mentioned it, he mentioned a hundred other useless things like how he hated roses (he's quite the romantic isn't he? Facepalms myself) so that I could book an appropriate hotel but he never mentioned this.