Third Person P.O.V
Looking blankly at the small, square-shaped card box lying on the table before her was Adelaide, who couldn't process what had happened roughly half an hour ago.
Yes, she was frightened out of her senses when she heard that strong a knock on her front door at eleven in the night, but to receive a delivery from her neighbour who took her package in her absence, at such an hour was more unexpected. What was in particular odd about the package was that it had no return or sender's address.
As though consciously coming back to the present, Adelaide heaved a sigh and reached out to her phone. Not knowing whether she had the physical and mental strength to work tomorrow, she sent out a mail informing her supervisor of her absence beforehand. To her relief, Tackles was taking a day off tomorrow thereby allowing her to take a good rest after long.
And so, making up her mind to check the contents of the package on another day, Adelaide kept it aside and marked the end of her day.
Adelaide's P.O.V
Waking up in the afternoon, I was met with the most unexpected reply to my leave-mail. My boss truly didn't understand the purpose of my mail and assigned me a task instead. One that needed to be submitted tonight. I hadn't even had my morning coffee yet and I had to get to work.
Frustrated. I was deeply annoyed and frustrated.
Following my apparent morning cycle, I freshened up and took a seat with my laptop and re-read the mail that was sent to me.
We were having an employee exchange out of the blue for four months, and now I had to send in a design to qualify for it! Yes, the experience would be great but ugh! Having to work on one's day off is so depressing!
Nevertheless, here I was, seated on my comfortable sofa, editing a design I worked on ages ago. Why waste brain cells to even come up with a new one when I could simply modify an already existing one?! Plus, the employee exchange was already in my bag to begin with because our company wanted an intern to go, but I guess formalities are hard to comply with.
Cross-checking if I wasn't being delusional with the mail I received, I indulged in my laptop like a teenager watching her choice of chick flicks.
And just like a teenager hooked to her device, I spent nearly three hours on my laptop without even having my first meal of the day. The design which I had to only modify ended up looking a lot better than I had even intended it to. Attaching my work to the mail and sending it, I stretched my arms and legs out in the air and slumped into the sofa with exhaustion. Oddly enough, now that I was done with my duty, I had no energy whatsoever to even keep the laptop aside.
"You should just call Benjie, he would bring you food."
"No, you are old enough to get up and fix yourself a meal, so don't rely on him so much and just do it on your own."
"But she's tired, look at her, she can't even pick up the pillow on her lap."
"So you think Benjie is free right now? He is probably working right now even after helping at the cafe yesterday."
I could not make out whether or not I was hallucinating two mini-sized me debating. Was I that hungry? Whether I was seeing things or not, the two were great at keeping their stance. It was excruciatingly hard for me to side with the white mini over the red one. And now that I had done so, it took all of my future willpower to force myself up from the sofa and grab the ingredients I have to make a thick and filling sandwich.
Luckily I had just about enough ingredients to make my sandwich turned sub. Filling the tiny baguette with ham and salad, I inhaled the few subs that I had made for myself. And just as they were over I realised how glad I was to be eating at home.
Home.
As odd as it was, I missed papa when I thought of that. His presence, his gentle touch, his caring gaze and his love-showering attitude. I missed all of them, but now, I could only smile when I recollected the time I spent with him. Gazing at our picture together on my phone I asked out to no one.
"Are you happy now that you reunited with her?"
And expectedly so, I never got a response.
-THE NEXT DAY-
Arriving at my office and receiving the news directly from Gemma, it was confirmed that I will be working with Scmith and Co. for the upcoming four months once this month ends. Although the news was no surprise to me, I now felt exhausted knowing that I'll have this change of environment and people. But, there was nothing I could do to go against the wills of my superiors and hence, gladly accepting the opportunity given to me, I slowly started prepping for my short-term transfer which probably couldn't even be called one. Having only a week until my departure, I suddenly was dumped with a lot of work specifically assigned to me.
I wanted to believe that they gave me this burden owing to my excellent skills, but the reality I knew was far from it. Plus, they were probably aiming to better my skills by assigning me to revise the designs of existing projects and make me realise how much better the other departments were. And just like any other day, even if I loved my work, office life was frustrating and depressing.
Oddly enough, this hectic week packed with work and overseeing the cafe had gone by faster than I had expected it to. And now, I stood before my employer for four months. Scmith and Co. Gosh, this company sounded too familiar for some reason but, my absent-minded brain couldn't even connect the dots and guess why it sounded familiar.
Well, the dots did connect shortly. Too soon and yet too late for me to accept or back out of this situation. Because, right now, the one who stood before me was none other than the arrogant mannequin Dylan Scmith with not much surprise on his face.