She moved into her new apartment yesterday, her Mom insisted to tag along. But the Chief lawyer, Mr. Cross himself, called and wanted to meet her. Thankfully, she thought, the call saved her.
The meeting was very brief. Mr. Cross received a call and dismissed her as soon. It was very odd, but she sighed in relief she didn't know how to interact with her own boss.
She's still in the office building when her mother called her.
"How are you in the office when it's Sunday?" Bern's voice was croaky, sounded like a female frog.
"Mom, I don't know the company's culture, yet, I guess we will have to work on Sundays in the future." Which was not a bad thing for her.
She was still talking to her mother when a loud trumpet sound emanated from the background. It was overwhelming and annoying.
"What's that?" She could hear her mother talking on the other side. But the loud noise overpowered Bern's voice.
"Welcome To Phillip and Cross Amelia Cheng!" many people were present, and they were throwing her a party.
Although they spelled her last name Chang in the do-it-yourself banner they had made, their warm welcome touched her.
"Oh, thank you." She bowed down and grinned back at them.
Everyone introduced themselves, and after that, only a few stayed and gathered at the buffet that they prepared, there's a fruit punch and some beer.
Mr. Cross came back wearing a floral shirt and shorts.
"Don't get overwhelmed this is a tradition slash initiation to our new lawyers." He said, shaking her hands.
"This is to welcome you, and to motivate you to work hard." He offered her a can of flavored beer.
"Thanks." That was all Amie could answer. It's more like pressure than motivation.
Because of uneasiness, she chugged the whole can in her throat.
"That's the spirit." Mr. Cross gently tapped her back and laughed out loud.
"Well, my family needs me, so I have to go." He said while looking at his wristwatch.
"This only happens once in a while. We don't work on Sundays, okay?" He tapped her back one more time and left the party.
The music got louder and unfamiliar faces waved at her like they already knew her a long time ago.
A tall blond man wearing tattered jeans and a t-shirt walked towards her.
"Sup?" was his conversation starter and offered her a bottle of beer.
"Thanks." She accepted the bottle.
"I'm Mike, Amelia right?" No one calls her Amelia except her father.
"Amie." She's not sure if she wanted a conversation with this man. But he looked friendly, and she didn't want to look snobbish.
Mike offered his hands, and Amie didn't have a choice but to accept it.
"Nice to meet you." He was laughing while shaking her hands.
"Nice to meet you too." She mirrored him. She didn't want to have bad blood with anyone at her welcoming party.
It's been two minutes, and they stopped talking. It was too awkward, as awkward as the blind dates her mother arranged for her.
"So how do you find Palmera?" He meant the City they're in. Mike offered her a toast.
"I don't know yet, I came here today." She clinks her glass with his while talking.
"Oh, well, if you need a tour, you can call me anytime." He offered her his cell phone. Shouldn't he ask for hers instead?
But she keyed in her own number, anyway. Mike dialed her number.
"Alright, call me anytime." He said and until five minutes have passed and no more words came out of each other's mouths.
"I'd.."
"Uhm.."
The two of them talk at the same time.
"Hahaha, go ahead." His chuckle extended and obviously fake.
"Well, I ah.." She had nothing to say, actually.
"There you are! Why are you keeping Amie for yourself, Mike?" A middle-aged lady pulled her from where she's at. She didn't have time to say goodbye to Mike, thankfully, because it's too excruciating to stay in an awkward situation.
"Everyone here's our girl, Amelia." She deposited her in a tall chair in the middle of everyone.
"My name is Lindsey and I'm the HR manager and they're everyone." Lindsey was looking healthy and friendly.
"Please call me, Amie." She said shyly.
"Perfect! Now we will begin the initiation." Lindsey said, holding a microphone.
"It says here in your information that you're twenty-seven and single. Do you have a boyfriend?" Linsey was like interviewing a contestant in a variety show Valentine's day special.
She shook her head hesitantly.
"Alright! then you can join the single's club. Guys, did you hear that?" Lindsey let out a crisp giggle.
"Okay, that' actually it," Lindsey said. Amie's jaw dropped. They all just wanted to know if she's single?
Did they really throw her a party just to know if she's single?
"Okay! Now the population of our company is a hundred and fifty, including me. However, there's only 10% of us taken and everyone else is single. The ratio of man to woman is ten is to two."
"Okay." Amie can't believe this is happening. She wanted to say it's ridiculous, but, since it's a tradition, she has to go through it.
"Perfect! Now everyone must introduce themselves so we can get to know her better." Lindsey said and called out for everyone to introduce themselves.
It takes half an hour for the introduction; the sky was almost dark, and she wanted to exit this party. Everyone is back to their business, but from time to time a guy would ask for her number.
"Do you need a ride home?" The guy who asks her didn't join the group introduction. She assumed he was one of the senior lawyers.
"No, I can just take a cab." It's her way of saying that I'm no fool. I don't talk to strangers. But amongst the sea of geeks around, he looks normal. He also looked very familiar. Maybe she saw him in a commercial or something.
"I'm Calvin McCord, senior executive officer." He offered his hands.
She's not wrong. That means he's also a lawyer.
"Amelia Cheng." She took his hand and shakes it.
"Nice to meet you." He gave her a warm and charming smile.
"Nice to meet you too." She gave him a fake smile.
"Well, see you around." Calvin wink at her and left.