Walking with a stack full of papers highly important, I hear the whispers from coworkers. The mockery. I can see the side-eyes clearly. Acting like a bunch of 12-year olds.
It's fine. I'll be fine. It'll only be a couple more months before I can leave. This place they all call work is worse than high school, and that was hell. No, stop overreacting. It's just working. We're all here for one thing: Work. Don't give it a second thought and move on.
"Mrs. Young? May I have a word?" a voice behind me says. Snickers grow around me. More ridicule.
I turn my head slowly, almost afraid of who it's going to be. Hiroto Watanabe. Oh no.
"Hello, Mr. Wanatabe. How can I be to your services today?"
"Small thing. Would you mind talking by the cafeteria? I'm grabbing coffee right now." he says, turning his face to the side. "Oh, what's that there?" he then says, pointing to the stack of paper in my hands. "Doing someone's errands?"
I grit my teeth quietly. "No sir. Just giving Mr. Han the new charts straight from the department. If I could just hurry and give it to him, then we'll be able to chat." I turn quickly, my glasses almost flinging off my face. Hiroto Wanatabe, a lady's man. A good friend to go drinking with. I want nothing to do with it. So I ignore everything about him. Whether if it'll be he robbed the company or he got married again. Again.
Disgusting. It'd be his third wedding. Women's broken hearts and he's scattered them on the floor. You get married, divorce if wanted to. Don't start a cycle or pattern with women. It's disgusting to me. Some people don't agree with the opinion.
"Oh, Mrs. Young! You've dropped your glasses again. I'll pick them up for you." a coworker says. A male.
"Oh, no thank you! I've got them. Can you just hold these papers for me? Someone in the department forgot to put them in their folders so they're all scattered and heavy." I say, handing them to him.
I will never let a male pretend to help me for something of his own entertainment. Probably to amuse workers around him. And I'm wearing a skirt. I don't need anyone to look under there trying to be nice.
As I bend down, I hear jeering. How? Did they see? I'm not even bending over, just bending down in a squat way.
I grab my glasses and snatch the papers from the male coworker.
"Thank you for... informing me about my glasses. Have a nice rest of your day." I say, hurrying to Mr. Han's office.
"Finally, Mrs. Young." Mr. Han says, obviously agitated. I am actually sick and tired of everyone still calling me Mrs. Everyone knows I divorced months ago. They know I was planning to change my last name back to Matsuda as soon as I had enough money to do so. It's not April yet, so the ridicule doesn't start too bad yet. It's November. 2 months till my birthday that I plan to spend with my mother and sister. Father won't be joining us ever since I lost his company to a stranger.
"Sir, I would request you don't call me that anymore. Ms. Young or Ms. Matsuda are both ok with me." I say, piling the paper onto his desk.
"I'll call you Ms. Young. You can't be the face of the company with a last name like that but you don't make rules around you. Now," he says looking at me up and down, "do you have any plans tomorrow evening? I am holding a staff party and I'd like the best from each department to join me." Wow, the audacity to guilt me about my own surname and then invite me to a party.
"I'd have to find out if I'm busy, but I'm sure I'll be able to make it. Thank you for the invitation, sir. And thank you for even considering me at all." I say, looking at my black flats. At least he's trying to include me.
"Yes ma'am. No problem. I would request you bring another from your department, preferably someone you work a lot with. Maybe Wanatabe?"
I tense up. Does he even know we aren't in the same department? Hiroto works in the electric department while I work in both the hair and makeup departments temporarily. I was originally working on the storyline but took a different shift one day and now I am expected to do this while the storyline gets approved. It just proves how useful I am.
"Well, current department-wise, I'll bring Mamiko Mori."
"Perfect. You are dismissed." Now again I am shoed away.
Walking towards the cafeteria to pick up my donut, Hiroto waves me over. I groan. I forgot he had mentioned something about meeting here.
"Hello, Mr. Wanatabe. What did you want to talk about?"
"Listen. You're not doing this company any favors. You'd already lost it to a coworker you played poker with. While you were drunk. Do you really think any of us actually like Mr. Han? Couldn't you lose to someone better? Or not bet at all? You're going bankrupt. You've got a month. That's it. Everyone knows you haven't been paying rent nor your taxes. If you don't get your stuff together, you'll be on the streets. Stop the charade and do your job. You're annoying us all. Got it, Mrs. Young? Thank you. I'll buy you another donut at the party tomorrow afternoon. For now, chew on this granola." He gets up, throws a granla bar that's probably old onto the table. Before he leaves the room, he grabs the chilled cup of coffee he must have previously made.
I am shocked.
I don't want to be here right now.
I don't want to come back.
Why am I even being treated this way?
I've been nothing but kind in my life.
Have I really forgotten to pay rent?
Am I really not giving this company my best effort? No, of course I'm not. I hate it here.