Mr. Halt seemed serious, devoid of his bright smiles.
He looked Jessica up and down for a while, and it crept her out.
And he mumbled, "How come I didn't notice at the interview? No wonder. But he's seen enough beauties, hasn't he?"
Jessica was in suspension. What did he mean? Noticed what? And who was "he".
Mr. Halt finally said, "you've met Mr. Sanders?"
Click! So "he" was Mr. Sanders.
"Yes. I ran into him in the pantry."
"The pantry? Oh ok. What did you guys talk about?"
"Nothing special. Just exchanging some pleasantries."
"Pleasantries? He never EXCHANGES pleasantries." Mr. Halt spat out the word "exchanges" like it was burning hot in his mouth. His face was devoid of expression though.
"Oh okay. But he seems really nice. Even said we should do coffee again there tomorrow."
"Again?!" Mr. Halt's eyes shot wider open as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. "He said to have coffee again with you?"
"Yes but it's just in the pantry in the office. No big deal."
"You've no idea. He never has coffee with anybody."
"Oh." Jessica stuck out her tongue. "But he's really nice and seems to know a lot about coffee."
"He knows a lot about anything including women." Mr. Halt said, his eyes fixed on a far distance in front of himself as if he was in a trance.
Jessica waited and wondered if she was in trouble.
He finally said, "well, that's it. You are dismissed."
Jessica left his office feeling odd. She had just run into Jordan in the pantry. What was the big deal about it?
But she soon ditched the thoughts about the whole thing after work. She had got a date with her best friend Leila for shopping.
As she was on her way to the shopping mall, she reminded herself that she should shop for some outfits for the office as most of her clothes were too student-like.
Leila was standing at the entrance of the mall sipping a cup of bubble tea.
At the sight of Jessica, she pouted, "you owe me dinner today coz you're late."
Jessica nodded repeatedly, "Yes of course. How could I starve my beloved Leilei? Come on. Let's eat first before shopping."
She and Leila went into their favorite pizza restaurant and took their seats.
As they were waiting for their food, Jessica briefed Leila on her first day at work.
Leila giggled, "Maybe that Jordan is the son of your manager? But wait a moment, he's a Sanders but he a Halt. Maybe a bastard son?"
Jessica laughed, "they don't look like it at all. Plus, Mr. Halt seems to be in awe of Jordan. Almost looks to me like he's Jordan's subordinate."
"Then maybe Jordan's a vice general manager or something in the company? He's young, right?"
"Yup. About our age. So he can't be a very senior manager."
"Okay. Maybe he's the son of a senior manager. Or even the son of the boss?"
Jessica pondered about it for a moment, and said, "Maybe. He does look authoritative and May, the office girl from my department, seems afraid of him."
Leila's eyes turned wide open, "Wow! Then you'll be dating the son of the boss! That'll be nice."
Jessica blushed and made a "zip your lips" gesture, "we are not dating! He just said coffee in the pantry of the office."
Leila winked, "but you could always move that to another place, like a romantic restaurant."
Jessica smiled, "He seems nice enough, but we don't really know each other that much. Maybe he's a jerk or something. Who knows?"
Leila sighed, "Jess, you're always so cautious about seeing a man. Just think how many good men you've turned down all along."
Leila was true. Jessica was so focused on school that she had not really seriously dated any man, following the principle that "he will come when it's time".
"The man for me will come when it's time." She said.
Leila rolled her eyes, "Yeah, like he's gonna jump out of your dreams."
Jessica felt guilty at this and wondered for the thousandth time if she should tell Leila about her dreams and the resemblance of Jordan to the man in them.
Just when she was ready to spill the beans, a few girls walked into the restaurant, who looked like from her office.
Sure enough. One whispered loud, "Look, isn't that the snobby one from the Overseas Business Department?"
Another echoed, "Yeah. Just first day at work and she thought she's already Mrs. Boss."
A third said, "Mrs. Boss should look better than that snobby foxy face of hers."
Leila was pissed and eyed Jessica like she was asking if they should continue putting up with it.
Knowing Leila's hot temper, Jessica shook her head slightly. She didn't want to make a big deal of it, which would be jumping right into their trap.
Girls like that wanted trouble more than anything, and she didn't want to bring herself down to their grade.
Leila cursed under her breath, "Shitty brainless things."
And, suddenly raising her voice, she said, "Oh my! Jess, how shitty our day's gonna be to see some shitheads full of shits in their mouths talking shits even when we're trying to have a bite?"
A few other diners in the restaurants couldn't help but laugh by the so many "shits" in Leila's words and turned to look at the girls, the obvious targets of her speech.
One of the girls was obviously also hot-tempered. She gave Leila a hard stare, looking like she was about to pick a fight, but eventually decided to drop it.
Leila laughed triumphantly, returned also a hard stare to the girl, and started eating with Jessica.
She ate with extreme gusto now that she had won one round with the girls.
Jessica sighed. That was Lei, always so competitive and protective of her.
Jessica didn't have a sibling, and Leila had been like a sister to her. How fortunate she was to have had such a good friend.
She looked at the feasting Leila and said, "my treat, remember? So order anything you want."
Leila, with still food in her mouth, mumbled, "Hum? Might well wait till you get your first paycheck so I could be sure that you could afford it."
Jessica smiled. Lei was also always considerate too.
Knowing that she was from a really humble family, she had been intentionally or unintentionally trying to take the much bigger share of everything they did together, like an outing or a dine-out together.
Even this dinner was Jessica's treat, she still didn't want her to pay too much for it.
Unlike her, Leila was from a rich family, one of the fourth most notable families of the city, but she was a humble and low-key girl, and few knew of her background.
The two girls were roommates back in uni and had been like sisters ever since. Leila had never flaunted her wealth at Jessica, and Jessica had always felt her equal.
If anything, Leila had been protecting her like a boyfriend would have been doing, as she was physically stronger than Jessica.
Plus, she was a black belt in karate.
Jessica said, "when I get my first paycheck, I'll buy you a gift."
Leila shook her head while still nibbling on a drumstick, "no gift is better than the clothes you've made me. If you want to give any gift, get me a new dress."
Jessica had been crazy about designing and sewing things. She nodded, "sure. Would really get you a good one."
Jessica's eyes shone, "really? Deal?"
"Deal." Jessica smiled.