The next morning, I heard a knock on my door. It was Rita, banging on my door, screaming hard to wake me up. I ignored her at first but got up pretty fast as she hits the door harder.
I opened the door and said:
"Are you trying to break my door?"
"I've been calling your name out for a while now. You weren't answering. On top of that, you had to lock your door. Can't you see the time?"
She answered me while holding my door so that; I won't close it in her face.
I look over my room to the wall. The clock on the wall shows the time 8 o'clock.
"8 o'clock? What in the world is happening?"
I answered in shock. Waking up every morning at the same time without an alarm is habitual for me. However, today is different. I woke up 2 hours late.
I looked over at Rita in confusion. She was already staring at me and, without saying anything, took my hand and walked me to the drawing room.
I can feel a headache pounding on my head. It made me irritated. Rita handed me a cup of coffee and sat beside me. She didn't say anything, waiting for me to finish my coffee.
I knew she was expecting answers from my last night's behaviour. Finishing the coffee, I sighed and looked at her. She asked:
"What happened? It is very unusual of you. You've been weird since last night."
I told her everything about last night and the encounter between that girl and me. I was right about her being a troublemaker. I met her once, and my life already went upside down today.
I was expecting Rita to say something harsh about her. Instead, she said in excitement:
"WOW! Now that was something. Who was she? I want to meet the person who made you behave like this."
"Who was she? She is not my grandma if that's what you wanted to know. Also, I don't want to see her ever again. She intimidated me in every way possible. I hate her."
I answered with anger and irritation.
Rita laughed so hard at me, mocking me about the whole situation. I started to walk away, but she sat me down, holding and hugging me tightly.
"You are adorable when angry. It is funny to see you like this when things don't go according to your way."
She replied to me while laughing, hugging and squeezing my cheeks at the same time.
I tried to let go of her as I was embarrassed around her. However, I stayed still and got lost in last's night memory.
I hate everything about that girl, but her touch lingers on my body. I still get shivers just thinking about her. I remembered her eyes staring into mine.
It made me feel confused about what I sensed at that moment. Whether I'm uncomfortable or nervous, I can't point it out.
Even though I loathe her, I couldn't forget about her face. She made me toss on my bed all night.
While I was lost in my thoughts, Rita screamed louder. I got startled by her screaming and asked:
"What is it? Do you want me to go deaf?"
"Mia, we are going to be late for the office. It's 9:30 am. We have only half an hour left to reach the office.
Rita answered while pushing me and getting up from the couch. Hearing her say this, I stood up and ran to my room to get ready as fast as possible.
We were already late when we left for the office. Now, sneaking quietly into our cabins is the only way to avoid scolding from our seniors.
We ran the whole way to the office. We were both sweating and panting. Taking the elevator; to our department, we hoped to avoid our seniors and get through the day.
When we reached our department's floor, Rita and I kept moving forward, pushing each other to go first. We saw no seniors around our department, which let us breathe in satisfaction.
As we are ready to sneak onto our desks, we saw a figure standing in front of us. It was our senior, looking at us with an annoyed expression. At that moment, we are fucked up. We straightened our posture and looked at our senior with embarrassment.
"It was your third day here, and you decided to come late?"
Our senior asked in a bold voice. Her voice was scary enough to shit in your pants. We couldn't answer anything until I saw Chan-yeol standing and laughing behind the senior.
"We are sorry, mam, but Chan-yeol took us on a tour to show us around the city. We went with him until he excused himself and left us in the middle of the outing. So, we struggled to find our way back home and couldn't be reached back home on time."
Hearing this, Chan-yeol tried to run away, but the senior stopped him. He grinned while moving forward to us.
"Did you take them out with you?"
Our senior asked Chan-yeol. He agreed with yes to her question. He was also staring at me in disbelief at what I said.
"You know they are new in this city, yet you leave them hanging." Our manager scolded him and added further to each one of us:
"This shouldn't happen again in future."
We all bowed, apologizing to the senior, and after that, we were all dismissed back to work. Chan-yeol followed us to our seats. He was staring at me until I paid attention to him.
"What?"
I asked while staring back at him. I knew his question already but still wanted him to speak.
"I thought you were innocent until today. Why did you drag me with you?"
Chan-yeol asked.
"Well, it wasn't a complete lie. You were the one who wanted us to go out with you. Also, I wasn't thinking of taking you down with us; until you started enjoying it from behind the senior's back."
I replied with a smile.
"Ahhh! You're such a little devil in disguise in innocent looks."
He answered with sarcasm, but I took it as appreciation. Rita, however, was laughing at us for the way we were bickering. I shifted my attention to the work and the schedule for today. There was nothing in the company's mail. It is very unusual.
I asked Rita and Chan-yeol about their schedules, but they didn't get anything either. Suddenly, one of our seniors came and asked for everyone's attention. We stood up and moved forward to the senior.
The senior said:
"Good morning to all. As you all can see, we didn't provide your schedules today. It is because of the one client coming today. The client today is important and famous. We tried to contact her for a while, and now she agreed to work with us. We want you all to cooperate with her and fulfil all her requirements."
Chanyeol asked:
"Sir, can we ask about the client's name?"
The senior replied:
"Of course, her name is HANA. She is a famous boxer on both national and international terms. She has her boxing academy named 'THE ELITE UPPERCUT'. She wants to advertise it as grand as possible. She even wants people to join for their self-defence."
Just hearing the name HANA, Chan-yeol's eyes lit up with excitement and slapped me hard on my shoulders. He was already a big fan of hers as I saw him fighting over her with me on the first day.
Not only Chan-yeol, but everyone is excited to work with her. I don't see the point in getting excited over her. Rita was also confused and asked me for details. I told her about everything that I knew.
The senior got the call and picked it up. It was from the reception, letting him know about the arrival of the boxer. Chan-yeol got more excited and chanted her name.
I went back to my seat along with Rita. We didn't know much about her and saw no point in waiting for her. After some time, the senior came back to our department. I saw some men in formal clothes following him inside.
Rita and I stood up to take a look at the boxer HANA while moving forward among our colleagues. Chan-yeol was already standing in the front for a better view.
I was shaken with an adrenaline rush when I saw who the HANA was. She was the woman from last night at the club. That is why she looked familiar to me yesterday. Seeing her coming inside, I took a step back; to hide behind my colleagues. I didn't want her to see or recognize me.
She is trouble and made my life upside down from the moment we met. Ignoring her at all costs is what my timetable is from now on. She will only come two or three times to the company, so ignoring her won't be that hard. However, It looked like god wasn't on my side at all.
The seniors started to introduce each one of us to HANA. I got panic as I didn't want her to remember me. As they moved forward, I took my sunglasses and wore them. As they reached our side, the senior introduced HANA to us.
The senior asked:
"What happened, Mia? Why are you wearing sunglasses here?"
Everyone was staring at me, and I stared at Hana without being obvious and replied in a bold voice:
"I got uneasiness in my eyes; that is why; I was wearing sunglasses."
I smiled. However, Chan-yeol was laughing at me silently, and Rita poked me, asking about the sudden change in my voice. Amidst everything, Hana pulled out her hand for a handshake. I looked at her and realized; that she had been staring at me continuously with a soft smile.
Rita poked me one more time to shake hands with her. I nervously shook hands with her ignoring the eye contact. As I tried to pull off my hand, she won't let go of it. I tried to pull my hand away a few times without being obvious, but she won't let it go.
Hana asked:
"What is your name? You look familiar to me. Have we met before?"
While she was asking me all these questions, I felt her thumb rubbing onto my hand. Seeing her doing this, I know that she recognized me. Yet, avoiding her, I answered:
"Mia and no, we didn't meet before."
She let go of my hand; hearing my name and replied:
"Nice name."
Before she could ask anything else, the senior excused her to meet other members. As she leaves, I sighed in relief. I took Rita's hand and escorted her to the washroom. I told her about Hana being the same woman as yesterday. Rita laughed and said:
"It was indeed destiny, LOL. No wonder; she was staring at you the moment; she met you."
Rita saying such a thing; made me realise that Hana recognised me. It makes it more complicated for me to ignore her. I took a deep breath and left for our desks. When we reached, the senior came and asked me to join him in his office.
I followed him into his office and saw Hana inside. I wasn't wearing my sunglasses and was left with no choice but to sit beside her. She was staring at me from time to time, having a smirk on her face. I ignored her and kept my attention on the senior.
The senior said:
"Mia, you will handle everything Hana asks you from now on. She asked you to be her assistant during the time; she is with us."
I got shaken and looked at Hana. She was enjoying it and said:
"Yes, please take care of me well."
Facing back to my senior, I replied:
"Sir, I'm new here, so I think someone else should take care of it. I'm still learning things here. Also, I'm not aware of the city yet. Others knowing about her work and the city will work better with her."
The senior acknowledged what I said and asked Hana the same thing. She looked at me, smirked and replied:
"Thank you, but I'll continue with her as my assistant for this project."
Hearing her final answer, the senior excused me. I left and waited for Hana through the elevator. I knew that; she will depart from the elevator. After some moments, as expected, she came with her bodyguards.
Seeing them around her, I changed my mind and started leaving back to my cabin. As I was leaving, Hana took my hand and stopped me, excusing herself from the bodyguards. She didn't let go of my hand and said:
"We meet again."
I looked at her, staring into her eyes, and said:
"So what? What are you playing at?"
Hana replied:
"Oh! You will know about it soon. We have much time for that."
Saying this, she let my hand go and smiled hugely at me. I was frustrated with her answer and said:
"What do you mean by that? I don't want to work with you. Just choose anyone else and leave me alone."
I looked at her to say something, but she came closer to me, put a strand of my hair behind my ear and left, leaving me confused and anxious.
I stood there, seeing her leaving with her bodyguards. I went back to my cabin and told Rita about everything. Chan-yeol, Ari and Ae-cha were also listening. They congratulated me for working closely with Hana, whereas Rita controlled her laugh and excitement.
I was dreading working with Hana and didn't know; how I will manage her attitude and personality; during the project. Either, I don't have any idea what she was thinking. I guess I had to wait and see.