She hurried down to the law firm where she worked. It was a newly opened establishment and she worked there as a receptionist. She decided to go for the job, since it was the same route with her brother's school. She was quite pleased when she got the job it wasnt much but it was a step forward from the menial jobs she used to do. The employees were nice but the manager could be a real pain at times, she came from affluence and she loved to make every other person feel like they were beneath her. On her first day at work she had looked at her with what looked like so much disgust that Lisa shivered, turns out she treats everyone like that.
On getting there she paused at the entrance for a few seconds, closed her eyes and really hoped her boss wouldn't be at work yet then She walked in.
"Hey Lisa"
That was Mike,her best friend, he was also a co-worker at the firm, he had been really nice to her ever since they met. Everyone loved Mike even their boss seemed to hate him less than others. She glanced around then she let out a sigh of relief when she could not find her boss. She had not seen her car parked at the front when she entered the building but She could not be entirely sure. There was another parking lot at the back of the building and she sometimes liked to park there.
"Hey Mike, how are you?"
"I'm alright. I almost thought you weren't coming today, I had to fill in for you for a while"
"Thank you so much, I owe you one" she said
He laughed
"it's alright, it wasn't too much trouble"
"But the boss looked angry. A little more than usual"
"The boss?" she said with shock written all over her face
She's here?...
"Lisa!" her voice interrupting her line of thoughts
"You're late."
"Again" she added.
She turned back to look at her boss. She must have been at the back when she got here. She was an attractive middle aged Woman, just a little bit older than Lisa. Probably in her early 30's. She was a blonde woman with rich brown eyes and curves that would make any man turn. She was beautiful, but what she had in looks, she lacked in character. Everyone knew she only got the job because of her father's connections.
She was giving her that look again. She really hated that look.
"I'm sorry there was a lot of traffic on the way here" she said in the most polite way she could think of
"Well, I don't care. You know the rules" she rolled her eyes
"This is coming out of your paycheck" she said with a note of finality as she turned to leave.
When she was gone, She turned back towards Mike
"Why does she have to be such a dick" she hissed
Mike shrugged "She's the boss"
Then she went over to her desk. She didn't have a lot to do at the moment it was still too early. People hadn't started getting into trouble yet. Anyone who would come into a law firm that early was probably desperate for a lawyer who would help them out of a mess they got into the night before and it could be anything, but most were usually associated with getting drunk and doing something really stupid. She attended all of them, booked them appointments and made sure everything ran smoothly. She was sort of like a caretaker to the firm. There weren't a lot of staff so she sometimes found herself with a lot more work than she was paid for. But she always got the job done
It was a rather slow day today. There wasn't much to do. Lisa tapped her fingers on her desk as she stared at the ceiling. She was tired of working her ass out at a place where the insult she was getting daily was higher than the money she was receiving. She knew, however that she had very little options to choose from. She had three brothers to take care of and the youngest of them had recently started eating like he had a leaking stomach. She could not afford to slip up and lose her job. As she stared at the ceiling and thought about her life, her boss Sophia walked in.
"Hey Idiot," Sophia snapped her fingers disrespectfully at Lisa. Lisa spun around to see that she was the one being addressed like that and she was well aware that Sophia knew her name, this was all because she was late this morning, she resisted the urge to dive towards her and give her the beating of her life. She swallowed hard and smiled the best "I'm only trying to save my job" smile she could come up with. Sophia was not impressed by her smile and she grunted at her.
"I'll be going out for a few minutes," Sophia said, looking at her gold plated watch. "I want you to help me arrange all those documents scattered in my office. I want that done before I get back here. Is that clear?"
"Yes ma'am," Lisa replied. She had made up her mind that there was no use fighting with her employer. She had to be obedient and that meant taking a lot of shit, but for her brothers she could do anything. She loved them more than any other thing in the world.
"And also don't forget to reply all my mails," Sophia added. "I have over a thousand. Do all that before I get back or else" she didn't have to say more Lisa got the message her paycheck was on the line. " I know you don't want to be on my bad side or do you?"
"Not at all," Lisa muttered, her face down.
"Exactly what I thought too," Sophia smiled. "See you in some minutes, idiot."
Sophia cat walked out of the office with her red handbag and Lisa screamed in agony as soon as she was out of hearing.
"I hate you Sophia Monroe!" she cried. "I swear I hate you more than any other person in the world."
"That's a lot of hatred," Mike laughed, tapping away busily at his computer screen. "Why not transfer all that energy to more important things."
"More important things like what?" Lisa stared at him, wondering what was on his mind.
"Like climate change for example," Mike shrugged. "And saving the dolphins. Do you know that yearly a total of two thousand dolphins are illegally hunted. It would do a lot of good if we had people to watch over…"
"Hey," Lisa snapped her fingers before him and he stopped talking immediately. "Sometimes I wonder who's worse between the two of you."
"I'm only trying to help," he said but she had already turned around to leave. She knew that she could not continue listening to Mike. He was a little odd sometimes and the weirdest things intrigued him, He could rant on for hours about climate change and dolphins and Lisa didn't care about either of them. The only thing on her mind was saving her family and her job. Saving dolphins could come later on. She opened the door of Sophia's office and she was greeted by a huge stack of books that came crumbling down as she opened the door. Apparently, they had been stacked beside the door.
"Who in heaven's name stacks books right beside a door!" Lisa murmured to herself. She bent down and started picking the books one by one. It was going to be a very long day for her if by any chances, Sophia came back from wherever she had gone to and she was not yet done arranging the office. She did not want to know what the outcome of that would be so she continued arranging.
Few minutes into her time in the office, she heard the sound of a siren from downstairs and she looked through the window. There were three black cars parked at the lowest floor of the company and a man on a grey suit was coming out of one of the cars. He stared at the building and Lisa shifted out of sight before he could see her.
"Goodness me, that was close," she exclaimed. "All these rich weirdos who go about staring at tall buildings and taking pictures." She totally forgot about the man she had seen and went back to arranging the office, humming to the tone of her favorite BTS song, Dynamite. She continued stacking the books and when she was done, she started arranging Sophia's table. It was more tedious than she had expected and arranging it just like that was boring. She needed a little music. She brought out her phone from her pocket and started playing another song from one of her favorite K-pop idols. It was pretty much an infectious tune and before Lisa knew what she was doing, she was already twirling around the office, moving her body to the rhythm of the song.
"I know you want me! I see the look in your eyes. You know you're hungry, cos it's one two three let's go!"
She spun around as she sang, oblivious of what was going on around her and to her surprise, she heard a low clap – a clap that was not part of the song. She twirled around in shock to see that the man she had seen outside on the grey suit was nodding his head and clapping to her moves.
"Oh my God!" Lisa screamed.
"Who are you and how did you get in here?" she was red with embarrassment.
"Anthony," he smiled at her, handing her a complementary card. "C.E.O of Tony's Solicitors. I must say you've got some great moves ."
Lisa stared at the card, realizing who he was. He was Anthony Williams, the C.E.O of the company. She had been getting into trouble with Sophia who was just the Managing Director but there she was, dancing in front of the owner of the company. She was definitely losing her job. She knew it was all over. She went on her knees immediately.
"I've been working here for a long time sir," Lisa pleaded. "And this is the first time I'm being so unprofessional. I promise you, it won't happen again."
"Well, that's a shame," Anthony frowned. "Because I would pay to watch you dance again. But if you say so. It's good to meet you, Sophia. I've heard so much about you…and from what I've heard, you do not look like the type that would fancy kneeling down to apologize."
Lisa paused. Her ears were not working well. Did he just call her Sophia? He thought she was his M.D.
"You're mistaken sir," Lisa started. "Actually I'm not…"
"You're not always this polite?" Anthony smiled. "I understand. I can be quite rude at times…"
"Its not actually that," Lisa started. "The thing is…"
"Shush!" Anthony put his finger to his lips. "Not another word. I have over thirteen different companies to check today so I don't have the time for chit chats now. However, I could give you my contact now and we could discuss this company's progress over a cup of coffee sometime?"
Lisa was taken aback by his gentlemanly approach. A man with over thirteen companies was asking his worker out to a coffee date when he could just command for it. She did not know whether to say yes or no and as she was still contemplating, the door flung open. They both turned to see Lisa walk in.
"Is that how all your secretaries are?" Anthony stared at Lisa. "They don't knock before entering into your office?"
"Actually she is…"
"Don't try to defend her," Anthony frowned and turned around to face Sophia. "I don't think you like your job, young lady."
Sophia was tongue tied. She had not expected to see Anthony at the office. They had not even met before as it was her father that used his connection to give her the job and so, he obviously did not know how she looked. She recognized him because she had a major crush on him and had been stalking him on all his social media handles.
"Sir…good morning, I..I…went…actually," Sophia stammered.
"Get out of this office," Anthony said and turned to face Lisa. "The next time that happens, you are expected to fire her. Understood."
Lisa stared at him blankly. She knew that immediately he walked out of that office, she was going to lose her job.
"I'll take that confused stare of yours for a yes," Anthony smiled. "You've not answered me yet? Coffee?"
"Uhm…yes," Lisa said.
"Good," Anthony smiled. "See you tomorrow."
"Oh I almost forgot to give you my contact, or never mind I'll have my secretary get your number from our records" he said
"I'll give you a call tomorrow"
He turned around and walked out of the office and almost immediately, Sophia walked in.
"Its not what you think," Lisa started, going on her knees.
"I don't even want to hear it!" Sophia cried. "You're fired!"