It was about noon. It had been three days since she had lost her job. Bolin and Binxing were at school and Julius was at work, Lisa sat alone in the sitting room of their apartment. It was not a particularly fancy apartment, it was all their parents left them before they died, all they had were just the basics, a wooden center table with a few chairs around the table, pointed to the TV. No one ever really watched the TV anymore because they couldn't afford any cable. Any money her and Julius were able to pool together usually went to essential such as food. She was not really used to being home by this time of the day. But as she would have it, she was unemployed at the moment. She had just gotten back from her job hunt. She did not have much luck. Not a lot of reputable Organisations were hiring so she only found a few menial job offers and the pay difference would have been very substantial in comparison to her previous job. She would have to work multiple jobs to be able to stay afloat. She did not like that idea very much. So she kept it as her last resort. She hoped she would find a good job before she started to get desperate.
Suddenly she heard her phone ring. It was so unexpected she jumped. She picked up the phone to see who it was, she couldn't tell, it was not a number she had saved before. She didn't have a lot of friends so she was curious to know who it was.
"Hello?" she said as she answered the phone
"Hello"
"Am I speaking with Lisa?"
The voice was a masculine voice. It had a very melodic baritone. He sounded very familiar but she couldn't place her finger on who exactly it was.
"Who am I speaking with please?" She asked
"It's me Anthony Williams" from Tony's solicitors.
She tensed. What did he want? Was she in anymore trouble? He had called her by her own name so he must have figured it out somehow. Her mind was racing she could not think of anything to say.
"Are you still there?" he asked she still had not said anything yet.
"Hello" she said weakly.
"You missed our meeting the other day". He teased
"I… "she stuttered.
"I was not the one you were looking for sir."
"You wanted a meeting with the manager, she was the one you chased out of her office."
"I figured that out the hard way when I saw her show up at the restaurant the other day, it was not the most pleasant experience."
"Why did you not say you were not the manager?"
She flared up. He was the one who did not give her the chance to speak. He kept on interrupting everything she tried to say. When Sophia walked in, the damage had already been done. She had lost her job that day and it was his fault.
"I did try to tell you. A lot of times in fact" her voiced was slightly raised now. She did not appreciate the subtle accusation he had leveled against her. It was the reaction he had expected anyway. He wanted to be sure that she did in fact try to clear the air.
"oh, it must have slipped me"
"Any way my last meeting with the manager suggested she was not too happy with the previous encounter."
Well she didn't look too happy when she fired her but Lisa had the feeling Sophia enjoyed every bit of it. The power it must have made her feel she had.
"How would you like to come back to work with us?"
All of Lisa's anger subsided. He was offering her her job back. It was not the best job in the world. But it paid the bills. She was elated.
"But I was fired." She said trying to hide her excitement
"I am aware of that, but I have already spoken to your boss and we talked about giving you a promotion if you decided to come back."
He had not told Sophia about the raise but she sounded skeptical and he wanted her back.
"You don't have to answer right away" he added quickly
"'you can call me back when you make your decision"
"There wouldn't be any need for that sir I'll take it."
"Great" he said
"You can resume on Monday"
"Thank you, sir," then he hung up.
What had just happened? One minute she was sad, depressed and jobless and the next thing she knows she has to be back at work in three days. She looked at the time. It was 1:50pm She still had a few minutes before the Bolin and Binxing were back from school. Julius was usually home at about 4. She decided to hurry to the supermarket across town to get a few groceries before they got back home.