Thursday....
Del Loona Experience's activities had become very hectic since the ending of the past day. It seemed the very important client was coming tomorrow.
Mr Richard was on edge, ready to burst at anyone who made a tiny mistake.
Luckily for Bentlee, she was done with the report analysis by lunchtime, so she didn't have to deal with his bouts of anger for today.
He hardly came out of his office and when he did, it was to shout at someone or complain about incompetence as usual.
Even Leilani was just as busy as Mr Richard, not having the time to eat with people from the top floor, which I noticed when I didn't see her in the cafeteria.
Immediately after lunchtime, all staff were called to the first floor to be addressed in respect to tomorrow.
The COO began, "You have all been employed into this company because of your abilities and skills. With those skills, I assume you all are wise and sensible. Tomorrow, a very important client will be coming for the completion of the collaboration. Now, since you are all sensible, you should know not to do anything that may jeopardise this deal. If you do, you will lose your job on the spot. So be on your best behavior. Goodluck." He said and the staff clapped.
"I heard the new client is one of the biggest CEOs in the continent", a lady said to her friend.
"I heard he's extremely handsome as well," the friend said back.
Bentlee's POV
All this irrelevant chatter was annoying me. Can we go back to our offices now?
I glanced to my left and saw Leilani being her usual social self around, to my right and saw Kevin looking expressionlessly at what I assumed to be nothing.
Milan, beside me, was with a blank face. I heard some girls talking about how they would "accidentally" bump into the new client, so he'd see them. While others were saying how they would straight up seduce him with what they call their "charm".
All i could think was, "they wish the biggest CEO in the continent would be wooed by the workers of this company".
I pinched the area between my eyebrows as they kept fantasising out loud.
After a second address by the manager, we were dismissed.
On the third floor, things just kept getting more and more hectic. I was since done with my work and submitted it. I was surprised when more work wasn't assigned to me. Finally!! Leilani was carrying the cross. Yes!
By 5pm, I decided to go the supermarket to buy some shampoo and conditioner for my hair. They've been getting me compliments and making my hair have more shine.
While in the supermarket, there was this child running around. It seemed he didn't mind being lost.
He ran to the aisle I was in and stomped on my foot, My already hurting foot from the shoes I'd been wearing since that morning. Then he stuck out his tongue, laughed and ran.
This what what I meant when I thought children were a pain in the ass. I momentarily felt like smacking some sense into him, but I refrained because I would only gain his sadness plus there were security cameras and I didn't want to be labelled as a "child beater".
The boy kept doing it, and i just smiled while people walked past. The fourth time he came back, I grabbed his arm and crouched down smiling at him. "You're a little punk aren't you. Did you know that little devils like you get smacked by aunty and end up crying for their mommy? Go away or I'll make you cry for your mommy," I said to the boy making him run away.
I'm not mean to children most of the time, but brats like him needed to be warned. I don't hate or like children, they just exist to me. Some are cute and whatever, others are little shits.
A few minutes later, the boy's head popped from the side of the aisle. When i looked at him, he hid. When i turned back, he stared again.
I moved to another aisle and he followed, doing the same thing.
"Just come out already", I said tired of his behaviour.
He walked slowly to where I was and pretended to look for something on the shelves.
"Why were you staring?" I asked.
"I wasn't!" He denied.
"Whatever. Stop it", I said not in the mood to baby up this child.
I moved to the next aisle to get some body wash since they were on a discount sale today.
The boy followed.
I ignored his presence and took what I needed moving to the shelf for hair masks. He followed again and I got quickly irritated.
"Where are your parents? Why did they let you roam around?" I asked fed up.
"..." He was quiet.
"Come on, talk" I pushed.
"Daddy works here...and Mommy is dead", he said looking all sad.
Argh. Now I felt bad for making him sad about his late mom.
I didn't have any comforting words to offer him since I was mostly on the receiving side of the condolence, so i just patted his head and continued my shopping.
He stayed unmoving from where he stood.
I came back to him, stared for a while before pinching his cheek.
"Ow!", he exclaimed.
"Don't frown. You look like an ugly dog when you do", I said before walking away.
He followed with a faint blush on his cheeks.
Meanwhile...
As the boy's father showed potential buyers some furniture sets and their perks, he saw his son following a lady everywhere she went with a smile on his face. The lady wasn't smiling or being visibly kind to him, but he followed her like he enjoyed it.
The man watching from a distance sighed. He knew his son needed a mother figure and since he was busy with work, he didn't have the extra time to spend with his son as both parents. He only had the time to spend with him as his father, so he knew why his son followed the lady around.
Bentlee went to the snack aisle and decided to buy some snacks for the boy who followed her like a puppy.
She added some potato chips, gummy bears, candy sticks, cookies, orange juice and water into her trolley.
At the front desk where she would pay, the snacks were placed in a bag and she handed it to the little boy.
He looked at her in shock before taking it.
"Thank you", he said acting like this was the nicest thing to ever happen to him.
"You're welcome", she said.
"Umm.... what's your name?" He asked with a red face.
"Bentlee, you can call me Lee", she answered.
"Okay..... My name's Tobias, you can call me Toby", he said without her asking.
She nodded and he hugged her leg and ran away.
She left the supermarket and walked to the bus stop where she boarded her "Bentley" and went home.