Veronica felt something wet slide across her face before abruptly sitting up in bed.
"Ouuuuuwwww", Davie whined wagging his tail beside her bed.
"Ohh...It's just you, boy". She managed a smile at her German shepherd before yawning, wondering if everything had been a dream. "Dammit". She jumped out of bed after noticing the time was already a few minutes past seven and she had to be at work by eight!
Rushing towards the bathroom, she tossed her underwear off before reaching the door. She wanted to shrug off everything that happened last night as merely a dream, she needed to.
It was after glancing at her reflection in the mirror that she managed to force on a smile for the day. After proceeding to brush her teeth, she took a quick shower.
Returning to the bedroom with a towel wrapped around her chest, Veronica opened her upper drawer to get out a card of medicine—it was already down to the last one.
Her fingers began to tremble and she stuttered backwards as if a sharp headache had come alongside some memory of what happened the night before. "That's right...". She almost laughed on realizing she'd collided with a wall and knocked herself out while running home.
How then did she get home safely?
"Don't tell me he knows my house!", she continued to laugh in disbelief as Davie approached her and she knelt hugged him. "I'm glad he didn't hurt you".
Then again, it could be her friend Fabian who brought her home. Although he wasn't aware of her location at the time, he always happened to show up whenever she was in a mess. Like a stalker...
"Woof!".
She rubbed Davie's furry back for a few seconds before getting up to get properly dressed for work. It was just twenty-five minutes to eight when she left the house without having breakfast. There was slight traffic and she ended up reaching the office about two minutes before eight O'clock. "I somehow made it in time". She mumbled to herself while searching for her ID card inside her bag to enable her to swipe it through the ID attendance slot on the wall.
It didn't take long to realize the piece of plastic was missing which made the fact that she'd rushed all the way to work not worth the effort.
"Ver?". Fabian Mandel came up beside her before sliding his ID against the machine which beeped. "Didn't know you were the type to be late for work, how was your weekend?".
"Shitty". She sighed when the machine gave a single long beep to indicate that anyone coming in now was late.
"That was close...". Fabian laughed heartily but trailed off on catching the dejected look on Veronica's face. He used a hand to cup her cheek before asking with a worried tone. "Hey, are you alright Ver? What happened?".
Fabian Mandel was a twenty-three-year-old blondie with mint green eyes who'd just started working at her office about six months ago. He seemed like the type that had girls fawning over him in high school and he often flirted with most of the female staff, regardless of their age.
He was two years younger than Veronica but had asked her out multiple times—like he wouldn't take no for an answer.
She pulled her face away to turn towards the entrance. "Did you come to my place last night?".
"No, I didn't", his forehead wrinkled. "Did anything happen?".
"It's nothing".
BEEP!
The automatic door beeped when she tried to pass through without her card.
"Could you please...".
"Yeah, sure". Fabian smiled before sliding his card through the slot once more and the doors slid open.
"Thanks". She hurried in, heading for the receptionist's desk to complain about needing a new ID card since her dog ate the last one.
"Didn't know dogs eat plastics". Fabian came up behind her again before looking at the middle-aged woman across the desk. "You look stunning in that black dress, Mrs. Carla. How are your kids doing by the way? And how did little Laura celebrate her tenth birthday?".
Mrs. Carla smiled before holding her cheek. "You're such a sweet kid, Fabian. And yes, she loved the doll you sent her. You're such a darling".
Veronica stood stiff for a while feeling like she was invisible, but then again...this was exactly how it felt hanging around this blonde smooth talker.
Fabian was definitely the kind of guy women would go nuts over! His charm and good looks alone could attract most ladies—but not her.
But after spending six months working together, she was more comfortable around him than with their other co-workers.
After he left for the stairs, waving Veronica off, Mrs. Carla spoke again. "Ohh...you're still here?". Her eyes rolled and her tone had gone plain like it normally was and not high-pitched like when Fabian was flirting with her.
"Yes, I was saying I needed a new ID card".
"Sure, stand directly in front of the monitor". She clicked a button after Veronica shuffled towards the left a bit. "Kids your age are so careless nowadays. You should try being more like Fabian, he's-".
"Over ten years younger than you". She raised her voice slightly to cut the older woman off.
"What? No, he's-".
"Good at flirting? I know", she rolled her eyes before turning to leave.
"I was going to say he's so polite! Unlike some people I know!". She raised her voice a little too loud before realizing a few people were staring and Veronica was already halfway towards the elevator. "Dammit, that young lady is always getting on my nerves". She mumbled to herself before checking the picture of Veronica she'd taken and a mischievous smile formed on her lips. "This must be karma at work". She chuckled before going ahead to send the horrible picture to the department that handled the ID printing.
Veronica after exiting the elevator, felt a little bad for talking to Mrs. Carla like that but she didn't like being compared to others. She rubbed her right upper arm while making her way through the hallway before reaching her office. This was her second year working in the management department and everyone there was quite nice although a few had questionable personalities...
'No one's perfect, right?'. She told herself before walking through the open door and towards her seat.
The air was filled with clicking noises from keyboards and low mumbles from a group of three people who stopped talking after she entered.
"Good morning". She greeted while heading for her desk and about two voices greeted back.
"Hello, seatmate?". The blondie from before poked his head over the opaque board dividing their desks.
"What is this? Third grade?".
Fabian laughed, "You're always so sarcastic, Ver. You should learn to loosen up a bit".
"Miss Miller". The team leader came up from the other edge of the room. "May I have a word with you?". He was among the three people who'd stopped discussing after seeing her so it was likely that she'd gotten into some kind of problem or the other.
"Umm...okay".
"I'm betting it's a promotion. Good luck!". Fabian whispered excitedly. He often gave off this gay-bestie kind of vibes and no matter how cold she acted, Veronica appreciated that he was always trying to lighten up her mood.
She moved to talk with the team leader in his office which was isolated from the rest of them by a regular wall and wooden door.
"You can't be serious!". Veronica slammed both palms on his desk.
"I'm sorry Miss Miller, but we have to let go of a few staff at the moment. There's a space in the sales department if you'd like a transfer instead".
"There's always space in the sales department!". She shook her head with a fake smile and desperation in her tone.
"Sorry, but this decision came from the higher-ups. You have two weeks to find somewhere else".
"But why me? I'm not a newbie! I know the job like the back of my hand!".
"Are you saying it should have been Fabian instead?". He frowned, twisting her words while finally getting up with his voice raised.
"What? That's not—".
"Fabian is a natural at everything and has constantly brought up genius ideas since his arrival a few months ago". He paused behind her. "You, on the other hand, are careless with work equipment, rude in so many ways, have sloppy work ethics, you're slow at adapting, and constantly pick a fight with everyone when they try to caution you!". He stomped his foot once. "And Fabian looks up to you but you still suggested I fire him instead of you?", he scoffed reaching out to open the door.
"I never said—".
"My biggest advice to you, Miller?". He turned back to watch her body trembling. "You should work on yourself".
The door slammed after those words and Veronica stuttered, gripping the table's edge for support. When she finally spoke again, he was long gone. "That...that wasn't what I meant...".