At the office (hours later)
"I agree." He says spinning the pen around his fingers.
"What?!"
How can he agree to these conditions without any questions?
"I said, I agree Ms. Gray." He tilts his head slightly to the side, a satisfied grin on his face that is definitely for mocking me.
I stand there with the papers in my hands, my lips slightly parted as I try to process that he actually agreed.
"Why do you look shocked? did you think that I was not gonna agree?" He raises his eyebrows.
Getting back to reality, I take a deep breath. "I am ready to work here—don't forget if you break one of these conditions you will have to face consequences."
"You sound like a lawyer," he scoffs. "well, now that you're ready to work here, you should get serious."
I was always serious you idiot.
Several hours later
The office room that I got is directly in front of him, he can see me whenever he wants. It would be nicer if I got an office room far away from him.
Anyhow, at least he accepted my terms and conditions. I didn't add a lot of stuff, after thinking for hours the whole night I came up with ten conditions, some of them being; No personal interaction outside work, Respecting the boundaries, clear communication, work hours limited— if I work late I get payed triple the amount—this was the condition that made me think that would change his mind, I mean who would pay triple the amount for working extra hours? but looks like money is not a problem for him.
Well, my salary doubled from the last job. It looks like now I will be able to buy the apartment I wanted.
As I move around the office space my eye catches the view outside from my window.
"Wow, it's beautiful." I touch the window glass as if I am touching the sky.
The sun is setting. One thing I love doing is staring at the sky, especially at night when the moon is out. Looks like it'll rain again tonight.
During the fall season, it gets dark quickly outside.
Today i'll stay in the office for a little longer, I still have to set a lot of things. I like to get things done, if not I keep worrying about them.
Some hours later
After walking from my desk to the boxes hundred times, I sit on the chair and drink some water. "This is exhausting-"
"Ah~" Suddenly, a voice came from the other office room.
Getting startled, I put my water bottle down and get up.
I can hear some mumbling.
I look at the wall clock hanging in my office room. "8:55? everyone must have left by now."
I open the door and now I can tell from which office room is the voice coming from, besides there are just two offices in this floor, mine and that monkey's.
Did he fall or something? No, it's a girl's voice.
As soon as I touch his office's doorknob I could easily tell what type of voices they were.
A sudden blush appears on my cheeks.
In the office, really?
Thinking, I walk in the corridor heading to god knows where.
"Lia?"
"Huh! I didn't loo-" I blurted getting startled. "Oh, Erica. I thought it was- uh well, what happened?"
Erica looks at me weirdly. "I should be the one asking, what happened? why did you get so startled?"
"Nothing, you came out of nowhere so that just kind of scared me…"
"Alright, I was saying that everyone left and I am also leaving. Will you go now or stay here for a while?" Erica asks.
"I'll stay for a while, I need to organise some documents and i'll do the rest tomorrow."
"Ok, sounds good. Good night, see you tomorrow." She waves her hand and leaves.
Phew, that was a jumpscare. I look around and realise that I am standing by the elevator. "When did I come here?"
I shake my head and sigh. Was I that lost in my thoughts that I walked to the elevator without knowing? one day i'll accidentally jump from the roof while walking to nowhere with my head full of thoughts.
I should finish sorting out the documents and go home as quickly as possible.
As I walk to my office, a girl comes out from Mr. Hart's office.
She's wobbling as she holds on the wall to walk. As she walked past me I noticed her legs slightly shaking, I open my mouth to ask her if she's ok but stop, what could possibly be the reason, the way she looks says it all. She goes inside the elevator and presses the button, I keep watching her to see if she's ok.
The elevator door closes and my eyes are still fixed there, I don't know what i'm thinking, my mind is blank.
I turn around suddenly my feet stumble back as my back hits the wall. Why is he standing silently behind me?
I look at him, startled.
"Were you peeping-"
"WHAT? NO!" I answer immediately.
Mr. Hart eyes me up and down, a smile on his face as if he caught me. "No need to panic. I was just joking." He suppresses his smile. "You didn't go home yet?"
"I was…" I stop talking, for no reason.
He tilts his head, waiting for me to talk.
"Uh- Oh I was organising my office room…" I say confidently. "And I thought I would sort some important documents then leave."
"Hmh… you-"
Before he could say something the lights went off.
"What?!" I look around.
"It's normal, after 10:00 they turn the lights off." He says.
"But why? don't people stay here to finish their work if they want?"
"This is not our old office, they're some rules here." He puts his hands in his pockets.
"How will I finish— whatever." I mumble to myself as I start walking to my office.
"You know that we're locked here, right?"
"WHAT!" I immediately turn to him.
"Yeah, they also closed the doors."
"That's just…weird. Don't they look around before closing?"
"It's my company, I made those rules. I told them to close the doors and turn the lights off even if someone is inside, they should know when to leave."
"Well that's just amazing, you know because of your rules you're also stuck here?"
"You're right. I actually don't care because I have a very very comfortable sofa in my office room."
I look at him, frustrated. "Call the security and tell them to open the door, they'll listen to you."
He dramatically looks at me. "Ms. Gray? how did you think that I was gonna break my own rules?"
I roll my eyes. "Who am I talking to? it would be better to talk to a wall." I mumble.
"Did you say something?" He leans closer.
I lean back. "No." Answering his question I head to my office.
This is deja vu. It most definitely happened before but I can't recall when.
As I reach my office I turn my phone flashlight on and sit on the chair before calling Julia.
And of course, she doesn't pick up.
Should I just stay here? I got a single couch here that I can sleep on.
After thinking about it, I decided to stay.
I take my heels off as well as my jewellery.
I plop on the couch, too tired to care about anything else. Resting my head on the armrest, I let my legs dangle lazily over the other side.
I close my eyes and breathe out trying to relax.
"Warning you before you sleep-"
I gasp and get up hearing his voice.
"…before you sleep, I thought I should warn you."
I look at him confusingly.
"Exactly at 3:00AM, they say that ghosts wander around in this building."
I give him a weird look.
"My dad told me and I also witnessed it when I was a kid, after all this building is really old."
Looks very modern to me.
"Just trying to warn, later if something happens you'll say I didn't tell you." He closes the door.
My head falls back on the armrest. "Uff-"
"Good night."
"Ah!" I get startled again.
Saying that he closes the door.
The ghosts are not the problem, he is.
I get up. "I should lock the door."
After locking the door, I sit on the couch.
"What does he think, i'm scared?"
…
Maybe, a little.
4 hours later
I was asleep, but the soft sound of raindrops tapping against the glass window woke me up.
Slowly opening my eyes I look outside.
It's raining.
It's getting chilly in here. I feel the cold floor under my feet as I walk towards the window to close the blinds.
As I reach for the blinds, a loud thunderstorm makes me flinch. I stop for a moment, my heart racing.
After closing the blinds, the office room darkens.
I lay down on the couch after.
I'm scared. Not because of the darkness— well kind of yes but more because of the lightning.
I hate the sudden loud sound.
Thud
I quickly look at the door. "What was that?"
It sounded like something fell and broke.
I froze in my place. That scared me. I look at the clock, it's 1:15AM. Maybe it was my imagination.
I get comfortable in the couch and try to sleep again. It was definitely my imagination-
Thud
I raise my head quickly looking at the door again, in shock.
After a while I rest my head on the armrest and look at the ceiling, wondering.
Thump
I gasp loudly and sit up straight on the couch. That was much louder than before.
What is it?