It was a fresh, new day, and everyone was hoping for a great day ahead, but there was someone who was freaking out right now. It was none other than Alex.
Alex, when left home, was brimming with confidence and enthusiasm, but the closer he got to the company, the more nervous and miserably he felt. It got even worse when he saw a police car parked right outside Theation. He was about to turn back and run away with his tail between his legs when he saw one of the police officers help a senior citizen cross the road.
Before heading to the PR department, Alex thought that talking to Susan might help him calm down a bit. So the first thing he did after getting on the elevator was to get off on the ground floor and head towards the reception. But Alex didn't find Susan anywhere. He looked around for a while, hoping to see her, but he got nothing in the end. He could only leave empty-handed.
"Why are you crouching down there?" One of the receptionists who just walked behind that huge counter asked, looking down.
Slowly, a head sprouted out from behind the counter, and Susan peeked around, looking for something.
"What are you doing down there?" The other receptionist asked again.
After Susan had made sure that Alex was nowhere to be seen, she hurriedly stood straight and faced her colleague.
"Nothing, I just had a slight issue," Susan said.
"Aren't you just trying to hide from that cute, handsome guy who just left?"
"Shhsshh... not so loud," Susan hurriedly shut her colleague's mouth with her palm, "It's not what you think... It's a long story, I will tell you about it some other time. Just don't go around running your mouth," Susan told her colleague.
"Mmmm," the lady could only nod her head, letting out muffled voices.
It was only after getting the confirmation from the lady did Susan let her go. Panting for air, the lady looked at Susan with complaining eyes before taking her seat beside her. Susan, on the other hand, looked in the direction Alex left one last time before getting back to work.
By the time he was in front of the PR department, he was sweating beads. Alex paced nervously in front of the PR department. He couldn't decide whether to go in or not. He was going to and fro like a pendulum when he heard it, the voice of doom.
Listening to this voice, Alex closed his eyes turned around slowly, waiting for his impending death. Yes, you guessed it right, it was Karen.
When Karen left for the office, she made a mental note that she needed to be a little bit strict with Alex and demand an explanation for what he did yesterday. But when she got off the elevator and saw him going to and fro, all tensed up, afraid to go inside, she was amused. And the final blow was the cute and helpless face he made as he turned around. All the grievance and anger was blown away the instant she saw him turn around with his eyes closed, like a child waiting for punishment.
Alex waited for a while, mentally preparing himself, fully concentrating his soul on his cheeks against the upcoming assault so that he does not feel the pain from a surprise attack. But to his surprise, nothing happened.
Alex slightly opened one of his eyes to peek and see why hasn't he felt the impact yet. Just as he opened his eye, Alex found Karen looking at him intently, with her face inches away from his.
Startled, Alex backed off, crash opened the gate and went inside the PR department stumbling on one thing or another. Seeing this hilarious turn of events, Karen could only smile and follow him in.
The ladies in the office were taken back by the comedic entrance of their cute, little toy, followed, by the devil herself. But something was amiss. The devil had a smile on her face.
When the ladies asked them what was going on, Karen left with a smile, leaving Alex alone to face the Q&A. But Alex, being under the fellowship of Ellaine and Hazel for the past week or so, has learnt to dodge the fastballs thrown at him. The rest of the day, Alex tried his best to avoid Karen as much as possible. Whenever she showed up in front of him, he would change his direction immediately. And from the looks of it, even Karen enjoyed this little game of catching the mouse.
Alex had it easy today too. Jennifer had asked the ladies not to ask Alex for any kind of work, let alone make him run errands. He was so bored of sitting idle that he had to convince the ladies to divert some work towards his direction.
When it came the time for lunch, Alex was again showered with overwhelming love and care from the ladies.
Since there was not much work despite his repeated efforts, Alex was leisurely going through the presentation he prepared, after lunch. He was totally engrossed in going through the presentation and did not notice when Karen walked out of her office and stood behind him looking at the computer screen. With his legs on the desk, and his butt swaying on the chair, Alex was keenly looking at every one of the slides.
"You have done a fine work," Karen said, looking at the computer screen.
"What the holy..." Alex was frightened by the sudden voice that rang in his ears. His balance on the chair was disturbed, and to prevent himself from falling, he reached out to grab onto something and ended up holding on to Karen's arm.