CATASTROPHE CAREN (Completed) ✔

33: The Center Of Attention

The past couple of days didn't turn out to be as horrible as Caren thought it would be. Maybe Calvin was right, she thought. Having an assistant was actually a good thing. The work load felt a lot lighter on her shoulders and thanks to Jade, most of the things she worried about forgetting was easily taken care of in a twinkle of an eye.

Caren's only problem with her new assistant was that, Jade seemed have a peculiar hunger for attention and recognition. Most new employees become familiar with everyone within the first few months. Jade made sure to make herself known within the first 2 days.

On one hand, some of the employees quickly fell in love with her bubbly and outgoing personality. Some people even described Jade as a breath of fresh air. She was not only sassy but, she knew how to interact with people easily, had good conversation skills and above all, was very respectful towards everyone no matter what their post was in the company. On the other hand, the others hated her guts. They found her to be annoying and frivolous.

Indeed, Jade, was the name on everyone's lips. This didn't bother Caren though. What mattered to her most was that, Jade was getting the job done.

The telephone sitting on Caren's desk began to ring and she picked it up.

"Caren's office!"

"Calvin speaking! Your presence is required at the conference room immediately. Be there with Jade!" The line disconnected immediately.

"How rude!" She looked at the handset before placing it back on the hook switch.

"Everything okay?" Jade asked.

"Yes! Our attention is needed at the conference room immediately. Let's go!"

They got there and noticed that a few other employees were seated. Caren chose the chair next to Halle.

"Is this the person they replaced you with?" Halle asked as she gave Jade the side-eye.

"No one replaced me Halle!" Caren rolled her eyes. "I still work here. She's my assistant."

"Hm! Why does she keep flipping her hair? Is that a reflex or what?"

"Can you let her be?" Caren chuckled.

"Whatever!" Halle rolled her eyes.

"Everyone settle down!" Calvin said as he stormed into the conference room. "I have a very big news to share with all of you. Mr Ferguson and the entire team finally decided to give us the project. We signed the contract this morning!"

Some members of the group cheered on while others clapped their hands out of excitement.

"We have until next week Thursday to conclude this project. The first thing on our list after that is to have the advertisements on all of all this city's digital screens and on televisions across the United States by Friday. So far, this is the biggest contract we've signed this year. This will definitely put our name on the map and our competitors will know better than to mess with us."

"Yes, I love it! That's exactly what I'm talking about. Doesn't the strive for power and success send that dopamine rushing through your bodies?" Jade giggled and clapped her hands like a kid who's about to open a gift.

"Now that's the kind of excitement I'm looking for around here." Calvin pointed to Jade, "Make sure you keep up with that energy because you're going to need it." He smiled.

"Yes Sir!" She stood up and gave a salute.

"What a drama queen!" Halle whispered to Caren. "It's like I'm at the theatre."

"Halle, concentrate!" Calvin cautioned. "Okay everyone, back to the reason why I called this meeting."

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An hour later, the meeting came to an end. Caren and Halle were on their way out of the conference room when they noticed Jade making small talk and flirting excessively with Calvin.

"That girl is totally unprofessional! Who does stuff like that?" Halle asked with a clear expression of pure disgust.

"I'm not sure." Caren chuckled.

"It's not even funny. She's not even been here up to a week and everyone can't seem to stop talking about her."

"True! She has a way of drawing everyone's attention towards her. But I don't think she's doing it on purpose. I think that's just her personality."

"Oh please, Caren! She's an exhibitionist. She thrives on attention. How are you coping with her, being your assistant and all?"

"She's actually very good I won't lie. You know I'm the last person to be bothered by any of her antics. All that concerns me is that she does what she's supposed to do. You should try talking to her, you may actually like her. She has a fun and bubbly personality just like you." Caren smiled.

"Huge pass! I can't stand the way she talks, the way she walks and how she is constantly touching her hair. Speaking of which... What is up with her wardrobe? Last time I checked, those dresses are so not suited for a workplace."

"I think that's her signature style. And the fact that she only wears bold colours makes it more daring. I actually like it to be honest. It matches her personality. Who cares anyway? If she can get away with it then why not?"

"Hm! Oh well! Thank goodness I'm not the one stuck with her." Halle shook her head and Caren laughed.

Caren got back to her office. She checked the time and she still had an hour left on the clock. She was about to start some work on the new project when Jade returned.

"Welcome back! How did you find your first official meeting with this company?" Caren smiled.

"Oh it was fantastic. I hope it's always like this. At my former place of work, it's always hell whenever we have meetings like this. Everyone seems to butt heads and no one can agree on anything. Ugh, I hated it there."

"Well you don't have much to worry about then. Over here, things are pretty much settled amicably. Once in a while there may be a little fuss as you know, that's completely inescapable in a place where there is more than 2 people," She chuckled. "But still, when it comes to settling disputes amongst ourselves, everyone here acts in a civilized manner."

"I'm glad to hear that!" Jade smiled.

"Well I'm just about to start something on our new project but please, take these files and send the letters printed on the first page to the recipient emails."

"On it!" Jade walked up to Caren's desk and picked up the files she was instructed to work on.

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