Always next to you

Chapter Eight

NICOLE

"Do you feel better?" Jessi asked as she walked in.

"Yeah, it's nothing serious, and the coffee was a big help," I replied.

The coffee really helped wake me up, and I didn't get my own because I wanted to get here on time.

"I know you think I'm spoiling you, but I'm looking forward to your skills," she winked and went to her desk.

My skills? Did she mean my programming skills?

The meeting Harvey's assistant spoke about was by 10 am. It was the reason I was hired into this team. The first meeting was for the new MMORPG game. Thinking about it got me so excited, but I knew I'd have to graduate from this demotion in Harvey's eyes. The next time I get here, I'd buy him coffee or his favourite drink.

I read through my emails to see that I have been assigned more baby tasks, but I didn't feel down about it. Harvey had nothing to complain about my report because I was very thorough about the work. If I keep up with this, I will be given more important tasks.

I turned my chair around to see that Jessi was watching a video on her screen.

"Are you ready?" I asked her.

She looked at the time below the screen and smiled.

"Let's go get the best seats," she grinned.

I grabbed my iPad and my phone and followed her ignorantly. What did she mean by the best seats?

We went to the conference room two floors above our office and saw that a few people were walking in. I didn't need to be told what they did at Zen Industries because the guys wore sweatshirts & joggers, t-shirts & jeans with sneakers to a meeting. They were likely the men in my department that Jessi spoke about.

Some of them were fashionable enough to wear a shirt and trousers with sneakers. Jessi dragged me like an excited three-year-old going to Disneyland and pushed me to a cut beside her. It was the next two chairs after the chair kept for the team leader.

After a few minutes, a few women walked in other than me and Jessi. They were dressed like the other office ladies. Their pants suits were well ironed and matched their heels. Among all of them, I blended in with the software engineers because I dressed a bit casually, but Jessi was as extra as the first day I saw her.

If I didn't read about her skills in a magazine once, I'd never believe she was a programmer. To be precise, Jessi dressed like a third-generation wealthy college student and she was in her 20s. I wanted to be like her when I grew up.

Sitting next to her made me feel so cool.

Harvey walked inside with his assistant and sat opposite Jessi. He glared at me, but I shifted my eyes to the screen of my iPad where I had my notes app open. Why wasn't he seated in the supervisor's seat?

"Hey, is he bothering you?" Jessi asked.

She must have noticed my discomfort.

"Nah, it's nothing," I shrugged it off.

I looked around and saw that most of the seats were taken. The hall was spacious, with about 25 people present. I knew that we'd need more people for the size of the project, but some departments could simply have representatives instead of everyone.

My rates wandered to the halls, the screen that showed people joining the meeting virtually and the small mics in front of every chair. With a hall this size, no one would need to shout if the mics were here. Those on the stream would hear clearly, too.