Volumes of thick books piled up on my desk, and I had to read through every page of the book to gain proper knowledge about the company and my responsibilities towards it. With my lips curved into a frown and a tired-looking expression smeared on my face, even before I touched the books, I stared at the stack on the table, which was going to be my company for the next six hours at work; I didn't know where to start, how to start and I didn't want to start! Reading was not my cup of tea; I couldn't read a sheet of paper, without almost-dosing off a billion times in between, I wondered how I'd get through textbooks of three-hundred pages each. The landline on my desk rang loudly, breaking through the ever-so-romantic moment the books and I shared. I picked up the call on the third ring, and chipped a soft and quick, "Hello, Dityaa speaking".
"Are you going to stare at the books all day, or do you have plans of reading through the pages?", a grave, serious and deadly voice questioned from the other end, and almost instantly, my head snapped in the direction of Mr. Joshua's cabin. The creep sat down on his chair, holding the phone against his ear, and spied on me from a distance. If being a General Manager meant that I could relax on a comfy chair in an air-conditioned cabin, which entirely belonged to me, and had to spy on everyone, I would kill anyone to bag that post! "What are you waiting for?", he interrogated in his monotonous voice. 'Auspicious time', my inner-voice snapped. "Sir, I'm starting now", I said, calmly and respectfully, and he cut the call. After thinking about it for a moment, I pulled out the thinnest textbook from the pile and fetched a neon highlighter from the pen-stand. I flipped the textbook open and tapped the tip of the highlighter against the table, as my eyes scanned through the Introduction; which was a page filled with lengthy and big words that were way beyond my understanding. I needed a dictionary to translate every word printed on that page. Apparently, the company believed in simplicity and typed down the most complicated introduction the history has ever had; talk about irony! "Shh!", a loud hiss emerged from beside me, making me turn in that direction. The boy next to me stared at the highlighter I held in my hand, which I tapped on the table, and shot a death stare at me. "Oops, I'm sorry", I whispered, and dropped the highlighter on the table, forcing a louder sound to emerge for a split second. "Did you have to read through these textbooks when you joined?", I asked the boy, and he answered in a nod. "How long did you take?", I questioned, curiously. "One and a half day", he revealed and my jaw dropped open in shock. "Fuck, for real, man?", I whispered loudly, and he turned in my direction with an appalled look on his face, as though I said the most disgusting cuss-word on Earth. "How did you do it?", I raised another question, and he responded back with a cold look and discomforting silence. "I think...you should mind your own business", he said, hesitantly, and looked away from me. I glared at him for a long, long while, but he didn't even dare to look in my direction. He was lucky we were stuck up in a prison-like office; otherwise I would have snapped his neck. I read two pages, spent two whole minutes studying the pictures printed on the third page with much focus and looked around at the office, where everyone worked like literal machines, when the landline on my desk rang, again.
"I'm reading, Mr. Joshua", I sighed, seconds after picking up the call. "Don't lie, you're being watched", a reply came from the other end of the call, but it wasn't that terrifying voice; it was a lighter and playful voice. Slowly, I turned back around in the direction of Darshan's cabin, and looked past the tempered glass-panes to find him smiling at me. "Boss!", I exclaimed teasingly, and turned back around, slumping back on my chair. "You're spying on me, too? All of you sitting inside cabins, you spy all day?", I spoke into the phone, and folded the corner of a piece of paper on my desk. "You're just grabbing everyone's attention", Darshan said. "Oh well, pretty people things. Thanks", I smirked and flipped my hair. "Oh please, you're just extremely disastrous", Darshan scoffed. "I am disastrous? Have you seen your employees?", I whispered in an extremely soft tone into the landline phone. "What's wrong with them?", Darshan asked. "What's not wrong with them? The kid sitting right next to me, he told me to mind my own business when I was only being friendly. I'll stab him to death with a...a pencil if he dares to show me attitude one more time", I warned, looking at the neighbour who was immersed in his work, and Darshan monstrously laughed from the other end. "And man, Mr. Joshua is spying on me!", I rolled my eyes. "Well, even I am", Darshan said. "Why do I have a feeling that you're checking me out?", I teased. "You wish!", Darshan snapped. "Too much of self-obsession is toxic, honey", Darshan casually said. "If I'm not going to love myself, who will? Mr. Joshua?", I sighed, and Darshan chuckled. Moments later, the kid on the next table tapped on my shoulder, and I turned in his direction, raising my brow at him. "Joshua Sir is calling you", he informed, and I looked at Mr. Joshua's cabin. "Picnic?", he mouthed at me from his cabin, and it took me a moment to shake my head in disagreement, although I wanted to take the risk and say 'yes'. I was desperate to lock horns with the bull, but I wanted to secure my job at the same time. "Mr. Joshua just asked me if I'm on a picnic", I muttered into the phone and turned away from his cabin. "That's his usual dialogue", Darshan said. "Wait until the day I ask him, 'Yes, I am picnicking. Do you want to join?'", I rolled my eyes and picked up the highlighter. "I wouldn't be surprised if you end up saying it", Darshan laughed. "Alright, I need to hang-up before he complains to my dad that I'm distracting the employees and I also have to show-up for an event, so happy reading and goodbye", Darshan uttered in one breath and cut the call.
It took me ten long minutes to regain focus, and continue reading the lengths of boring lines about the company. Had I known that I ought to read all that, I would have rejected the job offer, myself!
YOU ARE READING
Attachments
Teen Fiction[COMPLETED]. When Dityaa moves to Mumbai with big dreams and a vision, things don't quite go her way. The struggle to survive in an unknown city is real. Living up to her expectations becomes a battle, coping with her worried mother becomes difficul...
