Above & Beyond ✔

26. Thank God It's Friday

Friday became my favorite day of the week. And no, it wasn't because of a certain someone who happened to be on duty in the Assessment Center. At least that wasn't the case today.

I'd been doing this job for a week and still had problems dealing with questions or demands from potential clients. Their questions were random, some even assumed we ran charity work since we were under an educational institution. I had to say, I admired how skillfully Ashley countered those typical questions without blowing visible steam from her ears.

The filing system was the worst. Ashley was not the most organized person on earth. It took me five minutes to find a specific paper when it could have been done only in a few seconds if the document was placed in a proper folder. Not to mention that her pregnancy affected her memory span, so she had claimed. Playing Where's Wally was becoming the unwritten job description. I made a mental note to dedicate an extra hour to fixing the filing system.

Surprisingly, today was quite easy, especially with answering the phone calls. Maybe Friday afternoon wasn't appealing enough for people to ring around for business inquiries. The weekend was calling already.

"Good afternoon, radish head!" A chubby guy appeared from behind the glass door, followed by an Asian girl bouncing closely behind him.

I rolled my eyes at what he called me. Apparently, he forgot to check himself in the mirror today because he had the brightest red curls I'd ever seen in my life. "Good afternoon, Fred, Maya. The room is ready, everyone is inside and"—I swiveled on my chair, opened the cupboard, picked up the testing materials, and handed them to the duo—"here."

"Everyone? Mr. Andrew is inside already?" Maya asked carefully.

"No, he hasn't turned up yet. Otherwise, he would have grabbed those materials already." I pointed at the storage basket in Fred's hand.

"He will be here soon, though," Fred said, glancing at the big clock on the wall. "Come, May, let's get it done with. My butt is itchy for summer break already. Thanks, radish head!"

With that, the two Magister students strode into the testing room. This would be their last week of on-the-job training in this Assessment Center, and soon they would be freed from Mr. Andrew's torment.

I'd learned from Ashley that Blake Andrew was known as a rigorous and harsh person who would beat his students' asses to a pulp for any sign of tardiness. She reminded me to pay good attention to the precision of the test preparation when he was on duty. No room for mistake or I would get stung by his remarks.

Ashley also filled me in on the characteristics of the people I was working with. The students even created a label for every professor in the Assessment Center: Mrs. Sue the opportunist warrior, Mr. Watson the friendly guy next door, Mrs. White the wise grandma, and Mr. Andrew the pain in the ass.

"Good afternoon, Jennifer." The very man in my mind stormed in, heading straight to the test room. "All set?"

"G-Good afternoon," I stammered. "Yes, everyone is inside. Only one client doesn't show up due to sickness. I just handed the materials to Fred and Maya, they must be distributing the tools to the clients right now and–" I stopped abruptly once I realized Blake was standing still in front of the test-room door, his hand on the handle, waiting for me to finish my rambling. I cleared my throat. "Everything is set, sir."

"Thank you," he replied and nodded. "And you can leave early if you want. We won't need your assistance from this point onward. Have a great weekend." A faint smile tugged on the corner of his lips before he opened the door and disappeared behind the door.

Sighing, I threw myself onto my seat, inwardly scolding myself. I hadn't seen him since he took me home from Garry's villa and I'd convinced myself that I was more than ready to deal with him professionally. So much for being ready.