𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐛 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬 [18+]

3 · have a good day

The freezing air-conditioned air hit my skin like a bucket of ice once I entered our magazine building. It was undoubtedly Layla's idea to turn on these things all day even if the weather was frozen outside. The building wasn't ginormous like the other famous magazines' locations, but it still looked chic and decent with cream colored curtains and a simple white door. It simply consisted of three rooms, the first being the newsroom and the second and third were Layla's office (also a place where content writers and editors occupy as well) and a tiny store room.

Without wasting a second, I entered the office room where air-conditioning was more intense and bone chilling. Thank god, I hadn't forgotten to wear a sweater, or else, my organs would be frozen by the end of the day.

"Morning, Sara," Madison, the only coworker I could talk to without growing agitated, waved at me, the sides of her slanted eyes slightly crinkled, as soon as she saw me approaching my desk.

I nodded, smiling at her before scooting myself at my desk, which was fortunately next to her. Chloe who sat on my left side greeted me, revealing her straight white teeth. She was beautiful and I'd totally do her if I was into women, but that thought was buried long ago as soon as I'd accidentally smelled her weird perfume which, she once said, was custom-made with dry lemon and spices.

Lucky for me, Layla sat with Mrs. Kenneth, Editor-in-chief and publisher, at the opposite side, her large desk facing the door whilst ours faced the window which, unfortunately, was always closed so there was no way I could glance outside and day dream a bit.

"Ladies, you're here to work, not to chitchat." Layla cleared her throat, glaring at me.

She acted like she was the boss around here just because she was related to Mrs. Kenneth. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and tell her to mind her own business. If it weren't for Mrs. Kenneth, art teacher from my college and founder of the magazine, I would be at home, no longer bearing Layla's annoying self. At first, when Mrs. Kenneth offered me this job, I rejected it since I was contented being a freelance writer and didn't like the idea of a tedious day job.

But when she insisted that she was short of staff and said she needed my help, I agreed out of sympathy as she had retired and the magazine house was her only possible income source, and another reason was my relationship had started to turn dull with Daniel's conflicting schedule, and I hated staying home, watching Netflix all day and bored to death.

Aside from the horrendous looking floral wallpaper peeling off from the ceiling of the main office, having Layla as a coworker, and weird perfume scent coming from Chloe, whose desk was right next to mine, I loved the fact that there wasn't a certain dress code to wear. I could wear jeans and simple tops to feel comfortable working in.

I went through my document again to edit minor spelling mistakes before agreeing to proofread Madison's stuff. She tended to get anxious a lot with Layla patronising and downgrading her work even if her writing was impeccable. Revealing a dimpled smile, Madison muttered a thank you as I handed her the document and showed her some typos I'd found here and there.

"Ms. Adley, why don't you design the new banner for our newsletter instead of admiring your nails?" Layla said, an evil smile creeping on her red lips. Other than being a horrible coworker, she also sucked at applying eyeliner and dressed like she hadn't known the term 'fashion' well and had been living under a rock.

New banner my ass. I wasn't even looking down at my nails. How dare she.

"I wasn't even––"

"Well, I clearly saw you do that."

Fucking liar.

"Even if I did, that's not my job to design it." I rolled my eyes. She was being ridiculous and bitter for no reason.

"Well, Ella called in sick this morning," Layla rose a brow at me.

"Why don't you do it yourself?"

Layla replied, her hands in air. "I'm a very busy woman,"

As if being overly bossy and being a lame ass, pessimistic coworker was considered busy, then she was one hell of an active person.

"You do or you quit." she added, getting on my last nerve.

If she really thought I was desperate in keeping this crappy job, then she was dead wrong. I was about to yell I quit and storm out of the shitty building, when Mrs. Kenneth chirped, her eyes pleading. "Can you please do it, Sara? I'll pay you extra."

"Okay, I'll do it. But you don't have to, Mrs. Kenneth. Consider it a gift," I put my best smile on, attempting to be as nice as I could be before turning my laptop on and scrolling through Pinterest to storm ideas for a nice banner.

It took me a good four hours to find the right font and color theme that wasn't repetitive, and unique. Not long after I slumped back in my chair, cracking my aching knuckles, Layla's voice disturbed my peace.

"You still haven't submitted the rewritten version of your article."

"I don't see the point. It was by far the best I'd written and it fits this month's issue really well," I stated, shrugging.

"No, you fix it now or else––"

Mrs. Kenneth cut Layla off, scolding her in process. "Shhh... stop blabbering nonsense. Her article is fabulous, eye-catching and flawless even."

"I agree, she's the best in our department," Madison chimed in, nodding her head which put a scowl on Layla's face when Chloe also hummed in agreement.

"It's just that our sales are dropping, visibly since last month," Layla said, glowering at me like it was my fault she wasn't good at promoting on instagram. "Thought we should include more stories about planting exotic flowers."

"Are you out of your mind? Our magazine isn't about botany, Layla." Mrs. Kenneth sighed, running her hand though her brown hair which had started to turn grey at its roots.

Layla looked as if the statement burned her alive and the distaste in her voice was obvious as she whined more. "But it's better than––"

"Shut it, Layla," Mrs. Kenneth said sternly, silencing Layla from muttering her irrelevant opinion.

I tried to hide the satisfaction her statement brought me. Clearly, Layla needed to know her place and not boss around like she owned the world. I continued to work in peace with Layla's ass completely muted. Before the clock hit four in the evening, Mrs. Kenneth let us go early that day since we'd done enough and needed a break.

After putting my notepad and pens inside my purse, I glanced at Layla to see a frown was still etched on her features.

"Have a good day, Layla." I feigned my sweetness, using the exact same words she used with me, watching in content as pure fury swam in her blue eyes.

Knowing, she hated me more then, I smiled at her sheepishly before I strolled to the park lot, exiting the room with my head held high.

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this chapter is sorta short, but shorter chapters mean faster updates. next chapter is where it all begins ;)

❤️ there's prolly a ton of mistakes especially the office scene cuz idk about magazine stuff and googled some facts. i just wanted to update fast since i wanna thank you all for reading this story.