A month later
As I entered the gargantuan building of my new workplace, I couldn't help but be in awe at the cornucopia of the dedicated employees moving about with an air of austerity, the sounds of orders and phone calls reverberating through the walls and the intricately designed infrastructure making me wonder of the hard working architects and their men.
The lobby was filling in with people of all ages as it was the checking-in time. I followed my way toward the advertising department with the help of the map handed to me by the receptionist across the entry gate.
After cruising left and right and taking an elevator ride, I was finally on the correct floor.
Patting my curls and the invisible creases on my shirt and pants, I took a deep breath in and headed inside my designated department. I was in an overwrought state because it was my first time looking at such a crowded workplace. I was instantly filled with the excitement to work here. Looking at their speed to get things done made me feel like I'd done absolutely nothing in the past five years.
Guess this is how it feels like to be in the presence of important people but I am loving it, I thought giddily.
"Hello?" Someone asked from beside me, bringing me out of my thoughts. I glanced up to see a woman in her early thirties, giving me a confused glance. "You new here?"
I was about to reply to her when suddenly a new voice entered our vicinity. "You must be Valerie Jones." Turning to my left, I saw another woman in her late fifties with a really crispy voice. She's tall and skinny with imperceptible wrinkles on her face. There was no sign of humor in her expression because of her thin, straight lips and a huge nose. "I'll handle this, Samantha. You can go back to finishing your work."
Samantha nodded at that and left without another word.
"Yes, ma'am," I replied with a small smile. She's Katherine Maxwell and from what I've collected, she is the head of this bustling department, meaning my new boss. She's the senior content editor and account manager, infamously known for her shrewd personality.
I still remembered the day she'd interviewed me, accompanied by the other Human Resources personnel and was exuding a really strong aura. I must admit that I was intimidated just by looking at her elongated face and deep set eyes.
She is a linchpin, alright.
"You-you remember my name?" I asked in disbelief while she just gave me a blank look.
"Don't offend me, Ms. Jones. I may be old but I am not senile. I remember names," she spoke in a clipped tone. "Besides, you have an impressive CV."
My eyes widened and I grinned at her last statement. Collecting myself together, I tried to school my features into that of professionalism. "You think I'm impressive?" Wrong move.
She completely ignored my question and turned around to walk away. Just when I thought that she had left me stranded on my spot, she called out from over her shoulder, "Follow me, Ms. Jones."
Not wanting her to think reproachfully of me, I followed her with a quickened pace to match her long strides. Even though she seemed evil, I could tell that she's kind. Or maybe, I was saying that because according to her, I am "impressive".
"Each employee's allotted their own cubicle and has a computer stationed on their desk," Katherine Maxwell explained to me, pointing around with her finger.
Like she said, the whole room was filled with cubicles. Some were occupied while a few of them were empty. The size of one could fit almost two people and I was instantly happy to have a personal space of my own unlike the other agencies I had worked at where there was hardly any space to even breathe.
As I was passing by the cubicles, everyone looked up from their work with curiosity sparkling in their weary eyes.
"And this is yours," my boss told me as soon as we reached a row of five cubicles. She tapped her index finger on the desk. Everything was white and utterly bland. One of them was occupied by a blonde girl who seemed to be around my age. She glanced at us with a renewed interest. "Rest everything you'll come to know about on your own or through your fellow colleagues. They are here to help so socialize, make friends and stuff. It's really important for a healthy business environment."
"Okay, ma'am." I nodded my head.
"One piece of advice here, Ms. Jones," Katherine Maxwell began, giving me a stern look. My heart was beating so fast that I could feel it drumming in my ears. She looked so serious that I had to rewind our whole conversation twice in my mind to find the loophole or in that case, my mistake. But my search came up empty.
"Y-yes, ma-"
"Do not call me "ma'am". I prefer Ms. Maxwell. Is that clear?"
I gulped and nodded my head. "Crystal."
"Good," she remarked and her features softened up a bit. "Take a seat."
I did as I was told and tentatively glanced at the blonde girl. Her eyes were widened and she looked at me pitifully.
First day and I've already managed to make my boss angry. Wow! Or is she always grumpy like this? I thought.
"Now," Ms. Maxwell said, clearly calling out for my attention and I looked up at her. "As it's your first day, I wouldn't pressure you into working. I understand that you want to settle down and get the hang of everything. So I'd suggest that you watch and read all our previous ad campaigns for this company. Write down your notes and whatever you deem is necessary. This will help you to know how we function. Is that okay?"
"Yes, Ms. Maxwell." I smiled at her and she gave me a curt nod. After that, she left without saying a word.
My reverence for her increased ten times more because as hard as her exterior seemed, she also cared about the well-being of her employees. I was glad that she was giving me a moment to get used to everything. If she wanted, she could have bossed me around but she didn't.
"We all secretly call her shark," the blonde girl beside me whispered, her doe-like eyes wide with horror.
"Huh?" I asked her absent-mindedly because I didn't pay attention to what she had said.
"Oh, jeez, I forgot," she muttered to herself and slapped her forehead. "I am Chelsea Hyland but everyone around here calls me Sea. You know, like S - E - A Sea and the letter 'C'," she introduced herself with a giggle. "I work in the creatives, mainly as an illustrator and graphic designer."
My eyebrows shot up impressively. The work of creatives' members is really good to look at but it's also the most difficult task ever. They have to actually design the whole campaign imagined by the others. They give other people's ideas life with some of their own imagination.
"Hey, Chelsea. I'm Valerie Jones. I'm a copywriter and it's nice to be acquainted with you," I said with a polite smile.
"Come on, girl. Don't be so formal," she told me, waving her hands as if me being awkward made her feel awkward. "Anywho, what was I saying again?"
"Shar-" I was cut off the second time in the span of five minutes.
"Yes, shark, exactly!" She clicked her fingers in a rhythmic beat. She scooted a bit closer to me and gestured for me to do the same. Obliging, I did as she asked me to. "So as I was saying, we call Ms. Maxwell, the shark. I mean she'll cut your head off if things don't go her way. She takes her job seriously. And trust me when I say this that you wouldn't ever wanna get on her wrong side. She can get really worse," she finished in a hushed whisper which was ironic since she'd just exclaimed about it in the beginning.
"Whoa, okay." Was all I could utter. I pursed my lips at her description of Ms. Maxwell. However, my judgement for her hasn't changed yet. Maybe, in the future, it might but for now, she somehow showed her generosity toward me in her own weird sense. Besides, one couldn't expect anything much from a veteran working in the corporate world. "I don't know but you can't expect too much from a boss now, can you? I mean, at least she did kinda leave me off the hook for today... right?" I made a sweeping gesture on my desk.
She blinked her eyes and shook her head with her mouth agape. "Uh, alright... suit yourself then, Val. But don't blame me that I didn't warn you." I was caught off guard when she used my nickname within just a few minutes of knowing me. She seemed laidback and I could totally use her friendly personality in this huge place.
"Will never do that." I grinned and powered on my computer. Just then I felt someone passing through our cubicles because of their shadow looming over me. Looking up, I saw a really gorgeous, asian girl with lipstick in her hand, walking past us. She seemed to be the same age as Chelsea and I.
"We call her the "Lipstick girl"," Chelsea informed me, answering my silent question.
I furrowed my brows at her in mild annoyance. "Do you guys have names for everyone?" It was as if they held a standard and if nobody matched their platform, they would degrade them with weird names. What if I'm one of them? It was nothing short of derogatory.
"Nah, just for people with an attitude syndrome. Besides, nobody knows her name and she's been working here for almost a year and a half. We've tried talking to her but she just glares as if we are some annoying pests. Every time someone approaches her, she intimidates them with her lipstick and turns around. I swear, it's some magic shit, that lipstick I mean," Chelsea explained to me, shivering in the end and I flinched.
"Seriously?" I blinked my eyes.
"Believe it or not, that's the truth. I mean you can see it for yourself, girl."
"Sure..." I drawled out precariously.
"She just respects all the heads and even smiles at them. God, what did we even do to her?"
I laughed at her incredulous expression. After exchanging a few more words, we settled back to do our work. As I was looking for the previous advertising campaigns, I felt Chelsea nudging me. "Yeah?"
"Do you know our "head boss" is actually a hot hunk unlike Shark?" Her lips curved down in disdain when she mentioned 'Shark'.
"Skye? Yup. I mean who doesn't?" I answered, laughing and looked at her properly this time. "But to be honest? I am a huge fan of Jonathan Williams as compared to his son. Like he's built such a big company and took it to the forefront which is so admiring. And not to mention how he named it after his son and has dedicated it to him as well." I gushed like a literal fangirl.
It was true that he'd named his establishment after he lost his first son. He passed away a few days after he was born. Nobody could tell how because Jonathon Williams never revealed the reason.
"His work and determination to keep this company going always inspires me," I explained to her, beaming in the end.
"Wow! You're such a dork but I agree that he's done a lot. But his son is equally as awesome. I mean, how can you ignore how handsome he is!" Everyone around us looked at her while I just rolled my eyes at her exaggerated dramatics.
"I am not ignoring the fact that he's handsome but he's always... you know, so quiet. You know what I mean?" I inquired, doing jazz with my hands.
"Nope, I don't." She shook her head and went back to doing an illustration on her computer. "Please, do elaborate."
"Never mind." I went back to completing my task after that and even Chelsea didn't bother to ask me about it any further.
As I was watching the campaign videos, I couldn't help but let my thoughts wander to Skye Williams. He's one of those reserved people and from what I could tell, he doesn't like the attention on him. A lot of reporters and magazines have tried to interview him but his one line answers and uninterested looks wards everyone off. The pictures on the internet don't show much results either when searched about him. The smiles he wears are always phony like he just wants people to let him be.
I know that I shouldn't let my judgments get the best of me but I couldn't put a clear personality to his face. It seems like whatever he portrays is just a mere cover up. As if wanting people to just imagine his true self like I was doing. Maybe, he's just insecure about himself and avoids the flashlights pointed on him. Being a CEO of this enterprise at the age of 24 must not have been easy for him.
The media even went so far as to speculate a lot about his sexuality, saying that he has a secret lover or that he's a gay. The most preposterous one was that the billionaire has a getaway tryst where he always meets with his "supposedly" secret lover, away from the prying eyes of the shark heads called the media.
It must have been because of this inquisitive nature of the media that would have driven him away to make him pull up the walls around him.
Wait! Why does it even matter to me again? I shook my head to get out of my reverie and paid my attention to the task in hand.
Before I knew it, I had read and watched everything about all the previous campaigns. It was then that I realized how tiring that simple task could get. Jotting down my notes, I skimmed through them and arranged the sheets in my hands.
"I can finally breathe," I muttered to myself and sighed. "Be right back, Chelsea," I informed her and she just nodded her head. I strode toward Ms. Maxwell's office and knocked once.
"Come in." Her voice was business-like and emotionless. As expected.
Slowly opening the door, I walked in with a small smile. "Sorry to disturb you, Ms. Maxwell but I just came in to show you my notes." I waved the papers slightly and she eyed them.
She removed her glasses and folded her arms on the table. "Ms. Jones. Those are for your own understanding. It'll help you when you'll be asked to brainstorm for new ideas. Keep them with you," she explained, raising an eyebrow at me.
"Oh, um... sorry," I apologized, chuckling nervously. "Didn't know that but... yes, I'll keep that in mind." I hid the papers behind my back and rocked back and forth on my heels.
She nodded at me once and went back to her work so I took that as my dismissal. I was mortified because now that I think about it, my amateurish acts just minutes ago seemed like that of a high school kid. As if trying to impress the subject teacher.
I was just about to leave when she called my name and I stopped dead in my tracks. Turning around, I asked her, "Yes?"
"Just a tip here. When a senior compliments you, never and I mean never, ever ask them to repeat it. It's such a downer and loosens up the good impression," Ms. Maxwell said, almost in a reprimanding tone. I knew that she was referring to the "impressive" incident and how she'd ignored my question.
"Point noted." I smiled widely while she just gave me a blank look.
"Good. As you've finished your assigned work for today..." she paused, glancing at her wristwatch. "You can take the rest of the day off."
My eyes widened and I could have almost squealed if I were not standing in front of her. It was just around 3 o'clock and I couldn't believe that she was actually giving me the other half of the day off. "Thank you."
"But remember, it won't be an everyday thing."
I didn't care as long as I had today to enjoy. As I left her office, my lips stretched into a genuine, effulgent smile. Ms. Maxwell didn't disappoint me so far and I prayed to God that it stayed like that forever.
~♡☆~♡☆~♡☆~♡☆~♡☆~♡☆~♡☆~
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