"Now, first thing first, you will need to get me my coffee. Then I will show you around and introduce you to some people here." He says rubbing his palms, and going behind his desk.
"Ok, but don't you have your own secretary?"
"She is on maternity leave and until she is back your will be working for me and with me. Do you understand?" he asks using his strict office tone.
"Yes, Alvin," I say in a cool tone.
"Another thing Lilliput, we are in the office so you will have to address me formally. I am your boss here, so you can call me sir." He says a small smirk playing on his lips.
"Yes, sir" I salute him, standing straight. "But then, shouldn't you be calling me by my actual name?"
"I am the boss here, so I can call you however I please to," he says smiling arrogantly, sitting on his chair. He was trying to rile me up.
"Uh- ah! That is the wrong use of your powers," I exclaim.
"It's my power," he chuckles raising one eyebrow and then gives me a smirk. Oh my god! i could literally have a fan girl moment here.
I shook my head and blinked. "You know with great power comes great responsibility," and continues with a straight face.
This makes him laugh out loud. And his laughter echos in the room and i bit my lips a small smile on my face. His laugh was infectious.
"Ever the Marvel fan I see," he comments with a grin.
"I'll call you sir only if you call me by my name." I propose instead.
"Alright, I was only kidding Lilliput. I won't call you by your nickname in front of others, don't worry."
"Ok, good." I breathe in relief. I did not want to be embarrassed in my workplace, though the name he gave me didn't bother me much, I didn't want anyone else calling me that.
"Now, why are you still standing there? Go and get my coffee. You know where the break room is right?" He orders me grumpily, his personality doing a complete 180. Not having his morning coffee on time makes him like this.
I know he tends to get angsty and grumpy because of that.
"Yes, I do. I will be back with your coffee, sir" I comment exiting his office to get his morning dose of energy. Without it, he would be a grumpy ass.
You should know that I have been a regular visitor to his office, so I already knew where the break room was because that is where they tended to keep the snacks and good things to eat. The space was big enough to spend your free time there and if you wanted to work, you could do that here as well.
This room was right between, the worker's area and Alvin's office, so it wasn't that far. It was almost like a kitchen, minus the utensils. There were 3 coffee machines and 2 microwaves on the island stacked neatly in a line along with coffee cups.
I got a white mug, and check the coffee machine if it had milk in its container, which thankfully it did. I did not want to go looking for the milk now.
Keeping the mug in its place I push the button and wait for the brown and the white liquid to be poured at the same time but nothing happens. No sound.
I press the button again and wait. Still nothing. Next, I check the plug and push the button again. The machine only makes gurgling sounds in the beginning, pours some brown liquid, and stops.
"What the heck!" I groan annoyed.
I could have used another machine but being the stubborn human I am, I wanted to get the coffee from this particular one. I push the button multiple times in frustration but nothing happens, not even a sound comes from it. So, in a fit of anger, I hit the coffee machine, still, nothing.
Having enough of this, I take a deep breath to calm myself and then I thump the top harshly letting out a war cry, continuously until the machine starts pouring again.
"Yes! in your face. Hah," I exclaim happily, having won against the evil coffee machine.
The mug fills up to the brim and I wait for the machine to stop on its own, but it did not. In turn the thick liquid starts pouring out nonstop, messing up the counter. Then it starts seeping to the floor. Frustrated beyond belief, I take off the plug directly to put an end to this. As I harshly pull the plug, a spark goes off in the machine. Scared I get away from it.
"Shit! shit! shit! shit!" The smoke alarms in the room are next to go off, and the sprinkles start as the room filled with smoke.
I cough loudly making my way out of the room, blinking my eyes rapidly, waving my hands in front of me like a maniac.
"What on earth is going on here?" Alvin came looking, shouting amongst the crowd.
My hairs were wet now, so was my dress. Afraid of being scolded, I go straight to Alvin, my mouth in a frown.
"What happened now?" Alvin asks his face morphed in anger and worry. Was he angry because of me? I don't want to be scolded on my first day. It's not my fault that I am a magnet to disaster and he knows that.
"The coffee machine broke down," I whisper quietly, rubbing my palm on my arms to heat me up.
"How?..." he questions looking at the scene in front of him. The floor was a mess, a mix of water and coffee. His employees were standing behind us and I wanted to vanish into thin air.
A smile starts forming on Alvin's face, so he bites his lips, and clears his throat catching everyone's attention.
"Everyone, please go back to your work and someone please call the cleaners and get this cleared up," He orders coolly looking at his staff.
"Yes sir," A man mumbles behind us and everyone goes back to their work, whispering amongst themselves.
"Come Lilliput, let's go back to the office and get you dried up," Alvin whispers, holding on to my shoulders and pushing me towards the direction of his office.
He goes straight to the room attached to his office, brings out a towel, and starts drying my long wet hairs. My hairs were thick and wavy reaching down my lower back.
"Now, tell me what happened." he demands softly draping another towel on my shoulders.
I narrate the event following my leave and entering the break room. Alvin listens quietly and when the story reaches its end, he burst out laughing clutching his stomach.
"Stop laughing. I had it covered," I shout humiliated, hitting his arm.
"Sure you did," he chuckles wiping his eyes.
"When will you stop Lilliput," he mumbles to himself shaking his head, a small smile on his face.
"I didn't do it intentionally," I sulk, my face down.
"I know baby I know. Did you get hurt?" He asks his words the same as the previous ones. This wasn't the first time and it won't be the last. Incidents like these had made Alvin very protective of me and very patient while dealing with me, which my brothers lacked.
Alvin would laugh it off at first, scold me sometimes, and then clean my messes whereas my brothers, got easily irritated and made fun of me. They loved me but not like Alvin did. They just left me to Alvin because he could handle me easily. We hardly fought because I always listened to him instead of brothers, whom I ended up fighting with.
"No, just wet," I say looking at him through my wet hairs.
"Ok, good, was there anyone else with you?" He asks getting up from beside me and moving towards his office door.
"No,"
"Cool. I am going to get a cup of coffee downstairs and see if the mess is cleaned up. Till then you can dry yourself. Okay?" he confirms with me, standing at the door.
"Sure." I shrug knowing his craving for coffee won't stop until he had his fill. His addiction to coffee was unhealthy.
He closes his door giving me one last look and I sigh unhappily.
"Only if he could love me like a lover," I whispered wistfully to myself, getting up from my position and moving into the adjoined room. The place was like a mini bedroom, with a cupboard, a bed, and a bathroom.
Alvin was a workaholic and spent most of his nights here when he isn't having dinner with me or with one of his girlfriends. He was a playboy, I knew that yet I liked him.
Looking for something to change into, I found a long white shirt in the cupboard and I took it out, inhaling its fresh scent. It was mixed with Alvin's coconut musk which I bought for him.
Locking the door behind me, I quickly take my dress off, and put on the white shirt. It reached just above my knees, so that was good to go and then I fold the sleeves to reach my elbows. Taking the belt off of my red dress, I put it on, below my bust to make this look like a dress.
"Nice work" I compliment myself, patting myself on the back.
Now for my hair, I take the semi-dried hair and pull them up in a ponytail, swaying my hair from side to side. I loved my long hair. I hadn't grown tall but all my nutrition and whatnot had gone to my hair, making it this long.
"Lilliput, you in there?" Alvin knocks on the door, and I stop my play.
Taking a deep breath, I unlock the door, hoping that he won't mind me wearing his shirt. It's not like I haven't borrowed clothes from him or my brothers. I always stole their T-shirts and never gave them back even when they whined about it.
"What..." he trails off looking at me from top to bottom, his mouth hanging open but he closed it soon enough.
"I hope you don't mind Butter, I didn't have anything to change into so I wore yours." I smile sheepishly.
"It isn't the first time," he shrugs, smirking. Stepping closer to him, I tug on his other side of the mouth so that his lips form a smile instead of his playboy smirk. He looks cute when he smiles.
"And it won't be the last" I whisper back hypnotized with his smile.
"I hope not," he says, tapping my nose.
Someone whistles catching our attention and Alvin turns around, glaring at the person who did. I look for the source of the sound and it is none other than Dylan Crowford, Alvin's best friend. He is as good-looking as Alvin and he always flirted with me and I mean always. It was his thing, yet I wasn't attracted to him. He is a nice person to be around, though.
"Hi Dylan," I give a short wave smiling at him politely.
"Hello, beautiful Violet, what are you doing here? and why is she wearing your shirt man? Did you finally take my adv-" Alvin covers Dylan's mouth, muffling his words.
I raise my eyebrows at Alvin for his strange behavior.
"Her dress got wet, so she changed into something else. Don't say anything stupid," Alvin warns taking off his hand and dropping it to his side.
"Oh!" Dylan mumbles awkwardly, avoiding my eye.
"What are you doing here?" I ask Dylan moving past the award silence and the eye communication between the two best friends.
"Hmmm, I... yeah I remember. There is a party in two weeks, the Annual Ball at my folks, so I am here to drop off the invitation in advance so he wouldn't escape like last time," Dylan says, slapping on his friend's back.
"You know man, I don't like those things, I much rather do my work here," Alvin grumbles in his thick voice.
"Come on man, there will be girls there, and drinks..." Dylan continues to pursue him wiggling his eyebrows, glancing at me. I grimace when other girls are mentioned.
"Let me think about it," Alvin says reluctantly taking the card from him.
"And you, my beauty, you will be there with Lilly as always?" Dylan confirms my plans facing me now.
"Mm-hmm. Like always," I smile, tilting my head to the side. Lilly is Dylan's cousin, who also happens to be my best friend.
"Great, now I need to go, I have some other work to attend to. See you later man!, Bye beauty" and just like that he is out of the door. He has always been like that, not wasting his time.
"Now that we don't have any distraction, how about I introduce you to some people and get you started with work?" Alvin outs his big hand on my lower back and pushes me out the door, closely following behind.