Amanda's POV
I pinned up the tiny strands of my hair which settled comfortably on my forehead. I straightened my shirt which was carefully tucked in my black palazzo pants. I was looking over my watch, again and again, considering the fact that I was running short of time. The receptionist then announced my name. I quickly stood up.
Oh Yes! I did not go to college that day. I had to sort out a big amount of mess first. I kept canceling the continuous innumerable calls of Gina and Francis. I avoided keeping my phone on silent because Mr. Reynolds could call me any moment and I didn't want it to be another reason, to sum up on his scolding towards me.
Oh now, you may think that if I was not in Mr. Reynolds's office then whose? I was somewhere I was supposed to be. I kept walking silently towards the cabin I was called in. I knocked on the door, not more than two times, and there was an immediate response of "come in ".
I went inside the cabin and initiated the conversation with a sweet smile paired with a good morning wish. Mr. Linley was one heck of a well mannered and kind-heartened person as he greeted me back.
"I assume you're here for one sort of fake drama. If that's the case then I'm certainly not interested to listen to your irrelevant drama all over again", he turned away and continued doing the paperwork.
"I am sorry, I really am", I tried indulging into eye contact with him.
"What else Miss Waters aka Mrs. Steve", he frowned.
I was shattered from within, on realizing how much of a liar I was in the past. The person who wanted me to attend his party, who greeted me warmly, now couldn't even resist my presence in his cabin "I couldn't sleep last night. I'm truly sorry", I apologized.
After completely listening to my sentence, he nodded but didn't utter a word. Not even a single one "If only I could make up for the loss. I apologize on my behalf to Mrs. Linley. She's a sweetheart"
He played with his pen for a while and then replied "If you are doing this for my signature over the contract papers then it's really not a good idea, and certainly a waste of your precious time, which you could probably invest in planning another fraudulent practice"
I removed the papers from my bag and handed over to him, "This is a genuine apology, Sir. Keep those papers for assurance that I at least did not fake a 'sorry'"
I carefully lifted myself up from the seat and gathered all my guts and concluded my apologetic lines with one last sentence, "Sir, I'm not faking it. We were genuine enough to take a step back when realizing our mistake. We could easily fool you last night. We didn't do it, though", I took small steps towards the exit, and yes I used the term 'we' when Mr. Reynolds was not even in guilt.
"Give my regards to Mrs. Linley and heartily congratulations once again", I turned around before turning the doorknob.
"Miss. Waters", I heard my name being called from the back, my eyes collided with his.
"You left these papers", he smirked.
"I'm so sorry sir ", I added up to the innumerable apologies for the day and left his cabin. The papers were yet in my hand, I felt like throwing them in the dustbin but I could probably throw them in Mr. Richie Rich's dustbin.
On starting to fold the papers, I carefully placed them in my bag. But then I saw an inked thing over it. I removed the papers again and after having a closer observation, I realized that they were signed already.
I was so overjoyed that I directly ran towards Mr. Linley's cabin and entered without a knock and directly shook his hands. Ah yes, I was about to hug him but my nerves had great control over me.
"Thank you so much, sir. It means a lot to me, for us. A real lot ", I grinned like a fool.
"I love your honesty Amanda", Oh yeah, he called me Amanda. I almost forgot my name because of the professional circle. Who knew a little apology and a good cute smile could do wanders. I was overwhelmed by the fact that I at least didn't lie. I thought that Mr. Reynolds would appreciate me for once actually.
I waved him a final goodbye and left his cabin. I canceled all of Mr. Reynolds's calls because I wanted to tell him the good news all by myself. This was the first time I actually proved myself. I wanted to show him that in this world where everything is so plastic and materialistic, honesty and humanity still existed.
I took a taxi as fast as I could and signaled the driver the address of my office. I reached in a few minutes and rushed towards the elevator. I encountered James aka the manager plus Mr. Reynolds's best friend standing there playing with his hair.
"Hi there", I waved. I was really in a good mood because I just couldn't control my happiness.
"Reynolds is very angry right now. I'm really scared about the consequences. He has been inquiring about you since the morning", he checked his phone and then continued "Here goes another call for you"
"Please just let it go, don't give an answer to this call. I'm reaching his cabin right now", I insisted.
"Okay fine, rush baby girl ", he pointed towards the elevator.
I disliked James too much. He always tried flirting with me. I was more into a gentleman kind of man. Whenever I looked in his eyes, I just didn't feel right. I felt like he was masked up and just pretended to be something like he impersonated some good image.
I, at once rushed towards Mr. Reynolds's cabin. "Can I come in sir?" I questioned knocking at the doorstep of Mr. Reynolds.
"Yes madam, your presence is something which is highly relevant for this situation", I could sense the sarcasm behind his smile.
"We need to talk", I went closer to him taking small steps. He looked really angry, I was scared.
"Yes, we sure need too", he came towards me, and finally we were just a hand distance away. Every moment about yesterday's night was playing repeatedly in my brain, in a black and white format. I couldn't just forget about it, everything about the night before was so different and unusual.
The guy who didn't like standing next to me held my hand, The guy who was prone to an ugly restricted language said the sweetest words any guy had ever spoken to me except Francis. The guy who acted like a complete racist kissed me. I don't know if that was real or just an illusion but it definitely meant something to me.
"So what would you like to say on your behalf Miss Amanda Water", I knew his speech was going to be a dreadful one so I decided to tell him at once.
"Sir", he kept his hand over my mouth and ceased me from talking any further.
"Shush ", he glued his lips, held me closer through his hands, and tightly pushed my back against the wall and came closer.
"Let go of me, you're hurting me", I tried pushing myself forward but his muscles were so hard that the more I tried, the more it caused me pain.
"You started the trouble, you always do. You're always in a mood for revenge, aren't you?" he rhetorically questioned.
"I-Uh", he stopped me from talking again and this time, he placed his hands over my lips tighter than before. My body was shivering out of fear. I had no power to free myself as he was stronger than me. I was devastated by the fact that his mind was yet rotating around the revenge cycle.
He looked at me with wide eyes. His eyes were deep and scary. The sclera of his eyes was surrounded with a shade of red which obviously scared me more.
"If you were in a mood to play the truth-truth game, why did you stretch the drama? Like, you could've said that to Mr. Linley, the very moment. I knew that girls like you only want attention"
He pushed me back, he let go of his palm over my lips but tightened his grip on both of my arms again. I could barely move an inch so I stayed calm, silent, and listened without uttering a word. I wanted to tell him everything but also wanted to see that to what extent he could play the role of a hell animal.
My eyes were watery because even stray dogs didn't take this much insult. Every moment in this office was like staying with a devil.
"Stop, okay?" I tried to control the tears but my eyes were definitely not obeying my commands. My voice was breaking into half because of them. It's really an annoying moment when you don't want to show your emotions but they appear making you look like a three-year-old.
"You're rusticated Miss Waters ", he let go off me with a sigh.
I looked at my arms which were completely red by the moment, bit swollen too. I didn't take any stand for myself even when I had a chance to. I wanted to prove Mr. Reynolds wrong but I wanted him to regret it.
-TRING TRING - (phone rings)
Mr. Reynolds diverted his attention from me and started walking towards his desk where the phone rang. I started walking towards the door. I thought of submitting the contract papers to James as he was comparatively a better person and I lost the job anyway.
"Good Afternoon to you too", Mr. Reynolds's voice could be overheard.
"Really?" he sounded puzzled as he questioned the person on the other side of the phone. I took smaller steps then before because I somehow figured out that it was Mr. Linley on the other side of the phone.
"Okay, I'll hand it over to Miss Waters"
I turned around facing Mr. Reynolds when I heard my name. He aired the phone in my direction which meant that I had to attend it.
I quickly received the phone. "Well hello Miss Waters ", Mr. Linley greeted once again.
After clearing my throat, I replied with a 'Good Afternoon Sir' as my wrecked up voice needed to be hospitalized as soon as possible.
"Mr. Reynolds is really happy, isn't he?" Mr. Linley questioned.
"He's overjoyed ", I lied.
"My wife really liked you a lot! She was talking about you and your honesty. Visit her sometimes"
"Sure thing sir", my lips stretched into a smile.
"Of course, give my regards to ma'am sir!" I continued.
"Sure thing" I ended the call with a goodbye. Mr. Reynolds was staring at me continuously. No amount of guilt could be felt on her face, neither did he look happy. He had his poker face on point.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" He questioned again.
"Because you didn't allow me to", I removed the papers from my bag and handed them to him.
He grabbed it as fast as he could like I was the criminal who was having an atom bomb. He examined the papers quietly for a while. I distracted my focus on him and started looking towards the window. I didn't feel like looking at him after his abusive behavior towards me.
"Alright", he closed the papers and kept them in the documentary locker "Goodbye", I looked down and quickly closed the chain of my bag again.
"Miss Waters, this is my new phone", he removed one from the locker. It was the latest model of an iPhone.
"Congratulations, I guess", I thought he was showing off but why would he, this office could denote his richness.
"I'm in no urge for your happy wishes, Miss Waters ", he smirked.
I furrowed my brows out of confusion. I waited for him to continue. A moment later, he removed a telephone directory and propelled it towards my direction.
"Transfer all these old contacts one by one and word to word. I do not encourage bad spellings", he forcefully handed me the directory.
I only wanted an apology and I would've forgotten everything. Everything in this office had terms and conditions."I'm done with this Job already, I guess", I inhaled deep.
"That's my choice, Miss Waters. You're no one to take the decision. The points were clear in the clauses, right?" he rhetorically questioned again and continued "You're definitely getting the increment"
I nodded but didn't thank him because I deserved it and maybe it was his way for apologizing, I took over the new phone carefully along with the directory and marched towards my cabin. I placed them on my desk and called Gina to get information about today's happening in college.
"Hi there ", I greeted quite formally.
"What's wrong?" Gina interrogated. She could sense the silence behind my sadness.
"Long story"
"Tell me in bits and pieces ", Gina commanded.
I then narrated the whole story as fast as I could in one single breath. "Man-whore", Gina judged him nastily.
"I didn't call you to backbite about him. Exams are near, what happened today?" I questioned.
"Nothing really exciting, we just sat for two lectures since you were absent. Francis got himself a new girl and Samuel accompanied me"
"I can sense the blush already!" I coughed dramatically.
"Mmhmm ", Gina cut my sentence into half.
"Okay, I'll catch you later ", I canceled the phone.
I compiled up all the mess on my table and placed the gigantic directory on my desk. I opened the first page and a part of me died already. There were like 20 contacts on each page. I quickly turned the book until the end and found out that there were 3000 names serial numbered systematically. It took me 2 minutes to enter each name carefully.
"Glad, you could make it" I heard a manly voice but I didn't look up as that way I could have lost synchronization with the work, which was now exhausting me.
"Yes! I'm sorry, I cannot attend you properly"
"Its okay baby girl", I knew it was James as he was the only one in this place who had sugar-coated words. I slightly looked up and there was a cup of coffee on my desk. James bought it, of course, the fact that he was sweet to me was enough to cause a disturbance in my mind.
"Thank you!" I smiled forcefully.
"Always a pleasure, want me to help?" he was sweet, I guess.
"How can you?" I immediately questioned back.
"I can read them aloud and you can create contacts without disturbing your beautiful neck", he smirked and then continued "it'll reduce half of your time "
"They're in thousands ", I tried being a pessimist.
"I can at least help you overcome hundreds ", he picked up a chair and shifted it besides me accompanying my chair. I wondered that he could've dictated me whilst sitting in front but he was James, he had to be touchy. He was good looking, no doubt. His dark brown eyes shined all the time but I couldn't afford to make eye contact because it could create a sensuous situation.
James dictated me the contacts very accurately, word to word. It reduced a lot of my time. I felt a touch on my forehead and then realized that James was carefully placing all the unwanted hair strands of mine behind my ears. His hands crawled slowly from my forehead till my ears. His seducing technique was impressive but it was not working on me.
"It's okay, I can do it myself ", I smiled dramatically distancing him carefully in a friendly way.
He continued doing it for an hour but distanced away on receiving an urgent call. He left that very moment.
I liked him and I disliked him. The difference was I hated Mr. Reynolds. There was no such choice for him. It was already 9 pm and I completed 3/4th of the work so I decided to carry the directory to my house. Within a few minutes, I was home. Mom plated my dinner. I ate as fast I could and ran towards the bedroom because I wanted to get rid of the directory as soon as possible.
I then flipped the pages from where I had to continue.
JASON WATERS 0921-4662728228
The name was clear enough for me to figure out that it was my father's. This number has been my password ever since. Though I was mad at him for leaving my mother I did love him. But the question which appeared in my mind was that how was his number in Mr. Reynolds's telephone directory? , with a red mark?
My mommy was a brave and intelligent woman. She had been through a lot in her life as life had never been very fair to her. She'd been challenged at every stage in her life since my sister and I took birth. She never really got the love she deserved from her life partner i.e. my father who never looked at her like all women wanted to be looked at by a man. Despite this, she carried a smile on her face which constantly enlightened the house in her presence.
My father?, I don't blame him, as everyone has a basic right to choose upon their life partner in this modern world. He calls me up once in a while which is basically on my birthday. I'm not very 'connected' or acquainted with him.
There's one thing about him which turned me off in my thoughts, he left us all when I was 10 years old... He never looked back ever since, never inquired about mom's well-being, never supported us financially or emotionally despite having a handsome amount of wealth and time. It made me think that maybe my sister and I were some sorts of mistakes resulted from unprotected sex. But then we had a mom who was a huge blessing in our lives and who as well covered up for dad's part too.
I had no guts to face Mr. Reynolds and ask him any question regarding this so it was going to be an unfolded mystery. Just mere coincidence, I tried diverting my mind but "what's up with the red mark", said the inner conflicting me.
I neglected the fact and continued doing the chores. I finished in a while. I checked the contacts. I carefully turned the phone off and then went to sleep with mixed thoughts and views.
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HAPPY READING!