[7 Pals and Rivals]

Jeanette was very happy to hear the good news I brought after returning home. She said that it was also because of Mrs. Wilson who forced me to celebrate Joel’s birthday the other day. I didn’t deny it. Therefore, I bought her a set of cookie cutters with various shapes as my gratitude.

Last night I spent hours studying everything in the USB drive Liam had given me. I understood most of it easily because it was a lot similar to my previous job as a secretary. Plus, I already had enough knowledge about recording equipment and all. I was so excited to start my first day so that after finishing my breakfast, I left the apartment with Jeanette and headed to the parking lot.

“He’s not here yet,” said Jeanette when we saw nobody at the parking lot. “He did say that he would take you to work, right?”

I nodded.

“Hm, I’m afraid I can’t keep you company until he comes because of the time,” she took a glance at her wristwatch.

I wiggled my hands and shook my head at the same time. “It’s okay. You can leave now. I’ll wait for him by myself,” I gave her a light push towards her car. “I’ll see you in the evening, okay?”

She smiled and held her fist up to cheer me up. “Good luck on your first day!”

“Thanks!” I waved her goodbye as she got in the car and left.

I checked my wristwatch and there was still an hour before the work start time. I texted Joel, telling him that I was already at the parking lot. Not long after that, he showed up with a guilty grin and looked a bit messy.

“I’m so sorry. I overslept and just woke up fifteen minutes ago,” he spoke frankly. “Have you been too long waiting for me?”

“No. No, it’s fine. I just got here too,” I replied with a smile. “We still have an hour, though. We could grab some breakfast at the convenience store. You haven’t had your breakfast, right?”

He flicked his fingers. “Don’t you worry about that. I have my Nana who never lets me skip a day without breakfast,” he gestured backward, where a familiar old lady was coming closer.

“Oh, hi, Mrs. Wilson. You have a morning shift today at the foster care?” I asked her when she stopped beside me.

“Yes, you got it right,” she held up a small plastic bag and showed it to me. “And I made these cookies with the cookie cutter you gave me yesterday. Here.” She took my hand and put the plastic bag on it.

My eyes widened in excitement as I received it. “Thanks, Mrs. Wilson,” I responded.

“Alright. Shall we leave now?” Joel rested his arm on Mrs. Wilson’s shoulder when she was about to continue talking. He knew when his grandma had started talking, it's hard to stop her.

Joel opened the door for Mrs.Wilson to sit in the front passenger seat but she pushed me instead to sit there instead. She reasoned that she would get off in five minutes. Without further ado, both Joel and I did as requested. She was always undebatable.

The first day of work would always make me nervous though I already had years of working experience. As requested, I came into Liam’s room right after I arrived. He wasn’t there, though, but it was always better to wait than to make others wait. I sat on the couch while studying this place.

There were some shelves where CDs of the artists working with this record label company were displayed. I knew some of them were now quite famous and I listened to their music. The rest of them were some indie bands I hadn’t heard of. On the right and left walls were certificates of recognition and appreciation in frames.

“You’re here,” Liam’s voice made me stand automatically. Seeing my reaction, he laughed. “Whoa. Relax. It’s just me.”

“Yeah, the boss whom I should respect,” I replied in a low voice.

He laughed again. “Don’t get too tense, Bianca. The reason why I wanted you to call me Liam is because I don’t want to make such a distance between us. You have to work with me as a friend,” he said. “Come. Sit here.” He pointed at the chair in front of his desk.

As he sat on his chair, I did on the one he pointed at. I took out my iPad and put it on the desk.

“Oh, I can tell you’re professional,” he commented when seeing my iPad. “I made the right decision to hire you.”

I shrugged and grinned a little.

“So, Bianca, I believe you’ve seen the counter in front of this room and that’s where you’re gonna sit,” Liam started his instructional lecture. “I’ve asked the IT staff to give you access to the company’s email address and there you’ll see several new offers from our partners or applications from the artists. I want you to sort them out and put them all into a document. Then I’ll teach you how to choose which offers and applications we need to approve or disapprove. So far, is it clear?”

“Very clear,” I replied.

“That’s all you need to do today and don’t force yourself. Take a break sometimes,” he surprisingly finished explaining this fast.

I nodded and said, “Thank you, Liam.” After getting a smile from him, I got up for the chair and left the room.

The counter looked quite fancy to my eyes. It was just because I couldn’t imagine being able to get a job again. Then I placed my bag in one of the cabinets and turned on the computer. There was a small note on the desk where an email address and its password were written. I accessed the email and started to do as Liam requested.

It wasn’t something too complicated for me. Administrative work was kind of my thing, after all. I finished sorting out all emails and then sent a copy to Liam’s email address. He called me to come into his room again and taught me what he said earlier. Then he directed me to send the approved offers and applications to Harris who would file them before forwarding them to Max and Joel.

“It’s almost lunchtime, Liam. What do you want for lunch? I’ll get it for you,” I asked him after we were done with everything.

Liam wiggled his left forefinger to me. “Nope, you don’t get it yourself. There’s someone who works for that, and you only have to come to her and tell her what you want to order,” he informed me. “I hired you as my personal assistant, not my helper.”

This somehow made me chuckle. I had thought negatively about Liam yesterday and yet he just showed me that my job was to be his personal assistant and nothing else.

“What’s funny?” he frowned.

I definitely wouldn’t speak up what was in my mind, so I went, “Nothing. I just began to like this job.”

“Then it’s great.”

“So, what do you want for lunch?” I repeated the same question he hadn’t answered.

“I’ll have what you have,” his answer was unexpectable.

Now I was the one who frowned. “No allergies? No special diet?” I asked again.

Liam rested his hands on the desk and leaned towards me. “Starting from today, I’ll have what you order. Okay?”

“Wow. You’re an easy boss,” I commented but then corrected myself since it sounded wrong. “Oh no. I mean, you’re not too complicated. Ugh, that sounds wrong too. I mean--”

He let out a laugh. “You’re funny. But I get it,” he cut me off. “I just want to keep everything simple. You know, a sort of practical man I am. So when it comes to eating, I’m not picky.”

I just nodded and decided not to say anything else. Otherwise, I would make things worse with this awkwardness.

“You can find Ms. Rodriguez at the pantry or she is probably going around the office, taking people’s orders,” he answered the question that was still in my head.

“Thanks, Liam. I’ll order a meal for you.”

“Thanks to you too, Bianca.”

I took my iPad and left the room. The closest place was the pantry so I looked for Ms. Rodriguez there but it was empty. Then I walked along the hallway that connected to the open office and from there I could see her taking orders as Liam had said. I walked towards her, passing some coworkers and smiled at them.

“Excuse me, Ms. Rodriguez,” I called her name when she finished talking with a woman.

The brown-haired middle-aged woman turned to me. “Hello, Miss Johnson. You'd like to order something?" she guessed.

I nodded. "I actually don't know what to order--"

A scoff was heard from somewhere near me. I turned to where it came from and saw one of those particular women glared at me. It wasn’t time to argue or anything, so I ignored her.

“Miss Johnson, I’ll go to a Mexican restaurant nearby and you can see the menu here,” Ms. Rodriguez handed me her phone where I could see some pictures of a menu book.

After looking at it for some time, I decided to order Shrimp Tacos. “Please make it two,” I said.

“Ah? Such a tiny body could take a lot?” she scanned my body from up to the bottom.

“Oh, no. It’s also for Li--Mr. Campbell,” I quickly clarified her thoughts. Fortunately, I managed to call Liam Mr. Campbell as he instructed.

Ms. Rodriguez nodded repeatedly. “Ah, I see. You just want to make things simple by ordering the same meals,” she made a guess.

“It’s actually the otherwise,” I replied in a low voice and grinned.

She frowned and smiled at the same time, showing her disbelief. “Well, that’s quite... new to me,” she responded.

What does she mean? Is she saying that Liam was never like this before? “Uh, okay. Well, how do I pay you?” I asked.

Another scoff was heard, but this time with a mockery statement, “What kind of personal assistant who doesn’t know about such a basic thing?”

I took a deep breath and managed my emotions by turning a deaf ear.

“Lunch is always on the company, Miss Johnson. Don’t worry,” she replied. “So that’s all?”

I nodded. “Thank you, Ms. Rodriguez,” I said. When I was about to turn and walk back, the girl whose table was beside me gave me a small folded paper. She gestured with her eyes and I somehow understood that she wanted me to read it later.

I made my way back to my desk while unfolding the paper. There was a sentence written about those three women.

‘Ignore those bitches.’

Then and there, I laughed because of it.

“Whoa, you’re certainly enjoying something, Bianca?” Max appeared in front of me.

I held my laughter and smiled at him. “Oh, hi.”

“By any chance, are you free now?” he asked and I confirmed with a ‘yes’. “Then please go to the studio. I want you to hear something. I’ll be there right after filling up my water bottle.” He pointed at the metallic red bottle in his hand.

Waiting for Ms. Rodriguez would take a while, so I agreed to come to the studio. While he went to the pantry, I entered the same room I visited yesterday. There Joel was sitting on one of the chairs.

He was listening to some music with headphones on his head that he didn’t realize my presence. It could also be heard through the speakers so I let him do his thing as well as enjoying this catchy music. It somehow recalled my childhood dream to become an international singer and songwriter.

Out of the blue and unprepared, Joel got up and turned his body to me who was right behind him. Our heads were about to collide but I was aware of it that I quickly moved backward. Unfortunately, one of my feet tripped over the other and my body started to fall back. Nevertheless, Joel grabbed my hand and pulled me so that I didn’t fall.

The next thing I knew, I was in his embrace. Before I completely regained my consciousness, the door was opened and someone came, witnessing something that shouldn’t be seen.

No. It wasn’t someone. It’s Max and one of those women. I’m doomed. I quickly moved away from Joel and wasn’t able to say thanks because the timing wasn’t right.

“What-just-happened?” Max emphasize each word and laughed in disbelief.

Meanwhile, that woman’s face looked like she just saw something disgusting. I was offended but I couldn’t defend myself now. In fact, there was this guilty feeling in my heart that came out of nowhere.

“Um, Max, I’m sorry. I think I have to return to my desk. Let’s meet again later,” I couldn’t contain this emotion I was feeling. To be honest I couldn’t tell what I was feeling.

I walked through Max and the woman, then rushingly made my way back to my desk. It was an awful moment happening and I hoped that I could get rid of this memory from my head soon. Otherwise, I would have to take a bus to go home because seeing Joel would remind me of this again.