Ooh, no! I was thinking too much! Maybe he was not talking about that.
“What rumours?” Giana looked confused by this while snapping her head from Sam to me.
“Don't listen to him, Giana!” I tried my best to sound okay, but I was showing signs of panic.
'This can't be!'
“Wow! So, you don't know and she is your best friend? Haha! I think you should question your friendship” Dropping the bomb, Sam walked away with his grin still plastered on his face after creating havoc between me and Giana.
The atmosphere at the dining table became unbearable. We all went quiet as Giana gazed at the table in anger. I guessed because of the betrayal she thought I as her friend caused.
But what was I supposed to do? I did not know whether that man calling himself Sam knew something about this. Moreover, I could not get myself to tell Giana that my boss wanted to sleep with me. No, I just could not do that.
Well, for now, I had to sweet-talk Giana and played dumb because I was not certain that whatever he was speaking about was related to this or not.
“Gia….” I tried to break the silence that was already killing me, but Giana could not let me finish my statement.
“Just stop already. What kind of friend are you, Arabella? What have I done not to deserve your trust? So because Sam broke whatever you are hiding from me now you want to tell me and pretend that you forgot previously?” She exclaimed in anger as her face showed betrayal.
“Please listen to me, Giana. I don't know what that man was talking about. You are my best friend, and you know well what is going on between me and those five men. So of course, they will try to cause a fight between us” I tried to explain in a higher tone, but Giana just kept quiet.
“Giana! Did you hear me? Please say something. I am so sorry, but I know what h….”
“Enough of all of this Arabella! You always play innocent!” Suddenly, a thunderous voice came from behind us that made all of us turn our heads and gaze in the direction of the voice at a bullet pace.
'Ooh! Here is another one!' I exclaimed internally with anger. These jerks would not leave me alone until they succeeded in their mission, but I would not allow that, not at all!
“Tell her! Tell her that she was not chosen to be the new secretary in the first place. Tell her,” He emphasized and continued,
“And that was not because she did not qualify, but because you took her lack by sleeping with…”
“IAN STOP!” I cried like a maniac. I could not believe that this was what they were thinking of me.
Ooh, no! And here I thought they knew about that evil offer. But it was worse than it. But that did not justify what they were claiming about me.
Why would I even do that? I was already used to my humble life. That was why I studied hard to reach here. I had never done such a thing before even when I was desperately looking for a job, why now?
“What do you take me for, Ian? Do you think I am such a kind of person? How dare you try to humiliate me like that?” I shouted with bitterness as I widened my eyes with shock. Anger had already consumed me. I could not believe that these idiots and shameless men thought me to be like that.
I mean, how could I sleep with that ugly boss because of a job? Not only that, but I just could not believe my ears.
By this time, all the employees who were taking their lunch stopped and gathered around us. All the eyes were on me. Almost one hundred employees were looking at me.
I felt like vomiting and humiliated as I tried hard to remain conscious.
“Hahaha! We know! Everyone knows about you. They know you are the new mistress of our boss. You only managed to remain in this company as his secretary for this long because you are just a slut” He stopped midway and turned his head to the crowd that was attentively listening,
“Jimmy, since you came here, how many secretaries of our boss have been employed and fired for the two years you have been here?” He asked Jimmy who was one of his group members. But Jimmy was the coolest of them all. hey threatened him so that he could be one of them because Jimmy was smart and was loved by the boss. So of course they used him to help them get away from the trouble they caused almost every day. And that was because Jimmy was the boss' favourite, so his opinion mattered to the boss.
“Many” Jimmy replied while gazing at the ground while ruffling his thick blonde hair.
“Hey man! Look at her and say that directly on her face!” Ian shouted at Jimmy, causing the man to gaze at me shyly,
“Y-yes, she is not the only one. There have been many, some got fired after working for only a month”
No! I never knew this. That only meant that the boss had been lenient with me.
“Not to forget, our beautiful, breathtaking Arabella here, is from a hu…no not a humble but a poor…”
“Time is up! All of you, go back to your working places!” Another voice came from behind all of us causing all the people to run runnsectionrreglued to the ground, unable to even lift my foot. I felt like all the blood from my veins had been drained all at once, using a hard object. Hot sweat trickled down my whole body.
This could not be! Why did I not know about this? How did they know my background? Was coming from a poor family a crime? Besides, no one wished to be born whenever they were today. Did they mean to say that I used my body to continue working here? Why? I felt numb all over and I was shaking tremendously.
“….miss Arabella, miss Ara…”
“Yes? I am sorry sir! I didn't mean to be rude!” I buttered out with fear.
“I have been calling you for some time now, but you seemed deep in your thoughts. It's okay, don't worry. Those are just challenges, but it will be fine. Don't give up” He shocked me with his encouraging words.
It was Mr John. He was the head supervisor whose work was to supervise all the workers here except me because I was under the CEO. So, he was the one to who I was answerable.
To be sincere, since I came here, I had never talked to this man because he already seemed serious. Unknown to me, he was a good man.
“T-thank you Mr John” I gathered the remaining energy and courage in me and bowed a little to show him, I was grateful.
"It's okay” He replied, and I turned around, ready to go as the place was now quiet because everybody had run to their respective post.
“Remember what you came here for. Don't let people make you leave your job. To get a job is not easy, so I would advise you to play deaf, no matter who says what because some people are good at making others resign”
'Wow! I never know he is this good!' I felt all my worries disappear because of his encouraging words. So, I was misjudging him because of his serious face? That was not good! I scolded myself.
“Thank you so much, Mr John” I turned my head and gazed at him, my face was full of undescribable emotions.
“You are welcome and be careful of our boss. You are like a child to me, Arabella” With that, Mr John walked away in the other direction.
I watched him walk until his silhouette disappeared.
I then turned my whole body and walked slowly, thinking about all the sudden events that made Giana and I not take our lunch. Moreover, Giana was now angry with me. But whatever those jerks said was not true. I never slept with that ugly boss. I just could not sleep with him. He was old and over bearable. On top of all of that, he was the same age as my stepfather. Maybe my fa…"
I pushed that thought away from my mind. I never wanted to think of anything related to him.
For now, what I wanted was to go and concentrate on my work then later, I would try to speak with Giana. Perhaps she would forgive me and be my best friend again.
About those other employees, I did not have to give a damn about what they could say about me. I had to be hard-headed to survive here.
But what about that issue? What if the story was real? What if the boss was just lenient with me for now? What would happen if he just woke up and demand that I sleep with him to continue working here?
“Just stop for now” I scolded myself for the umpteenth time and ran in the direction of the elevator.
