Chapter 2 Salary Deduction

Friya and the rest of the colleagues who had a record of being late in office were called to the conference room. All the employees were seated and in front of them stood the assistant of the CEO with closed arms. The employees looked already worried since they have not yet logged in to their systems but still sat in the room for almost an hour. All of them surely know that they cannot leave office until they finish their nine hours.

Friya sat there in the front seat frowning at the assistant. She looks around just to see everyone siting silently and waiting for the boss to enter the conference hall and scole them all. She pretended to yawn when the assistant looked at her conveying the message of not being interested to sit in the hall anymore.

Soon, a male voice was heard through the speakers in the room and everyone followed their attention to the voice. Everyone listened keenly including Friya. She was surprised by the attractive voice over the speaker and started imagining how would that guy will look like.

She thought immediately 'usually guys with a good voice does not look really that handsome. He must be someone looking like a monkey with a sexy voice.'

She frowned again but diverted her attention to the announcement made.

"My dear poor time management colleagues, this is not the first time that employees have been late to office. The working policy clear defines that employees need to be disciplined and hereby, abide by the office timings strictly. I will be deducting five percent of your salary and I believe I am still being kind not deducting a fifty or hundred percent of your salary for this month. Hope this is a lesson to learn for the future. Thank you all. Remember to finish your nine working hours for the day. Thank You all and have a good day.' The male voice of the CEO was complimented by all though they didn't see him but his voice made their day especially for the female employees.

Friya looked at everyone and annoyed by the compliments for the CEO who just passed the order of deducting their salaries. She turned to the assistant as she was about to leave, "How can one have a good day when there is a salary deduction?" The assistant didn't bother to reply to her but gave a wicked smile and left.

Friya just stood up lazily, ignoring everyone in the hall, she left the hall. It was already half past ten in the morning by the time she logged in. She would be logging out really late today and would be too tired to cook. With the rent deposit she paid already, she doesn't have much to even order a take away. She decides to eat instant noodles at night as the emergency option.

She rubs her forehead one last time and sees all the CVs in front of her. She opens her email and a ton of emails are already awaiting to be read. She took a deep breath and started working. Her mood was already bad and to make it worst, the assistant came back to her. She came back to answer her question that she asked previously. She spoke in an irritating tone, "You should be glad that he just deducted a portion of the salary and not fired you. Now better get back to work and send me the list of candidates names for the associate director position. I need to plan for his meeting schedule and then gives the dates when he can actually take their interview."

Friya just felt that she threatened her about losing her job and she realised that she needs to be a good girl at the moment to keep up with the job. She politely replied, "I will send them to you via email."

"I need their CVs too but not through email. Come up to my cabin and hand them over to me. I will give it to Mr. Cleveland."

"As you say Mona. I will bring them to you once I shortlist them with my team."

Satisfied with her obedience, Mona nodded and walked out of the HR department. Friya already felt like she has an enemy in the company because of her uncontrollable mouth in less than a month. The thought made her feel worst but she needs this job because of the pay. She has left her parents home because of the toxicity that her sisters and their husbands spread in the house. They are afraid that Friya being smart and witty, she would take her father's property and business after his retirement leaving the rest of them penniless.

Frustrated by their invasion of her privacy and abuse, she finally decided to leave home last month. She has been living alone since then. At the time when she decided to leave, she called her boyfriend Ruth but he did not receive the call. Only a voice message was sent through his phone. She hurried to his home with tears in her eyes just to hug him until she feels better. To her surprise, she saw Ruth kissing a girl in the girl outside his house. She walked closer to the car and she could confirm it was him.

"Darling, what you just saw now is not real. Please believe me." Ruth stammered as he was shocked to see her in front of him. He knew he got busted.

The girl in the car said to Ruth, "Excuse me? You have been living in my apartment since a month and doing everything that a married couple does. What is not real?"

Friya could not tolerate the cheater in front of her. She left the place without saying anything. Ruth tried to run after her but was stopped by the girl inside the car. She quickly typed a text to his number, 'We are over. I don't know you from this minute onwards.' She deleted his number and decided to find her own place to stay.

A snap of the fingers from Dora brought Friya back to the present from the events in the past. Dora is her colleague who has been working in the company since three years. Although she is a senior, they became good friends to each other. She smiled at her and reminded her to finish the job that Mona gave. She was right beside them when the conversation happened. Nodding in agreement, Friya got busy getting the CVs ready.