Chapter 5 Spilled coffee

5.

Spilled coffee.

When Pearla got back home from work, after the 'promotion' thingy. She was surprised to meet her door ajar.

She quickly brought out her phone to call 911 when she heard the familiar voice of Isaac yelling out from her kitchen, "No more apples here, Jane!".

"Hunh, Janet and Isaac?" she yelled internally as she stepped inside to see Janet seated on her couch with a cup of pop corn in her hand. Her medium TV screen was playing the video she wanted to watch the night before.

"Oh, she's back!" Janet called out to Isaac in the kitchen.

"What are you both doing here?" she asked, a quizzical look on her face, as few seconds ago, she was going to call the police for a break in.

"What do you mean what are we doing here?" Isaac who walked out of the kitchen, jumped into the couch to sit next to Janet. With both their eyes on the television.

"Christ!"

"I totally forgot!" Pearla who now understood what was happening exclaimed.

"Keep it down, we are trying to read subtitles here" Janet complanied.

Pearla had given them the keys to her apartment as she had bragged earlier today about the Alchemy of Souls movie series which she had downloaded.

"You two are so mean, and you emptied my fridge because of that?" she faked annoyance as her eyes glanced at the fridge which Isaac had failed to close properly.

"You had nothing in your fridge to start with, nothing!" Isaac stated, faking his own annoyed face.

"That is not true, I had this pizza from last night - -"

Before she could even finish her statement, Janet raised her voice to scold at Isaac, "See? I told you she always keeps pizza".

"Can you both please just stop!" she had totally lost it. Pearla who never got angry just surprised Janet and Isaac as their eyes turned to look at her. The rush of emotions was just too much to bear.

"What's wrong baby?" Janet asked, staring into Pearla's saddened eyes.

Janet stood up from the couch and pulled Pearla in for a hug. Her eyes trying to fight the tears that was threatening to stream down.

"Calm down girl, talk to me. What is the matter?" Janet persuaded her, her hand rubbing Pearla's back soothingly.

"Was it Simon again?" Isaac chimed in as always, except this time, he was right.

It's Simon.

"I got promoted!" she announced, Janet's hand which was rubbing her back stopped, as her brows furrowed.

"Demoted?" she asked, unsure if she heard her correctly or wrongly.

"Promoted!" she affirmed.

"To what?" Isaac asked, slowly chewing the pop corn in his mouth, as if he took another bite he would miss the gist, his hand still putting another in his mouth.

"Simon's Assistant, Assistant to the CEO", immediately she said it, Janet suddenly pushed her away to stare at her face properly.

"Are you being serious?" her voice lowered with a serious gaze fixed on her, waiting for a confirmation. Pearla slowly nodded, still not sure if what ever happened today was a dream.

"That's a dream come true!" Janet exclaimed, shaking Pearla violently, back and forth. Pearla's head kept moving back and forth like a teddy bear with no control over it's body.

"I knew this would happen when I said it the other day. Awwww, you're so emotional" Janet hugging Pearla again.

"What if he fires her like he did to his former Assistant's ?" Isaac spoke up.

Pearla's eyes suddenly snapped towards him. "Exactly what I'm scared of. I would have loved to be the tech-lady just as I have always been, but he doubled the salar-ie" her words trail as she uttered the 'salary' part.

"He doubled your salary?" They both shared a shocked expression on their faces.

"This means more money girl!" Janet shouted as she jumped up in pure joy.

"And to treat that old shit you call your father" Isaac added.

"Language"

"He is still my father." Pearla shot a friendly glare at Isaac.

"We will need to change your wardrobe. Decorate it with shoes, and all sorts of lady like things. Maybe change this glasses to something fancier" Janet continued.

"What's wrong with these glasses?" Pearla asked, puzzled by what Janet was trying to imply.

"Sometimes, you look like a boy." Isaac chimed in "but I still love you that way, nerd".

"Come come, tell me how it all happened. From the top, begin!" Janet exclaimed like a little child waiting for a candy.

★

Pearla had woken up very early the next day, after Janet and Isaac sang some annoying karaoke which they all laughed to. Indeed, they were both her best friends who looked after her all the time. They do that for eachother alot.

It was 4am in the morning, she had woken up earlier than expected, unable to sleep about the excitement and fear Simon was going to put her through.

Pearla's obsession with her boss was no longer into her like before, she scrolled through her photo gallery and deleted all the pictures of Simon she had in her phone, including her laptop.

Just then, an email popped up on her phone screen. An email from work, she opened it immediately to look at the paper work of the salary increment Simon had spoken to her about. True to his words, he doubled the salary to a hundred thousand dollars monthly.

To Pearla, this was enough to properly admit her father into a better hospital in two months time. "Sign it and forward it to this email address. I know you are awake" Mr. Montero sent an additional message to the document.

"Okay, sir."

"Thank you!" she texted back a reply. Pearla was sure the email address to be forwarded to, was Jaden's, his right hand man and best friend, also a family friend.

No need for background checks to know that as it was a common knowledge in the company, the employees just don't see enough of them.

She slammed her laptop shut and tossed her phone away from her face, onto the bed. Her mind still thinking of what to do with the flash drive, and how to copy it's content as it had already been broken into two

The continuous buzzing of Pearla's phone woke her up. "What time is it?" She yawned, glancing at her phone to see 9am.

"H. Christ!"

"I'm so going to lose my job on my first day, how disappointing" she rushed herself into the bathroom, taking her shower and brushing her teeth at the same time.

This time, she was sure Simon was definitely going to fire her, not after the attitude she gave him yesterday.

When she arrived at the building, Janet was already running towards her. Always with full gist to talk about.

"Not today Janet, not today" she warned, avoiding her gaze as she ran into the other elevator to the Executive Office.

Upon entering the office, Simon stared back at her, that kind of face that makes her want to shit herself on the spot.

"Ms. Wilton!" he exclaimed.

"Did you spill coffee on yourself again?" He asked, Pearla internally shouted "Good guess!"