Chapter 5 Knight in gray joggers

Zack occupied himself with guilt, he believed he might have hurt her feelings. Truth was he admired her brilliance, naivety, petulance and cuteness. A person like her was bound to hurt and he did not want to be on the giving end. He cradled his head in his chaffed palms asking himself the gazillionth time why Marjorie agreed to the employment contract, was her life that tedious? She could work anywhere normal without them encroaching into her world and tarnishing her existence. If only she knew how much of a farce they tossed in her face, she would take to her heels in tears.

He despised himself for conniving with his mother about the requirements in the employment contract, but Agnes was his mother, how could he go against her even though the whole thing has been it for her amusement. Why else was an ordinary asked to take martial art lessons? He just hoped his mother had good reasons.

His phone rang, rescuing him from more incessant thoughts.

'Mother?'

'She bailed didn't she?'

'Bailed? Who bailed?' He asked with furrowed brows.

'The girl. My supposed assistant, she missed the meeting! She was the best candidate for this job. She was suppose to join the meeting after your workout session, and she did not show up. Tell me, what happened?'

'I don't understand mom, she made it to the company. She left my studio apartment...' He tried to explain.

'Did you sleep with her!?'

'Mother!?' He gasped, horrified by the accusation.

'Yes Son? Humour me, did you or did you not? You do have a reputation after all, do not blame me for suspecting.'

'What... No ... After training I brought her home to get dressed for work. We didn't even get to have a moment.'

'Ah your home... So you planned on having a moment?'

He swore beneath his breath, trying to keep it together.

'No mother, what I meant was...'

'Well, all things considered I say she changed her mind... Ah talk of the devil, she's here son, bye...'

'No wait...'

'Son. Bye.'

Shit! What has Marjorie done?

Without thinking, he grabbed his car keys and ran off in his gray joggers and sweat shirt.

_____

'Good day ma.' Marjorie greeted innocently, standing up to curtsy as Agnes emerged from the conference room with five of her staff glaring at Marjorie in sheer contempt. She swallowed apprehensively, eyes flickering with fear as they settled back on her employer who accessed her warily, almost like Agnes expected an answer to an unasked question.

Dera swallowed the lump of victory that gathered in her gut, poor Marjorie was about to taste a drop of her venomous poison.

'Good afternoon Marjorie. How are you?'

The answer to such a familiar question should have been 'I am fine thank you ma.' yet she blinked in confusion, trying too hard to figure out the actual meaning of the question. Like it was a Morse code, and only if she paid close attention would she demystify the intrinsic message concealed from her employer's squinted eyes, squared shoulders and high chin, not to talk of the scowl on the faces of the staff behind Agnes.

'Miss Marjorie? How are you?' Agnes repeated, this time sterner and icy.

'I am great ma. How was the meeting?'

That was it. The meeting. She observed their sudden wince as the word 'meeting' slid out of her mouth, and the small chuckle from Dera that authenticated her idiocy.

'The meeting you say? The meeting? How was the meeting? Tell me young lady, did I make a mistake hiring you?' Agnes asked with pursed lips, aggravated by the very sight of Marjorie.

Marjorie opened her mouth to explain but clasped her lips shut when she caught a glance of Dera's smug face. A face that dared her to get out the situation without blaming 'The Receptionist' and sounding exceptionally stupid as she realized she should have double checked the conference room, asked the CEO if her presence was required in the meeting, and not trust the words of a woman she clearly knew despised her from the start.

'I thought the meeting was private and...'

'Did you sleep with Zack on your first day of work? Where you so bewildered by his virility that you jumped his groin without hesitation?'

Marjorie's head spun around her boss' accusation, her mind too stunned to produce a defensive sentence. Do not cry. She chided herself. But the tears flooded, and before they knew it she was sobbing uncontrollably, making Agnes cringe in disgust.

'You did this Dera...!' Zack barged into the reception, his voice encapsulated with indignation.

Hope flared on Marjorie's face, her knight in shining armour had appeared, except he was dressed casually and ... Wow, gray joggers.

Her knight in gray joggers.

'Dera, you are fired!' He commanded vehemently, disregarding his mother's potential opinion, or that of the director of human resources who's jaw was now an inch from the floor.

Dera smiled disbelievingly, gritting her teeth in exasperation while she stared daggers at Zack, a familiar hatred blazing from her stare, one that was also encompassed with sadness and regret. She had once loved him, and he had hurt her.

'Did I stop you from going through those doors? Tell them. How gullible you were! Yes I might have taunted you for a while, but you believed me. That is definitely not my fault.' Dera narrated solely to Agnes, unbothered by Zack or Marjorie or the staff that now seemed invested in her story.

'No...you... you said that ...' Marjorie stuttered defensively, directing her gaze to Zack for moral support, but he was stunned, hands crossed over his chest as he processed Dera's argument.

'See? I was here minding my business and she...?' Dera cut in mawkishly, still directing her act to Agnes, as she believed only the woman's authority superseded Zack's. Except Agnes found the scene tedious and pointless, one could even say she thought it peculiarly abhorrent especially on Marjorie's part. Her son's reaction made her squirm awkwardly, displaying his emotions without control and any sense of reservation. She did not want to think he bred any sort of feelings for the new girl, and if he did, she sincerely hoped it was fleeting. She would not mind an interim arrangement between them, after all Marjorie was an attractive female and her son annoyingly irresistible.

Agnes sighed with a brief nod to the staves behind her, dismissing them to their departments.

'I trust you to handle this matter prudently. Then we can discuss some serious matters, after... dealing with them.' She told her son, rolling away to her office before he could think of protesting. He oozed with disappointment, shaking his head at Marjorie for expressing an enormous load of stupidity.

'Screw up next time, and you're fired. Both of you!' He yelled at them, storming off to meet his mother and abandoning the two to themselves.