Chapter 5 Horrible Bosses

Chloe was so excited when she entered her room. She ignored the moderately furnished room that was beyond her taste and was practically daydreaming about what a beautiful and extravagant life she would have with her soon-to-be husband. She had the blessing of Yvonne and Mrs. Gorssom. She believed that Mrs. Gorssom could influence her husband, Rex Gorssom.

Although Ivory was proving to be a hard nut to crack, Chloe figured that with time, she would have no choice but to warm up to the soon-to-be junior Mrs. Leon Gorssom.

"Wow!" She said in a hushed voice, caressing her lips with her right fingers and biting her lower lips gently as she imagined Leonard kissing her.

She walked up to the mirror in the room and called Leonard's name. She gazed at her reflection as though she had magically invoked Leonard's spirit.

"I can't wait to have you," her eyes widened. "you will be mine and mine alone," she said with such a fierce fire in her eyes.

Chloe picked up her phone and dialed her mum's number. Immediately her mum responded, and Chloe half screamed in enthusiasm.

"Mum, he kissed me," she lied, "I can tell he's crazy about me. He couldn't even take his eyes off me for a second."

"Oh honey," her mum said, "who in his right senses could resist a goddess like you, I'm so happy for you."

"Thank you, mummy, he is even bringing me home."

"Interesting! I know you both would make a lovely couple and this would strengthen the bond between the two families. I'll let your dad know of your progress. See you soon."

"Okay mum," she said and hung up.

She was about to dial Sarah's number when she got a call from Leonard.

"Hi," she said in a sweet and bewitching voice, I've not been able..."

"The rain has finally stopped, let's go," Leonard cut her off and ended the call before she could begin her poor acting.

Chloe frowned slightly at this but remained cheerful as she reminded herself of the need to win Leonard over.

She came out of her room expecting Leonard to be waiting at her door.

Sadly, she was shocked to see the good-for-nothing receptionist smiling sheepishly at her and saying that Mr. Leonard was waiting for her in his car.

She walked angrily to Leonard's car after raining plagues and destruction on the receptionist. When she entered the car, she slammed the door shut.

Leonard didn't say a word as he wasn't in the mood. All he wanted to do right now was drop her off and head home.

"How could you send that rude receptionist to my room? Imagine the animal making advances at me," she faked being hurt and even wiped an invisible tear.

"Sorry about that," Leonard simply said and drove off.

Finally, they arrived at her luxurious mansion.

"So how about lunch or dinner tomorrow, my treat?" She said with a smile.

"I'll check my schedule and get back to you," Leonard said without showing any interest.

"Good night and see you tomorrow," Chloe said as she stepped out of the car.

"Good night," Leon replied and speedily drove off.

...

Amelia slept late the previous night creating new and inspirational designs in her dream fashion book.

Back in her days in fashion school, she had created masterpiece designs, and ever since then, she kept inventing more elegant and sophisticated designs, a few of which she voluntarily shared with FK fashion company.

Creating a name for herself in the fashion industry and owning her brand had always been one of her driving forces. She had even given herself a target, on the expected number of years she was going to put into working for other fashion companies.

She had decided to work for two years if made a creative director. This would enable her to save enough money to start her brand. But since fate had other plans for her, she decided not to wait anymore. She would resign at the end of the month, and start up immediately.

After all, most of these iconic and known fashion brands didn't just make a name for themselves overnight. They started from somewhere.

Already dressed and prepared for work, she looked into the mirror with determination and recited her affirmation,

"I am strong, brave, and confident in my ability, I believe and value myself, I am consistent and grow with every challenge, nothing can put me down."

-

-

When Amelia walked into the reception floor of FK fashion company, she was greeted warmly by the receptionist. The receptionist felt sorry for her due to the previous day's incident.

Unperturbed by the receptionist expression, Amelia reciprocated her kind gesture and walked confidently to her office.

When she entered the creative department section, all eyes turned and focused on her. Unshaken by their gaze and some background whispering, she greeted everyone in her usual jovial way and walked straight to her desk.

Denise could not help herself from beaming in excitement on seeing how Amelia handled the whole attention that was focused on her. She walked up to Amelia and gave her a warm hug.

"Welcome back to the war zone" Denise whispered in her ears teasingly.

"Thanks, dear. Although I'm in the office and not at the war front," Amelia winked at her.

"We all missed your beautiful face and your funny jokes," Mrs. Tuna said as she walked up to Amelia and also hugged her.

"Sorry about yesterday," Amelia said, feeling guilty about her previous reaction. "It was never my intention to work out on you."

"Don't bother yourself about that sugar," she smiled. "It's all water under the bridge now."

At that moment, Sarah Bane walked in and everyone stopped what they were doing.

Their gaze went from Amelia to Sarah and back to Amelia.

Unruffled by their reaction, Amelia walked up to Sarah and congratulated her.

Sarah was taken aback by Amelia's calmness and politeness. She was told of Amelia's presence by the receptionist and she came prepared, to address her unprofessional misconduct. But now, she was at loss for words.

"I'm sorry about the way I left the office yesterday without a proper excuse and I promise going forward, it won't repeat itself," Amelia apologized.

"Certainly, it won't repeat itself," Sarah said as she gave a dismissive wave of her hand and walked into her office.

Amelia and Denise exchanged mocking glances at Sarah's attitude and smiled. Then, they returned to their work for the day.

The intercom device at Amelia's desk rang and when she answered, Mr. Kaine simply said.

"Miss Amelia, my office. Now!"

Amelia took in a deep breath and walked up to his office, where his secretary ushered her in.

As usual, Amelia wasn't surprised at his cold attitude and expression. Surprisingly, Mr. Franklin was also seated with an indifferent expression.

"I am very..." Amelia was cut off by Mr. Kaine before she could say anything.

"Seat down!" he ordered her in an icy cold tone.

Amelia sat down still wearing a calm expression on her face but deep down she was steaming in anger.

"Now you listen carefully," Mr. Kaine glared at Amelia, with his hands crossed on the table. "I do not care how many years, you had put on this job or how experienced you are," he blurted out. "One thing this company will not tolerate from any of her employees, especially you," he pointed at her," is disrespect and disregard of her laid down rule."

"For every inappropriate behavior," he continued, "there will be consequences."

Then he paused as if he wanted her to meditate on what she had done, and feel remorseful about them.

Amelia's expression remained blank and unchanged. Inwardly, all she wanted to do was give this man a piece of her mind or even a mean slap on the cheek, but she put her emotions in check and allowed him to continue with his annoying preaching.

"Aside from the warning notice that has been sent to your email address, there will be a deduction of a day's payment from your salary. Note, this is your first warning" he concluded.

"Noted Sir," Amelia responded with a stiffened expression. She stared into Mr. Kaine's eyes and curled her palm into a fist. Redesigning his face with wicked punches would make her day. Her mind painted a picture of both Kaine and Franklin's heads under her car tyres. And she mentally crushed their heads. This made her smile inwardly.

"Miss Amelia," Mr. Franklin began much more calmly, "Your action yesterday was inappropriate and unprofessional. Nevertheless, we've decided to pardon you, by giving a mild punishment, knowing that this is the first time you had ever flaunted our rules."

Ella stifled a bitter laugh.

"Not only were they stupidly playing: good cop, bad cop; did Mr. Franklin just say mild punishment? This man is unbelievable! Whatever happened to the verbal warning? Sure, it had to be written and documented." Amelia's thoughts clamored for attention.

Amelia kept her cool, knowing that her plans and determination to succeed outweighed her fury. Not only was she calm, she even apologized, when it wasn't even necessary.

Her actions and reactions to their scolding confused Mr. Frolanklin so much that he was practically looking for ways to please her.

"Amelia, he said, even softly, I know you may feel disappointed not getting the promotion but, there are a whole lot of other opportunities to be derived from working with this company and there are more promotions to come."

"Yeah, probably when am old and wrinkled," she thought.

"Take, for example, you have been selected alongside some of our employees, to participate and represent this company at the 'Cherry Gala,' this Saturday"

"It is an awesome gathering of all the fashion icons and celebrities, and you will be there to witness it," he smiled broadly as if he had given her something better than the promotion.

"Thank you very much, Sir," Amelia smiled in return. Although, Inwardly, she was disgusted with both of them.

"You can go back to work now," Mr. Franklin gestured towards the door.

"Okay Sir, thank you again," she replied, stood up, and left the office.

When Amelia got back to her department office, she discovered that a meeting was going on, and it was anchored by Sarah.

"So good of you to join us, Amelia," Sarah said. "Please sit down. As I was saying, in the next twenty-five minutes, everyone should select a partner and brainstorm a new idea for the company's brand. We've all listened to Mrs. Tuna, on the current trend, so let's all get to work, except Amelia," she said with the snap of a finger.

Instantly, everyone picked their partners and started discussing in low tones.