Love and ego episode 8

Love and ego episode 8
Claire finally received a chat from @Salmon in the cab on her way to work and she replied out of obligation because she was in really no mood to chat that morning. When she got to the office, My Raybon welcome and showed her to her cubicle, informing her that the training for new employees would commence soon, that morning.
When she sat down and took a good look around the office, much to her dismay, she realized much to her dismay that she had a direct view contact be with a door with a name tag on it- CEO. The only thing separating her from the office was a few other cubicles and a passage leading into a hallway. She knew that putting her in this cubicle not too far from the CEO’s office was a deliberate act but she decided that she won’t let that weigh her down on her first day.
An hour later, Rendell arrived and as Mr. Raybon left his office to receive him, Rendell paused when he noticed Claire, browsing the internet for tips on how to keep a job. She was oblivious to his presence until he startled her a bit by clearing his throat. She spun around on her swivel chair to look at him.
“Morning.” She said stiffly deliberately leaving out the ‘Good’.
“What are you doing?”
“Browsing the internet…” She glanced sideways at her monitor then awkwardly reached out in a sneaky way and tapped a button which took her back to the home screen.
“The company’s free WiFi are for useful things strictly meant for work, the last thing I’d want is your misusing it by visiting several p-rn sites.” He said.
She gave him a hærd look and he only smirked and walked away. She watched him through the glass wall of his office as he took off his suit while Mr. Raybon spoke to him. After sitting, he requested for a cup of coffee and gave Mr. Raybon some instructions to carry out.
As the day sluggishly passed by, being a bit idle at some point, Claire glanced around, observing the other staffs in the large office with her. Most of them who were less busy were either chitchatting over their cubicles, talking on the office phone (probably using the free office phone to call up relatives, friends or lovers, while some moved to another cubicle to converse with their colleagues.
Claire heaved a sigh and her shoulders sag. She reached up with the tip of her middle finger and adjusted her glasses. She felt pretty much alone. No one was talking to her or trying to get to know her. It was as if they were oblivious to her presence. Soon, the other staff began to leave in groups of two or more for lunch and Claire decided that the only way to find the cafe was to tag along without them knowing that she was following.
She was about to rise when a chat popped on her screen: “Hi once again.” – @Salmon
She paused and replied him, “well, hi. Takes you a awful long time to reply a chat.”- @blue_doll
“I apologize, was busy with work.” – @Salmon.
“Right…” – @blue_doll
They chatted for five more minutes and he promised to chat her up after work. She was already logging out of the chat app when she felt a presence. Looking up, she noticed a man in his late twenties, leaning sideways with his forearm resting on her cubicle window and the other on his wa-ist. “Hi.” He smiled at her.
“Hi.” She managed a smile, wondering what he wanted.
“I’m Rufus.” He quickly reached out an open hand.
“Claire.” She shook his hand.
“I noticed thar you are new here and don’t really know your way around.” Rufus began. “And I have decided to take it upon me to show you the ropes, that’s if you don’t mind.
“I really do not.” Claire said, glad that somebody had noticed her at last.
“Um… Aren’t you going for lunch?” He asked, glancing around the almost empty office only occupied by a few people. “Oh, I get it, you are probably stalling cuz you still can’t find your way around. Come, I’ll show you. I was about going for lunch myself.” He offered.
“Thanks.” Claire said, took her handbag and as he guided her out of the office, Rendell looked up just in time from the screen of his monitor to see them going by before he went back to work.
Days passed and Claire soon adjusted to a lot of things in the office. More people noticed her and came to her cubicle to chat with her and she diecovered that most of the male staff either wanted to take her out for lunch or go on a date with her. While Rendell tried his very best to frustrate her, she did the same too. She would deliberately spill coffee on his desk and some of his files whenever he asked her to bring him a cup of coffee, that he soon gave up on that, calling her a clumsy brat.
On a certain day, she had snuck into his office and painted his seat black and she couldn’t tell how excited she was when she watched him take off his suit as usual and sit on it. Feeling that something was not right, he had sprung to his feet and when he realized that his ass was stained with paint, he immediately turned to glower at her through the window and she quickly turned away, pretending to be working on her system, only sneaking peeks at him to find out what he would do next.
Angrily, he had stalked out of the office with Mr. Raybon following after him, trying to calm him and provide a solution. Well, she knew he could do nothing to her because he had no proof that she was responsible.
Her turn came a week later and as she sat down at her desk, ready to work, she pulled open without looking down at it while she checked her makeup on the blank screen of her monitor. Suddenly, something jumped on her lap. Slowly, she looked down with a frown then her eyes slowly w¡dened when she realized a large rat on her skirt. She went stiff, to scared to move or speak when another emerged from her drawer and climbed up to her desk, another emerged and joined its companion, walking on her keyboard and leaving a trail of urine behind.
Soon, more rats began to leap out of her drawer as if now aware that they were free from their little prison. Unable to contain it anymore? Claire flew up with a scre-m and all heads turned to look at her as she scre-med and jumped around, arms flailing in the air. She moved in a spin, hopping as several rats scurried around her feet. She suddenly turned without realizing that she had met a dead end and suddenly, she slammed her face hærd against the glass window of Rendell’s office and collapsed to the ground.
Her face was on fire and she felt dizzy from the painful impact. By the time she could pull her wits together, she sat up on the floor and saw someone smirking down at her when her dizziness slowly waned. “Here…” He said, stretching a pack of ice diwn at her. “I figured you’d need this. It might just be scorpions or snakes next time.” He teased.
She reluctantly but angrily snatched it from him and placed it against her forehead which was hurting the most while Rendell winked at her and vanished into his office. As Rufus came to her aid and led me back to my cubicle, exterminators came in with cages and their catching instruments and began to capture the rats. Glaring over her shoulder at Rendell who was still smirking at her dilemma, he gestured by pointing his middle and index fingers at his eyes then pointed them at her to indicate that he had his eyes on her and Claire decided that it was high time she up-ed her game.
That night, after checking her forehead which was still red and a little swollen in her bathroom mirror, she sat before her laptop and told her chat friend that she had had a bad day at work but she gave no explanations. He comforted her and they discussed other topics by asking personal questions that enabled them know each other even more. Besides, Rufus, Claire concluded that @Salmon had turned out to be a really good friend and she had no more regret whatsoever from being paired up with him. In fact, she was beginning to like his nickname @Salmon, deciding that it didn’t sound that bad after all.
Deciding to finally go to bed, not too surprised, she noticed a picture on her bedside lamp table again and already knowing that it was a picture of her since this was the eight one she was receiving, she simply read the expected message scribbled on the back- “You have got to stop ignoring me, Claire, you know how much I hate it! Your silence is driving me nuts!” She paused as she could just imagine how upset he would look and his voice saying these angry words to her in person, then she read on- “Don’t make me come for you again, Claire! I’m warning you! I’m gonna cut you up badly! You know I can!”
Claire crumpled the picture in her hand and threw it into the wastebasket. She knew that her ex boyfriend had serious anger issues and besides physically abusing her, his rage was the reason she had decided to end the toxic relationsh¡p. She thought of going to the cops but figured that it would only make him angrier, so she decided that the only way to stop receiving physical threats from him was that she would have to deny him access into her apartment and that was by changing her locks.
She presumed that the only reason he was yet to attack her on her bed again was because she had now cultivated the habit of bolting her door and windows from the in,side. She heard a train rush by with a roar, making some dust fall from her ceiling and she fanned the air in front of her to prevent it from settling on her face. Much to her dismay, her neighbours decided that tonight was just perfect for their bout of s€× again and soon, the loud mo-ning and the slamming of their bed against her wall began, gro-ning in displeasure, Claire hugged a pillow to her face and after making a mental note to change her locks, she finally fell asleep.
To Be Continued…