Season: Summer
Weather: Fine weather with an ongoing heatwave. Top of 38 degrees Celsius.
Day of the week: Monday
Date: 30th January, 2024
When was this heatwave going to end?
I woke up dehydrated and feeling disoriented. Thankfully, waking up at my usual early morning time, there was enough time for me to spruce myself up and get ready slowly, since I didn't have to rush to an early morning job.
I ate yesterday's partly cooked breakfast after finishing cooking it and made a good sandwich for lunch. I really was going to have to find a way to thank Anthony Duin for buying me groceries. The problem was that I couldn't afford to buy him anything or even buy him a meal now. I was dirt poor.
That meant that the only thing I could do was make him something. After some thought, I decided to make him lunch. That would have to do it. I'd make him lunch for the week with the food he had bought for me. He was a big eating man, so I made him more food, packing it into a lunchbox with an apology and 'thank you' note, as well as a sentence telling him to expect my thanks to continue for a week, since I had nothing else with which to thank him with.
As long as I found a way to sneak the lunchbox into his office in the mornings before he arrived for work and managed to avoid him during work hours, everything should be fine. Right?
Lunches packed, I left for work. It was still early, but I needed to be early in order to get into the office before he did. Leaving this early, the busses and trains wouldn't be overcrowded either. Thank goodness public transport all had air conditioning now as well, otherwise the journey would have been suffocating.
At the office, I greeted the early morning security guards and cleaners before heading up to the boss floor. There, I peered at all the door labels until I found Stony Boss's office. The door was slightly ajar and so I nudged it open.
I almost jumped when I saw him in there, snoozing in his office chair. He was so early. Had he slept here overnight? He was in different clothes from yesterday, so he had definitely gone home before coming in.
I crept in and gently placed the lunchbox on his desk, carefully creeping away and closing his office door so as not to wake him. I glanced back when closing the door and saw his eyes were open, watching me without expression. With a jump and in a panic, I rushed out and down to the elevator, jabbing the button so that I could escape before he came out to find me.
I arrived safely at my floor and sat at my desk with a sigh of relief, patting my chest. So scary. Nobody in my department had arrived yet. Wonderful. Nobody needed to see my disgracefully flustered demeanour.
I put my things away, turned on the computer and began to prepare for the day, switching gears into work mode. Until someone forcefully swiveled my office chair around.
I startled.
Anthony Duin pulled my colleagues chair over to sit in front of me and pointed at the lunchbox he was carrying and that I had just left on his desk.
"What's this?" he asked.
"There's a note inside," I replied, lowering my head, looking everywhere and anywhere else except for at him.
Raising an eyebrow, he opened the lunchbox, found the note placed on top and then looked at me for a long moment.
He picked up the lunchbox and gestured me to get up out of the chair, pushing the chair he had been sitting on back in place.
"Come to my office with me. We need to talk."
I shivered and almost fell, but he caught me by the elbow to support me.
"Don't be scared. I'm not going to bite. We just need to have a good discussion about what is going on."
Lowering my head, I took a deep breath and then followed him back up to his office.
"Sit," he pointed at the chair in front of his desk and I sat with hunched shoulders and shrunken neck.
He left the office for a moment and returned with two cups of water. One for each of us. And then closing the office door with a click, he sat in his chair behind the desk to look me over.
He sighed.
"Miss Brown, it appears you are in some sort of financial distress. I'll forgive you for your unexpected outburst yesterday. I understand you haven't been feeling well and having a stranger, a man, in your private space must have been even more stressful. I apologise for intruding like I did and for being so insensitive. I should have asked your consent. I'm very sorry. Please forgive me."
I hadn't expected him to start with an apology. My mouth had flapped open and closed for a moment before I nodded.
"Ok."
"I had a look at the average rental prices of properties in your area and by my calculation, your salary should be sufficient to cover your rent and provide you with a reasonable amount to pay bills and provide for your everyday needs. It shouldn't be to the point of malnutrition and the frugality that I saw in your apartment over the weekend. The company is very generous with its employees and the quarterly and yearly bonuses should be sufficient to help you with any shortfall. Miss Brown, do you happen to be any debt?"
I shook my head and then nodded, but then shook my head again, confusing him.
"I only owe you for the hospital bill and the groceries," I said in a small voice.
"I've already told you. The medical bills will be paid by the company. We owe you because of what happened with your direct line boss. As for the groceries, that was nothing. Take it as a gift from a friend."
"Even friends need to keep clear accounts," I replied, rubbing my nose. "I can't afford anything else or to offer to pay for a meal for you, but I can make you lunch for a week. Is that alright? Please? I don't want to owe any favours."
Anthony Duin rubbed his nose as well and thought for a while.
"Alright. I'll accept it then. But you have to eat lunch together with me for the entire week. I need to make sure that you are eating properly as well. I don't want you fainting or falling I'll at work. You can rest assured though, that if you do, you won't be fired. Fair work policies are a part of the whole company policy."
I thought about it and then nodded, but worried about what would happen if others noticed and talked. Office rumours and gossip could be pretty bad. I suppose he managed to read my wrinkled face.
"So that other people don't talk, I'll say that I'm borrowing you as a part of the ongoing investigation into what your direct line boss was up to while he was here."
My eyes lit up with gratefulness.
"So there's no need to worry," Anthony Duin nodded and smiled at my expression of relief. "But I need to understand what is happening in your life that is causing you so much stress that you work so hard and almost nonstop. If you don't have any major debts or mortgages, why are you so worried about money?"
"Mr Duin," I sighed and rubbed my forehead, deciding to lay it down straight, "my fortnightly salary only just covers my monthly rent. I haven't received any bonuses because I never met my targets or deadlines and so wasn't qualified for them."
"What? I don't believe that."
Anthony Duin took his mouse and clicked things open in his computer to pull up my work profile and look at my details. He skimmed over all the information and frowned.
"I didn't notice this before," he muttered, clicking into something and reading it carefully. Then he closed my profile and brought up someone else's in my department. After reading through several profiles, he rubbed his chin and reopened my profile. "Miss Brown, the company owes you both thanks and an apology. To your entire department. You've worked in the company for four years but never received the incremental increase in pay that you ought to have. From the amount you and your entire department works and the quality of work you all produce, there's no way you didn't meet your KPIs and deadlines unless there was something fishy at play. You say you never received your bonuses and the incremental pay increase, and yet it has obviously been sent out. I'm going to have to talk to Finance and Payroll about this and get an investigation underway. What else did that man do under our noses?"
His murmured unintelligibly to himself for a long moment and then sat up straight, looking at me with a determined fire in his eyes.
"Leave this with me, Miss Brown. I'm going to get all your pays sorted and apply for special compensation for you and your department. Don't talk to anybody else about this yet, while it's still under investigation. Also, don't apply for any other jobs in the meantime. You aren't going to need them. You first need to get your health on track and make sure you get sufficient rest. If you need money, come and find me. I'll help you."
Was he hinting that my old direct line boss may have been embezzling? Well, well.
Did this mean my money problem was solved? That I no longer needed to work myself to death? If so, that sounded like great news.
I would still be going to the new evening job I had just gotten though. No need to waste a good job. Since we tended to get off work on time these days, it was not a bad idea to earn more money to tide me over while I waited for the back pay or compensation to come in.
I could feel my mood lightening up and a smile of relief appearing on my face. Depending on how much money I got, I would be able to put more in my savings and build up my almost non-existent emergency stash. No need to send extra to Bezel and my parents. The usual amount would do.
If I had more time freed up, I could potentially have more time to start exercising again and doing things I liked. I needed to also go shopping to replace some old clothes and things at home.
I needed to start planning ahead for Stony Boss's lunchboxes and show him my gratitude with all my heart. If he helped me solve my money problem, he deserved all the good things I could make for him. My world famous tomato and omelette rice for him tomorrow it was. I had learnt this recipe from a little restaurant I had worked in a while back and it was one of my best dishes.
"Miss Brown?" Stony Boss was suddenly supporting my crooked torso in the office chair I was sitting in and wheeling me toward the couch. "You've gone pale again. There's still 2 hours before the workday begins. Lie down and close your eyes for a little while. I'll wake you up when it's time to start work."
He covered me with a thin blanket, helping me to lie my dizzy head down.
"Stony Boss?" I had asked sleepily, pulling him closer. I grabbed his face and gave him a big smack with my lips on his cheek, feeling giddy with excitement. "Thank you."
It wasn't until I was woken up later and had arrived back at my work desk that I realised what I had done. No wonder he had an amused and bemused expression on his face when he woke me up. How embarrassing. Now I needed to dig another hole to hide myself in.
At lunch time, a secretary fetched me to go up to the boss floor to eat in their lunch room. While I cringed and shrank myself as small as a quail in a corner, the other bosses and big bosses fussed over Stony Boss's lunchbox with envy, trying to steal tidbits from him. Who would have known that the upper management people were all boisterous teenagers at heart as well, the men as well as the women. They didn't seem to care for their images at all.
THE biggest boss of all came in to eat as well and at the sight of him, all the other bosses obediently shrank back to their seats to eat their lunches. THE biggest boss of all glanced at me, gave me a nod and sat down beside Stony Boss, unwrapping his sandwich and then pausing to look at Stony Boss's lunch box. Without a word, he stole an apple slice and pinched a bear shaped cream bread bun that I had put into there, licking his lips and fingers with a smile.
"Hey!" Stony Boss shouted, trying to cover up his lunchbox.
"Mm. Pretty good," THE biggest boss of all grinned. "Who's the girlfriend?"
I felt like an explosion went off in my brain. I couldn't move, think or breathe for a moment.
Stony Boss happened to glance my way and all the bosses 'oooh-ed'.
I shook both head and both hands, unable to speak from mortification.
Thankfully Stony Boss came to my rescue after a moment of watching my reaction with amusement, explaining my situation to all the other bosses, resulting in a collective understanding, 'ahhh'.
"She's making lunches for me the entire week as thanks for my hard work and care for her," Stony Boss raised his chin proudly.
"Uh-huh," THE biggest boss of all nodded, looking between my simple sandwich and Stony Boss's lavish lunchbox. "Don't eat her out of house and home."
"So you're the famous minute taker," a female boss waved her salad fork at me from across the table. "Finally, we can put a face to the name."
"Do you think her department will mind if we borrow her every now and then?" asked another boss, his mouth full of celery as he crunched. "Her notes and work are sometimes even better than my secretary's."
"Hey, Miss Brown, what's your highest qualification?" another boss asked.
I answered and spoke in a daze, leaving the lunchroom with Stony Boss's clean and empty lunchbox in a daze. I completed work in a daze and went to my new evening job in a daze.
At the end of the evening, I also lost the job in a daze, because the owner had decided to give my place to his niece. It wasn't because I had done a bad job.
I stood outside the restaurant that I had been working in, still in a daze, feeling the warm summer night breeze failing to wake me up from the shock and horror of being questioned by so many bosses during lunchtime. Being called Stony Boss's girlfriend. Add to that the memory of kissing Stony Boss in my excitement in the early morning. Argh.
When I have the time, I'm going to have to dig myself a grave to bury myself in before I die of overstimulation.
And if the day hadn't been long or confusing enough, Stony Boss happened to pass by in his car to see me standing on the street side looking lost. He somehow got me in his car and drove me home.