Taming Cinderella

Chapter 3 : Dropping hints!

Ella:

“Stoppp Joe!!! I can’t do this!” I pushed him away with my arms. 

“Owwww, Ella, what’s wrong with you?” He frowned looking upon me.

“I can’t do this, not over here Joe!” I gasped frantically pulling and straightening my skirt back to my knees.

“Oh c’mon where is your sense of adventure Ella?” he threw his hands up in the air exasperated.

“This is my place of work, I can’t afford to lose this job Joe” Although this might not have been the reason I pushed him away from me. I needed to know if he sees me walking down the aisle with him in the future. I did not want him to propose right away but a promise ring would assure me that this was who I was looking out for.

“Forget it!” he turned his back on me and started walking away towards the door.

“Wait, please stop Joe! Let’s talk this out!” I ran towards him wanting to have a conversation. I swung him around, held both of his arms with my hands and looked him in the eye; “ I'm sorry Joe for being such a spoilsport, I really love you but I want you to make love to me when you’re ready to commit to me in the long term” I raise my left hand and move my fourth finger hinting at a “ring”

“Oh baby, of course, you know I love you!, in fact I fell in love with you the moment you walked into the office wearing that tight white shirt and black skirt showing your long legs” he replied as he ran his fingers through my long curly hair, completely ignoring my hints.

Although that was not the answer I was looking out for, I pressed further, “So, where do you see us in the next five years?”

“Well, lets see, I am sleeping on his huge bed at our villa in the Bahamas, and my wife enters the bedroom with a tray of fresh croissants, fruits and cream. Dressed in black lingerie, she looks at me as she pops a strawberry in her mouth,” his mouth curled into a sly smile as he looks at my lips and kisses me deeply. Now, do you have any more questions? 

His kiss reassured me that I was with the right person and maybe I was acting like a prude.

I blushed and replied in the negative continuing, “Now let’s get back to work before Jen finds out we are missing”

Jennifer, my manager was a tough cookie who cracked the whip ever so often. This year with businesses suffering due to a rough economy, being employed was a blessing.

We gathered in the boardroom every morning at sharp 9 am for “the huddle”- a cool terminology used instead of “daily meeting” to bring us up to speed and probably humiliate a colleague who might have not performed the previous day. It was quite a cut-throat corporate environment where people resigned every week.

“Where were you Missy?” Helen, my colleague/best friend/pain the ass looked at me through the spectacles resting on the bridge of her nose.

“Nowhere, just went to the washroom for a bit,” lying because I did not want another lecture.

“That’s where I came from but I did not see you, besides it looks like you did not comb your hair, which only means that you are hiding something from me” Helen interrogated with her hands crossed across her chest.

It was funny how she caught me every single time I lied, “Dear God, why was I such a horrible liar?” I muttered to myself ignoring her pressing questions.

Hello everybody, how are we doing? Jennifer walked into the boardroom with her laptop and bossy grin across her face. A buxom blonde accompanied Jen and stood besides her smiling at the rest of us.  All the guys in the room already seemed to be checking the low neckline of her blouse. 

“Also, I saw Joe walking in right after you did, looking equally lost, were you guys making out in the office? How exciting! Helen continued in her usual berating tone.

“Not now Helen!” I rolled my eyes wanting to fend her off for the day.

Jen introduced her saying, “Everybody, meet Alice, our new account management intern, she completed her Masters in Business Administration from the very prestigious Columbia University. She will be helping us out with the paperwork and compliance checks for onboarding new clients. Alice, would you like to say a few words?”

“Hey all, it’s such an honour to be working at Accent, I can’t wait to learn from the highly talented people here. I hope you guys won’t mind me bothering you with questions all the time, I’m so excited!!! She eagerly chirped in her shrill voice.

Of course not, you’re very welcome! Joe replied with the rest of the boys nodding in unison.

“He was trying to get into your pants again with more sweet-talk like what we’re watching right now, isn’t it?” she persisted in her line of questioning as Jen continued with the working priorities for the day.

“Helen, Joe is not as bad as you think, you’re just being overprotective because you love me!” I stuck my tongue out teasing her.

“Girls, is everything alright?” Jen barked out loud to get our attention as everybody looked in our direction wondering what we had to say in our defense.

“Yes Jen, we were just talking about attending the annual business operations conference this weekend, sorry!” Helen replied with her quick-wit coming to our rescue.

As the meeting came to an end, I started walking towards Joe to discuss our weekend plans. We were supposed to actually attend the business conference to expand our networks and seek newer accounts.

Just before I was about to talk to Joe, Alice approached him and said, “Hey, I know it’s my first day at work but I am so keen to learn how the department works, do you think you could help me understand the account process flowcharts? She pleaded batting her eyelids at him.

Without even looking at me, Joe responded, “Of course Alice, why don’t you hop over to my cubicle?” And they walked together, chatting away into oblivion.

I did not move for a second trying to understand what just happened.

“Looks like the new bird has caught someone’s fancy eh!?” Helen stuck her tongue out getting back at me.

“You’re hypothesizing as usual, Joe does not have a wandering eye” I defended, pretty sure it was just a coincidence.