Man of his word

Bullion

Emma POV

The struggle to look for a job continues, as at today I have sent over 100 applications and all have turned me down. I am also not doing too well in the love department, its like I cannot seem to get a good guy, the last one Tim was a huge disappointment and am still trying to recover from the humiliation I faced.

I stopped jogging because I lacked the motivation, the route kept reminding me of Tim and I just could not face him at the café and I really miss my drinking chocolate fix. Its not fair, cant I have at least a lover to make me forget about the jobless state. Dad has been calling trying to convince me to come join the family business but I am determined to get a job on my own...soon.

I have developed a routine, wake up-wash dishes-clean the house-cook-eat-shower-go out for a brief walk - come back-log on to hiring sites and send out my CV-eat-watch tv-sleep

DING

I have just received a new email

"Subject:- Congratulations...."

I roll my eyes, must be one of those scams that says you have inherited some money from someone who you never knew from a country you have never been too. I ignore it and shut my laptop and proceed with my evening routine, the next day there is a knock on the door, apparently I have a parcel. I look at the address and it says "From Bullion

Who the hell is bullion?

trrrip trrrrip

I seem to be on a roll today morning, I look at my phone and I have a message from a line I do not know

"You are hereby requested to report to Bullion offices on Tuesday to formalize your agreement."

What agreement? Now am starting to get nervous

I toss it on the coffee table and continue with my day's routine, am behind schedule, I should be cleaning the house. I quickly get to work and soon I have worked up a sweat when I hear my phone ring, I lower the volume to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, my name is Stanley, may I speak to Emma Bailey"

"This is she, how can I help you?"

"I would like to confirm that you received your contract today morning and the alert to report to work"

"Contract for what?"

"Madam did you read the email sent this morning?"

"What email?"

"Kindly go through it and call me back on this line incase of any queries, have a lovely day."

Before I could say anything the line goes dead, am staring at my phone in shock, when did I apply to Bullion? I quickly open my laptop and reopen my email and begin to read the email again.

A job!!!! as a Human Resource assistant!!!! my eyes scroll down and I almost fall off my chair....is there a typo or just an error.....that cannot be my offer salary, this must be a scam...how can I be earning $9000 per month for being an assistant!!!! The benefits are also outrageous, I will have full unlimited medical cover with dental and optical, full trip payments, brand new car of my choice, wardrobe allowance, salon allowance and the kicker an entertainment allowance. At this point am sweating and I call the one person I believe will have the information I need.

"Hi Mary"

"Hi roomie, what's new?"

"Nothing, just had a question"

"Do not tell you are stuck in the lift again"

"Nooo hehehehe that only happened once and I now know how to operate the buttons"

"So whats up"

"Do you know a company called Bullion?"

"Cough cough cough cough"

"Mary are you ok?"

"No no no am fine" she says as she clears her throat, "can I call you back after 10 minutes, I need to confirm something first"

"Ok" why is she behaving all suspicious? any where I will wait for her call.

I wait nervously on the sofa, now I cannot even concentrate, after a few minutes she calls back.

She takes a deep breath and asks "So out of curiosity, did you apply for a job there or they just called you"

"That's the thing I never applied for the job and I do not know who they are and the whole morning they have emailed, sent a phone message and even dropped off a letter which I have not opened yet and then some guy called Stanley called to confirm I received the contract." I stop to catch my breath, "please tell me who these people are and that its not a scam?"

"Oh if that is the case then go for it, they never put up job vacancies but prefer to do head hunting," she pauses

"That still does not explain how they get my details, I have not been employed any where since we graduated so how was I selected?"

"About that, they must have got it from the college database for top performers"

"Still does not make sense"

"Just take it, you never know it might break the jinx you have right now"

"You are right" I sigh "what do I have to lose"

"That's my girl, let me know how it goes"

"when will you be back?"

"Aww, you miss me?"

"But of course" I giggle as I respond

"I should be back on Thursday"

"Great, so bottomless Friday is on yay"

"See you dear, kisses" she cuts the phone.

I immediately call Stanley and he gives me directions to the building, he seems over excited that I have agreed to join the company.

It is Friday so I still have enough time to plan for Tuesday and maybe even do some research on what Bullion does. I quickly call my mum to let her know that I finally got a job and she is over the moon that I will be working at Bullion. Something feels suspicious but I will deal with my doubts another day.

Finally its Tuesday and I arrive at the office 20 minutes before my stated reporting time and meet Stanley at the designated floor. He quickly takes me round the offices and introducing me to everyone who seem very happy to see me. We then go to the executive floor briefly since he claims he left his pass to enter the IT department inn his jacket. Right next to his desk is an office with dark glass panels and somehow it makes me uneasy like someone is watching me or maybe am being paranoid. Stanley sees me staring at the glass doors and quickly ushers me out of the office saying we need to rush to IT.

"Where is the boss or CEO or MD, is that his office?" I ask Stanley once we enter the lift

"Well no one knows his schedule, at the moment I think he is out of town but should be back in a week's time" he responds as he presses the lift button

"Will I get to meet him or her?"

"Our boss is a He and am sure he would be more than happy to meet you once he arrives" he gestures for me to step out of the lift

At the IT department we finally set up my email, my passcode, my ID and also received a new laptop and phone.

"Isn't this too much?"

"Why do you say that?" inquires Stanley

"I mean you are already paying me a fortune and now these expensive gadgets, can I just buy my own?"

"No, its company policy to maintain our image" he responds although he looks amused by my hesitation to take the expensive gadgets.

Next we head to the finance department where they insist that they already opened a bank account for me and do not need my details, they also hand over a black premium looking card. On inquiry they say it has my allowances already loaded. I can feel a migraine building, I look at my watch and see its already 12pm and request to be allowed to break for lunch of which Stanley insist to treat me and who am I my to refuse.

We are seated in an open air rooftop restaurant and I love the view. It does not take long for the food to be served and its delicious, I almost ask them to pack for me a meal but I do not want to embarrass myself. I make a mental note to find out from Stanley if they do take away.

We are back in the office and finally I inquire from Stanley where I will be seated and he looks uneasy.

"Well about that, your workspace is still being completed so until then you shall be sitting in the HR director's office for now since he is on vacation for a month," as he rubs his neck nervously.

"So why did you ask me to report to work if I had no where to sit?"

"Well the problem cropped up over the weekend, a pipe over your office started leaking so it needs to be fixed, it will take at least a week"

"Ok, so where is this office?" he then leads me to the lift and presses the top floor and once we get off we turn left from the big dark glass paneled office. Stanley presses a button and suddenly another glass door opens. It seems like this office is right next to the boss's. I just hope that he is not a pervert who will pester me to sleep with him.

As per my stipulated working hours, I only 2 hours and decide to use it to familiarize myself with the current HR matters in the tray before. These guys seem to be doing a lot of hiring and firing at short notice, no wonder they pay so much.

The 2 hours fly by and soon its time for me to leave because Stanley came to remind me its time to leave and he needs to handover my car to me. I do not know what I feel about this but I decide since it came with the contract lets go with the flow. We reach the basement and this sleek sliver car stops in front of me, and my eyes almost drop out of my sockets and my mouth almost touches the ground.

"Stanley I cannot take this, cant I get a simpler less expensive looking car?" as I rub my hands nervously

"These are company standards, we do not do less," he replies

"Then can I get a driver, am scared of driving this car," I request hoping he says yes

"We can arrange for Alex to be your driver" he replies and turns to the driver, "make sure she gets home safely with no incident." The driver nods his head and opens the door for me to enter and I slide into the back seat.

I was silent all the way home not even wanting to move, scared I might scratch the leather or stain it with my dress. When I alight, I confirm for Alex what time to come collect me the next day, once I enter my apartment I call Mary to give her the low down and she screams along with me on the excitement. I cannot sleep because I am so excited, I cannot wait for tomorrow.

My alarm rings at 6am and get up to get ready and I notice a message came through on my phone at midnight, apparently I can go in at 10am today...AWESOME and quickly get back into bed and reset my alarm to 8am.

Soon am out and ready to go to work at 9.30am, since the traffic rush has already past it takes me 20 minutes to reach the office. I work into my office and see a big folder on my desk with a sticker urgent on it. I settle and go through the contents, apparently we need to replace 50 employees from an office in Madrid and the proposed candidates applications are already on my desk for my considerations.

I start going through each file verifying the data, calling the indicated referrals, doing online background searches, scrutinizing their social media pages for any matter that might harm the company. By the time Stanley comes to call me for lunch, I have only completed 3 applications and I could do with the break.

I cannot wait to go to the restaurant again and eat that sumptuous meal, Stanley is amused with the way am excited about the food. We are soon seated and we make our orders.

"So how do you find the office so far?" Stanley inquires as he sips his juice.

I respond after putting my glass down "Well, I cannot complain, the pay is good and working hours are flexible, so for now I like it,"

He nods and says "Our boss will be very happy that you like the work space"

"By the way you never told me the name of the boss, who is he?" I notice Stanley fidgeting like he does not want to respond.

"I will leave that to him to tell you" he says trying to look like he would rather drop the topic

"When are we expecting him back?"

"I think he should be around next week but I wont make any promises because I also do not know his schedule." he looks relieved when the food arrives, "finally we can eat" and he quickly digs not giving me a chance to keep questioning him. I get the hint and start eating also

We are soon back to work and its like another pile has been placed on my desk, now its the Hong Kong office - 20 personnel need to be hired.

I walk out to Stanley's desk and ask "why are there so many personnel replacements?" He shrugs his shoulders and responds, "I guess restructuring but you have nothing to worry about, you job is very safe" he smiles broadly and continues with his work. His answer leaves me with more questions than answers, will I be fired soon? do I need to have a contingency plan? I need to be prepared because anything can happen at any time. My job may not be soo secure as Stanley says and I will not be caught unawares.

I have not noticed how late it is, at some point I had Stanley say he was leaving but I did not look up. For the Madrid office I have managed to complete at least 30 applications out of the 40 placed on my desk. I look at the time and see its 8pm, well I do not any thing to do at home and decide to complete the remaining 10. It is now 11pm and I have completed my evaluation, what has remained now is preparing a report on my evaluation and recommendations which takes me another 30 minutes to complete. I print the report attach to the batch of applications and lock them in the cabinet behind me.

I walk out and find Alex waiting for me diligently beside "my car"....it will take me some time to get used to this.

"You should have just gone home, I can take a cab" but Alex responds as he opens for me the door, "No worries Madam, its my responsibility to ensure you get home safely." The ride home is much faster because the roads are empty, when I get into the apartment am too tired to even remove my clothes and fall asleep with my clothes on. At around 2am I hear a message coming through on my phone, I wake up to read it, might be Mary. I instantly regret waking up to look at it.

"Hey Kitten, heard you worked late yesterday, ensure you take enough rest today. I do not want a dead wife because I marry her. Your Husband"

ARGGHHHH this man again, he has not found a wife yet, what is so special about me any way

I go back to sleep and am woken up by my alarm at 8am, now that my reporting time was adjusted to 10am, I quickly get ready and head for the office. When I walk in, everyone seems tense like something is wrong, I get to my office and Stanley more pale than usual. I try to get information out of him and he just shakes his head and requests me to give him space he does not want to be in trouble.

I enter my office and find the Hong Kong files missing,

"Stanley, where are the Hong Kong files?"

"Oh forget about those, they are not urgent," he responds

"But they were marked urgent,"

"Please madam I am sorry that you had to work late yesterday verifying the files, it wont happen again,"

"Why are you apologizing, its my work," now am getting pissed

"It is ok, the files will be brought back for final approval, they had not been vetted well,"

"Ook if you put it that way, is there anything urgent for today?" I inquire

He responds as he bows his head "Actually we do not having anything urgent, you could take the day off."

I nod and walk off, I guess I could go home and prepare for Mary a welcome meal. She was supposed to be gone for one week but it extended for 6 months. Her flight lands at 1pm so I have another 1hour before she gets home, I decide to buy her favorite red wine since now I can afford it. I quickly call the shop to order for delivery and wait for her to arrive.

At exactly 2.30pm she walks through the door and we scream when we see each other, its great to finally have someone to talk to face to face. I quickly help her unpack as she showers. By the time she is done, the wine has already arrived and we sit down to have late lunch as we recap all that has happened in the 6 months.

Its great to have my bestie back home