All Over Again

Chapter 3: A busy day at Office

“Tenysi, that’s too much methyl”, someone barks. “Are you wishing an early death upon us?”.

“But you’re 58 already”, I reason.

“Are you missing the point, young lady?”, he deadpanned. “And I’m not 58!”.

I swear he is lying.

“Okay, but I’m not to be blamed for it”.

“About not knowing my age?”

“No, about the amount of methyl to be poured in the mixing tube”, I say.

“Uggh! Where’s Jessie?”, he bellows.

“Yo! What’s wrong?”, Jessie asks entering the room.

“I hired this girl because of YOU, and now look what she’s done”, Mr. White complains.

Terrified at the anger visible in Jessie’s anger, I stutter apologies repeatedly. “I’m sorry. I could not sleep properly last night. I’m sure the workload is taking a toll on me”.

“Workload you say? Your only job here is to open and shut doors. Why you messing with the chemicals, yo?”, he seethes.

He walks towards me and I run around the machines for my life.

Bark.

“I’m so so sorry. I just wanted to do it myself for once”, I gasp.

Bark

“Yo, stop running woman”.

Bark

I wake up with a jolt. My body is covered in sweat and me breathing is erratic so much so that I can’t remember where I was, for a minute. Looking down at the floor, I see Berry barking at me.

Oh, baby. He was trying to wake me up from the bitter-sweet-dangerous dream. I can't believe I saw them in my dreams. They look handsome on the screen, but they are more handsome up-close. Wow, I got yelled at by my favorite actors. What an achievement. Had I not messed up with their objects, it had been the best dream of my life. But, thank God, Berry woke me up. I am already late for the office, again.

This has become a ritual to me, and I’ve become the butt of jokes because of this. My friends at the office call me Hennessey Tenysi because I behave like a drunkard most of the time. I can’t even defend myself after repetitively reaching late.

I thank Lord for the world’s most patient and understanding boss, which Byron is. That Englishman definitely has those English traits that we Americans don’t have. The number one being forgiving. He had been the kindest of all the people. He treats his employees like his family, and makes sure that their harmony between everyone.

Although, he pronounces my name as Tennesay, most of the time, because of his thick British accent, I know that sometimes he does it only to test the waters. Over we had become so close that we often gave each other personal advices.

On reaching parking my car in the lot, I head to the main doors of the building. Upon entering, I am greeted by a cheery Katy talking on phone behind the reception. I wait for the elevator to take me to my office which is at the 18th floor. I was not particularly scared of lifts, but the thought of getting stuck in it bugged it at times. That is why I always asked for one of my friends to accompany me on the way to the lobby while leaving the premises. Going up was still an issue, because as my friend said, I was always late.

“Hennessey Tenysi!”. I hear someone shout as soon as I step out of the elevator.

Very reluctantly, I turn around and am met with a smirking Josh.

I knew it was him. Depend on Josh to ruin your happy mornings.

“Hey, Josh. How’s your mood today?”, I ask with a serious face.

“Now that you’re here, it’s great”, he says loudly coming to me.

“That’s good, but guess what, mine is not so good. So, get the memo and don’t disturb me”, I say emphasizing the last three words, and turn to walk towards my office.

“Oh no, Tenysi. Please don’t say that. What will keep me alive and cheery in this huge a*s building?”, he says walking with me.

God, this guy is not going to leave me alone.

“I’m not your best friend. Go back to Cynthia”, I say purposely to elicit a reaction.

The moment he hears this, he stops in his tracks, and puts his hand on his chest.

“I can’t believe you said something as blasphemous as that. You hurt my feelings, T”

I laugh at this. “Shut up and go make yourself useful to the company”.

He scoffs, "Please Tenny, we both know how useful I am. I do all the important work and you just sign on those papers, still you got an office, when all I've got is a useless cubicle, which can fall apart any minute".

I chuckle internally at his frown. "Poor guy, can't even afford a promotion".

Ouch. That definitely did hurt.

It's clear from his expressions that he is ready to take a jibe, but I beat him to it.

"Please, Josh. We know you're as useless as your cubicle and hence you couldn't come to this side of the floor".

Low blow, I know.

But Josh needs to reminded of this time and again, because he can be very cocky sometimes. Although, our banter has become a habit to us, we never let our friendly, and sometimes not so friendly, insults come between our personal and professional relationship.

Josh is like a brother me who cares for me a lot, but never expresses it overtly. He often stops by my apartment to spend some time with me and Berry. That dog loves him way more than me. He forgets me every time we have Josh over.

Growing up, I always wished to have a sibling with whom I could play, share my things with, lay my heart bare to. But, I was an only child. I lost my parents when I was four. I don't even remember spending any time with them. Since then I had been living with my maternal grandparents in Ohio. My paternal ones passed away a few months after my parents got married. All of this was told to me by my Nana and Papa.

The only way I know what my parents looked like was a picture they took with me, when I was born. My mother holding me in her arms, looking at the camera, and my father looking at me smilingly. I was some five- months old in the frame.

I never cried about the fact that I had to grow up without parents. because grandparents loved me like their own. They never left me alone, always put my happiness first. They pushed me closer to nature. We would go to sanctuaries, parks and zoos together. We would attend Church every Sunday. The strong faith I had in God was all because of their teachings.

But, somewhere deep down in my heart, I always wished to have a sibling. By God's grace I got so many brothers and sisters in my friends, though a little late, but I'm happy with what I have.

I close my office door, and sit on the chair dropping down my handbag and files on the small ebony table. Although, it was not a dream office, I like the warmth that the room emanates. There is a small window behind my chair which has a plant pot on its ledge. A small shelf for all the files, my table and chair was all that one could find in the confines of the room. Since, I was made the leader of our team, just below the Head, I was given this small space as an office.

It is satisfactory for me, but that does not mean that I don’t want to progress. Right now, my aim is to become eligible for the position of Marketing Head in future, which is not too far-fetched, seeing the determination and sincerity with which I work. It is going to be a long journey, but not too long.

After spending a couple of hours in silence, I hear a knock on my door. “Please, come in”.

Cynthia comes in carrying a stack of files. “Hi, Tenysi. Were you on time?”, she asks mischievously.

“Not you too, Cynthia”, I say tiredly. “You need to cut down on your meetings with Josh”.

She chuckles, “I’m sorry and you’re right. He wears me off. I came here to pass these files to you. Take a look and tell me what is to be corrected afterward”.

Cynthia and Mike are from the product management department. Their team handles operations, quality checking and auditing. Whereas, Kelly, Josh, and I are part of the marketing team. Our work entails brand building, press control, human resources, and keeping a check on the management team’s work. Therefore, they bring all their work reports to us, to get a green flag.

I keep her files at one corner of the table and ask her to take a seat.

“I will go through your files once I get done with these from the other departments”.

“Hmm. Too much work that is”, she says smilingly.

“Yeah, but what can we do”, I return her smile.

“We can’t do a lot about that, but what we can do something about ourselves”. She plays with the end of her hair, not maintaining eye-contact.

Huh! What does that even mean?

“Your face says you still didn’t get the hint”.

“No, I did not”.

“It’s Saturday tomorrow, Tenysi!”, she says flailing her in the air.

“What about it? I’m going to spend it like any weekday, sitting at home, doing all the pending work”, I say dejectedly.

“No, Tenny. You’re not. We are going out tomorrow”.

“But where?”.

“I don’t know. Maybe some club”.

“Cyn, there’s no point going to a club when all I have in my closet are office clothes and some pajama sets”.

“Don’t worry. We can go shopping in the morning and clubbing in the evening”, she says, standing up. “Okay, gotta go. I will pass the news to others as well”. And she dashes out of the room, without even waiting for an answer.

Wow, she’s something else.

She pokes her head from the doorway and says, "Hen, Tenny. Please call me whenever you need me".

No matter how annoying my friends are at times, they never shy away from showing their love and support for me.

I do some more work and get out of the office at lunchtime. Suzy, my colleague, comes with me to the cafeteria to have lunch together, where I meet all my friends. They tell me about the club that they had decided upon under the expertise of Josh since he is a self-proclaimed social butterfly. We talk some more about work and life and then go off to our offices.

On my way back, the news displayed on the T.V in our department reception catches my attention.

Whitlock Industries’ owner and CEO, Billionaire Aaron Whitlock, was caught coming out of a restaurant with the daughter of Billionaire James Marco’s daughter, Karen Marco. Sources say that they came separately, so that media attention could be avoided. People present there informed that the two of them looked too cozy together, indicating that this was not their first date.

Aaron Whitlock, the name I had been trying to forget for so long, and every time I think I have succeeded in doing so, he pops up again in front of me. It’s like the universe doesn’t want me to get better.

I knew who Karen Marco is, I had been an intern at Marco’s for eight months, and I had the worst time in the company, all thanks to Ms. Karen. She is the most obnoxious woman I’ve ever met in my life. Whatever project we worked upon was passed on to her, since she was the CFO. The way she scrapped out hard work, treating it as s**t, was horrible. And, whenever one of us tried to talk to her about it, she would go crying to her Daddy and have them sacked. God knew I was the happiest the day I completed my internship.

As for the date that the channel was talking about, I never could’ve thought of them as a couple in my wild dreams. They were polar opposites, and Aaron would never tolerate someone as irritating as her.

Wait. Why am I defending this man? I don’t care what he does in his life.

I head for my office, releasing a sigh. As soon as I sit on my chair ready to resume my work, my phone starts ringing, indicating an incoming call. Dismissing it as unimportant, I put it on silent and continue my work.

I sign the last file on the table and drop the pen. My watch indicates it's 6:30 already.

What a day.

I stretch my neck and fix my dress standing up. My phone buzzes again for the fifth time today. Fishing it out of my handbag, I check who it is, only to be shocked to see the name flash on the screen.

Oh, God. I’m dead.

If I answer the phone, there are chances that I will get a good verbal lashing, and if I don't there is a 100% chance that I am dead.

Trusting my instincts on this, I answer the phone and wait for the person to say something.

Tenysi Green Whitlock, you cannot escape my wrath.

I shut my eyes and wait for the tirade to begin