Secretly Living With My Boss

Chapter 5

With an eyebrow raised, Hestia carried the cash advance form to the Accounting Department where she will get her advance salary. She knew she was being talked about before she entered, but she ignored them even though she heard some whispers.

She saw Ms. Kelly looking at her, the only person she knew. She passed by her and handed the form directly to her. She noticed that her eyes were teary for some unknown reason.

"Ms. Kelly, am I supposed to give this to you?" she asked.

Kelly just took the form and signed it, without any questions. Then she handed Hestia the 15 thousand pesos. "Count the money then sign here," she ordered.

Hestia did as told and returned the signed logbook. "Thank you. And what about this form? Where should I give it?"

"Just send it to the HR, to Ms. Sandra. Just give it to her. It will be automatically deducted," she said blankly, then put on her shades and sunk herself into the chair as if she had no more work to do for the day.

She didn't ask what happened here. She wanted to follow her boss' order not to trust. And after what Sandra did to her, she was genuinely cautious and didn't want to trust anyone anymore.

Speaking of Sandra, she still needed to face her to hand over the form. With her head held high, she went to the HR office and handed the form to Sandra, who frowned upon seeing her.

‘In your face, Sandra! in your face!’

She smiled while looking at Sandra, who was puzzled by her signed form. "Did he sign it? Why?" Sandra asked her.

‘And oh! Sandra had the nerve to ask? So, she really expected that Boss Raven wouldn't approve it? Does she know that I will be embarrassed?’

She admitted, she also didn't know the reason why Sir Raven signed the form because she knew it was audacious to request a cash advance on her first day of work. But that was no longer important. What mattered now was that she had the money she needed, and she should be happy. And she wanted to show Sandra that she failed in trying to embarrass her with her boss.

"Well, he signed it. Why? Is there a problem?" she retorted and turned to leave, but she heard Sandra speak.

"Is his signature legit? Maybe you just forged it? You imitated Sir Raven's signature just so you could get money?" Sandra said, grinning.

Hestia's ears rang from what she said. But she kept it cool and walked towards Sandra. "Yup! if you want, you can call my boss to check if he really signed that," she said to Sandra before taking the phone and attempting to call her boss' office.

She smiled at Sandra while holding the landline. She heard her boss answer and Sandra asked him. Her smile grew wider when she saw Sandra's frown and how she slowly lowered the phone.

"Is it okay now?" she asked. Sandra didn't answer, so she smiled again. "If there's no problem anymore, I'll go back to the office, especially since I still have a lot of things to do there," she said before finally leaving the HR office.

***

Raven looked at the door when he heard Hestia knock.

"Sir, Mr. Grimes is here," she said and let Raven's friend, who had scheduled a meeting with him, enter.

It was Glen, his close friend and business partner. And now his attention was on his secretary. To be precise, his attention was on Hestia as she exited the office.

"Your eyes might pop out," he teased his friend.

Glen turned to him, with a wide smile that seemed mocking.

He knew that Glen was quite charming with women. He approached Raven and sat on the vacant chair in front of him. He glanced momentarily at the glass window where he could slightly see Hestia outside.

"Wow, a new secretary? What happened to Sandra?" he asked.

"I told you, Sandra is not my secretary. She's just temporary. Hestia, she's my secretary now. And I'm telling you this. You can't hit on her," he reminded his friend, causing Glen to burst into laughter.

"Why? Because you plan to hit on her? Wow, so you're finally interested in your secretary, after all," he teased, and Raven knew that from now on, Glen wouldn't stop teasing him about Hestia.

Raven grinned and shook his head. "i***t, no. I don't have any plans like that. She's just my secretary, that's all. No ulterior motives or desires. Unlike you, who have hit on all your secretaries."

Glen nodded, not denying what Raven said about him. "You're something else, but I won't deny it." He looked outside again… at Hestia who seemed to be on the phone. "But she's cute. Beautiful, sexy, but her clothes are not revealing. But a great figure can't be hidden, even when covered."

"You, i***t, you're just a pervert. Your eyes have x-ray vision when it comes to women," he said and looked back at his laptop.

"Let me know if you really have no intention of f*****g her. Who knows, she might be the one to change me," Glen said, causing him to just shake his head.

***

Hestia looked inside her boss' office. He was talking to a man who was probably his friend and it seemed like their conversation would take a while, so she decided to call her mother.

"Hello, Mom? I already sent the money. Just pick it up at the remittance center. I also texted you the details," she said to her mother who she was currently talking to on the phone.

"That's good. It's perfect timing since your Dad really needs to pay the debt. Aling Mirna is already demanding. And we also need to buy groceries, we have no more food," her mother replied, making her smile. "I'm going to the remittance center now, then I'll go straight to the grocery store."

She could still hear her talking to her Dad, who also seemed happy because of the money she sent.

"Mom, please be thrifty. It's just a cash advance. It will also be deducted from my salary on the fifteenth, so maybe I won't be able to send a big amount on the fifteenth—"

"What?! Why are we going to be thrifty with it?!" her mother shouted on the other line, so she moved the phone away from her ear for a moment, then brought it back to listen to what she would say. “You're in New York to work and support us, right? To fill our needs here in our town? Why? Did we have any doubts when you said you needed money for school expenses? No right? And now you want to save the meager amount you sent? It's not even enough to cover what your Dad spent on your education?!"

Hestia sighed. "I know, Mom. But I just started my job and I'm lucky they allowed me to have a cash advance. That money will also be deducted from my salary, so I'll only get half. And I also have expenses here," she explained.

But just like her understanding of her mother, it wouldn't be resolved with this plea.

"Jesus! So, we're the ones who have to adjust to that? Find a way to make it work! It's not right that we suffer. Your salary in that company you entered is low, right? Then why did you settle for that? You graduated from college! Why didn't you take a managerial position? That has a high salary!"

"Mom, it's not that easy. If only it were, Mom," she said, tears welling up.

But her mother was really stubborn. Her parents couldn't understand her situation here in New York. People's perspectives in the town are different from the life in New York. They think that just because she's in New York, life is comfortable, and money is abundant. But that's the opposite.

And she knew that no matter how much explanation she gave, her parents, especially her mother, wouldn't listen. Especially now that she has a job, her mother believes that she should start fulfilling her responsibilities as the eldest in the family.

"If that's the case, then leave your job and find a job with a higher salary so you won't skimp on us!" her mother shouted before hanging up the phone.

Hestia just sighed. Her problem in finding a job had already been solved. And now that she has a job, it seems like it still won't be enough for her and her family. She needs to find some side jobs. To supplement her income. She just hopes that it won't cause conflicts in her job here.