Breaking Through Her Wall

CHAPTER FOUR

A test?

Through out the rest of the day everything went well for Berly.

At 6:58pm, Berly grabs her coat, she had worked a bit overtime on her first day of work.

As she heads towards the elevator, her phone buzzes and she stopped in her tracks.

'From Grumpy '

"6:30am tomorrow. Be early".

A pause

Then__

"Good work today".

Berly blinked twice. Was that a compliment?

She smiled.

'What? She doesn't know?'

Inside his office, Liam leans back frowning at his phone then looked up at Berly through the frosted glass.

Something about her is getting to him. And he doesn't like it.

Not yet.

He watched as she made her way into the elevator.

*****. *****. *****

At home Mandy opened the door for Berly who walked in taking off her shoes and jumping onto the huge couch.

Mandy walked towards her smiling.

"Seems like you had a hectic day today". She asked gently massaging her back.

"So tell me, how was work today? And how's your new boss?"

"Very strict and domineering. Can you believe he wanted me not to have lunch today. And that's not all, he's the same guy I collided with on the day of my interview".

"What? Did he say anything about it?" Mandy asked sitting beside her

"No, at first I thought he didn't know but not until my new friends at the company told me that he must be planning something. It dawned on me that he must be seeking revenge on me. He even made me work overtime on my first day but am not giving up just yet".

"That's my girl but if things starts getting ugly make sure to resign".

"Of course, I'll go freshen up". Berly said standing.

"Okay dinner will be ready in ten".

*****.

*

*******

At 6:00 am the next day, Berly was already on her desk wondering why Liam asked her to come two hours before normal work hours. As she was weighing all the pros and cons a deep voice sounded in her ear which startled her.

"You're early". It was Liam

"Good after..., Good morning sir". Berly said standing and Bowing to him.

" What were you thinking?" He asked looking at her table until his eyes fell on a pink book which Berly immediately hid behind her.

"Um nothing, um..sir why did you ask me to come early?" Berly cautiously changed the topic.

'That must be her diary' Liam thought

"Sir?"

"Oh that? Just for you to reflect on the mistakes you made yesterday ".

"What?!" Berly shouted

"What? Any objections to that?" Liam asked enjoying every moment of this.

"Of course not sir". Berly said hiding the resentment in her eyes and forced a smile as she watched Liam walk into his office smiling.

In a fit of anger she kicked her chair causing her to wince in pain and sat down.

'What do I do with these two hours?'

She asked herself while touching her toe which had already formed bad blood because of the kick.

'What do I do? Oh screw you Liam '. She said wincing in pain.

"Did you just curse me?"

Berly jumped in fear causing her to hit her head on her desk. She rubbed the spot as she stood inches away from Liam.

"Mr Liam am sorry I didn't mean that".

"I'll let that slide this once". He said and walked into the elevator. Obviously he loves seeing her suffer.

Berly sat back down dejectedly. She looks at her watch; 6:15.

Can this day just get any better?

She exhaled slowly and opened a black document on her personal laptop. She titled it: Survival Strategy C&C Global Enterprise . Under it she typed:

* Mr Liam arrives at 8:02 Never late Never early.

* Smells faintly of cedar and disdain

* Wears cufflinks that costs more than my rent.

* Does not acknowledge organisms before coffee.

* The security guard and employees calls him;

-- Ice berg: Because of his 90% cold demeanor.

-- CEO-Nado: Silent, destructive - leaves a path of chaos.

-- The human autocorrect: Say one thing wrong and he'll fix you in front of everyone.

-- Darth paperclip: Wears suit darker than space and terrifies people with office supplies.

-- Mr expiry date: Every secretary before the next either had an expiry date of days or weeks.

-- The elevator exorcist: People go up to his floor and comes down changed.

-- Silent scissors hand: Never raises his voice but with one sentence cuts deep into people.

(Laughing emoji 😂)

As Berly types she laughed uncontrollably in a hushed tone.

6:39 am

She reorganized her drawer.

Then the file cabinet

Then a junk drawer that had been sealed with hundreds of ignored secrets.

6:50 am

The janitor Marta came by. Berly greeted her warmly and talked with her for some minutes. Enough to learn that her name is Marta, that she'd worked here for 9 years and that Berly was the first secretary to speak to her kindly.

"You'll last longer than the others". She whispered, smiled and pushed her cart away.

7:01 am

Berly returned to her desk and suddenly remembered Mr Liam's office. Such a neat freak will need some help in the arrangement of things in his office.

She walked in and scanned the office with her eyes first then straightened every item on his desk meticulously.

Phone: Aligned

Glass water tumbler: Filled with cold, clean water, no ice- just the way the previous secretary wrote wrote in the journal she passed to the new one.

7:30 am

She returned to her desk and started creating a to-do list.

* Pretend and not loose my mind

* Act like I belong here

* Don't throw stapler at anyone (He's making me want to do so)

* Stay strong no matter what.

After that she recopied the survival strategy into a small book and arranged it carefully on her desk. She gave her lips a final touch with her pink lip balm and played with her phone.

At exactly 8:02 am, the elevator dinged.

Liam stepped out, charcoal suit, jaw set, phone to his ear. He didn't even look her way as she greeted.

But he paused.

His eyes flickered towards his desk as he opened the door.

His water. His files. The precise arrangement of his things. The faint scent of lemon polish in the air.

A tiny bit. Just enough.

Then he moved on, closing the door behind him.

No word. No thank you

But Berly smiled

She'd survived the waiting game

And without his permission.

She was already winning.

The rest of the day was just like yesterday except that he allowed her to go home at the same time as other employees. Berly was so happy that she thanked him continuously.

As she was arranging her things to go home.

'Ding'. -__ A notification

She opened her phone, it was their.ew group chat which Mia had created the day they made friends with Berly.

Mia: Hey gals I've been thinking of something

Daisy: What?

Mia: Should we celebrate with Berly on her new job. Besides she's lasted for two days already.

Erin: That's right. Berly what do you think?

Berly: I think it's okay besides Mr Liam told me to go home and not work overtime today. 😊

Mia: Wow! more things and reason to celebrate

Daisy: Berly you're really lucky

Erin: So what are we celebrating with?

Mia: How bout we eat duck feet and alcohol.

Daisy: Hell yeah!!

Berly: Yeah it's been awhile since I had alcohol

Erin: I have a full list of places we can choose from. Quack and shot, Feet and Fire, Duck it tavern, Spicy claws.

Berly: You really know these places well 😂

Erin: Of course. Am not done. Hot feet and booze, waddle bar. So choose

Mia: I think Duck it tavern will do, what do you think?

Others: Yeah

Mia: So it's settled, we'll meet at the second bus station at 5 pm.

Meanwhile, Liam was watching Berly through the frosted glass a lot of things running through his head. He couldn't help but feel like there was something about this woman.

Berly, Mia, Daisy and Erin met at the bus station and boarded it to Duck it tavern. They ate and drank to their satisfaction.

*****. *****. *****

Mandy's house

"Why did you suddenly come back home?" She asked looking at the 16 years old young girl who was sitting across from her.

"I didn't want to stay in the school dorm anymore, besides my mom is in the hospital, my sister is always at work and I need to take care of our mom."

"Lily, I know you meant well but what about your sister, don't you think she'll be mad at you? She's working very hard so as to be able to pay for your school fees. She also visits your mom at the hospital always. Right now she wants you to study very hard and enter college".

" I know aunty but am not comfortable in the school dorm. Am always bullied there". She lied

"What! Why didn't you tell us?" Mandy asked concerned and checking her body for any injuries.

"I didn't want to burden you with my problems ". Lily said lowering her head.

Just then the beep from password of the door was heard, the door opened and Berly walked in. She was slightly tipsy, thank goodness the next day was weekend. Despite the fact that she was tipsy, immediately she saw Lily she sobered up and walked quickly to sit beside her.

"Lily, why are you back?" Did you fight with anyone?" Berly asked worriedly checking her body for bruises.

"No sister I didn't, I just didn't want to stay in the school dorm anymore". Lily said while watching Berly's facial expression as if fearing she'll send her back.

"Why's that? You know very well why I sent you to be in the school dorm. You're almost done with highschool and is about to write your college entrance exam. So you can't afford to be distracted, if you're worried about mom then you don't have to be, as of now you can't stay here you need to go back." Berly said and without even allowing Lily to say anything walked upstairs.

"Sister! Sister please hear me out ". Lily cried as she ran after her sister but Berly was fast enough to enter her room and quickly shut the door.

Lily stood outside her door crying and begging her while Mandy watched from the side almost moved to tears.

Berly sat on her bed, pulled out an old photo from her bedside drawer as she cried. She carressed the picture crying even harder. Her mum and her elder brother who was four years older than her had died in a car accident on their way back from the mall when she was seven. Her father was devastated to the point that he started taking alcohol. After a year of his wife's death he decided to get married again as his daughter was still young and needed motherly love.

Berly for a whole year mourned her mom even at that young age, she became malnourished as a result which was what pushed her dad into marrying a new wife.

At night, Berly would always come outside, she had learned from her classmate who lost her dad, Mandy. That's right, Mandy.

"When my daddy passed away, my mummy will always bring me outside at night. She told me that the biggest and brightest star in the sky was my daddy. She said that he comes out at night to listen to me tell him everything that's bothering me."

Because of this, little Berly comes out every night to talk to her mum, she always goes inside with swollen eyes. Her dad watched her daily routine broken heartedly. He soon married Ursula who was very kind to Berly. Berly didn't want anyone to replace her Mom but soon adapted. After a year Berly's step sister Lily was born the whole family were overjoyed.

When Berly was about to enter college her father died from heart failure. The whole family was once again thrown into disarray. Berly had to work part time so as to pay her tuition, her sister's school fees and also take care of their mother. Her mom sells fruits, barely enough to train her daughters but she still hussled thereby neglecting her health. She fell ill six months ago and was diagnosed with cancer level one. Berly refused to tell Lily but continued to work hard to raise enough money for their mom's surgery.

Lily continued to crying outside the door while Mandy consoled her.

Berly finally opened the door, her eyes swollen. She knelt and hugged Lily who was sitting in front of her door. The two sisters cried in each other's arms while Mandy stood beside them wiping away her tears. No one knew their condition better than her, the house they were all living in was bought for Mandy by her mom who was working outside the country. After explaining their situation Mandy's mom; Mrs Carla allowed them to move in with her daughter.

"It's okay I'll let you stay here for now". Berly said pulling Lily up.

"Thank you so much sis".

"We'll visit Mom tomorrow, now go and freshen up". Berly said letting her go.

"Okay".

As she left for her room, Mandy hugged Berly who was still sobbing.

"It's okay".

"Thank you Mandy, you've always been there for me since we were young, I really appreciate".

"It's nothing, you're my best friend. If I don't stay with you who will? C'mon go freshen up, I'll make dinner".

" Thank you so much". She said walked into her room

Meanwhile at a very luxurious mansion, a family of four were having dinner.

" Liam dear you're not getting any younger, you need to get yourself a wife". Mrs Yvonne said as she ate.

Liam paused and brought down his fork which was halfway to his mouth.

"Mom there we go again with this marriage issue".

"But she's right, we're not getting any younger either we need to hold our grandchildren and have them run around this big house ". Said Mr Damon

"He needs to get a girlfriend first ". Brenda said looking at Liam who quickly retorted

"What's stopping you from getting married or are you planning on being a Nun?"

"Oh c'mon you're my big brother you don't expect me to marry before you. Am actually respecting you but you don't know." Brenda said picking up a sliced apple from the fruit bowl.

"Oh yeah? The last time I checked you don't even have a boyfriend and am just three years older than you". Liam said mockingly

Brenda almost choked on the fruit in her mouth.

"Well you can't possibly know all my boyfriends and I won't show you any of them even if they want".

Their parents often exchanged glances as they argued. They were already used to their bickering.

They calmly walked away very careful with their steps so as not to alert the two, but Brenda's sharp eyes caught them immediately.

"Hey mum and dad are going for a walk without us". Both left their seats and joined their parents in the spacious garden.