Antitrust (Completed)

Part 14: The Beginning of the End

I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG! Hopefully the length of this chapter and a few new characters make up for it :) Thanks for your patience.

                I cautiously walked up to the sprawling white desk, my temporary id card fumbling in my hand. Why was I so nervous?

                “Yes, hello, please look here,” a blond receptionist instructed. I looked over to a black spherical camera and immediately my photo was taken, printed on a three-by-two piece of laminated Teslin paper, hole-punched, and handed to me. I was then led to the elevator, where we landed on the twenty-seventh floor. We walked out into an atrium, completely made of glass, just like the rest of the building. There was widespread movement, people spilling coffee on each other, blue files being passed around, and seas of people in suits and/or high heels. Even though I was only out of a job for about a week and a half, I missed this immensely.

                I was led to a set of glass doors and then through random conglomerations of cubicles and glass offices. There was a flurry of activity everywhere I went, and the blonde was rushing ahead of me in her high heels.

                “And this will be your home-away-from-home.” We stopped in front of one of the glass offices. It was tight compared to my old office, but still spacious with a beautiful view of the Toronto harbor. The desk was mahogany, and equipped with a beautiful 27” iMac desktop computer. There were two bookcases strategically placed, as well as a separate sitting area with a coffee table and a couch. There were rugs nicely spread out on the hardwood floor, adding pops of color here and there but still keeping in tune with the overall theme of dark brown and cream shades.

                “Thanks so much…I didn’t get your name-“

                “Megan.”

                “Thanks Megan.” I put my handbag down on the desk and breathed in a fresh scent of orange wood polish and fresh cotton. Maybe this setup wasn’t so horrible after all.

                “Get settled, meanwhile I’ll let the others know you’re here. There’s a ton of people you have to meet!” Oh shit, I completely forgot about the hundreds of introductions I would have to conduct today.

                I walked over to the window and took a deep breath. The morning sun was reflected off of the harbor and Lake Ontario glimmered in its light.

                I heard a knocking on the glass door of my office and jumped, clearly startled.

                “You must be the new Alisha Mahal!”

                “Uh, yes, hi.” I am so bad at this introduction crap, especially when the guy standing in front of me in his gray suit was so ridiculously cute. His hair was gelled to one side and his eyes were a blackish-brown, and his smile was intoxicating.

                “Welcome, I’m Akash Jain.” We shook hands; he had a firm grip. “We’re in the same operating group.”

                “Thanks,” I said, trying not to look too impressed.

                “Chuck had a lot of nice things to say about you.”

                “Really?”

                “Yeah, Holland gets really excited when we hire new people.”

                “Oh, I see.”