Diana

5

Next morning, Diana took a quick shower and got dressed. She chose a casual outfit but at the same time professional enough for the first day of work. She knew that the offices were not ready, so there was no point in putting on high heels and walk like that amongst boxes and furniture still unassembled. Anyway, the heels weren't really her style. She liked to wear them, but if she had to wear them every day, it would have been pure suicide for her.

She pulled on a very comfortable pair of skinny jeans, a dark blue T-shirt, not very low-cut, over which she had pulled a jacket whose sleeves she rolled up to her elbows, and a pair of black sneakers.

As she put her jacket on, she realized she didn't have a car. She looked at her sneakers and congratulated herself on her choice. She didn't mind walking to work. The company' headquarters weren't so far away. It was only a 15–20-minute walk. It was reasonable.

She put her laptop bag on her shoulder and snatched one of the tarts bought yesterday at the supermarket, so she might eat it on her way.

She didn't know if Jenny had arrived at that hour to open the restaurant. So, she chose to use the door at the end of the corridor that led to the back of the restaurant. She descended the stairs and walked slowly toward the company headquarters. The streets of this town weren't very winding, so there was no way she could get lost. She knew where she had to go because Jenny had showed her the day before, on their shopping spree.

The building where the company's headquarters were located was not very tall. It had only two levels: ground floor and another one. From the outside, it didn't look like a typical office building. It looked more like a mini school. She was very curious to see what it looked like inside, so she went in and looked around. There was no one on the ground floor so she went upstairs to see if she could find anyone. She was a pretty punctual person but, she found it hard to believe that she was the only person to arrive yet.

Upstairs she came across a group of 4 or 5 men who seemed to have a heated discussion but without screams and violent reactions. They were all in simple suits, with a fairly casual cut and shirts without ties at their neck. Among them, the only woman was Adriana, her boss from Romania. She was relieved to see her. At least she had one person she knew in this whole new group.

She was greeted by Adriana's smile as she walked towards her as soon as she saw her.

"Good morning! Welcome!" she told her in Romanian, hugging her and gently pulling her arm towards the group of men who were watching them intently. Then Adriana switched to a fluent English, so she could introduce her in their conversation. "We were just talking about how it would be better to arrange this open space so that you can work, each of you in peace, without disturbing each other. You have to work together, but at the same time, you will need quieter periods so that you can let your imagination run wild. What do you say? Do you have any ideas?"

Diana was surprised that she was asked for her opinion on such matter, but replied, "If you tell me the number of employees in this office and the approximate size you want for your offices, I think I could come up with an idea that would satisfy us all."

"I like the initiative." Said one of the men, breaking away from the group. Diana looked at the man in question and shivered. It wasn't the same shiver she'd felt when she met Jason's gaze. This shiver was more of a chill that made her hair stand on end and made her want to get as far away from him as possible.

He had, in the hard features of his face, in the posture of his body, but especially in those two black eyes whose pupil could not be too well delimited by the iris and whose intensity gave you the impression that at any moment you will be drawn into a black hole, from which you will never be able to return, something that in Diana's mind triggers a single word: danger.