Ms.Juliet entered CEO, Mr.Kingston' office for the first time in her 3 years of working for the Kingston corporation. All he got to ask her are few weirdest questions "Being a Kingston employee your salary is not sufficient?" "Do you like sketching...
Henry placed the bracelet back in the box, put it in his jacket and walked out of his office. It was already dark, he got down to the finance department which was dimly lit with no one around. He walked past each cabin and stopped at Julie's cabin, every thing was in place, the stationeries, notepad, files, some finance magazines and a Quote.... Henry stood still reading it, he pulled out the bracelet box and thought for a while. He looked back at the quote once again and left with a faint smile.
"Little by little Day by day What is meant for you Will find its way"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Julie was absent mindedly, looked at the passing tall buildings and the busy street of the new city through the window. The cab stopped in front of a hotel, she unloaded her luggage and checked in. Julie had no idea where to start until Mr Smith has referred her to Mr Stephen Ross, chief Secretary, Department of internal affairs.
She had contacted through his official mail, attaching her resume and the reference letter which Mr.Smith had sent her after meeting her. To her surprise, she had received the call for in next few hours. So she had packed and left early in the morning. She thought that spending more time in this place would bring nothing but pain.
Julie reached the new office building by 12, it was not a multi-storey building like the Kingston Corporation's head office. This has more individual blocks with beautiful landscapes around. Finally, she had arrived at the Department of internal affairs after searching for the past 20 minutes.
The lady in the reception, verified her identity, gave her a temporary ID and asked her to wait as Mr Ross was in a meeting with the Commissioner and other higher officials.
Julie was tired by the time he came back, it was almost 5. She was yawning when he walked past her. Julie entered his office, Mr. Ross must be 50 years old, sat with a grim expression. "Welcome, Miss sleepy head" he loudly greeted her. Julie's face turned red in embarrassment. "How can one be so lethargic on the first day of office?" Mr. Ross asked. "Sir, I am sorry, it was my mistake as I had a long travel" he gave a disapproving look. Julie always make sure to work better so as to avoid getting yelled at, it was her worst nightmare. "Here, go get these files from the documents room in the main building. Let's see how quickly you finish this task, so that I can decide whether you are capable to continue here or not"
Julie was on the verge of crying as she was clueless as to why was she doomed on her very first day of work, she was also so confused with all the buildings. She stood zoned out in the middle of the corridor, someone stopped in front of her and waved at her. "Sorry, I am blocking your way" Julie said in a low voice. A tall young man, who looked like a university student, looked at her and said, "Are you new here?" "Yes, I am Mr. Ross, new assistant" Oh! Mr. Ross' PA? Then you should have Superpowers" he laughed. "Why?" "You will know that in few days" he replied smirking. "I don't think I will last that long" she sighed sadly. "What's wrong? did he fire you already?" "Not yet, he just asked me to get these files from some XYZ building, I don't have the faintest idea of where it is" he laughed again. "Do you want to stay in this job?" "Most definitely" replied Julie. "So come on let's get this done" he pulled her along with him, looked at the papers in her hand.
She was breathless in the next few minutes as he was almost running. He looked at her and stopped to get a bike for both of them. Julie was flooded with memories of Henry looking at the bikes, her biking task, her night ride with him. "You coming?" The young man asked her little loudly to get her attention. Julie came out of her trance and joined him. He stopped near the main building and said, "this is the main building, I suppose this document room should be in the second floor right wing" "Thank you so much Mr..." "Oh yeah, I am Jim Klen doing my second year data management in the university" he extended his hand. "I am Juliet Rozana, a Newbie" "Here take my number, call me when you're lost or in any need" his friendly gesture, amazed Julie. She thanked him and proceeded towards the building. She organised all the files from the list, took a copy of the required contents, put them in a separate file, marked them clearly. She came out of the building and found him sitting with his laptop and working. "Jim, why didn't you leave yet?" "Hey Julie, I am waiting for my girlfriend Eva to finish her shift, so we can leave together, she is also an intern like me" "That's fine, let me get back and finish my work, see you" she smiled and left.
Julie knocked on Mr. Ross door and entered, "Sir, the documents you have asked for" said Julie. He raised his eyebrows for a split second, though he was impressed by her clean work, he kept it simple, "that's fine, be here by 8:30 tomorrow morning" he left then.
Julie was relieved that she was not fired on her first day. She came back to the receptionist and said, "Mam shall I leave?" "Hi there, Ms Rozana I'm Norah Holmes, here is your contract form read and sign it, you will receive your ID card tomorrow, so how was your first day?" "It could have been my last, but that's a narrow escape" "What was his reaction when you given those files? How many errors he pointed out?" Norah asked. "Nothing at all he just said 'It's fine' " Julie said innocently. Norah was shocked, "What? He said 'fine'??? Then you should be really efficient and must have impressed him, he is actually a perfectionist, always finds the smallest of errors and nothing escapes his eye, well done on your first day, my dear" the middle-aged women hugged Julie tightly. She was surprised at her sudden gesture. "Oh, did I startled you dear? I just expressed my emotions out loud" "That's okay Ms Holmes, I needed one" "Alright dear, Best wishes. See you tomorrow"
Julie reached the hotel and searched for apartments in realtor site. She booked appointments with few to check them out after work the next day.
Julie woke up early, got ready and reached office 15 minutes ahead. She thought to grab breakfast so she asked Norah what would Mr Ross like. She said, "a nice aromatic sweet coffee would make him a better person in the morning and those little chocolate chip cookies are a bonus" she smiled. Julie had a sandwich and got him coffee and cookies.
Mr Ross entered his office, when Julie greeted, " good morning sir would you like some coffee?" The coffee aroma just activated all his senses. She placed it in front of him with cookies. "I don't prefer women getting me food" he said in a lightly irked tone. "Sir you are mistaken, the coffee bill is on you. It's only the cookies, I thought to share it with you, but I respect your principle, so let me take it off" "Ahem, thats.. huh okay, leave it there, I don't want to kill your spirit" he took back the cookies. Julie contained her smile at his behaviour.
She learnt that Mr.Ross may be a tough person, but definitely not a bad one, just do your job with perfection and you are good to go, do not expect appreciation, not getting fired itself is the biggest credit.
*****
Henry had a business meet with an associate in a hotel. When he came out after the meeting, there were media people who clicked his picture. In next few hours, it was posted on their social media handle. Julie was as-usual searching for posts related to #HenryKingston to keep up with his updates. She was elated that there was a new picture of him, she saw something black on his hand and zoomed in to get a clearer view, she was utterly shocked and dumbstruck.
Henry was wearing the lava stone bracelet that she had gifted him. It was the same one with the Crown charm.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
She jumped up and down in excitement. She did not have a clue of where she had left it and how did he get it. The bracelet looked awesome on his wrist. Julie's stress, sadness and anxiety of the past few days had vanished in thin air on seeing Henry's picture, especially the bracelet on his wrist. Julie was extremely happy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*Hit the star at the end of the chapter if you like the story.
