MY BEST ADDICTION

Chapter 1

I alighted from the taxi in front of the huge building, S&S Corporation, and felt all my anxieties rush back in full force. Just by looking at the building in front of me I’m reminded once again why mom tried to dissuade me from staying in Toronto. Staying here was expensive enough to run me dry but I had to admit that it was the best decision I had made for myself since my school was situated here and I also got the opportunity to intern in this company. Staying back at Mahone Bay would have limited me and I needed to do my best to help mom since dad was no longer around to support us.
“You can do this”, I motivated myself, adjusted my bag and pushed the door open, entering the building. The first thing that met me was the serene atmosphere here and the majestic structure of the building.
‘Who said workplaces could not be majestic?’, I thought and walked to the receptionist’s desk to find a really cute lady there, she looked like she was in her mid-twenties.
“Hi, good morning”, I greeted her.
“Good morning. How may I help you?”, she asked smiling.
“Um I’m here for my internship”, I said suddenly feeling nervous.
“Oh okay, just take the elevator to the ninth floor, that’s where the interns are to meet. You have no problem operating the elevator right?”.
“Yes please. Thank you, Ms. Bruce”, I said noticing her name tag.
“Just Amber is fine and you are welcome Ms.…….”, she started but stopped when she realized she didn’t have my name.
“Penelope Whyte”, I helped.
“Ms. Whyte it is then”, she finished with a smile.
“Just Penny is okay if you don’t mind, if there is nothing else then you will have to excuse me”, I said, walked to the elevator and pressed on the button. The door opened and just as I was about to press the ninth floor button I felt a presence beside me.
“Good morning”, I heard.
“Good morning”, I said raising my head to see a dreamboat standing by me. He seemed to be in his late twenties. To say I was breathless is an understatement. I pressed the ninth floor button and the door closed in front of us. Looking closely at him I realized he looked familiar but I just couldn’t figure out where I knew him from with all the stress I was going through.
“I guess you are also here for the internship”, I asked seeing as he didn’t press any button.
“Well…….”, he started but was interrupted by me.
“But I’m really impressed with the owner of this company, he really did a good job with the environment, the staff and the business as a whole, and that is a huge surprise coming from someone of his calibre. I thought his lifestyle would affect how he worked but I guess he does know how to differentiate and prioritize. I bet you are not even nervous at all seeing how calm you are, I’m freaking out here and I feel like my head is about to explode from all this excitement and anxiety. I’m annoying, aren’t I?’’, I stopped when I realized I had spoken too much and I might have bored him.
“Well I hope we become friends”, I said going quiet again.
“Why is the ride taking so long?”, I mumbled. I felt myself about to panic but before it could get worse I felt a hand on mine.
“Calm down, it would be over soon”, he said rubbing his palm on my hand and before I could fully relish his touch, the elevator pinged and his hand left mine. He allowed me get out first like a true gentleman.
“Thank you”, I said hoping to hear his voice again but was disappointed when all I got was a nod from him. I turned away from him to find a group of people, I guess the other interns, sitting ahead in the hallway. I walked towards them and sat in one of the available seats. I thought I was nervous but I was better at hiding mine seeing as people fumbled with their hands and bags. We tried getting familiar with each other so as to calm our nerves and be prepared for whatever laid in store for us. I turned looking around for the young man I met earlier but found no traces of him and thought he might have left to take care of a problem. I checked the time to find out we had about 10 minutes left before the time we were told to report in and decided to get on my phone to read my unfinished story. At exactly 8 am, we were ushered to the conference room.
“Good morning interns. I’m Marcus Spears, the head of human resource of S&S. I'd like to extend a warm welcome to everyone to this company. I sincerely hope you enjoy and succeed throughout your stay here, and in order to accomplish so, you must treat everyone as family. We are a family here, so if any of you has any questions or concerns, you can just knock. The individuals you met earlier on when you arrived and will be seeing during your stay are all members of the staff.
Our boss is busy as of the moment so can’t meet you now”, a very handsome young man addressed us. He was indeed handsome but he didn’t match up to the one I met earlier today. Thinking about him I wondered where he was but still got no glimpse of him around. The girl beside me raised her hand and Marcus allowed her to talk.
“Please will we all be assigned to the same department?”, she asked.
“Yeah about that, you will all be assigned to supervisors in the various departments during your internship”, he said looking straight at her. She thanked him but he still looked in our direction that I felt self-conscious and started to fumble with my fingers.
“You’re Penelope Whyte, right?”, he asked looking right at me.
“Yes please”, I responded quickly after getting over the shock that he knew me.
“Okay, see me after dismissal”, he addressed me and turned to face everyone.
“Any more questions?”, he asked.
After numerous questions were asked he dismissed us reminding me to wait behind.
“Ms. Whyte please follow me”, he said leaving me with no other option than to follow after him. We walked towards the elevator and he pressed the button waiting for the elevator to arrive. Once it arrived, we entered it and Marcus pressed the fifteenth floor button and I was once again engulfed in a suffocating space.
“Not another elevator ride”, I mumbled to myself.
After a long ride, we got off and walked down the hallway to the last office on the floor. I felt nervous the whole time that I didn’t even realize when we entered the room.
“Dude, we’re here”, Marcus said to whoever was sitting in front of us and sat in one of the couches as if not caring about us anymore. I couldn’t see who it was as he had turned his back to us, but what made me feel worse about the whole thing was when I saw his nameplate on his desk.
‘He was our boss and he directly asked of me on my first day? And what was that with Marcus, he didn’t knock and addressed the guy as dude? No matter how young the boss was or how familiar he was with him, wasn’t that too much?’, I thought worried fumbling with my hands.
He turned around only to leave me dumbfounded. The man in front of us was very young and he was also the dreamboat I met earlier, but what killed me was when I remembered everything I had said earlier in the elevator. I looked at his nameplate again and back at him to make sure I hadn’t made a mistake or wasn’t dreaming. It wasn’t that I didn’t do enough research about my boss before coming but I wasn’t really into the entertainment section of his life and so didn’t pay attention to news about his ways. I only paid attention to the business aspect of his life and that was how I knew his name and not his face, so realizing the person I mouthed off to was the popular dreamboat of every female was a surprise.
“Yes that’s me”, he said smirking at me. I guess my action and face gave it all away.
‘Fuck, no wonder he looked familiar earlier’, I thought.
“What, cat got your tongue now?”, he asked raising his eyebrow mockingly.
“N….no it’s not that, it’s just that I didn’t expect you to be the owner seeing as you’re very young, not that I was expecting an old man or something. I thought you were an intern and asked us to be friends. No wonder I couldn’t find you after the ride”, I managed to say before anyone could say anything else.
Thinking I was in some sort of trouble because I was called to his office I looked at Marcus trying to ask for his help to talk to his boss on my behalf.
“Am I in trouble?”, I asked quietly.
“Well you are in trouble and I’m going to punish you alright”, he said seriously, looking straight at me that I felt myself shiver a little.
“I…. I’m sorry”, I said lowering my head.
“Hey, stop scaring the girl. Penny he’s just joking with you, relax okay”
“Fine, but I have to have my eyes on you to keep you on your toes at all times, and I have the perfect job for your internship. Are you ready?”
“I’m always prepared”, I said feeling confident.
“That’s the right attitude. You are going to work as my personal assistant”, he stated not giving a care about what anyone would think.
“What?” Marcus and I asked at the same time.