so, do we like each other or not? // JENLISA

Chapter 12

“So, to clarify,” Cherin drawled out from across her vast expanse of desk. “You’re telling me you’re not completely stupid?”

Lisa gritted her teeth. She’d barely been at work for three hours and it was already shaping up to be one of the most stereotypically bullshit days of her career.

“No, Cherin. I’m not.”

“Then do be so kind as to explain why I just received a phone call telling me that my accountant was expecting me at her office an hour ago.”

“She called to reschedule last week, while I was in a meeting with you,” Lisa explained as calmly as she could. “She got through to the intern. No one told me.”

“What I’m hearing is that this is all Violet’s fault,” Cherin said, gesturing to the perky, dark-haired teenager sitting at the desk to the very edge of the bullpen. She’d become a feature in the office two weeks ago and Lisa had wanted to bundle her into a trashcan at least four times since then.

“It’s not her fault,” Lisa said, picking her words carefully.

“So then it must be yours.”

It took all of Lisa’s energy not to whip the file she was holding at Cherin's head. “I’ll reschedule for next week.”

“Do that,” Cherin said, gesturing for her to leave. “And get me a latte. You should also consider teaching Violet how to use the phones properly.”

Clenching her fists, Lisa headed for the door. She bypassed her own desk entirely, instead walking into the storage closet where they kept the new releases and shutting the door behind her.

Sliding down to the floor, Lisa scraped her fingers through her hair and sat there for a minute. Cherin had been a bitch since the first day Lisa had walked into that office, sure, but recently things seemed to have taken a dramatic turn for the worse. She wasn’t sure she was mentally equipped to deal with it now that she was also battling through Jennie's mood swings two or three times a week.

She leaned her head back against the door and took a breath, hoping that a minute of quiet would finally calm her down.

She was granted about 16 seconds before her phone rang.

Cursing every man and woman ever born, Lisa pulled her cell out and answered it. “Hi, Jisoo.”

“Do you have a passport?”

Lisa blinked. That was not a question she’d been expecting. “Um. Yes.”

“Oh, good,” Jisoo said, frantically typing something in the background. “Fast-tracking one would have been really inconvenient. You’re going to London this weekend.”

“What?”

“London, Miss Manoban. It’s in England.”

“Yeah, I know where—”

"Ms Kim is paying a visit to her third gallery and she’d like you to accompany her. Will you have any trouble getting the time off work? You’ll fly out on Thursday night and return Monday.”

Lisa wrinkled her nose. She usually only took one or two vacation days a year because, in spite of how useless Cherin said she was, she was always surprisingly reluctant to sign her annual leave forms. But she knew there was only one acceptable answer to Jisoo's question, so she just said, “That shouldn’t be a problem.”