Imperfectly Perfect

Chapter 2 - Who do I have in office?

It's Monday and that means my first day of job. The excitement kept me up all night. I wake up really early in the morning to prepare my own lunch. Although no sleep whatsoever gave me dark circles around my eyes I couldn't have done anything to cut down the elation – it's the first job of my life after all. I wear sea green top and blue skinny jeans and let my hair down that reaches the end of the back of my neck only. On applying a little mascara and eye liner and dabbing my lips with pink lip gloss, I grab my bag and mobile to leave the apartment.

"God, I hope I make some friends in office," I pray under my breath.

I lock the door and put the keys in my bag before turning on my heels and walking ahead. When I pass Liam and Niall's apartment, I see it unlocked from outside, which signals that they're still at home. I remember my exchanges with Niall on Saturday and feel angry already. "He's the last thing I want to remember now," I think and jog down the stairs to hit the street.

The weather is beautiful in every sense of the word with the sun shining just enough to keep me warm. I put the shades on and wrap the scarf around my head – in Bangalore this is most essential due to the high pollution rate of the city. The bus stop is only five minutes walking distance and I reach there by 9.20 Am. I catch some guys glaring at me and somehow that makes me happy. It's always nice to be checked out!

A bus arrives sharp at 9.30 Am and I board it to confront a sea of people, curtailing my chance to even breathe. However, by the time two more stops arrive I'm sitting by the window, heart accelerating at a crazy pace.

I reach office at around 10.10 Am and internally groan for being 10 minutes late on my first day. On entering the main building, I witness several cars and motorcycles lining up the parking lot. I lift my head up to read "Winnow Analytics" engraved on the right side of the building wall. The last time I came to the office was in April when a group of shortlisted students from my college visited the place for giving a written test and an interview. After that my college convocation occurred in May and then one whole month of leisure back at home in Calcutta consumed my time before I returned back to Bangalore to join the new job. Everything happened pretty smoothly, much to my surprise.

I walk up the stairs and stroll towards the office door, but fail to open it. On noticing a keypad attached on top of it I realize that it requires finger prints on the sensor plate to get unlocked. Irritated that I don't have the access yet I dial my boss's number, which I saved after I got selected for the job back in April.

"Yes, Nadia?" he answers at the fourth ring.

"Sir, could you please come and open the door?" I say, feeling bad for disturbing him.

"Yeah, yeah, sure," he answers, and hangs up.

I sigh and put the mobile away from my ear when my boss arrives at the door. He opens the door and smiles widely at me.

"Good morning, sir," I smile and nod.

"Morning," he smiles back.

We turn on our heels and stroll forward. I look around and spot the light brown couch, the round table, and the two glass cabins that click a lot of memories in my head from April. I take a deep breath, feeling happy that all that I've done throughout my life has come to pay me back finally.

"This is your workstation. You've your own cupboard and tomorrow remind me, I'll give you the key," my boss, Mr. Venkatesh says.

"Okay, sir," I nod and smile, butterflies flying rapidly inside my stomach.

I occupy the chair that is placed in front of my computer and turn the machine on. I keep my bag beside the CPU and continue to look around, seeing other employees. My company namely Global Monitor – an online newsportal, is new and a start-up, thus; the office team is also quite small. Other than I there are just two more employees, and like me it will be their first day as well. However, I ponder how being punctual definitely isn't their target.