His Nineteenth Secretary [✔]

One

I woke up with a start at the unusually resounding noise and then, I had instinctively curled up in bed as more rumbling of the thunder was heard.

It continued this way for quite some time.

It stopped raining minutes later, but, I was beginning to shiver slightly having on just a thin fuchsia night dress, with my blanket lying crumpled at a distance beside me. It was only drizzling outside now and it seemed the thundering had stopped except for a few lightning flashes reflecting in the room every now and then.

I glanced over at my alarm clock. To my relief, it wasn't 5am yet meaning I could still get some more sleep before getting out of bed to prepare for work, in fact it was still five minutes to two.

Uncurling and stretching a little in bed, I reached for my blanket in the dark to cover myself, moaning softly with satisfaction in its comfort.

My protesting bladder, however, kept me awake once I was under the covers, but, too lazy to get out of bed, I groaned and tried forcing myself back to sleep.

Left with no choice, I hesitantly peeled the covers from my body seeing that I couldn't get back to sleep and with another groan, grudgingly got out of bed, but, a little yelp had immediately escaped my lips as I almost tripped over something.

I was a little surprised when I looked down at my feet that moment to find myself surrounded by a large amount of used tissues, somehow not believing I used so much of it in blowing and wiping my endless runny nose while crying my eyes out yesterday. Hissing slightly, I slipped my feet into the white fuzzy slippers placed beside my bed before bending a little to gather the toilet tissues to trash them.

I made for the bathroom afterwards.

Turning around once I was done and making to leave, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror situated on the left hand side of the wall of the bathroom.

Without a second thought, I took a few short strides over to it to check out my face. As expected, my cheeks were puffy and my eyes were still a little bit red from crying and had swollen a little. Staring at my puffy face in the mirror made my mind drift back to what had happened at the restaurant I went to after I got off work at six in the evening, the day before.

Lingering and staring still at the mirror, the memories of the past flooded in, ultimately replacing the thought of what had happened the day before with Mike and how I had been falling behind at work- easily distracted and not doing my work the way that I should.

The memory of how I got to my present position took over. How I finished High School with good grades, although throughout I was an unattractive girl due to my very big stature, my somehow weird sense of style and my inability to socialize with the others and also how I got into college, graduated from college and now, working at a big company which had always been my dream.

I dismissed the thoughts after some time and left the bathroom for my room, but, not without a new determination, which was to avoid any more distraction which could only mean to stop thinking about Mike no matter how very hard it was going to be.

*

I woke up to the loud buzzing sound of my alarm clock, that which I swatted off with a moan. The room was still chilly and I just wanted to sleep some more in the comfort of my blanket, but, remembering I was yet to pick out the dress that I would be wearing to work that day, I hurriedly hopped out of bed with an horrified shriek.

It wasn't difficult to pick out the dress to wear and to prepare what to eat before scurrying to the bathroom to take my bath.

At half-past six, I was ready and comfortably seated in the cab that I flagged down.

I greeted the few people I saw on my way to the elevator when I got to work, while having a smile plastered on my face and humming Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys. There was no one in the elevator when I stepped in and I had continued humming, this time Chandelier by Sia.

The journey to my office was a fast one and I had arrived at my desk within a few seconds. I had just dropped my brown leather bag on the desk and was going to sit when my boss, Mrs Thompson sashayed into the large luxurious office in a pair of glistening deep red stilettoes. Her outfit was just as impeccable as any other day's, today, a stylish deep red cashmere trench coat over a plain white high neck dress, with her designer handbag, the same color as her stilettoes.

"Good morning, Liz." I greeted with a smile as I made my way towards her.

Her name was Elizabeth Thompsom but she preferred to be called Liz or Lizzy. I enjoyed working with her and that was because ever since I started working with her for like a year and a few months now, she had been very nice to me and treated me like she would treat her own daughter.

"Morning." She replied curtly and simply walked past me without as much as casting me a glance. Her action surprised me, but, I could tell she was angry about something since the frown on her face earlier was evident.

That was new.

Back at my desk, I could clearly make out more employees arriving now from where I was seated through the glass partition. After a few minutes, wanting to check on her, I rose up from my seat and made for the door of her office, hoping now to find her in her usual lively mood. I knocked on the door on getting there and hearing her usher me in, I pushed the door open without delay and stepped in.

She adjusted her spectacles as I walked in and carefully dropped the pen in her hand on the table that which made a light click sound before finally looking up. "I was just about to call you." She stated.

"Oh okay, Ma'am." I answered with a smile thinking she needed me to do something for her. She didn't say anything. Instead, her eyes slowly averted from me to a white envelope which was lying on its own a little distance away from her opened laptop and the several files which were laid out before her on the table.

"That's..." She hesitated. "That's for you," She eventually said and then her eyes were trained back on and her slim fingers into expertly shuffling through the files she was going through earlier.

I knew for sure it couldn't possibly be my pay as I just got paid two weeks ago and when something told me it could be a termination letter, I felt my chest tighten within me.

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