I'm No Cinderella

Chapter 17

Olivia was already in the conference room when I got there, sobbing into a light pink handkerchief. What is she crying about? No one’s going to fire her, for god’s sake. I just want the matter settled so that she doesn’t bother Sammy or Kayla, when it’s clear that Sammy doesn’t want her. Why is this girl so desperate for guy’s attention?

                    I took a seat opposite her, watching her quietly, just as I heard the conference room door open and close. I turned around to see Sammy, who smiled at me as he took a seat beside me. I reached for his hand under the table and gave it a gentle squeeze as Terry breezes in. Terry is a guy who is actually quite feminine – but tough in nature. He doesn’t give chance for anyone to ridicule him about being soft – and it is actually something I respect about him. He works under Mrs. Gabriella who is the Human Resource Manager and I actually wonder who told him about this problem.

                    “Okay, let’s get this meeting underway,” he said, sitting at the head of the table gracefully, “There were rumors going around today that Ms. Olivia Grant went around publicly humiliating Mr. Samuel Godfrey in a restaurant. Now, this matter would have been dismissed by the Human Resource department as staffs’ personal issues but the fact that you made a scene in front of our President, Mr. Ryan Lucas made the Human Resource department interfere in this matter. Ms. Samantha Layton here will be our witness, seeing as she is practically our President’s Assistant…”

                    President’s what? I almost jumped out in my seat. When did I become the President’s assistant? Oh, Ryan is so getting a tell-off from me. Are you sure you don’t want to actually be his Assistant? An annoying voice at the back of my head asked. You’d be following him around in his errands – like you are already doing now – and you’d be in his presence all the time. Isn’t that what you want? I glared at my subconscious and listened to Terry.

                    “… and this kind of act is not condoned in our company,” Terry said, “You will be issued with a warning letter and if this persists, we’d have no choice but to fire you.”

                    “Terry, can I interrupt you?” I said as he looked at me and nodded his head, “We don’t have to go to the extreme, don’t we?”

                    Olivia actually looked at me in surprise, her mouth gaping open.

                    “It is after all Olivia’s personal matter,” I said, “It’s not up to us to terminate her due to her personal matter – although it was uncalled for to behave in such manner in front of the President.”

                    I glowered at her as she looked down in fear.

                    “He may be nice, friendly and forgiving, but he is still the President!” I said loudly, feeling my voice ringing out in the silent conference room, “You’d do well to remember that! He may not apprehend you for what you did, but that does not mean you have the right to disrespect him in the way that you did this afternoon! There were many people at the restaurant watching, and your behavior clearly shows that you did not care about humiliating your boss – and that is a character I despise! How do you think others would think about him, seeing the way you behaved today? They’d think he couldn’t control his staffs. Did you not think that? Of course you did not, because you were consumed with your feelings.”

                    Olivia started sobbing again.

                    “Do not start crying on me, young lady,” I said sternly, “I know for a fact that you’re a lot tougher than you may portray. I would want you to apologize to Mr. Lucas but I know for a fact that he’d dismiss you as a small matter – and I wouldn’t want you to bother him in that matter. But, if you had an ounce of self-respect, you’d ask for his forgiveness, as well as Samuel’s and Kayla’s because they do not deserved to be humiliated by you as well.”