(Renata Pellegrini)
“Where are you going?” Filippo asks.
“To the canteen.” I answer without looking at him and get out of the elevator. “There are still five minutes before my workday begins.”
I don’t wait for an answer, I walk away and go straight to the cafeteria, it doesn’t take me two seconds to find the red-haired girl, she is sitting with Caio.
“Good morning!” I greet as I sit down.
“Good morning!” Caio and Amanda answer together, I can’t help but smile, it looks like Caio has managed to convince Amanda.
I look grateful to Caio who just smiles at me, biting my lower lip I turn my attention back to Amanda, I was missing my best friend so much.
“Amanda.” I called her. “You…”
“You are such a little bitch.” I stop talking when I hear someone whispering, and I have the impression that it is about me, I recognize this voice, it is the woman who told me to be careful crossing the street, because you never know who is behind the wheel, and the next day, Veronica tried to run me over. “She must have been giving it to our boss, that’s why she didn’t come to work.”
“I saw it on her first day here, as soon as she left the company she got into the boss’s car.” A second voice sounds, I don’t recognize it.
“On her first day?” A manly voice asks, sounding surprised. “I didn’t think she was so easy.”
“She was the one who made the boss fire Veronica. And even humiliated her in front of everyone, it was the biggest scandal.” The first voice speaks again.
“And the boss did nothing? He always says that he hates scandals and that he would fire anyone who caused problems in the company.” A third female voice questions.
“Yes, he did, he took her out of the receptionist position and made her his secretary and personal assistant.” Answer the first voice.
I feel my eyes burning, I didn’t think they already had so many rumors about me.
“I wonder if if I offer her money she will give me money too.” The male voice speaks again in a malicious way, making me sick, a tear runs from my eye.
The shrill sound of the chair being dragged backwards suddenly draws everyone’s attention, Caio gets up and with his fists sawed off, I try to hold his arm, but he lets go and goes to the table of people who are gossiping about me.
“Hey man, did you miss something?” Caio interrupts the man’s speech with a punch so hard in his right eye that the guy falls to the ground. “You bastard!” The man curses and goes after Caio.
Caio agilely dodges the punches, turning the guy even more red with rage, for an instant the guy looks away from him to the women’s table where he was, and at this moment, Caio hits him with another punch on his chin, who falls unconscious on the floor, but this doesn’t make Caio stop, he positions himself on top of the guy and starts throwing a series of punches, the boy’s face is already swollen and purple, Caio seems to have gone blind.
“Caio, stop.” I beg to get up, but he doesn’t listen to me. “Stop!” I shout, but they don’t stop.
A pleasant smell fills my nostrils, through my peripheral vision a man in a black suit passes near me, I recognize his broad back, it’s Filippo. He easily grabs the back of Caio’s collar and pulls him off the guy, throwing him to the ground.
“You’re fired.” He speaks rudely to Caio, who doesn’t show any reaction, just gets up from the floor and walks quickly past me, I try to go after him, but Amanda holds my hand, I look at her and she says no with her head. “Take him to the hospital, then send him to HR to sign his resignation.” Filippo talks to the security guards and leaves the cafeteria without even looking at me.
“See, everyone but her is punished for causing disorder in the company.”
“Look here,” I turn to the woman who started the whispering, and with clenched fists I walk towards her. “You big bully, who are you…”
“Get away from me.” She cuts me off and stands up. “I’m not going to lose my job because of a boss’s little whore.”
I can’t think of anything to retort, I feel a lump forming in my throat, I really wasn’t punished for fighting with Veronica in front of the company, causing a scandal, but Caio was only defending me and was fired without even the chance to explain himself.
The woman starts walking with her group, I look at the ground feeling like the worst person in the world.
“Oush!” The woman shouts for attention. “You idiot, why did you do that?” She speaks to Amanda, and only now I realize that next to her there is a crutch propped on the wall and the other is in her hand.
“I didn’t do anything!” Amanda retorts. “You put your leg on my crutch, were you trying to break it?”
“I’m not going to waste my time with you.” The woman turns her back and leaves the cafeteria.
“What happened?” I ask, sitting down beside her.
“An accident, that’s all.”
“But…”
“You better go talk to your boyfriend, he was unfair to Caio.”
“Amanda, I…”
“I’d better not waste any time, I have to go to the reception, see you later.”
Amanda gets up, grabs her crutches and slowly leaves the cafeteria, leaving only me. By now Caio must no longer be at the company.
I take my bag that I left on the table and go to Filippo’s room.
“We need to talk…” I stop talking when I see him on the phone.
“My secretary who entered my office without knocking on the door. I will call you later.” He puts the phone on the hook.
“If you came here to defend that guy, you’d better stop, I’m not going to…”
“I’m not going to… No.” I interrupted him. “I came to tell you that I am quitting!”