50

CHAPTER FIFTY.
The next day at the conglomerate, Adele was welcomed by Grace yet again and this time around, the look on her face was even more deadly, but Adele couldn’t care less. As long as she did not disrespect or humiliate her, they were going to be at peace with each other.
Grace led her to the same tenth floor where her office was located, but this time around, they did not go into her office. She was taken to an office space which had over ten cubicles in it.
“This is where you will be working.” Said Grace as they entered the office. Everyone else in the office rose to their feet on seeing her walk in and greeted her almost in unison.
“Good morning everyone.” She responded to their greetings, still not smiling and Adele wondered if the woman ever smiled in her life.
From the way everyone had stood up when she walked in and how composed they looked, Adele confirmed that she was doing a great job terrorizing the people below her and for that, she disliked the woman.
“This is Miss Mackenzie, a new senior editor who will be working with you all. I hope you all treat her nicely and make her feel comfortable.” She said and led the way to the only empty cubicle in the office. When she got there, she stopped and turned to face Adel who was following closely behind.
“This is where you will be working.”
“Thank you.” Adele responded calmly as she gently placed her bag on the table and walked around to get to her seat.
She had hoped that Grace would leave after taking her to her work space, but she did not not. She was still standing before her cubicle, staring daggers at her.
“Grace, do we have a problem?” Adele asked in a quiet tone and the woman’s gaze darkened.
She took a stylish pose before Adele, crossed both arms over breasts and gave her an even more intense look. She stared deep into Adele’s eyes like she wanted to uncover her deepest, darkest secrets.
“Fifteen years I have been working here and not once have I been reprimanded by my boss, but you show up one day out of the blue and he threatens to fire me.”
“.. because you disrespected and humiliated me for absolutely nothing!” Adele defended, almost raising her voice and that got the attention of the other workers who poked their heads in their direction.
“I was only trying to have you interviewed.”
“Even after I told you I wasn’t told I was going to be interviewed, hence not prepared.”
“I mean, who the hell are you anyway? What connection do you have with Mr. King that got him so worked up when he heard what I did to you? Who exactly are you?” Grace asked, frustrated.
“I am his wife!” Adele wanted to say, but she held her tongue back and only chuckled while shaking her head.
“Trust me, you don’t want to know. If you are done here, you can leave, I need to get acquainted with my new colleagues so we can get to work.” She dismissed the grumpy looking woman and she angrily stomped away.
Everyone in the office was staring at Adele in awe. They were dumbfounded by how rudely she had spoken to Grace. Not a single person among them had ever dared to talk to her like that for fear of losing their job.
To an extent, they were happy that someone was finally going to put Grace in her place.
“Do… I have something on my face?” Adele asked calmly when she noticed that all eyes were on her. Everyone quickly averted their gazes from her and focused on what they were doing.
Soon, the office door opened and a guy walked in. He was dressed in a pair of black trousers and white shirt like every other guy in the room, but his peculiarity was that he was very attractive.
Adele watched in amusement as he looked around the room until his gaze fell on her and when he smiled, his prominent dimples took her breath away.
“Wow! The witch didn’t tell me our new employee was this gorgeous.” He remarked, walking over to Adele’s cubicle and she couldn’t help but blush. She shyly put her head down and smiled like an idiot.
“Miss. Mackenzie.” The boy called the moment he stood before Adele’s table and she quickly raised her head up to look at him.
After Jamal, he was the second most attractive man she had ever seen in her life and the fact that he was smiling at her at that moment, made her heart flutter.
“That’s the name.” She managed to respond, trying hard to bite her smile back.
“I have been instructed to show you around.”
“Oh…” was all Adele could say.
“Shall we?” The gorgeous guy asked and Adele blushed harder as she rose to her feet.
“I’d be delighted.”
The guy led the way out of the office to the hallway.
“My name is Cole. Cole Damien and I’m one of the senior editors in the publishing department. I was told you are my new colleague.”
“Yeah, that’s true. It’s nice to meet you Cole and feels good to meet someone who would genuinely smile at me like you are doing right now.”
“Oh, who wouldn’t smile when they see you? You radiate beauty and positive energy. I’m sure we will get along pretty well.”
“I’m sure of that too.” She confirmed and Cole smiled.
“So, as you already know, this is the tenth floor and it’s occupied by us, members of the Publishing department. From today till the day you stop working here, this is the only floor you should be concerned about, except given orders to go somewhere else.”
“Understood.” Adele replied with a nod.
“Good! You see, employees here in Dominick Co follow a very strict code of conduct and once you break any of those codes, you will be fired. Our boss, Mr. Jamal King is not the kind of man to give second chances. Once you miss your chance, you are dismissed.” Cole explained as they stepped into the elevator and all Adele could do was nod her head and take mental notes.
They spend the entire morning visiting every floor of the building and Jamal’s floor was the last they visited.
The moment they stepped into the hallway, Cole exhaled heavily as he turned to look at Adele.
“I saved the best for the last. This floor belongs to the boss and the boss only. Here, he has his private lounge, his office, another office and another office. He has a lot of offices. This is generally a no go area. You are only allowed to come here when you have been summoned and trust me, you do not want to be summoned by the big boss. So do all you can to avoid being summoned by him.” He cautioned and Adele just smiled.
In her mind, she wished she could do every bad thing so she would be summoned and fired, but she knew that would be impossible, given how desperately Jamal wanted her to be close to him.
“You know…” Cole continued. “I have never seen Mr. Kind smile. He always has this stern look and stoic appearance. He carries this very domineering aura around him anywhere he goes and sometimes, I wonder if he is actually human. It’s not normal for someone to be be perfect, but he is.”
“You think he is perfect?” Adele asked with creased brows.
“I don’t think, I know he is.” The guy insisted and Adele smiled and shook her head.
She wanted to make him understand that Jamal was not perfect at all. She wanted to tell him that she had seen and made him laugh, that she had seen him cry and she had seen him make fatal mistakes, but she couldn’t.
She just had to keep it to herself and go with the flow.
“You and I know there’s no perfect person in the world, Cole. Everyone has a breaking point, everyone makes mistakes.”
“I don’t think Mr. King has a breaking point, I don’t think he makes mistakes either. He’s nothing short of perfect!” Cole stubbornly insisted and Adele rolled her eyes hard and gave up.
There was nothing she could say to change the guy’s perspective.
Well, there was something she could say to change his perspective, but she knew better than to say it, so she just shook her head and began walking towards the elevator.
“And where are you going?” Cole asked, confused.
“Back to our floor, I need to start getting some work done.”
“Adele!” Cole called in a harsh whisper. “Now is our only chance to have a tour around Mr. King’s floor. After today, you are never going to have this opportunity again, so come on, let’s have a tour and feed our eyes with good things.” He cried and Adele chuckled hard.
“I’m not interested.”
“You are kidding me right?”
“I’m not! I’m not gonna be having any business with this floor, so I’m not interested in having a tour around it. Come on, let’s go.” She insisted and Cole got even more confused.
He reluctantly stepped into the elevator and it took them to their floor.
“Cole, thank you very much for the tour. I really enjoyed your company.”
“I’m still mad at you for throwing away such a great chance of seeing Mr. King’s private suit.” He said frowning and Adele laughed.
“You’ll get over it.”
“Yeah… whatever. So, can I have your number?” He asked and Adele paused.
She looked around the hallway and there were cameras at every angle.
She could bet that Jamal was watching her every move and if she dared to give her number to that guy, he was going to get transferred by Jamal to another branch of the company out of the city.
He was the only friend she had made so far and she did not want to lose him so she shook her head.
“I’m sorry I can’t. My husband is an insanely possessive man, he will not be very pleased to know that I shared my number with a male coworker.”