CHAPTER 14: LATE FOR WORK.
Rrrriiinnng! Ring!
“Hmm.” Evelyn moaned when her phone rang. The blinds of her window weren’t closed so it allowed the ray of sunshine to go through the window. The ray landed on her face and she blocked it with her hand before she rolled on the bed and covered her face with the pillow. Then it suddenly hits her. She jumped out of her bed and landed on the floor due to carelessness and shock.
“Ouch.” She groaned and rubbed her buttocks, it was painful. She stood up reflexively, grabbed her phone, and looked at the time.
“What the f*ck!” She half yelled and covered her mouth to prevent the sound. She was late…she was freaking late! It was 8:30 am and she just woke up.
“I am doomed.” She said to herself and rushed into the bathroom to take a quick shower. She ran back into her room nakedly and put on her underwear before scattering her wardrobe for her official wear. She kept throwing one cloth over the other and when it came to the section of her shoes, she just picked a random pair.
Her phone rang during the moment of her disaster and she answered the call when she discovered that it was Rita calling.
“Evie, good morning, where are you?” She asked worriedly when she was yet to see her friend.
“I am on my way. I actually slept off. Is there…[breathes in and out differently] is there anything wrong going on? Is Mr. Raphael around?” She asked in a fit of a rush as she scrambled through her things.
“Are you seriously asking me this? You should know what his principles are. He arrived at 7 in the morning. I wish you luck.” Rita ended the call.
“Oh, my life. I just started working not quite long and this is already happening.” She dashed out of her room into Tom’s room only to meet him playing games.
“Tommy Rosé!” When she barged in, Tom threw away the game board and blinked cutely.
“Mommy.”
Evelyn was so furious, “Have you forgotten that you are supposed to be in school? Why didn’t you get ready? Do you enjoy wasting your time this much? Don’t worry, I will deal with you when I get back, you are getting punished this time around.”
She pulled him out of the room and then they finally left the house. After walking for a while, they boarded an empty can and she stopped over at Kira’s place. The harsh knock woke the poor sleep girl from the land of her dreams and she came out looking like a monstrous zombie. When she opened the door, the bright light flashed past her eyes so she squinted them.
“Evie.”
“Morning, Kira. Please, can you let Tom stay here today? I am already late, we will talk later.” She ran away leaving Kira in confusion and not having enough explanation.
“What the…?” She looked at the little boy who was smiling cutely in front of her and then she sighed, she carried him in and closed the door.
“You can stop your pretense. I know that you are here to torment my life.” She said as if she had accepted her fate with Tom who giggled and jumped down before running away.
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“You can drop me off here,” Evelyn said to the cab driver and paid him before getting out of the cab and scurrying off.
As she ran into the building while trying to adjust her hair which was now a partner with the wind, she didn’t notice the curious pair of eyes that were watching her hilarious run-in.
When she was nowhere to be seen anymore, Vegas, who was inside his car sitting calmly, asked his driver.
“Who is she?”
The driver who had been following his boss’ eye movement as well since Evelyn came out of the car smiled.
“I believe that she is a new worker here, sir. I have actually seen her twice when I was around.” He replied.
“She is very beautiful,” Vegas commented.
“She is.” The driver agreed.
_______
Evelyn greeted everyone and rushed into the elevator, she fetched her office I. D card that Mrs. Conner gave her about a week ago and wore it out before stepping out.
“Good morning, Mrs. Conner.” She smiled.
“Evie dear, you are late. I didn’t even notice.” Mrs. Conner replied as she glanced at the wall clock.
“I know, I am sorry. I will see you later.” She walked away, leaving Mrs. Conner with her mouth hung open before she shook her head in disbelief.
Evelyn was a dedicated worker ever since she arrived but she had a few hilarious aspects that Mrs. Conner enjoyed whenever Evelyn came over to say ‘ hi ‘.
Evelyn’s colleagues watched her run by until she got in front of the office. She was out of breath.
“Evelyn, calm down.” She assured herself and then knocked on the door.
“Come in,” Raphael ordered. With her fragile and precious heart in her mouth, she entered and closed the door. Raphael raised his head to look at who had entered; not that he didn’t know who it was.
“Mrs. Evie…”
Evelyn moved closer to his table as she rumbled over her words.
“Mr. Raphael, I apologize for coming late. I didn’t intend to. I am so sorry. I slept off and couldn’t wake up when my first alarm rang. I am so sorry. It has nothing to do with me being lazy, believe me when I say that I am very hard-working and I never joke with my work, never. This was just a mistake and I can assure you that it will never repeat itself.” She rushed her words out without taking a second to breathe until she was done.
Raphael just stared, a little bit dumbfounded by her behavior. Evelyn became a little bit awkward and embarrassed.
“Please, don’t fire me.” She added.
Raphael stood up with his two hands in his pockets. He walked majestically towards her in a straight manner until he was standing in front of her.
“Look at me.” He ordered and Evelyn did as he said
They were standing close to each other, it was at this moment that Evelyn realized how short she was compared to Raphael. He was quite tall. She avoided looking into his eyes for some unknown reasons but Raphael enjoyed watching her tremble.
‘I must be affecting her that easily.’ He thought.
“Do you really expect me to believe that?” He asked, at the expense of this question, Evelyn looked at him.
“Yes, I am not lying.”
Raphael moved his head forward and she had to move her head a little bit because if she had not, something unplanned might have just happened. She looked behind Raphael.
“Are you really sure about that?” Raphael asked again and she bit her lips nervously before nodding again. Raphael retracted his head and went towards his coffee maker, he poured himself a cup of coffee.
“Do you want one?” He offered.
“I am good, thank you.” She rejected his offer politely.
“What if you are lying?” Raphael didn’t want to let her go that easily.
“I am not, I am being sincere, Mr. Raphael.” She tried proving her truth to him, but his back was actually turned against her so she couldn’t get a grasp of whatever facial expression he could be making. This actually scared her a bit.
“I am not the owner of his company, Mrs. Evelyn but there are some certain rules that a worker is expected to follow. You work under me and I am responsible for all your actions. If there should be anything wrong with either you or anyone else in this work, the chairman will have my account for it whether it is social or official decay.” He explained.
Evelyn touched her forehead to calm herself.
“I understand, Mr. Raphael, and I am apologizing. If there is any punishment aside from being fired then I am willing to do it.”
Raphael smiled and took a sip from his coffee, this was exactly what he was waiting to listen to. He turned around with a stern look.
“I will let you know what I need you to do but for now, deal with these files. They are calculations for this month, you might seek help from Jeremy or any of your colleagues, they were the ones who submitted it, make sure there is no error as it will be thoroughly edited by the Auditing team.” He gave out his instructions clearly.
“No problem, Mr. Raphael.” Evelyn agreed.
Raphael watched her carry her files and was about to leave before he stopped her.
“I am yet to decide your punishment so be ready and make sure THAT THERE IS NO ERROR this time around. I would rather Jeremy do it but he has a lot on his hands right now so you deal with it.” He spoke and returned to his seat.
“Thank you.” Evelyn finally left the office.
On getting back to the public office, she slumped on her chair and closed her eyes. She almost got fired today. Rita came to meet her.
“Are you sent packing?” She asked eagerly. Evelyn opened an eye to look at her.
“Almost.” She answered.
“Wow, congratulations.’ Rita said seriously before the two burst into laughter.
“It isn’t easy working for the Theophilus in general,” Rita commented.
“Really? Are they very strict or what?” Evelyn asked.
“Oh, you don’t know about them?”
“Nope.”
“Well, that’s surprising but let me give you a little introduction while you go ahead and research about them if you are interested in knowing more. The Theophilus family is well known as the Jack of all Trades. The two sons of the Chairman of this company, Mr. Vegas and Mr. Raphael, handle different jurisdictions here. Mr. Vegas is the chairman’s son according to what I have heard while Mr. Raphael is the second son and middle child but it is quite surprising why because the two are both of the same age but Mr. Vegas is older by a few months, I think 2 or 3.
I just don’t get it. A rumor had it that it was impossible for the first lady of the family who is the Chairman’s wife to be pregnant after giving birth to Mr. Vegas at least not within the space of two months, you need to give birth after 9 months. So, it’s kinda suspicious, do you get what I mean?” Rita whispered. Everything she had said was spoken silently.
Evelyn nodded.
“I understand, thank you. That is somehow interesting.” She appreciated and Rita excused herself immediately, Evelyn turned back to see what had made her run. She discovered that Raphael had come out of his office. Everyone quickly organized and continued working as if nothing was wrong.
Raphael looked at all of them. There were only fifteen of them, excluding Mrs. Conner who was stationed at the entrance of the elevator. Their duties were simple and not that simple but at least, they were not failing in them.
He walked past their block towards the elevator, regarding their greetings till he was away from their sight.
“That was a close call,” Rita said and wiped her forehead of any invisible sweat.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE.
Please be patient everyone, I will give a brief explanation of how Raphael’s workers are meant to perform their duties and also other workers for Vegas in the next few chapters. Thanks for reading.
TBC…