(OLIVE’S VISION PART 1)
Lois, a petite, beautiful brunette-hated her boss so much she often imagined breaking his nose. Who wouldn’t want to break Elijah Stern’s nose? He was such a freak and psychotic human, and all his employees detested him.
Lois had to rush home for dinner with her family in two hours, but could she? Elijah Stern had given her double of her work and she couldn’t leave the company in the next five hours. She had to send five different emails to over a different hundred clients, and she had to scan a bulk of hard copy documents into the company’s system. That was too much work for her to do under three hours. She decided to call her mother and apologize.
“Hello, Mom,” she began, with her eyes still glued to the monitor and her fingers moving quickly over the keyboard. The phone was tucked between her ear and upraised shoulder.
“Please, don’t tell me you are not coming for dinner,” her mother said immediately she picked up the call. Lois closed her eyes and sniffed.
“I’m sorry, Mom. Mr Stern gave me extra work to do. I can’t make it. In fact, I’m stuck at the company for the next five hours,” she stated.
“Lois, this is the fifth family dinner you’re skipping. This is not funny”.
“Oh my God, it’s been up to five already. I stopped counting at three.”
“Your father was really looking forward to seeing you tonight. How can we be in the same city and hardly see one another,” her mom complained, and Lois felt really bad. She hadn’t’t seen her father for the past two months, and she really missed him.
“I don’t know what to do, Mom. I am so sick of all these. I hardly ever sleep these days, always working and doing a secretary’s job,” she whined and picked up a file from her desk. She glanced at it then dropped it.
“Why hasn’t he found a replacement for Joey?” her Mom asked.
“I kinda asked him not to. He’s paying me double to do this work. And I really need money, you know,” Lois answered.
“What? Lois, you offered to do the work of a secretary for him? Seriously, do you hate your health that much?”
“I’m doing fine. I’ll just be his secretary for one month and then go back to handing him towels when he’s done swimming. Or getting him coffee hundred times a day, only for him to end up throwing them in the garbage,” she blurted out.
“He’s such as arsehole. Gosh, I’m still so pissed you’re not coming to dinner. Percy says he has a surprise for you.” Percy was her younger brother in college.
“Really? He does? Ahh, he’s going to be so disappointed,” she mumbled and sighed in frustration.
“Wait, isn’t there a way you can spare just thirty minutes? You don’t have to overstay, just thirty minutes here is enough.”
“Thirty minutes? Mom, it’ll take me thirty minutes to come over. And thirty minutes to get back. That’s already an hour and half.”
“Bring the damn work over then,” her mom yelled. She was really pissed.
“I can actually do that. Gosh, why didn’t I think of that since. I can log in to the company’s email account using my computer and continue the work at home,” she said, sounding really excited.
“Really? Come on, do it then!”
“Mom, I’ll call you later okay. Tell Dad I’m coming!” she squealed then hung up.
“Yes, why didn’t my dumb mind think about this?” she questioned herself as she dropped her phone.
She arranged the files and pushed them into her handbag, then picked up her personal computer and linked the company’s info with it. That way, she could upload the documents and it will sync up with the company’s computer.
She sent the emails she had already typed and turned off the system. Then she yawned and stretched her arms.
“I could sure use Mom’s cooking right now,” she whispered.
Taking one last gulp of her already cold coffee, she picked up her handbag and laptop. She turned off the lights in the office and hopped out.
Lois hurried down the hallway and entered the elevator. Everyone had gone home and only she was left. She waved at the security guard on duty, then walked out the gate. She stood by the road waiting for any taxi but none stopped for her. She kept waving and even yelling, but still couldn’t get one.
Right then, lightening flashed through the sky and a low thunder grumbled through the sky.
“Oh no! It’s going to rain. I forgot my umbrella up in my office,” she whined and stamped her feet on the ground. How could she forget to carry it? Now, she had to go back and go through twenty floors to get to the top of the building. And the walk from the road to the company gate, and from there to the building itself was a long one.
“I am just going to keep going. I’m too lazy to go back,” she stated and stood there. A few minutes later and a heavy downpour decended.
“Great, I should have gone back for my umbrella!” she screamed as she ran back towards the gate. Her glasses were being covered with water and her hair stuck to her face.
She reached the gate and banged her fist on it to alert the guard. She kept knocking but he didn’t come. He was still in the main building and couldn’t hear the knocking because of the rain and thunder. Lois had to find shelter somewhere. She ran to a nearby coffee shop and stood underneath the roof. It was so cold that she started to shiver and gnash her teeth. Her handbag and laptop bag were clutched tightly to her chest. She was grateful they were made of leather.
Fortunately for Lois, a taxi drove in and stopped. Two passengers with umbrellas got out and she ran to the car before it drove back into the road. She managed to plead with the driver to let her sit in his car with her dripping wet body.
Luckily, the inside of the car was warm, so she stopped gnashing her teeth and only continued to shiver. After she reached her parents house, she paid the driver and wobbled down the pathway to the front door. Her initial plan was to go home and change first, but the rain came and wasted her time. She really didn’t want to miss family dinner, so she decided to go there straight.
It was her mother who opened the door and she gasped after seeing it was her, standing like a wet sheep.
“Oh no! Lois, come in. Quick,” her mother whose name was Rebecca stated. She held her daughter’s hand and pulled her in.
“You got drenched,” she added as she took her bags from her.
“Forgot my umbrella in the office and the guard wouldn’t open the gate. The rain is too loud,” she said while shivering.
“Come, let’s get you changed. Dinner is still in an hour so you can get warm and cozy first,” Rebecca insisted and led Lois to her old room, which was now the guestroom. Her old clothes were in a bag with her Mom, Rebecca, so she took the wet ones off and went into the bathroom for a very long hot bath.
She had taken in her phone, so as she sat in the steaming soapy bath, she went through her social media accounts.
“Oh my God! Walter Lance is coming to Seattle? Oh my God!” she squealed and kicked her legs in the water.
“I have to go. I need to go,” she muttered. Then she checked the price of tickets and gasped. It was way too expensive and she couldn’t afford it at the moment.
“But those matches aren’t normally expensive. What’s happening?” she asked herself, very sad about missing the match. She angrily dropped her phone and relaxed in the bathtub.
Lois loved Walter Lance so much. She grew up loving tennis as her favorite sport, and was good at it. But she didn’t take that as a career path.
Walter Lance was a tennis star who had bagged numerous awards. He had lots of fans too, and Lois was number one. No one who knew her would deny she was cuckoo about Walter. Even Elijah Stern, her boss knew so well that he couldn’t work with Lois when there was a tennis match with Walter going on, either in America or some other country. So, you should get an idea of how pissed she was that her star was coming to her city and she wouldn’t be able to go.