Jasmin gasped and closed her mouth, she knew something had happened but she never thought it was that bad.
Anita’s hands were shaking, “I don’t know what to do or say.”
Jasmin got up and quickly reached for Anita’s hands, taking them in hers in an attempt to keep her mind steady and comfort her the best way she could. “I’m sorry, but why would they do that, did George say anything?”
She shook her head, “No, there wasn’t one. He was just informed that the company was letting go of some of its staff because of financial shortage and he was one of those fired. He said there was no genuine reason to lay off employees because the company was doing way better than it did last year. He believed there was more to it than his employer was letting on, something was wrong.” a tear ran down Anita’s face and she quickly wiped it off, puffing out air through her mouth to keep her composure, “it makes no sense.”
More to it.
Something was wrong.
Anita’s voice echoed in her head even as she remained silent. Something or someone. This was Cainan, this was his doing. This was her punishment for breaking the rules and going to the job days ago against his wish.
She didn’t know how, but her guts told her he had a hand in this. What better way of punishing her than taking the job of the one that got her the extra job in the first place?
He didn’t let it go like she hoped he would and now her good friend and her husband were devastated because of her.
…
“Cover for me, please,” she told Anita, taking off her apron and tossing it on the counter.
“Where are you going?” she asked in confusion.
After the news came, Anita lost her appetite. It didn’t come as a surprise to Jasmin, Cainan seemed to do that to a lot of people knowingly or unknowingly.
The thought of Cainan tempering with the job of someone she cared about just to teach her a lesson didn’t quite sit and she felt she needed to do something, anything, anything but stay in the restaurant and wait tables for customers while her friend continued with her miserable day.
She admitted taking things too far days ago by going against his words, but she apologized for what she did.
She never thought he could be petty and that was her error because he clearly didn’t let it go even though it was already days. He was powerful and capable of getting away with things but she wasn’t going to let him get away with this.
She got into the taxi and closed the door. “Where are you heading to, Ma’am?” The lady in front asked, glancing at her through the rear mirror.
“Please take me to the Inferno group head office.” She replied and the driver drove her off.
After twenty minutes of driving, they arrived at the Inferno head office and she got down and paid the driver who thanked her and drove off. Jasmin finally looked up at the magnificent structure standing before her and her heart doubled in its beat. This was not the office she ran into many weeks ago, this wasn’t even the location and though she was there only once, she still remembered how the environment looked then.
Her eyes caught the sign at the side of the building and boldly written on it was Inferno group of company HQ. She told herself that though this office was different from the one they met in, this was also his and he most likely would be here.
It has been five weeks since they’d been together and this was her first time coming here. She had kept out of his business the same way he had kept out of hers… well until today.
She moved her feet along with the people walking towards the building, keeping her head clear of anything that wasn’t her getting answers from Cainan for playing god on her friend’s job.
As she entered the building she saw many desks in the large room, working and concentrated. She approached one of the staff who was sitting closer to where she stood and waved her hand in front of his face.
“Hello, I’m heading to um… Mr Inferno’s office, I was wondering if you would tell me where it is.”
The man in a black suit and tie glanced at her, his gaze travelling from head to her waist where the table hindered the rest of his sight and he looked back up at her again, displeasure in his eyes, “I think you’ve lost your way.”
This man didn’t know who she was and she felt a little disappointed. She was wearing a pink fit-and-flare dress and a small black jacket on and a pair of black converse to go with it. Her hair was in a bun that she was sure was still as neat as it was when she made it this morning and her face as usual, bare of makeup. She mentally assessed herself and compared to the other women she saw around, she was poorly dressed.
Her wardrobe had experienced a massive change over the last few weeks and she was compelled to throw away her old clothes and her new wardrobe was stocked with expensive and sophisticated gowns and clothes, but she always chose the simple ones especially when going to work because she didn’t want to appear more sophisticated than those she was supposed to serve and end up attracting attention. She had enough attention at work and that was just from being Cainan’s girlfriend, she didn’t want more. She had no idea she would be coming to Cainan office today or she would have prepared herself and dressed to impress, but nothing could be done now because the man looking at her didn’t recognize her and was already judging her by her looks.
To live a quiet and unnoticeable life even while dating Cainan had been her goal but right now, she needed him to recognise her, “No, you don’t understand, I didn’t lose my way, I am here looking for your boss, I need to talk to him, is he on the seat? If yes, where can I find him.”
“Listen, lady, I’m going to ask you to move now, I have a lot to cover here and my boss will not be so thrilled if he finds out I spent my time talking to some poor, crazy lady.” He rudely lashed out.
