1 CH1: The Shameless Message

"Good food is the basis of true happiness!"

- Auguste Escoffier

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*Bing!*

The sound of an email notification coming in made Delilah jumped in surprise.

In one of the offices at the Kang Company, sounds of typing and little chatters of people talking in soft and small voices could be heard throughout the area. People could be seen coming in and out of the room, handing out and gathering files of reports. A couple of young office ladies could also be seen near the vending machine at the corner of the room, laughing and talking as they gossiped about the recent daily news.

Delilah sighed in frustration as she glanced up at the wall clock in front of her. Her cubicle was one of the ten cubicles aligned along the centre of the rear wall that were aligned into two groups of five facing each other. They were located on the second floor of the office building where the Human Resource Department was located, and she was one of the employees in that department.

Delilah had been engrossed in trying to finish up her reports while/as numerous emails kept coming in. It was already 11 o'clock in the morning, but she was still only on her third report. Stacks of folders were piled up on her left.

She grabbed her cup and sipped her coffee. 'Ugh,' she thought with a grimace. The coffee had already gone cold. She hated drinking coffee that had gone cold.

She put her cup down and continued on with her work. As she was working, she sneaked a peek at the cubicle next to her.

Her colleague, Firah, was fiddling with her mobile phone, a chocolate stick between her lips. Firah, feeling that someone was looking at her, turned around to face Delilah and raised an eyebrow in question.

Delilah shook her head. She slowly placed her chin on the palm of her hand, with her elbow on her table, and then asked Firah, "Why do you seem so free?"

Firah shrugged, turning back to her phone. Glancing over at the screen, Delilah noticed that she was playing a puzzle game. "I'm just waiting for lunch."

Delilah narrowed her dark brown eyes at her and asked again, "Have you finished your work?"

Firah finished off her chocolate stick and said, "Nope!" making a popping sound on the 'p'. She then added, "Besides, I'm also waiting for your work. Didn't you hear an email coming in? That's from me."

Delilah groaned inwardly as she ruffled her hair in frustration. She had woken up late this morning, so she did not have the chance to make or eat breakfast. She had to wait a few minutes for her car to start up before she could even drive. Not to mention, she had to spend 40 minutes in a traffic jam near her home before she could finally get onto a lane that could bring her to her office building.

'Speaking of breakfast, that reminds me…', she thought with a goofy smile on her face. Luckily, she did manage to reheat the sandwich that she had bought last night after work. It was a double decker sandwich, stuffed with olives, little cherry tomatoes, succulent beef slices, crunchy lettuce, melted cheese and the store's own secret sauce. It was the secret sauce that made her drool. It was spicy yet sweet, with the tangy kind of taste that always gave you a kick in the taste-buds. She giggled softly at herself, getting all excited at the thought of finally taking a bite of her sandwich.

She had been visiting this sandwich shop, which was almost a half-hour drive away from her home, for several weeks now, all in the hopes of buying this specific sandwich. But every time she had reached/gone there, the sandwich was either sold out or the shop was closed for a private event.

And unfortunately, the shop did not allow advanced booking, and were very strict about their 'First Come, First Served' policy. As part of her strategy to tackle this problem, she decided to follow the social media page and even turned on the notifications for that page, just in case there were any news or updates about it.

Yesterday, an hour before her time to go home, there was finally a notification on her phone informing that they had extra sandwiches up for grabs. She ended up begging one of her colleagues to help check out for her by making up a white lie that she had an emergency to go to.

Well, to be honest, it really was an emergency. A sandwich was at stake!

So, after agreeing to do some of her colleague's work, she quickly went to the shop and managed to grab one of the sandwiches. She was so happy that she literally skipped to her car with the sandwich in her hand.

When she arrived home, she remembered that she already had a 'Nasi Lemak' for dinner. The 'Nasi Lemak' was given by one of her supervisors who had asked her to give it a try, since everyone knew that she loved spicy foods as well. Worried that the 'Nasi Lemak' might go bad due to the coconut milk in the rice, Delilah decided to eat that instead of the sandwich.

The 'Nasi Lemak' was really delicious. The rice was cooked to perfection with the coconut milk. The 'sambal' was blended superbly, with chili, shrimp paste, onions and a whole host of other condiments. Blending all of those ingredients, it gives out a very flavoursome and spicy smell that tickles the nose-buds. Yes, she had a nice dinner last night.

Returning back to the present time, Delilah licked her lips in anticipation as she glanced up at the wall clock again. The clock read 15 minutes to 12 o'clock. 'Oh yay!' she thought, rubbing both of her hands in glee. 'A few more minutes and I am freeeeee!' She laughed evilly in her mind, not noticing Firah giving her a weird look.

Delilah rubbed her stomach, which was grumbling in protest at that moment and whispered softly, "Soon..."

Just a couple of minutes before the clock struck 12, there was a loud commotion at the entrance of the office. Delilah and Firah looked up to see one of their supervisors, Howard, greeting everyone loudly.

Delilah watched with dread as she saw him trying to look for someone. He then saw Delilah, and she could see the 'Ah-ha!' look on his face. He walked towards her cubicle and gestured at Firah to move out of her chair. "You can go for your lunch now. I need to talk with Delilah here."

"Sure thing, sir!" said Firah with a smile.

Delilah's eyes widened and with a 'Don't leave me alone!' look on her face, she reached out her hand to Firah for help. A hand which Firah ignored as she just left the room. Howard smacked her hand down and asked with a laugh, "Hahaha! What's with you?"

Delilah sighed sadly. "Nothing. So, what's up, Howard?"

Howard quickly shushed her. "Shhhh... Keep your voice down! I don't want Matt to know that I'm here!! He has been bugging me, trying to discuss some projects. I'm not in the mood to entertain him," he said, as he leaned back against Firah's chair in a languid manner.

Delilah rolled her eyes inwardly. Who was the one who greeted everyone in a loud voice at the entrance?

She then forced a smile on her face and said, "Then, what are you doing here?"

"Ah... nothing, I just wanted to hang out here," he said, brushing his nails on his loud shirt. He was wearing a bright pink shirt with black pants.

Sometimes, Delilah had to wonder. 'Not to be mean but really? Where does he get his fashion sense? I'm not saying that I have the best fashion sense myself, but a bright pink shirt, black pants, white shoes and yellow socks? Please. Topped with that bleached blonde hair, he looks like someone who walks the streets at night, with his bright colours serving as a set of neon lights.'

"Well, someone is getting ready for lunch, you know..." Delilah said slowly, hinting at him that she was about to go for her lunch.

Howard scoffed in disdain. "Lunch? Who has time for lunch, anyway? Anyone can eat at any time here. Who cares about the timing?" he said.

Delilah seethed angrily in the inside. 'Well, not everyone is like you...' she thought, getting peeved at his attitude.

He then leaned towards her and asked, "Hey, hey. Did you hear about this guy who got lost in this one country? Apparently, they said that he did not want to go home to his wife and wanted to stay there with a fairy or something. But no one knows the whole story..."

He continued on, "And then this guy.... After that.... It's funny how..." He droned on and on.

Delilah sighed inwardly. 'I don't even know these people! Why are you even telling me this?!?' she thought angrily as she played with her phone in her hand.

Delilah looked up at the clock and groaned inwardly. The clock now read half past one. She sneaked a look at the entrance, and it seemed like Firah had not come back from her lunch break yet, obviously trying to avoid the talkative Howard in front of her.

A few minutes later, a hand dropped on Howard's shoulder, making him jump up in surprise. He turned around and his eyes widened.

Matt's eyes crinkled at the corner as he smiled. "Hello there, Howard. Finally found you." He nodded his hello at Delilah, who nodded back.

Howard laughed awkwardly and said, "Yeah, ha-ha-ha... Been busy lately. Didn't check my phone nowadays. You know how it is, right, Matt?"

Matt laughed, putting his hands on his hips. "I sure do!" He then walked towards one of the private offices at the back of the room and said to Howard, "Now that you are here, come and let's have a discussion!"

With Howard slowly following behind him, slouching, Matt suddenly stopped in his path and turned to Delilah. "Ah, Delilah. You can have the rest of the day off, just leave your work for tomorrow and I'll check up on those tasks tomorrow as well. Thanks!"

Delilah jumped up from her seat, grinning. "Thank you, sir!" She immediately packed her things up. Luckily, she had already taken the initiative to finish off her colleague's work first, so the work would not be delayed. So, it was only her work that was left for the next day.

Delilah hummed happily to herself as she carried her work bag and her lunch bag out of the office. She decided to eat at the office cafeteria, since she still had a lot of time to spare before the start of the after-work traffic.

She sat down at one of the empty tables, placing her lunch bag and mobile phone on the table and her work bag on a chair next to her. She then unwrapped her sandwich with a satisfied smile on her face. The waft of the secret sauce reached her nose. She licked her lips and bit down on her sandwich. As she chowed down on her sandwich, she thought to herself, 'Good food is the basis of true happiness, inDEEd'.

If one could sneak a peek at the message on her phone, it read, 'Hello Matt! Just a heads up! I'm currently meeting with Howard at my cubicle here, and I was wondering whether you are free today so that I can give you the reports of the employees' appraisals. Thank you!'