4 CHAPTER 4: The New Colleague

[Sasha Shadows]

My eyelids were forced to open when the orange sunlight hit my nose through the gap of the curtains. Meanwhile, the rooster reared by my neighbour was my second alarm clock, which indicated that I had woken up late. Although I wouldn't be late for work, I wouldn't have enough time to prepare my own lunch.

Bracing myself to a sitting position, I hop down off the bed, leaving it unsettled while dashing out of the room. Nevertheless, I managed to turn off the fan as electricity charges were pretty high in this area. As for the curtains, I did not push them away because I was in a great rush. "Sorry turtles, I'll feed you once I get back."

After taking a shower hastily for surprisingly 10 minutes, which is 20 minutes faster than my usual speed, I snuggled into my bookstore T-shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans. But as I looked into the mirror, I couldn't stop grimacing upon my knotted hair which was not washed during the shower.

"Gonna comb it smooth, and bring an empty container with me before leaving," I muttered to myself in case I forgot such a vital thing. In the end, I still failed to bring my bento with me after a few minutes of hair-brushing.

One day, I'll definitely cut it short and leave it short.

My dead expression almost ruined everyone's mood in the morning while I lined up to buy my lunch. It was the nearest food stall from my working place, hence, I asked Uncle Daniel to drop me there and leave the rest of the route for my legs.

Handling a plastic bag loaded with a packet of carbonara spaghetti, I picked up my pace towards the awaiting bookstore as fast as I could while glancing at the time of my lock screen. "Cranky noodles! 15 seconds left for me to clock on." I sped up until my legs were running while my mouth parted to heave in as much oxygen as possible for the required strength.

Soon, the entrance of the bookstore seemed to be shining in front. Thus, my pace quickened once more, even though my lazy mind was calling me to stop. Apparently, I raced past a teenage boy and cornered into the air-conditioned space. I was sprinting at a relatively faster speed than my usual running speed and I did not even bother to look up and see who it was.

The bookstore looked somewhat like a paradise for book lovers but having a fastidious manager here wasn't really an easy thing for a little staff like me. Not long after, I stopped in front of the punch machine and inserted my card. "Right on time, Shadows. You're safe." I sighed in relief after looking at the flickering 9.00 changes into 9.01.

I smiled widely before turning to my back only to face the manager, or shall I say, the she-Devil herself who was looking straight at me, deadpanned. My smile faded to a serious poker face at the sight of her. "Good morning, Shadows. Did you have a goodnight sleep?" Her palms were placed on each side of her waist as she asked me the question. The question sounded like an extremely dangerous trap that required the best answers.

"Y-yes, Madam Jesslyn," I stuttered with my answer as a breathed giggle can be heard from behind the 30-year-old woman. "Sorry for being-"

"Nearly late," she interrupted with a rather loud volume to emphasize her point, which I responded with my lower lip bitten. "And that hooligan standing behind me," she gestured for me to head to the counter before turning to indoctrinate the so-called hooligan – Clerence Cartwright.

It was then my turn to laugh, yet no sound escaped from my throat as I knew the consequences. Nevertheless, a low pitched evil laugh carrying my voice had already echoed in my mind without halting, thereby raising the corner of my lips. A dark but funny expression creeped across my face once I was out of Madam Jesslyn's sight.

The manager was still lecturing Clerence as the hot boy scratched the back of his neck in irritation, though his face still presented an embarrassed yet fake smile. "Oops, my bad. I promise I won't do it ever again," he swore with his three fingers like a kid, which was evenly cute as how the manager asked him to not laugh at me. As can be seen, she may be strict when it came to manners and punctuality, but she was still a caring manager overall judging by how she protected me from being bullied by other colleagues.

Furthermore, I also remembered myself falling sick during my shift one day. My head was burning and the temperature could almost fry an egg or boil a pot of water. With or without the other staff's agreement, the manager still managed to persuade them with double pay. Hence after the replacement staff had arrived, she immediately drove me to the hospital, speeding.

I knew some of you might comment that her act was like some sort of psychological tactics. But deep in my heart, I knew her better than anyone since I'd been working here for almost a year. And even so, I held no rights to judge her by the covers, so neither do you.

***

[Clerence Cartwright]

I wondered how big the manager's lungs were as I watched her moralizing me for a long period of time. We were sitting in the staff room where the people working here could eat and chat during lunch time. With the help of this eating table, this little room also became a suitable place for newbies to be interviewed before joining the army. Finally, there was a couch placed at the end of it for resting purposes.

Looking at the manager in the eye as she talked, I could see that they were grey, in which they matched with the woman's partially silver hair. With her angular face smeared with light make-up, her appearance seemed younger. Her long-sleeved shirt coloured with pine green managed to hide her waistline as she stood, not to mention her long black pants and two-inch champagne high heels.

"Stop examining me from top to bottom, kid. I'm a married woman." And I sent her a wink together with a flying kiss. She had seen me flirting, yet she ignored me with a throat cleared. "Before you fill in the forms, there are rules for you to obey." I nodded with a serious hum, totally prepared for the information. "Rule Number 1, no flirting to female colleagues, especially the counter girl." Alright, I was listening. "Rule Number 2, be punctual. You'll begin with 5 dollars per hour, and if I catch you one day for being late or absent without any reason, your salary will be deducted." Still listening, at least she did not consider firing me. "Rule Number 3, respect your colleagues regardless of their status on work and rule Number 4, no casual talking about topics other than this bookstore during your working hour, got it?"

"Got it." Phew, that's a lot of rules for me to hear all at once ever since my existence in life.

The manager, or Madam Jesslyn leaned closer to me with her cleavage partly visible through the gap of her unbuttoned collars. "So, are you still interested in joining the army?" Her eyebrows wiggled with confidence when examining the changes of my facial expression. At the same time, I couldn't stop swallowing to suppress myself from looking downwards. My vision laid on the wall behind the manager when I tried to avoid having eye contact with her.

A part of me was telling me to get out of there right away. But my disobedient mouth said otherwise. "Y-yes, madam!" And I saluted without listening to my brain's demand. God, there was no going back. "You're so screwed, Cartwright…" I muttered to myself under my breath.

"What did you say?" And I just noticed the she-Devil herself hadn't left the tiny room yet.

"I-I said," One of her eyebrows raised when she eyed me with suspicion. "I said I'm honoured, Madam Jesslyn." A fake smile formed on my face.

"Good. Welcome to the family." She handed me a stapled form consisting of two pieces of papers. "Have fun filling the form and I'll get Shadows to find you a working T-shirt." Shadows, as in the counter girl?

"Alright." I answered with the best neutral expression I could manage. To be honest, I was crying with regret deep inside at the very moment.

***

Back to [Sasha Shadows]

It's been half an hour since I'd been standing at the counter, typing the forty-ninth chapter of my story while serving the buyers at the same time. As not all people worked on Saturdays, the bookstore was usually flooded with people from morning until the end of lunch time. I remembered there was a mother entering the store to borrow the washroom due to her 4-year-old son.

Luckily, my other colleague helped me in directing the mother to the toilet when I continued to serve the customers at the counter. As I was extremely busy for the day, I couldn't even finish 50% of the said chapter. You may imagine my speechless expression masked in front of my frustrated and angry face. I wouldn't blame you.

Soon, the clink-clanking high heels alerted me that I immediately exited my novel page. "I'll manage the counter." The manager offered. "Because I need you to find Clerence a working T-shirt."

"Okay, Madam Jesslyn." I nodded without looking at her as I fled from the counter. The fabric of my sleeve brushed past her uniform and I could hear her sigh.

"He's in the staff room," Madam Jesslyn reminded rather loudly before I ran further away from her. "And one more thing!" My legs came to a halt when she shouted again from the counter. "We need to do some unboxing. The boxes are heavy, ask the boy for help."

"Where are these new arrivals?" I asked.

"In the staff room." Great, all things in one place. A mission that was quite easy to accomplish.

"Noted! Thank you!" Without further ado, I turned away from the counter and sprinted towards the staff room. I was panting so hard as I reached the entrance, where the door was left ajar.

"What's in a hurry, beau- dear colleague?" asked the hot boy as he lifted the forms to his eye level to check for errors. "So far so good…" he muttered to himself. "Here." His gaze finally landed on me. His light green eyes seemed to be glowing in the dim space.

My lips were opened but words were stuck in beneath my throat. Seconds later, I question anyway, "How do you know it was me?"

"Because you're not wearing high-heels," He answered monotonously.

"Oh." I quickly looked away before he walked towards me with the filled forms. My face heated up when I just realised my crush had been observing me ever since his arrival. Although creepy, I liked it and that made the crimson more visible.

Judge me if you like. I don't care.

I was an extremely shy girl with no confidence and no courage to even look at the boys in the eye. On the same side of the coin, I was also associated with anthropophobia, which meant I would feel extremely uneasy when exposed to an unfamiliar society, let alone creating eye contact with this boy.

As for the counter job, it would always be a hard time for me to bear with those eyes and faces. Knowing that I had difficulties communicating, Madam Jesslyn decided to force me to the uncomfortable environment in order to train me. And that's already enough. But having to force myself to stare completely at this boy's beautiful eyes, I shall say to you, dear everyone: "Oh hell no!"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." I was pretty sure that I was blushing as I could feel the heat on my face. In fact, I hated letting people see it. "Let's go get you some clothes." The words were said as if he showed up at my door half naked and the only thing I needed to do was to lend him my dresses or whatever oversized clothes I had.

We were then going to the storeroom located at the back of this store as the packed clothes would be stored there for new staff. "W-wait." He pulled my wrist while I stopped and eventually realised that I'd been picking up pace since the beginning of our short route. "I'm handing this to Madam Jesslyn. Could you wait for me?" His pleading smile left my heart fluttered

"S-sure." It's been God knew how many times I'd been stuttering with my words when I had to talk to this guy, or shall I say, my crush who barely knew me and didn't even recognise me as the bullied victim in college.

Yes, when Kayla and her girls were humiliating me and ruining my whole day, the corner of my eyes registered his presence. I wasn't sure whether he wanted to help, but as the hot boys appeared, he left with them while one of them snaked his arms around Clerence's shoulder.

A few seconds had passed, the newbie finally returned. "Sorry for keeping you waiting. I'm Clerence, what's your name?" He offered me his hand to shake.

I stared at the waiting hand without reaching out mine. In fact, I only took a quick look at his lips while babbling, "I'm Sasha," in a very soft voice.

"Sorry what?" He leaned closer with his hand pillowing the back of his ear, thereby invading my comfort zone. Soon, I could hear my mind shouting: WARNING! WARNING! NOSTALGIA ALERT! COMFORT ZONE INVASION ALERT!

I would definitely jump if he leaned in even closer.

"I'm Sasha." And for the second time, I was looking at his puzzled lime coloured eyes again, hoping that my voice would be heard.

And then, his gaze softened with a warm smile. He retreated his hand a little awkwardly and said, "Nice to meet you, Sasha." His hand changed from hand-shaking posture to a friendly-waving one.

He's indeed a good friend maker.