7 chapter 7

Just as I step off the elevator on the HR floor, it dawns on me that I fell for the bastards trap. I groan, pulling my hands from the top of my head to the bottom of my face, I was about to back out and he suckered me back into the role. Ughhhh...I wanted to smack my head against the door. Damn him, the smug swine.

He just doesn't like anyone telling him no, well he's going to regret that.

I scan the cubicles and don't see Ruben, I ask the receptionist where he might be and she points in the direction of his office, I thank her and make a beeline for it.

I knock on his door and he jumps from his seat, patting imaginary sweat off his head, 'Jasmina, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon'.

I cock my head to the side, 'Did I disappoint you, should I come back when you're ready?' I joke.

His throat bobs up and down as he struggles to get saliva down his throat, 'Not at all! I didn't mean that! What I meant to say is that I have all the documents ready for you as well as your ID and clearance badge for all the levels in the building'.

I clap him on the back, 'Now that's what I like to hear, thanks for your hard work.' I smile down at him, 'Now if you'll be so kind as to escort me to level 13 and introduce me to the Finance department that would be greatly appreciated.'

Ruben seems more relaxed now as he nods, 'Sure thing Jasmina, here are the things you'll need for today' he hands me my employee badge and keycard. 'Now If you'll follow me, we'll get you settled in and then I'll be seeing you in your office in our department in 2 weeks, is that correct?'

I wink at him, 'That's right, but for now I'll be communicating any directives to you via email so be vigilant in letting the team know to keep an eye out for their inbox should I need an extra set of hands.'

He smacks his lips together, 'You got it, and I'll sort that out as soon as you are settled in'. He gestures for me to get in the elevator and we make out short trip to floor 13. I rub my hands together; finally I can dive into this project and get my mind off of that rude CEO.

Ruben clears his throat as we approach the finance team, 'Hello everyone, this is our newest team member at Milordov Company and she'll be helping you guys out. Please give a warm welcome today'.

I smile warmly at everyone, 'Hi, pleased to meet you all. I look forward to helping out in any way I can'.

A tall man with salt and pepper hair makes his way out of the crowd of 20 employees and stares at me suspiciously, 'Glad to have you on board Jacky, my name is , I am your team leader. As long as you follow the rules and work hard then we'll have no issues.' He puts his hand out and I shake it.

I keep a smile pasted on my face, 'No problem sir, I'll keep that in mind'.

Ruben clears his throat behind me, 'Alright, it seems like you have things under control Greg I am going to get going, have a great day Jacky'.

Slowly the crowd disperses, and they all get back to work. Greg is still standing in front of me staring at me, weighing me up. I guess he is wondering if I'll be any help to them or a waste of space.

He frowns at me in thought and abruptly snaps his fingers together, ' , come here and show the new girl around and make sure she's fit for the job by the end of the day' I see a skinny short girl bob her head up from her cubicle and make her way over to me with a wide smile. Greg takes one last lingering look at me and trots off to his office.

"Hi Jacky it's lovely to meet you' she grabs my hand and shakes it up and down enthusiastically, 'It's been a while since we've had another girl join the finance team' she leans in close to me with a conspiratorial look in her honey coloured eyes, 'in case you didn't notice we've only got 3 other girls in the finance department so we're constantly surrounded by testosterone, so it's probably put Greg in a foul mood I'm sure he expected another man to be joining the ranks.' She finishes as she beams up at me.

Cindy excitedly grabs my hand and leads me to my cubicle, which encases a plain white desk, 2 monitors, a pigeon whole, folders, draws and a basic ass black leather chair. It's essentially your stereotypical layout of a desk space in an office minus the exorbitant price tags that I'm sure are on the underside of all these things.

She goes through a basic induction of how to use everything and all the logins for the programs that I will be using, "If you need anything else or any help don't hesitate to jump at me with them." I laugh shaking my head at her as Cindy winks at me and prances off to her cubicle, which is in the middle of the office.

I continue staring after her, we're gonna be good friends after all this I can just feel it in my bones.

You know that feeling you get when you run into a stranger and you know in your gut that you'll meet again or become really good friends. It's just inevitable, that's the kind of feeling I get from Cindy.

I snap out of my reverie and look at my wristwatch, it reads 2.30pm I better get on with it before I get in Greg's bad books. I crack my fingers and they start flying over the keyboard as I answer emails and get a head start on the days tasks.

As I'm whizzing through it, my stomach boils at the name on the email notification that I see popping up on my screen. Guess who it's from!

Nikolai: It's 5pm, nearly the end of the day and I'm yet to see any updates from you. You are unbelievable I want you to send it through now!

He forgoes all the professional formatting in the email, and doesn't even bother signing off on is email to me.

I smirk at my computer screen, well Mr. Everyone-does-what-i-want, it looks today is the day he experiences some disobedience for a change. I promptly ignore his message.

Jasmina's pseudo name is Jacky

Department manager for Finance. Salt and pepper hair and tall. Last name Bradford.

Girl that works in finance and will be Jasmina's friend.