Chapter 2

"Uni grad!" The hateful cry from Matt rang out sonorously over the office, making Amy squeeze her eyes shut for a moment and pretend that this was happening to someone else. Opening her eyes, she took a deep breath before plastering a smile on her face.

"Yes, Matt?" Amy asked when she was standing at his desk.

Handing Amy a file, Matt said, "Here are some documents which Larry needs to review. They're proposals for partnership agreements with overseas hotels."

Amy looked over at Larry's room and saw that he was seated within, and from the looks of it, probably in a video conference call. Remembering Larry's instructions that all documents be handed to Maia and not to him directly, Amy sauntered over to the secretary's desk.

Seeing Amy approach her desk, Maia left her seat and stood in front of Amy, holding her hand out for the file. "For Larry?" she asked.

"Yes, Matt has prepared some partnership agreement proposals for Larry to review," explained Amy.

Maia took the file from Amy and placed it on her desk. Then, putting an arm around Amy's shoulder, she asked, "Settling in well? It's been, what, 3 weeks already?"

Amy was a bit surprised at Maia's over-familiar gesture but didn't want to make a fuss. Smiling uneasily, she said, "There's a lot to learn but I'm glad to have a job. The economy isn't doing well. Some of my friends have not found jobs yet, so I'm really lucky."

"Since you're new to the travel industry, you should read up on it," Maia advised. "I've got some travel management textbooks at home. I'll bring them in tomorrow. I'll also compile and email you a list of websites where you can get information on travel trends," she added.

"Oh, that would be wonderful, thanks so much!" said Amy happily.

Maia watched Amy as the girl made her way back to her desk. She thought of the day when she was helping Larry to review resumes for Amy's position. When she saw Amy's application, she did a double take. Amy was the spitting image of her best friend, Cora, who had died of breast cancer a few years ago at the young age of 28. Maia had few regrets in life, but one bitter regret was that she never got to tell Cora how she felt about her. And now it was too late – Cora would never know that Maia wanted to take their friendship to a different level.

Cora's death had unhinged Maia. She quit her job, and could neither eat nor sleep properly. Fortunately, Larry who had known her from a previous job, heard about the state she was in, and offered her a job in the fledging travel agency he had recently set up. Patiently, he gave her the time and space she needed to heal. Slowly and surely, she began to get over Cora's death but it lit in her a very short fuse, with the result that she yelled at colleagues who were unable to deliver work that matched up to her exacting standards.

Looking again at Amy's photo in her application, Maia felt that she had been given another chance, one that she wouldn't be so foolish to let go this time.

She had made a strong case to Larry to hire Amy. He had not been keen initially ("I don't like to hire fresh graduates. They need a lot of hand-holding. We're a small firm. No one's got the time to hand-hold this young girl."). Maia offered to guide Amy if the girl needed assistance, and Larry finally relented.

Maia smiled as she thought of how her heart had soared during the two occasions when she spoke with Amy on the phone, first to arrange for an interview, and second to offer her the job.

Jane, who had been watching the interaction between Amy and Maia with increasing incredulity, pounced on Amy immediately when she returned to her desk. "This is the second time the Dragon Lady has been pally with you. What's going on?"

Laughing, Amy said, "Nothing's going on. I think perhaps Maia's just been misunderstood. Maybe she's not that bad a person."

"Hmm..now that you mention it, she hasn't yelled at anyone since you joined us. You didn't witness her behaviour before, so you can't appreciate the change in her. This is driving me nuts. I must find out the reason for the change. Nothing happens without a reason," Jane added sagely.

"Uni grad!" came the now-familiar cry once again.

Groaning, Amy said, "I gotta go. I'm being summoned."

Matt tells Amy that a group of rich old ladies had requested for a private travel package to Thailand to shop and to visit the spa in a fortnight's time. Ordinarily, a tour manager, usually Matt, from the travel agency would be deployed to take care of the tour participants. However, as this group consisted of rich women who were willing to pay a premium for quality service, Larry had agreed to Matt's recommendation that Amy go for the trip as well, to provide assistance with logistics.

"I'll be the eye candy for the women. Also, I'll have my hands taking care of them. I need to sayang them so that they will introduce our packages to their rich friends. You want this travel agency to survive, right? So, I won't have time to check on mundane things like hotel reservations, meal and spa bookings and transport arrangements. That's where you come in, uni grad. With your smart brain, you'll handle all of that," Matt grinned.

Inwardly gagging at Matt's usage of "eye candy", Amy had to fight very hard to prevent her eyes from rolling. If that jerk is eye candy, I'm Cleopatra, she thought to herself.

"I'll email you the details for the trip, so you can start checking on the hotel reservations and booking the transport," continued Matt.

"Sure, I'll follow up when I get your email," said Amy.

"By the way, we've suffered badly, along with many other travel businesses from the COVID pandemic. Larry says we need to keep costs down. So, you and I will be sharing a room," said Matt.

Amy, who had been looking at some files on Matt's desk in order to avoid eye contact with him, looked up sharply.

"Sharing a room?" she squeaked. "No way, I can't...you can't make me share a room with you." Putting her palms on Matt's desk, she demanded, "Isn't this sexual harassment?"

"Don't worry," Matt sneered while looking at Amy from head to toe and back. "I wouldn't want to do anything to you. You're totally not my type. I have much higher standards. I mean, you can't even put on make-up properly. What kind of a woman are you?"

Blinking back angry tears, Amy made her way to the staff toilet. There's no way I'm going to let that jerk see me cry, she thought. Entering the last cubicle, she sobbed silently.

As the child of a single parent, money for luxuries was hard to come by. And make-up definitely belonged to the luxury goods category. Before she started work, Amy had bought some cheap make-up from a shop in her neighbourhood and watched a few YouTube videos on applying make-up. I need to watch different make-up tutorials, the ones I've been watching all along clearly don't work, she thought ruefully.

Amy dried her face with toilet paper and taking a shuddering deep breath, she returned to her desk. I can try to do something about my make-up but I'm not doing it for the jerk, Amy thought. It's for myself so that I can learn to apply make-up properly. But what can I do about the room sharing? I wonder whether I can file a complaint with the Ministry of Manpower.

"Your face is making all kinds of weird expressions. Are you all right?" asked Jane, who had materialised at Amy's desk.

Mindful of not being branded as a complaining sort, Amy smiled and shook her head, saying, "It's just work. I'm all right, don't worry."

The email on the rich women's trip to Thailand soon arrived from Matt. Amy spent the rest of the day emailing and calling hotels and spas and locating a driver who would be able to ferry the group throughout the five-day trip. The group would be flying into Bangkok and spending two nights there in a five-star hotel before moving to a spa resort at Hua Hin, which boasted sandy white beaches and luxurious resorts. The group would return to Bangkok for their flight home after two nights at Hua Hin.

It was late when Amy left the office but she was glad that she had managed to finalise the hotel and spa resort arrangements. All she needed to do the next few days was to confirm the dining venues and find a driver.

During the bus journey on the way home, her thoughts returned to the dreaded room-sharing ordeal that awaited her during the trip. I know! I'll call Ella for advice. She always knows what to do in a sticky situation, and this is as sticky as you can get, she thought. She could hardly wait for the journey to end, and was the first to alight from the bus, practically flying down the steps in her haste.

During dinner, Amy told her mother that she would be accompanying a group of rich old women on a tour to Thailand but she did not let her mother know that she would be sharing a room with her male boss. Her mother would probably march to the travel agency the very next day and berate Matt for sullying her daughter's reputation.

After a quick shower, she settled down on her bed, prepared to pick Ella's brain on the strategy she needed to employ to keep herself safe and sane during the trip.

"Hi, Ella! You wouldn't believe what crazy idea my boss has come up with this time!" exclaimed Amy.

"What is it now?" laughed Ella. "At least, you can't complain that your work is boring."

"Yeah, it's a laugh-a-minute...NOT!" Amy retorted. "Anyway, I'm supposed to assist Matt with logistics arrangements during a package tour for some old women in two weeks' time. He's too high-and-mighty to take care of mundane (his word, not mine) operations like reservations, bookings and transport arrangements."

"Sounds fun!" said Ella. "Oh, I'm so jealous of you. It's hard to travel with COVID and I haven't had a holiday in two years. But here you are, getting a free holiday!"

"I'll be working," Amy reminded Ella, "so it's not like an actual holiday. But you haven't heard the worst part. Matt says that Larry didn't agree to book two rooms for us, so I have to share the SAME room as him!" Amy wailed.

"Yikes, this is not good," admitted Ella. "Can you book another room and pay for it yourself?"

"The group is staying in a high-end hotel, and the room rate for even the smallest single room starts at $250 a night. Four nights would mean $1,000 and that doesn't even include taxes," said Amy. "I just started work, and most of my salary go towards paying off my loan. I only keep a little bit each month for food and transport. I don't want my mum to know about this, so I don't want to ask her for a loan."

"I don't have much savings myself. Otherwise, I'd lend you the money in a shot," said Ella.

"Don't worry about it, Ella. I don't want to make a habit of borrowing money from friends anyway,' said Amy.

"Let's plan what you can do," said Ella. "I think, first, wear your ugliest pyjamas. If they have holes in them, even better. Just make sure that the holes don't reveal anything they shouldn't."

"I usually wear a short-sleeved T-shirt and shorts to bed, cos it's so hot," Amy offered.

"That won't do," advised Ella. "Pack long-sleeved T-shirts and long pants. Maybe get a personal attack alarm too, and keep it on you whenever you're alone with him."

"What's a personal attack alarm?" asked Amy.

"It's a small device you can press when you're attacked. It makes a piercing sound and you'll probably have everyone in the vicinity knocking on your door," said Ella.

"Thanks! I'll make a note of it. I'll order it online and hopefully, it'll arrive before my trip," said Amy.

"One last thing," said Ella. "Pack some facial masks too and apply one every night. The sight of you in ugly pyjamas and a mask should help to keep him away from you."

"Facial masks, got it," said Amy, making a note in her phone. "Oh, Matt also said some pretty awful things about my make-up. Is it really that bad, when you saw me during dinner?"

"Well, it could have been better," Ella confessed. "I think it's just a matter of choosing the correct shade. Maybe you can experiment with a few shades and see what works best? I have no plans this weekend. Shall we go make-up shopping?"

"That would be great, Ella. Thanks!" said Amy gratefully.