Newbie (2)

Just as Bridgette went further away, Aiden spoke with a smile. "You know, all that will go away if you just take your claim of me publicly."

Sarah looked around and observed that number of women are taking glances at him. There was a number of men looking her way, but she didn't care about them. She was irked by these shameless women. "I'm afraid that if I do that, different type of problems will come my way." Sarah shook her head helplessly. "OK. Where are we going? You are supposed to show me around." Sarah decided to change topic.

They had lunch in a restaurant on the third floor, and then he took her to the eighteenth floor where their offices are. For elevator to go to eighteenth floor, Sarah needs to swipe her badge. "If you forget your badge, reception on tenth floor can give you a temporary badge for a day. Your badge is linked to you, and grants permissions to specific areas of the building. Since you have access to secure areas, if you can't find your badge, it's important to report it right away." Aiden was explaining. He took the job of a new employee guide seriously. Sarah could not help but stare at him.

When they exited the elevator, Sarah observed large open area filled with desks and computers. It was an open space office designed for people to collaborate easily. Walls and carpet are light blue color. Aiden explained that every floor has a similar design with enclosed office space in the middle and open space surrounding it. Each floor has different color, "If you exit the elevator, and you don't see around you light blue, you got off on the wrong floor."

Sarah was observing everything curiously and nodded, indicating that she heard him.

"Come, you should meet others." Aiden led the way, and she followed.

They stopped in front of the desk where two men chatted. When they saw them approaching, they stopped and looked at them. Aiden looked at them and tilted his head toward Sarah. "This is Sarah, I mentioned earlier that she will join today."

"Oh, newbie!" One man exclaimed. "We haven't had any fresh blood in a long time."

Sarah looked at middle aged man. He looked friendly, but she didn't know what to make out of his words.

Aiden shook his head in disapproval and spoke to Sarah. "These here are Fox and Daniel. They work on reporting, as well as manage hardware that we are using."

Other man called Fox was much younger than Daniel, Sarah guessed in his late twenties. As he stood up to shake hands with Sarah, she observed that he is rather tall and skinny. Sarah exchanged few pleasantries with Fox, and Daniel was looking at her. "You ignored me" He looked upset.

Sarah looked at him, for a second before responding honestly. "Sorry, but you called me fresh blood, and I'm not sure how to respond to that."

He laughed, "Sorry, sorry. Let's do this again... I'm Daniel. Nice to meet you. Let's work well together in the future." He extended his hand.

Sarah shook his hand and responded with a smile. "Sarah, nice to meet you too."

Aiden looked at them and nodded in approval. He looked around as if looking for someone. "Where is Evalina?"

"She stepped away, not sure where." Daniel responded like he does not care.

Aiden turned to Sarah. "You can meet her later. Let me show you your office."

She followed him. As they walked, he showed her different areas, like a good guide. Shared spaces, kitchen area, conference rooms, storage and copy room. "This is my office... yours is right next to mine." They reached door to her office, and he opened it for her.

She stepped inside and found herself in an office about 10'x10' with a sofa on one side, desk in the middle and a chair behind it. On the desk she saw two monitors, and a laptop. PC was under the desk. She had few seconds to take this in before Aiden closed the door, pulled the blinds down over the large glass area and hugged Sarah from behind. For a second she enjoyed his embrace, and then tried to get out of it. "What if someone sees us?!" She whispered with panic in her voice. He didn't let her go. She turned around to face him, and he kissed her on the lips. She returned his kiss, but after few seconds continued to struggle out of his embrace. "This is not the place!"

"Give me just a minute" He pleaded.

Sarah could not refuse him. She stopped struggling and he kissed her again. She hugged him and returned his kiss. It took some time before he let go of her.

Sarah looked at him as if she is begging for mercy. "If we are going to make this work, we need to control ourselves."

He frowned, but still nodded. After a deep breath, he turned on the lights and continued his role of getting her to know her workplace. "We work in offices without windows because of security."

Sarah understood this. There is always a risk of someone looking from outside either with telescopes, or drones or some other technology.

Aiden continued explaining. "The laptop and PC are custom built, by Daniel. Look what you got and let Daniel know whatever you want to be replaced." There was a folder on her desk, he pushed it toward Sarah. "Here you will find your login info, as well as how to set up work email and access our shares. It has a list of resources, check them out and let me know if you need anything else or if you have any questions. There is also a number of videos that you need to watch, it's company policy, everyone needs to do it. When you are done with these, let me know. I will be in my office… Right. Next. Door."

Sarah nodded and opened folder to see what's inside.

Aiden kissed her on the cheek before heading out.

"You need to stop doing that!" Sarah warned him.

He smiled and left her office while closing the door behind him.

Sarah looked around. With blinds down, and only light source being light on the ceiling, the atmosphere looked depressing. 'No wonder he does not like working from here. It's so suffocating.' Sarah thought of her study room in Fairfield, large windows facing East. And even sofa in the living area looked so inviting to work from compared to this. She shook off those thoughts. 'It's only a week, then I'm heading back. No need to get depressed about the atmosphere in this place.' Sarah focused on the folder in front of her and started taking care of items listed in there for new hires.