My New Job

Ask me what it feels like to sleep, after so many days I have less time to sleep. Come on, ask... ask...! Or should I answer it immediately? Ok, if it feels reaaally good, soundly with 3 letters A lined up behind. I arrived at the boarding house at 7 pm, took a shower, and immediately fell asleep. No nightmares, no waking up, and it feels so fresh for my very tired body. The next question is, what time did I wake up this morning? Can anyone guess? That I woke up at half-past nine in the morning? It's also because my cell phone keeps ringing non-stop.

"Hello!" I say answering a call I didn't know from. Only a series of unknown numbers appeared on my cell phone.

"I don't have much time and you're wasting it. First rule! You must pick up the phone immediately if I called. Second, quickly go to the location I sent you this morning. If you're not here in half an hour, then you're fired. Tut... tut... tut..."

Well, who was that? Never mind, maybe just the wrong line. Just someone who was nagging angrily at his assistant or I don't know... What I know is, I still sleepy, and to be honest, I want to enter the dreamland again. I lay down my head on the pillow and my eyes started to close again. But before I lose consciousness, I remember something. An assistant? And.... an angry grumpy boss? Didn't I work with a new grumpy boss today?

I immediately woke up and see the message on the what's app, sure enough, there was a location that had been sent by someone I don't know. I could tell if it was a prankster or a criminal who intended to kidnap, sell my organs, and throw my body into the river. But, from the profile picture, I seem to know who is calling me. Not a selfie photo of him, but a photo of a building he was designed. And I'm sure, that picture has become a jumbo-sized poster in the office.

Shit...! Another half hour! I immediately went to the bathroom, washed my face, and brushed my teeth. Change clothes and leave right away. Don't even think about breakfast, I don't even have time to take a shower. I immediately ordered an online motorcycle taxi to go to the specified location. Luckily it wasn't even 3 minutes, the online motorcycle taxi had picked me up and I immediately went through the traffic jam this morning.

I'm so afraid the streets of Jakarta are unfriendly, as usual. I'm afraid I will be late. I hope God will grant my simple request. After what happened yesterday, I had a really really bad day, so I hope today, my life is full of luck. And sure enough, God grant it. I get what I want. In less than ten minutes, I arrived at the location that the grumpy boss asked for.

I don't know where it is, but it looks like I'm in a high-rise construction building. I try to call the unknown number again before I went inside. It's not that I need to let him know if I get there before 30 minutes, but usually, as I know, I can't enter the construction area without a permit or ID card, and I have to make sure before I go inside, there's no bad person who intends steal my kidney.

"Hello, sir, I'm outside," I say when somebody answers my call.

"Get in right away!" he answers simply and hangs up the phone immediately.

I take a deep breath, calm myself, and immediately knock on the door. Wait a while, the door opens, and they let me in.

"Are you Mr. Steven's assistant?" says the security guard who opened the door.

"That's right, it's me. If I may ask, where is Mr. Steven?"

"Mr. Steven has been waiting for a long time. Follow me, I'll lead you to him. Oh, but first, please wear a project helmet for safety," he says kindly as he hands me a yellow project helmet.

I put on the helmet and walked to follow the security. As I expect, this is a high-rise building. I know from its shape and function, I guess this is an apartment building. Sometimes I get confused about the people of Jakarta. As far as I know, there are quite a lot of apartment buildings in this area, but they always build new ones. And sometimes their units are empty, only a few people lived in apartments, and the only reason they bought a unit, it's just become money infestations.

"Please," says the security guard, pointing to a doorway to the temporary building made with zink metals and wooden boards. The simple temporary room was used for employee meetings.

"Excuse me," I knock on the door and immediately open it. Guess what I found in there? The face of the man who was known to be the most handsome in the office was filled with unsightly curves.

"You're late!" he says annoyingly.

"No," I answer confidently. I promise myself I would never be bullied again by anyone.

"What time is it?" asks Steven annoyed. "Based on office agreement, you must come at eight and it's three minutes past nine. So please explain, why you think you don't be late?"

"Yes, I don't think I'm late. Didn't you say I will get fired if I got here for more than half an hour? Which if around 9 a.m.," I reply, pretending to remember the words he said when he woke me up this morning.

"Ah, that's right. And look at my watch, it's already three minutes more. So... You're fired!"

"Sorry, sir. Do you have a cellphone?" I ask annoyingly. "Can you see, the time when I called you a few minutes ago?"

That annoying man immediately looked at his cellphone and opened the call list. And of course, my call was at 9:00 sharp. "I don't understand what you mean. You're three minutes late!" he says.

"No, sir. Wasn't this morning that you said that if I didn't arrive at the location within 30 minutes, then I was fired? And I arrived at the location exactly at 9 am, then I walked here to see you 3 minutes later. So according to what you said, I'm not late." Honestly, I'm proud of myself, I can whistle cheerfully just because of what happened this morning. And of course, I will be even more cheerful when I see Steven's face is annoyed and the wrinkles on his face are getting curlier than ever.

But the truth is... I didn't get it. His face didn't show any anger, he just smiled sarcastically and I started to worry about his mental condition. Did something I've said drive him nuts? Oh, no way... Is defeated ambitious people make them lose their minds? And I think, my problem with him was not over yet.

"At first, I never agree when Ma'am Anna made you my assistant. But, it seems, the game will be very interesting. Ma'am Anna did tell me to give you a little lesson. A little she said, that's mean a big problem for you. But... because of what happened just now, I will take this matter personally. Suddenly you put something in my heart, a desire to give you lots of lessons."

I'd love to say thank you, but I don't intend to look for other troubles today. My time to mourn fate is over, now is my time to rise and fight. I know they're going to make my life go like hell, but I'm not one they can bully. At least if I have to go to hell, they have to come with me too.

"Knock, knock, knock," the door opened breaking the tense conversation between me and my new boss.

"Sir, they have come," says the security who escorted me earlier.

"Ok, send them in!"

I'm confused by the word 'they'? Who are they? But the real question is what should I do? What's my job desk today? I guess I've spent too long arguing with Steven without talking about more important things.

"Good morning, gentlemen. I heard from the contractor if there was a problem with the design of this apartment. So, without further ado, please state your objections," says Steven, welcoming the presence of two big men who had just entered the room.

"We never agree to build this high-rise apartment around the area we live in!" says the man sitting on the left. I don't know what's going on here, but it seems I am in the middle of an unpleasant situation. Sure enough... The person's voice tone was not relaxed, and of course, his appearance too. The two men looked like thugs, with tattoos, muscles, long hair, and skull shirts that read "death". I don't know what Steven's business is with these two. And as far as I know, getting scolded by thugs isn't a happy thing in my life.

"If I may know, what are the two of you object to?" asks Steven with a sharp look at the thugs.

"Your apartment covers our residential area!" says the other thug.

"What do you mean? What are we covering? Road access?" asks Steven playfully. I concluded that Steven was playing dumb, because an architect like himself, would never forget all his designs. He must have known what the two thugs meant.

"No, the design of this apartment is quite high and shadows our house. Now, My house doesn't get any sunlight!"

I've never had a problem like this. Imagine, some residents protest because they do not get sunlight? Honestly, it sounded so ridiculous to me, and even more ridiculous, Steven suddenly looked at me with a big smile on his face. Face, not feces...ok?

"Okay," he says with a perfect annoying smile. "My opinion is probably going to be bullshit for both of you, so I'll ask a fairly neutral person. Assistant, what do you think?" Steven asked me.

To me? Does he ask me? Damn, looks like he did a prank on me this morning. Transferring the anger of these two thugs to a scared little girl like me, was truly the evilest and most cowardly idea that crossed the mind of a rotten man like him. And I should have started thinking about trying to escape from this situation, but I couldn't. At least if these two people's words are true, I also have to give an honest opinion as an architect, so that these two people get the justice they need.

I quickly walked to the wall in my back, where they hung all the architectural drawings of this apartment. "Sorry?" I asked the two thugs. "Could you show me where the area you two live?" I asked them slowly.

One of them stood up and immediately pointed to one of the areas drawn on the block plan drawing. Show his hand with a lot of anger. I feel like his forefinger stabbing into the board where the picture hangs. If in the past I watched a wuxia Chinese material art film, where criminals stabbed the innocents skul with their pointy fingers full of poison, then the thug was stabbing a weak board with his iron forefinger. Exactly... the same situation here.

"I think..." I say after looking through all the architectural drawings for this apartment. "I think, it's not a problem. Your house still can be exposed to the sun."

"WHAT?" shouted the thugs, pounding the table.

"Please, let me explain. The residential area of the two of you live is right to the east of this apartment. That means your area can still get the morning sun, and our apartment blocks your residence for only a short period in the afternoon. If we draw the shadow, and if you think about the change in the location of the sun at the equator, then the sun will be blocked only from half-past five in the afternoon, which is just a moment before the sunsets. In essence, the accusations by both of you cannot be proven, "I reply.

"Well, I agree with her opinion," says Steven, which immediately made one of the thugs react. He stood up and grabbed Steven's collar and threatened him.

"You bastard! Do you think I believe in your friend's opinion? You better pay for our loss or... I'll mess up all your project later!"

I knew, under these conditions, this weak and small woman should immediately hide behind the door or under the table. But I blame my common sense, I hate when my mouth speaks faster before this brain told it to shut up.

"You can't do it!" I say in a high pitch. "We're not going to compensate you for anything that doesn't harm either of you. Before the project started, representatives from your settlement would have signed the agreement. Ruining this place would only result in us prosecuting you and putting you in jail."

And what I feared happened, now the thugs have turned their targets on me. To me? To this weak woman? Without any self-defense skills, my heart began to beat irregularly, it seems... I will sleep in the hospital tonight.