Chapter 11: Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Ava POV

I entered my office building. 'Today will be different.' I reminded myself.

There was no way that what happened today would not affect my day. I had a bad gut feeling. I strongly felt that something bad was about to happen.

Nevertheless, I had to go on with my work. So I did what I had to do. I took an elevator to my work floor. To be very frank, I had no idea what I should do today. Every work that I did had to be assigned by Charlotte, and now that she was not here.

Uff!

I had a feeling that Charlotte was upset or maybe even mad at me. However, for what, I had no idea. Yesterday, I told myself that I would stay away from her or better, would even stay out of her notice, which was impossible considering the fact that I was noticed by her the moment she knew about my pregnancy, but now I was not even sure that was possible.

Pushing all of these thoughts out of my mind, I walked towards the office and saw that everyone was already there. I had no idea how punctual people would be in an office but it was clear from looking at these people that they were very punctual. I mean what did I even expect from them? This was THE Black & White Company. They were supposed to be punctual. I didn't even want to walk in there.

Out of nowhere, I saw the guy who helped me yesterday with my work, jogging my way. He opened the glass door and stepped outside, facing me.

I gave him a small polite smile.

"Hello." I said, trying myself not to appear mildly irritated by his unwanted attention. But at the same time being glad to see a familiar face among a crowd of strangers.

My views on him contrasted with one another.

"Hi. What are you doing here? Why don't you come in?" He asked me, looking genuinely curious.

"Oh well, I was waiting for Charlotte Ma'am. It is her to assign me work. She did yesterday. So I was not sure if I should go in. I will be doing nothing but being a bother." I answered him genuinely. Standing inside and doing nothing will not only make me feel awkward but everyone else around me as well. Not to mention the fact that none of them actually knows my situation. In conclusion, people inside the office would not appreciate a mannequin-like figure standing there and doing nothing.

"You are over thinking. No one will think that. By the way, what are your plans for this weekend?" He asked me.

It was ridiculous. Did he really think that I would not understand what he was getting at? This was my second day at work and I was already getting annoyed by his flirting.

"I am going to watch a movie with my boyfriend." I lied to him. It was the one and only way to get these situations. These types of guys do not leave a girl alone until they know that they are taken, even if they were not. Otherwise, they would not stop with their advances. It was such a messed up thing but unfortunately it did happen. I once let it happen and I ended up being pregnant.

"Boyfriend? You have a boyfriend?" He asked incredulously. Like he could not believe a person that he was just hitting on, could have another guy.

Typical.

"Yes. Does that really come as a surprise? I'm young, obviously I have a boyfriend." I told him.

All of a sudden, his expressions changed and turned into something ugly. Like a mixture of anger, hurt and betrayal.

Betrayal?!

What?

No, I probably must be imagining things.

"Then why were you giving me ..." He began saying in an angry voice.

"What are you two doing here? Kevin, don't you have work to do?" Charlotte's stern voice called out. I visibly flinched with the abrupt intrusion of her tone, or more so with shock.

It was then I realized that I didn't even know this guy's name until Charlotte barked it out.

So his name was Kevin.

Kevin mumbled something like 'I was going to' under his breath before glancing my way one last time and giving me a look of something like a mixture of disgust and anger before striding back inside the office.

He was certainly scared of her but then again who was not. She scared me, even though it had just been a day. Messing with her could only invite trouble. Especially after seeing what happened today when she cornered Jasper Sir, like he was accountable to her. If she could demand answers from him and held him accountable the way she did today then she could do anything.

I spun around as Charlotte came to my side.

"And what about you? Why are you standing here and having a chit - chat with employees? Don't you have work to do?" She scolded me. Which made me embarrassed and angry at the same time.

Was she not supposed to give me work?

"You told me yesterday that you will assign me to work. And that I can't work on anything major without being supervised by somebody senior. " I told her, resorting to a much calmer and respectful tone than I actually wanted to use. I did not like being accused for something I did not do or being wrongfully accused.

Her words like 'standing here and chit chatting with employees'. I did not ask him to talk to me, nor did I ask him to leave his work and lurk outside this office.

"So does that mean that you would not even go inside to wait and instead call out people to talk to you?" She asked in a self entitled way.

What?

Was she crazy?

At that moment, I really and I Mean really wanted to snap back at her. I wanted to give her a peace of mind but I held back.

I swallowed my anger down.

It was only my second day. If I did snap back at her then maybe I will gain a momentary satisfaction but the consequences would be long lasting.

Therefore, I said nothing.

Charlotte grumbled something under her breath.

"Go inside and fit all the dresses on the first, second and third racks. Then I will tell you what you have to do. And you cannot leave before you finish your work." She said before spinning around and leaving me there a little stunned.

All three rows?

Almost every row had ten dresses on mannequins. One dress takes almost two hours to sort out all of the fitting.

And then she will give me more work?

I knew it. I knew that my gut feeling was right.

She was being harsh on me for a reason. She was still mad from the morning.

But I didn't even do anything!

With no choice left, I walked inside and began my work. I worked hours and hours until Charlotte returned with more work, repeating her words that I cannot leave without completing my work, and left me working.

I could not even go out for lunch. Even Jasper did not call for me today. Maybe he was busy with work or maybe Charlotte told him not to contact me.

Whatever.

I still needed this job so I worked tirelessly without complaining a single thing.

Slowly, slowly, everyone started leaving one after another. Their work was done and the office hours were getting close. I still had too much work left to do so I just focused on that.

I continued working until someone tapped my shoulder.

I glanced up to find a middle - aged woman looking down at me.

"Aren't you leaving dear? The office hours are over." She said. I glanced around to find that the office room was empty except for the two of us.

I stared at the work I was doing and gave her a small smile.

I shook my head.

"No, I still have some work left to do. I will leave as soon as it's done." I told her. She scoffed at the material that I had in my hand.

"You know that you do not have to work overtime. You could do this tomorrow." She told me. I knew it but I did not want to piss Charlotte off.

So I just denied her offer.

"No. I want to complete this today. I will leave as soon as it is done though." I told her. She shrugged.

"As you wished." She told me. Then like everyone else, she left as well and I got back to my work.

All of a sudden, someone called my name out.

"Ava?"