Where Did Those Papers Go?

It was almost one o'clock in the afternoon when Mandy, Jane and Maia finished their lunch. Jane and Maia went to buy coffee before heading back to the office. Mandy on the other hand decided to go back alone and not go with them anymore. She went to the wash room first to freshen up. She noticed her hair was bit of a mess so she combed her fingers through. As she did so, she remembered Josh who had the habit of running his fingers through his hair.

After touching up, Mandy went to their room. She opened the door slowly and peaked in, hoping nobody was inside. Josh was nowhere to be found. Only Rae was there, bent on her desk with some kind of cloth on her head. She looked like she was sleeping. Mandy tried hard not to make any noise but the drawer creaked when she tried to open it to put her purse back. Rae was startled by the sound.

"What time is it?" Rae asked Mandy with one eye closed, the other eye was bloodshot.

"It's almost 1PM." Rae said softly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's okay. My phone is about to alarm anyway." Rae would normally set her alarm whenever she took a catnap to make sure she doesn't oversleep. She got up from her chair and got a small bag of toiletries from one of the drawers in her desks. "I'll just be in the wash room to freshen up." She went out of the room without waiting for an answer.

Mandy was alone in the room. She didn't bring any toiletries with her. She has some makeup in her bag for touching up and that was it. She doesn't bring lots of stuff in her bag unlike her friends who seemed to have thought of everything they could possibly need in any eventuality.

Mandy has always said if ever she needed anything while she was out, she would just buy them.

Jane and Maia came in, each holding coffee. They both smiled at Mandy and then went to their desks.

"I'll just go to the wash room to freshen up, okay?" Maia said as she passed the two ladies on her way out.

"I'll go with you. I also need to freshen up." Jane quickly fished for her bag from one of her desk drawers.

Mandy suddenly remembered the coffee Josh bought for her during their break earlier. It was still on her desk. She touched the cup. It was too cold now. She sipped some coffee, it was even colder. The air conditioning has made it too cold to drink. Mandy thought of finishing it anyway. She felt guilty about wasting it, especially that Josh bought it for her. She took another sip. It was cold but it didn't taste bad. She swirled the cup to mix the beverage then she opened the lid. It was still more than three quarters full. She closed her eyes and started to drink the cold coffee.

Just then, the door opened. It startled Mandy so much she almost spit the coffee.

"Sorry," Rae apologized. "The people in the wash room were talking about President Enriquez."

Mandy swallowed her drink.

"What about President Enriquez?"

"They said he was visiting all floors. I thought he would just be visiting us. I wonder why he's here. He's usually not very, you know, sociable with his employees," Rae said as she put the toiletries bag in her drawer. "I'm thinking if maybe Josephine's in some sort of trouble. Or maybe WE are in some sort of trouble." Rae put her hand on her chest as she emphasized the word "we".

"Nah, maybe he's turning on a new leaf and decided to mingle with his employees," Mandy said as she took another drink of her cold coffee.

Rae let out a hearty laugh.

"I don't think so," Rae said in between laughs. "That man is only interested with what we do, never with who we are."

Mandy wondered what Rae meant. Maia and Jane came rushing in.

"You guys!" Jane said breathlessly. "President Enriquez is on his way to this floor!"

"How did you know?" Rae asked. She had always doubted Jane's words.

"I received a message from Josephine. She said President Enriquez is in her office and would be coming here in a few minutes," Maia answered for Jane. She quickly walked to her desk. "You girls better start working or else he would think we're not doing any work here," Maia's voice trailed off as she went to her desk.

Jane quickly stuffed her bag back in her drawer. She turned on her computer and started to work. Rae also turned on her computer but stood up to get some papers from the top of the cabinets.

Mandy gulped her coffee down but she took in more than what her mouth could handle so that some coffee spilled from the side of her mouth and dripped on her blouse. She looked down at her blouse. She saw coffee traces down the side of her blouse. She quickly took out some tissues from her bag and started to wipe the stain off her blouse but they wouldn't come off. She started to panic. She doesn't want her father to see her looking so sloppy on her first day at work.

Suddenly, the door burst open. It was Josh.

"What the heck, Josh! You almost gave us a heart attack!" Jane shouted.

"Where have you been? President Enriquez is on his way up here," Maia said. She heard the commotion and went to them to see what was happening.

"I know," Josh answered. "I saw him. He's coming here."

"Everyone, back to work and look busy!" Maia commanded. Then she noticed Mandy's empty desk.

"Amanda!" Mandy looked up as she heard her name. She was still rubbing the coffee stain off her blouse. She was on her second tissue.

"What are you doing?" Maia asked as she noticed her rubbing her blouse with tissue. "I told you — back to work!"

"Yes, I'm sorry. My coffee spilled on my blouse and I got distracted." Mandy felt like crying now.

Just then, they heard Josephine's voice coming from outside. And then there was another voice, a man's voice. Mandy knew that voice — it was her father. They were slowly making their way down the hallway.

Maia shot a glance at Mandy but didn't say a word. She did something with her hand, sort of some sign but she had no idea what it meant. Maia walked hurriedly back to her desk. Rae also walked back to her desk carrying mountains of paper work that she would be checking and filing. Josh helped Rae carry some of the papers back to her desk. Jane began typing something on her computer. Mandy looked around for something to do. She remembered she was matching invoices and receipts earlier for Jane but she couldn't find those anymore.

"Oh, no!" She thought. "Maybe Josh took them earlier as he cleared the room of clutter."

"Josh," Mandy began. "Have you seen the invoices and receipts here?" Mandy asked as she softly tapped her desk.

"I can't say that I have," Josh said. "I did see some papers there but I did not take them." Josh said as he continued to help Rae with the papers she was taking to her desk.

Mandy's heart raced. She was getting nervous now, trying to remember if she had put those papers somewhere else. She didn't leave the room since Jane gave those to her. The only time she left the room was to eat lunch with Jane and Maia.

Mandy walked over to Jane.

"Uhm, Jane? I was just wondering… Uhm, did you… by any chance… got the papers you were asking me to pair? You know? The invoices and the receipts?" Mandy was so nervous she thought her heart would pop out of her chest.

"No, I didn't get them back," Jane answered. And then she realized something.

"Are you saying you lost them?" Jane's voice raised a little.

"I'm not saying that. I just, I just, well I just can't find them," Mandy said, almost whispering.

Maia heard Jane so she went to them.

"What's going on?" She asked as she looked at Mandy and Jane.

"She lost the papers I gave her," Jane said. "I asked her to pair the invoices with the receipts and then file them. But she LOST them." Jane crossed her arms on her chest as she said the words.

"I didn't." Mandy said to Maia. "I just… can't find them."

"If you can't find them, Amanda, then it means they are lost, aren't they." Maia said sarcastically.

"But I didn't. I mean it was just right here on my desk before I went out for lunch. And now, it's… well… it's… it's not there anymore." Mandy was going to say "gone" but she doesn't want to admit that she lost the papers.

"Amanda, you are not going home until you find those papers, do you understand?" Maia's angry voice filled the room.

"Do you know which invoices and receipts are lost?" Maia asked Jane.

"I'm not really sure. I can check, though, from those that we received and those that were already checked and filed by Rae," Jane replied.

"Okay, you do that. That way we know from which ones were lost. We have duplicate copies of the invoices so that won't be too much of a problem. But the receipts, we have only one copy. If ever those are really lost, we would have to ask the vendors for another copy." Maia said but she seemed to be talking to herself.

"Ahem," said a voice from behind them.

Josephine was standing behind them, with President Enriquez.