Newbie (8)
"MMMMMMMMMnnnn." Nida squinted her eyes then placed her hands near her ears while looking stealthily at the canteen's counter.
"What kind of comedic act are you doing?" Daniel commented. While slowly eating the cake, he took time to think if he would eat it or not, but ended up eating it anyway.
"I am trying to hear what the canteen ladies are saying." She said this while keeping her gaze towards the canteen ladies that were having a conversation at the counter a distance from where they were sitting.
Daniel just watched her with her bizarre act and was also anticipating Nida's possible new hearing power.
Minutes later, Nida gave up and looked at Daniel with dissatisfaction. "It's strange. I thought I had super hearing."
"Then how did you hear me just a while ago?" He asked. He also finished eating the cake and wiped his mouth with his handkerchief.
Nida then leans forward toward Daniel. "You shouted my name right? You're pranking me?"
Daniel shoved her face out, but he frowned once he felt the foundation of Nida stick to his hand.
"I really didn't voice your name out loud."
He pulls out his handkerchief again to wipe off the makeup that sticks to his hand.
"We can't really know for sure what happened, plus what do you expect for yourself? You're human, right?"
"Aw, what a waste." She was about to lay her face on the table when Daniel caught her face and asked, "Why do you want a super hearing?"
Daniel reflexively placed his hand in between the table and her face, thinking that it was not good to place your bare face on a dirty canteen table.
[With the way she treats her face, I am pretty amazed at how she's not getting any pimples.]
He thought to himself while looking at the low-spirited workmate.
"If I have that power, I can easily avoid them. You know, like when I hear their voice getting near, I can choose the other way after hearing their footsteps." She explained while keeping her face in Daniels' palm.
[Her face is so soft. Did the oil moisturize her face?]
[His palm is so soft, Is this because of excessive sanitizing?]
They thought to themselves internally, admiring each other's skins.
"Like I always say, leave this company if you really want to avoid them." He advised bluntly, resting his head on his other hand.
From the point of view of the people passing by, it looked like a couple having their idle time at work.
"Haa- Like I always told you too, I cannot do that until I am sure they won't run after me." She closed her eyes and felt comforted by the softness of Daniel's palm.
"You're making your life complicated." He lightly scoffed at Nida.
"Whatever, that's not the only thing I am stressing out." She let out another long, loud sigh.
"You sound like an old man. What could be a simpler problem that you're making complicated?" Daniel seems to be uninterested, but Nida feels like he is very open and willing to listen to her grumbling, despite wearing his usual aloof expression.
"RA4136" she responded, accompanied by a short grunt. "My damn manager stubbornly wants to change the law. He is complaining so much. We have a problem meeting our OTDs. He is complaining about the speed limit penalties and ordered me to convince the safety officer to change the speed limit. Like it was possible to change a law!"
"Safety officer? Randell related?"
He thought that all of her problems were related to her ex-lover.
"No he is—aaahh!" Nida suddenly screamed because someone suddenly pulled up her hair that made her head lift up from leaning on Daniel's palm.
Daniel immediately stood up from his seat and held the hand that was holding Nida's hair.
He doesn't notice that the sweaty pig-like manager is approaching them because he is so focused on Nida's face.
"Manager Buhngal, please refrain from treating your assistant violently." His eyes flashed. He pulled an intimidating face and forcibly removed the hands of the trucking department manager off Nida. He then slapped it hard after it tried to reach Nida again.
[Shit, I badly need a bath], he cursed internally as he looked at the manager with disgust.
In fact, he is more disgusted than angry. He badly needed to go to the restroom to puke. His stomach felt weird after touching the hands of the sweaty, pig-like manager.
"Manager Olitoquit, don't middle on how I manage my assistants." The pig-like manager dusts off his hand that was slapped by Daniel. which made Daniel's eyebrows twitch.
[How dare he? I am the one who should be disgusted by his filthy hands!]
"Ms. Mildea, you're just a newcomer but you're already slacking off!" he angrily shouted at Nida, ignoring the other workers present in the cafeteria. "Do you know that I can fire you right here! Right now!" he furiously shouted while his saliva blessed everything in front of him.
Nida does not retort to his accusation because he is somehow telling the truth. She really is slacking off because she just thought that her manager was being unreasonable in his orders.
She can be confident if she knows she is 100 percent correct, but if she knows she also made a mistake, she will remain silent.
She just lowered her head and didn't speak a word. She knew that it would end soon if she kept her mouth shut and just let the manager pour out all of his anger.
"Manager Buhngal, she isn't slacking off." He stepped forward and hid Nida behind his back, which made her look up to him.
Upon looking up at him, she saw Daniel's grimaced face full of disgust. Then she remembered how disgusting her sweaty manager was.
Her manager also speaks disgustingly about how his saliva always lands on someone he is talking to.
"You ordered her to solve your OTD issue." He continued speaking to the human saliva fountain.
"Is that something to do with you? Aren't you just flirting with my assistant?"
The fat manager of the trucking department crossed his arms smugly, but he seemed to be awkwardly standing because he could not look down at Daniel since he was much taller than Manager Buhngal.
"She is asking me to adjust your OTD time. Your assistant is quite courteous and generous in treating me to a cake in return for asking for help with a difficult task."
Murmuring and a short gasp were heard around the cafeteria.
The almost empty cafeteria a while ago was now filled with curious people watching their drama unfold.
She slightly pulled Daniel's coat to signal him to stop.
She is also worried about the dangers of the saliva of her manager, Daniel, who might be screaming in disgust internally.
Manager Buhngal took a step back, thinking he might have jumped to conclusions and rushed to pull Nida's hair. He glanced at Nida, who was being hidden by Daniel.
"Ms. Mildea, Explain!" he awkwardly asked instead since he could not take back his curses due to his pride.
"I am sorry sir, I can't change the speed limit, but changing the OTD schedule would be possible." She softly answers while avoiding eye contact because she is not speaking the entire truth.
Ehem!
Manager Buhngal made a fake cough, then fixed his coat that could not be closed due to his bulging belly.
"Remember not to do your job properly." He then walked away.
Daniel is in disbelief because the sweaty manager didn't even try to apologize and just leave like he didn't hurt someone physically.
It would be better if he could run after him and ask him to apologize, but his stomach can't take it any longer.
His back started to get drenched in cold sweat.
He put his hand to his mouth to prevent him from puking.
Nida noticed his pale expression and realized that he might be at his limit.
She lightly tapped his back and whispered. "Go, I cannot guide you back to your office, They will talk about us more if I do."
Even though she is thankful to him for taking her side, she cannot take care of him because the situation will go worse if they stick together more.
Daniel just nodded and left without saying anything.
Nida just wondered how many hours Daniel would be spending in the restroom.
....
"incident report?" She read aloud the header of the paper that the HR handed him the moment she returned to her seat.
"It's just for documentation, Ms. Mildea, and also..."
The HR moved her seat closer to her and whispered. "Please don't report us to DOLE, okay?" (DOLE = Department of Labor and Employment)
The HR opened her eyes a little wider, raised her eyebrows, and sticked her bottom lip out, while tilting her entire head a little downward and looking upwards at Nida, aiming a gesture of persuasiveness.
HR might be anxious that she will report the incident to the DOLE to file charges, especially since her manager pulled her hair so hard that her scalp hurt that his action could be considered as an assault.
The entire company's employees already know the melodrama that happened in the cafeteria, and the story has become exaggerated with every sharing, resulting in the HR being wary of the issue.
Before coming into the trucking department, some HR personnel had already warned her about her manager's violent tendencies and said that he was fine as long as you wouldn't disobey his order.
"He just asked me where you were, so I told him you were at the cafeteria; I didn't know he would be angry. You're just a new recruit. Why do you have to be slacking off?" She said it nicely while keeping her unsophisticated expression.
The HR personnel that she can't even remember the name sounds suspicious to her.
[Why do I feel like she is mocking me?]
She can feel a little annoyance toward the HR girl without reason.
The HR in front of her has this aura that even without doing anything bad, you still feel like you won't like her.
Nida just shakes off the feeling of iffiness and makes a fake smile.
"Don't worry, I won't file any charges." She said this while taking a pen out of her drawer. "I will fill up this one then send this to your table later."
"Okay, thank you. Please remember that you are still a probationary employee. It will affect your regularization if you keep slacking off." Still saying it nicely, the HR moved out of the chair and looked down at Nida, who was still sitting. "also refrain from flirting." Her naive expression was gone while saying this, but she smiled again while gesturing that she would now leave.
Nida was dumbfounded by the HR's action.
"whom am I flirting?" she tilted her head.
"AH!"she clapped once upon realization. "I forgot that Daniel is a heartthrob here too!"
'Am I attracting enemies just because I hang out with pretty boy Daniel?'
She just let out a long sigh, then proceeded to fill out the form left by the HR.
....
While in a men's restroom...
BLUUUUUURRRRGGHHHH
Daniel wiped the bile from his lips and stared at the mashed up food floating in the toilet water. He felt pensive. "I shouldn't have eaten that cake!" he cursed loudly.
His stomach clenched in pain. Sweat dripped down his brow through his black hair. He made a promise to himself that he would never approach the pig-like manager of Nida ever again.
He went out of the cubicle and threw his coat and his polo into the trash bin, leaving him only wearing his white shirt.
"Having fan watching someone vomiting?" He spoke without looking at the man who was just leisurely leaning against the wall while his arms were crossed.
"Don't snatch someone else's toy, Mr. Olitioqiut." the man warned him.
Daniel stopped washing his arms and face and looked at the mysterious man while his face was still dripping wet.
"Mr. President, aren't you too old to play?" He asked while looking at the company's President disrespectfully.
"What? I am just here to watch, but it seems like you are stealing one of my brothers' play thing, so I came to warn you, little Daniel." Wendell walked closer to him with a mischievous expression. "You've been silent for years. Why? getting bored?" He smugly whispered to him, but Daniel grabbed the pen in his pants pocket and steadfastly stabbed the pen towards the neck of the president, who was too close to him.
However, Wendell disappeared like a cloud of smoke, and only his voice remained.
"I have warned you. You know what will happen next."
Daniel just stared into space blankly and resumed washing his face.
Baaag!
Crack!
Daniel suddenly punched the front of him. That made the mirror cracked and stained with his own blood.
Shit!
Shit!
Shit!
He cursed multiple times while looking at his reflection into the cracked mirror.
"Daniel, you crazy shit!"