Betty's office day

"Ah! It's time already?! Tch! I guess I gotta go now. See ya!" Betty gently pushed her chair back as she just realised how much pile of work was waiting at her desk.

Without even realising they had gotten so invested upon getting friendly with Catherine that it completely skipped their mind what was the main purpose she came here for, that is until the cafeteria bell rang.

Although Catherine insisted Ayana to stay back as she wanted to discuss the matter now that they were finally alone, but Ayana declined her request as she too had to submit the reports by today to their grumpy boss.

Catherine could understand Ayana's reason but she had a very important news to disclose as well. If not now, then it would probably get too late, but thanks to the timidness of her heart she failed to stop Ayana from going away and ultimately ended up following her footsteps.

...

Meanwhile Betty was welcomed by an awkward gaze from her colleagues as soon as she entered her office department. Naturally, she too in exchange stared at them with a 'What?' look, but nobody dared to open their mouth in front of this wild cat.

The moment didn't last long as very soon the hoarse voice of a man named Patrick, their boss, called Betty out as she had submitted the wrong file once again. His strong voice brought everyone's focus back to their work and Betty too prepared herself to go for an another lecture with a frustrated sigh.

She clicked her tongue as she dragged herself towards her boss's cabinet, only to return back with even worse state and with double the amount of load than before.

"Ugh! I hate this job." She dropped the files on her untidy desk and leaned back to rest a little on her chair when suddenly an eerie feeling started to crawl on her back. It was as if someone staring at her, but to her surprise she didn't find anyone behind those plain cubicle walls.

'Am I imagining things?' she wondered for a second but soon got back to her work.

...

Time passed by and it was finally three in the afternoon, the time to end her office hours.

She had poured her blood, sweat and tears in completing these huge bunch of files and finally she was free to leave.

"Now all I gotta do is to submit this work and then wohoo! It's time to make shopping list for Christmas!" She was so overjoyed that she returned her files while humming carols on her way.

But as any typical boss would have it, Patrick couldn't stand any of his employee so happy in his presence and so he stopped Betty right away as his eyes laid on her happily lit face.

It didn't take seconds for Betty's smile to vanish when her eyes as well laid on her devil boss's creepy buisness smile.

She was once again called to his cabinet and soon after she returned to her desk with a lifeless face.

The thing which she feared the most finally came true. Patrick ordered her to arrange the office Christmas party this year. While it may sounded simple at first glance, in reality it was not. If anything else, it was the worst way possible to celebrate Christmas for her.

But other than groaning in disguise of a fake smile, what else could she do than to accept the responsibility unconditionally?

Declining this offer would be like getting off the list of promotion in her boss's personal diary, something which she couldn't let happen at all cost, not after she had done so much hardwork to reach this far.

Although she managed to accept the invitation with a drawn smile, it instantly vanished into a scowl as soon as her boss turned his back on her and left the office with a sarcastic smile while humming the same carol which Betty was singing earlier.

"Ugh! So frustrating!" She muttered.

She limply walked towards her desk and throwed herself on the chair only to fall straight onto the marble floor.

"AARGHHHHH!!! SH*T!* She screamed while holding her back

Her moans echoed in the empty office as everyone was gone by the time she heard her boss's speech. But instead of getting angry again, she steadily climbed on her armchair and muttered.

"Sigh, now how shall I deliver this news to Ayana?"

She rested her head upon her crossed arms on chair while still sitting on the cold floor with folded legs.

They may not have a grand celebration at home, but still it was better than drinking all alone in their gloomy apartments. They lived like a small family together, and even though Ayana may not agree to this idea, it seemed like they were a couple with Nancy as their adopted child.

"Ah shit, here I go again with these stupid imagination. Me and Ayana a couple? How foolish!" She scoffed bitterly at the thought and raised her torso slowly. Even though this was just a short breeze of thought passing by her brain, but everytime she faced it, her face felt strangely hot from blush.

She didn't knew why her body reacted this way, but instead of prying further deep into this thought she rather preferred to ignore it all at once. To her rescue, the awfully loud noises of vehicles honking helped her getting past this embarrassment and she wondered if this noise was always so loud?

Now that nobody was there in the office, it made Betty realised how crucial Patrick's non-stop nagging were as they would cover all this up with his loud yellings the whole time.

"That old man..." She bitterly sighed again as she noticed a small note of praise hidden behind his complaints within her documents. It was a good thing to know she managed to impress her boss from her hardwork, and even though she may complain about his grumpy behaviour all the time in front of her friend, she deep down knew how kind his boss actually was.

She understood it right from the beginning why her boss especially scolded her a lot in front of everyone because he knew until or unless her hardwork isn't showed off to her peers, she would never achieve that promotion for which she had been hoping for so long.

He was just like a strict father but with a heart of gold.

And that was the very reason why, even after been publicly humiliated so many times, Betty never once loathed him, even in her dreams.

However, that wasn't the problem now. It may seem like Patrick was just being considerate of her as she lived all alone, or so he believed in, his invitation was rather more unwelcoming for her.

"Urgh! Enough time waste now. I'll just ask Ayana to come as well and if she doesn't... Nah, I know she'll somehow manage to convince his boss to arrange a party with her colleagues. Anyway, I should text her in advance just in case in case I forget while shopping with Nancy."

She picked her backpack and key to her scooty, and quickly rushed towards the elevator.