THE OFFICE

After a forty-five minutes drive to her workplace despite the heavy traffic of other vehicles which paraded the main road on way to start tedious preparation at her office, in the taxi, she alighted the cab in front of her office building and paid her fare to the cab driver who received it warmly before he drove out of the vicinity leaving her behind to stare at the departing car at the broad walkway where other passersby kept walking past where she stood gazing at the car before it further disappeared into the next street. Then she turned around and head straight to a wide stairway with two handrail on both sides of the flat stairs that aid her in climbing up the raised platform on which the tall skyscraper with nineteen floors stood upon which happened to be where she had been working since the day she got employed four years ago and had been able to get promoted twice as an employee to her current post which she now handle professionally.

On getting to the entrance of the tall building, she checked out her wristwatch again for the third time in one day, only to see that she was still an hour early to the exact time the actors would begin the show. Part of her wasn't ready to face the rest of the staff workers whom she knew had already resumed work much earlier in the day, two hours after daybreak during the entire time she had committed herself to tidy the attic in her house originally owned by her dead parents and she had dwelt there ever since they passed away though the house was only one of the few portions of the large properties that her father actually owned in this part of the country, but she strolled inside anyway, not thinking much about how the workers might feel if they saw her coming late to work at this odd hour of the day that has way trickle past the resumption hour especially the receptionist and some few staff attending to some clients at the counter whose eyes immediately fell on her after she scrolled in, ignoring the onlookers who were mystified by her beauty as well as her tight fitted outfit that added more attractiveness to her body figure including her succulent waist which got two men enared in their own desires as she walked in, trotting in the bright hall till she disappeared into another hallway which led her straight to the elevator without looking behind her to see the awkward faces of some clients including the other staff workers taking shufti glance at her even before the elevator shut behind her few minutes after she entered inside.

As soon as the electronic door of the elevator closed, she pressed a button, sending herself to floor fourteen where she hoped to meet every one else prepared in their respective places already waiting for her to arrive so that the quicker she can get to finish up with the task, the faster she will be to leave the office and head back to get a better rest at her house.

She waited patiently for the lift to give her a smooth ride up the building from the first floor, ascending upwards past several floors till it arrived at her destination way soonest than what she had anticipated and then, she ventured out of the elevator into another hallway which was quite brighter than the first one at the first floor for several fluorescent lights erected on the rooftop of the building kept illuminating the lengthen corridor resplendently since the uninterrupted solar power supply was still very much functional in providing high efficiency voltage to the entire electronic devices used in every compartments in the company building especially the elevator including the lights that lit up every hallway in each of the floors.

Taking a left turn to another corridor after she got to the end of the first hallway, she took her time to plod slowly on the long walk from the elevator, to her office compartment which wasn't far off from where she was and as she drew closer to her to staff office that was fairly large enough to house a ten man crew worker tantamount the exact the same number of employees that were assigned under her supervision as part of the editorial team, she could hear noises of someone fully engaged in a fierce with someone's whose seemed to be greatly outmatched by the other as the noise grew louder as it kept resounding out from a cubicle afar into the corridor which she thought was coming out from the another staff room other than hers but she was wrong when the voice that seemed familiar enough for her to whom she was ordered few weeks ago to submit the final edition of the edited manuscript today at a designated time, mentioned a remark which gripped her with profound nervousness.

The tremor effect of the familiar masculine voice that came out violently each time the weaker voice which seem to be pleading for some reason best known to the speaker, kept inflicting fear and trepidation in her mind as she drew nearer to the entrance of her quarters. She halted as she came closer to the transparent door of the office and took a quick peep to check if her doubts about the owner of the voice was true or not, only to beheld the gigantic figure of the Director, whose black suit enhanced his hefty outlook in a fancy way though his head was bald, uttering thunderous words at another fellow whom she recognized to be Kelly Howard, a lanky timid fellow with round eyes and chubby cheeks, who is in charge of obtaining the required manuscripts written by different prolific writers officially recognized and permitted by their film company to present copyrights of their own works under a professional licensing agreement, to them.

She flinched nervously and gasped out in fright before retracting her head from the glass but she covered her gaped mouth to prevent her from screaming out in utter dismay that would attract unwanted attention which she absolutely doesn't want to happen at that moment.

For a brief moment, she was lost in deep thought, ruminating on what to do and all hope of her getting saved by her staff workers from being trampled upon to pieces by the Director has left her mind completely. All she could think of was to rely on herself and her wits to avoid getting embarrassed in front of everyone else present in the office but she knew that the circumstances had turned completely against her favor.

"Where the hell is, Emma?!",

The question asked by the Director, came as a sudden shock to her and to everyone else in the room but he received no response, only tongue tied mouth and silent eyes met his bloodshot eyes as though everyone in the room except for the Director and Kelly, was trapped in a mime scene where they had to move their bodies and frail limbs that have gotten numb instead of speaking with their mouths.

He felt even more angrier when they couldn't reply to his question and stared hard at Kelly who had failed to convince him to exercise some more patience to wait a while for his scripted film that hasn't finished yet and that the paperwork will be ready in time but something else was causing the Director to flare up in hot temper which was sadly unknown to everyone else in the room including Emma who was standing outside shivering nervously in fear of being spotted except for the Director himself who knew why he had dashed into the compartment unannounced in desperate need of his manuscript to be ready at that moment though he was aware that it would not be possibly ready since the editorial manager wasn't present in the compartment but he did not care about due procedures nor the protocols which they officially followed and wanted to bypass the rules to get his paperwork ready at a reason best known to him alone despite Kelly's efforts in trying to comprehend what the exact problem was for the team was right on schedule with no faulty errors on their side.

"You all better tell me why she's not here or you'll be removed from your jobs",

He threatened feeling his hot temper getting the best of his Judgment and waved Kelly who wanted to say something, to be quiet.

"I need my scripts at my desk ASAP! And I'm not leaving here till it is done, hear that!",

He thundered once again and was about to sit down on a seat nearby when Emma suddenly walked into the room and halted by the doorpost soon after she noticed the eyes of everyone in the room turned at her, leaving her courage to show up regardless of the consequences she might face, weakened and at once, she felt a bit more uncomfortable standing there as she tried to hold the countless eyes staring at her including the eyes of the Director. Even Kelly was lost in thoughts as he bluntly looked at her with bewilderment and shifted aside away from the duel arena as soon as the Director sprang into immediate action heading towards where she stood cornered by his predating instincts of dealing with defaulters in the company.

"You have the guts showing up now when you should have been here already to make sure that the scripts are ready on time",

He said trying to cool his temper down which almost made him pounce on her without mercy but he knew that would be a costly mistake if he did that to her.

"I'm... very sorry, sir, for not being here.... when you came but there's still much time left to sort things out",

She replied barely trying to keep her eyes from coming in contact with him.

"Sort things out, you say?",

"Yes,... And we just need a few minutes to compile the work",

He kept quiet for a brief moment and took a step backwards away from her as though the cornered prey had won the fight, which sent some relief into the heart of Emma but it was not over yet just like the other spectators had thought the fight had ended so on as it started.