THE PA

Friday Morning

4:09am

Jaita tossed and turned on her bed with her eyes closed. It was eerily quiet and she had woken up suddenly but was finding it difficult to get back to sleep. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up at her digital alarm clock. It was 4:10am. Closing her eyes once more, she forced herself to sleep.

"Morning." A quiet voice spoke, sending chills down her spine.

"Who's there?" She managed to whisper few minutes later, clutching her bedcover as tight as possible.

"Your guest." The voice replied and within a split second her bedroom lights flickered, but she caught a shadow at her dressing table before the lights went off.

"AAAAHHHHH!!!!!" Jaita screamed in shock, poised to get herself out of the room at the slightest opportunity.

"What's the meaning of that?" Yuki asked, snapping her fingers to turn the lights on.

"Wait what," she paused "what is wrong with you!!" She yelled in frustration.

"What is wrong with me?"

"Don't you know how to respect someone's privacy? You didn't even inform me before coming to my house. How did you even get inside?" She asked composing herself, as she climbed down from her bed. "I remember locking the front door." She said and headed for her sitting room to check the door.

"I also remember telling you yesterday that I'll come to pick you up first thing tomorrow morning. And why do I have to come in through the door when I could easily teleport myself here." Yuki said as they got to the parlour.

"Even at that, don't you know how to knock? You were supposed to.... Wait why are you here now?"

Frustrated, Yuki walked up to her and smacked her head. "We're already late."

"Late for what?"

"Work. Have you forgotten that your new job begins today?"

"What's the time? Few minutes past four and you're saying we're late? The earliest working hour for this kind of job is by 6am." Jaita protested.

"I'm the boss and I love punctuality. On a normal day, I should be at the company by now."

"Wow. That's nice. You know what? You go first, I'll come later by the usual time. It's Pearlson isn't it? I know the place."

"You're my personal assistant. How does it make sense for me to arrive at work before my PA?"

"It's too early!!! How are we supposed to drive on the road by this time? In my former place of work, my boss arrives at 8am. I don't know what we are looking for outside at 4 in the morning."

"Your former place of work can never be compared to the legendary Pearlson. How dare you speak so low of the fruit of my labour?" Yuki asked furiously.

"I'm not talking your company down. I resigned a week ago from the publishing company where I worked as an editor and we're also well-to-do. That's what I'm saying."

"What's the name of the company?"

"Vixtan." Jaita smiled proudly.

Vixtan was also a standard publishing company of well known novels, comic books, poetry and more but it wasn't anywhere close to the top publishing companies and could definitely not compete with Pearlson.

"No wonder." Yuki mocked. "You see? Your previous company has a whole lot of flaws, that's why they can't meet up with what the market is saying. Anyways it's not for you to understand. Hurry up and get prepared, you have less than twenty five minutes to do that."

"Don't waste my time." She added when she noticed Jaita was about to protest, and sat on one of the couch.

Reluctantly, Jaita went to her room, dressed her bed and made her way to her bathroom. In about fifteen minutes she was fully dressed, but she needed to eat. So she rushed into the kitchen to prepare some food.

"What are you still doing?" Yuki walked into the kitchen impatiently.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She asked as she set out the utensils for cooking on the counter. "I have to eat something before I step out of this house."

Groaning loudly, she took Jaita by her right arm and walked her out of the kitchen briskly. "It's 4:33 now. Don't you understand what I mean by I'm already late?"

"So how do I eat to have strength for today's work?"

Ignoring her, Yuki grabbed Jaita's bag from the couch and led them out of the house to her car. It was a black convertible Lamborghini of the latest model. "Your waking up late has nothing to do with me." She said and shoved her into the driver's seat.

"Move!" She commanded, when she settled down at the back seat of her car.

"Who usually drives you to work?" Jaita asked, refusing to start the car.

"Me."

"So why am I the one driving you to work today?" She looked at her through the rearview mirror coldly.

"How does it make sense to drive my subordinate?" She asked as she leaned forward to smack her head.

"Can you stop hitting me?!" Jaita yelled.

"You won't like what would happen to you if I don't get to the office before 5:00am. How can you be so stubborn? What kind of devil are you?"

"Shouldn't you be able to recognise me if I'm one?" Jaita scoffed.

"Would you shut up and drive!" Yuki retorted in a scary manner.

"Sorry." Jaita flinched, obviously terrified, and started the car.

"Why are humans like this?" She humphed.

They drove silently, until they got to the office at about few minutes past five.

"Morning! Morning! Morning! Morning! Morning!" An occasionally hyperactive Suyi sang as he barged into the office.

"Suyi." Zuwa whispered yawning. She looked at her wristwatch, it was already 7:00 am.

She had spent the night working overtime at the office and was beginning to feel sleepy.

"You didn't go home yesterday, did you? You're still putting on the same clothes as yesterday." Suyi remarked, as he settled down in front of his desk beside her, after exchanging pleasantries with his co-workers.

"Mhm. But I'll quickly rush home to freshen up, before my meeting with...."

"Okay!!! Morning guys! I've got fresh news right from the source!" Dizola barged into the office. She was the only one capable of competing with Suyi in terms of hyperactiveness.

"Starting the day with gossips?" Sotu murmured loud enough for her to hear.

"Trust me, it's worth it." She replied giggling, as she set her bag on her desk.

Turning his chair to face her, Suyi prompted impatiently. "Let's hear it."

"So, there's this lady with us right now, I don't know if any of you have seen her, but from what I heard, she's boss's PA."

"The lady in red?" Suyi asked.

"Exactly."

"Mhm. I saw her not long ago, but how are you sure she's working with us?" Zuwa asked as everyone turned their chairs to face Dizola with keen interest.

"Exactly. This is my first time of seeing her. I can't recall seeing her getting interviewed here." Suyi added.

"My source is legit. I don't ever spread fake rumours, or have I ever said any...." Dizola was about to say something when someone cleared her throat from the doorway.

It was Didjana, Yuki's secretary.

Swiftly, everyone returned to what they were doing as silence filled the room. Didjana was known as a strict person —but not as tough as Yuki— so everybody knew to behave when she was around.

"Isn't it too early for unnecessary chit-chat?" She asked and walked away before getting any replies.

"She must be aware." Ituah said immediately Didjana was out of sight.

"Aware of what?" Dizola asked.

"Boss's personal assistant. I mean she's her secretary."

"No wonder!" Suyi clapped. "She has been extremely strict this morning, she must be very angry that boss didn't make her her PA."

"You're right. She didn't even respond to my greetings this morning." Dizola added.

"Hmm, guys I don't think that's true. Didjana is not like that." Zuwa countered.

"You won't understand. How can someone that we have never seen suddenly show up and become her PA?" Dizola replied.

"Well, I'm not that surprised." Suyi said. "We all know how out of the ordinary our boss is."

"Exactly! If not, what is her secretary for, that she couldn't use her as her PA?" Runo spoke up for the first time.

"It's not even like....."

"I don't just know what to do with you people." Yuki called. She was leaning on the door with Jaita beside her.

"I'm not part of them." The ones that had truly not uttered a word chorused nervously with their hands in the air, as everyone returned to their sitting positions hastily.

"Your subordinates are in their various departments working tirelessly to keep this company at the top spot and you are all here talking about irrelevant things!" She paused then whispered, "to the extent that none of you even noticed my presence."

Sotu started, pointing at Dizola. "I warned her, but she di...."

"Ha!" Suyi and Dizola chorused while the rest looked at Sotu with wide eyes.

"How? When?" Dizola asked.

"You all are enjoying lots of benefit in this company that's why you're all so relaxed. I'll start with separating each and everyone of you. Maybe if you start staying in the same office with your respective subordinates you would know how to behave." Yuki said.

"Sorry ma." They all stood up and bowed.

"Can you imagine? How can I keep doing a whole lot of work when all the founding members of this company are still working here. Didn't we all make the rules?" She asked rhetorically.

"Anyways, as you have all gossiped, she is indeed my PA." She said nodding towards Jaita, before introducing them to her.

"That's Suyi, the head of graphic designs, Zuwa, our top literary agent, Dizola, our top illustrator, Runo, our marketing director, Ituah, our publicist, Sotu, the head of the editorial department, and this is Jaita." She informed, pointing at them consecutively. "Our sales representative, contract and production manager are on leave at the moment, so you'll get to see them when they return to work." She added.

Suyi cleared his throat and smiled. "Well, for now Jaita, since you're very new to our system here, you can feel free to ask any of us for help, we would be gla..." He stopped because Yuki had already led Jaita out of the office.

"If only she knows what she is in for." Dizola shook her head, referring to Jaita.

Quietly, they resumed their duties, bathed in the warm morning sunlight streaming through the office windows. The air was filled with the inviting aroma of freshly brewed coffee.

As they settled into their workstations, they exchanged gentle greetings at intervals. Keyboards sprang to life, and printers hummed as they delved into the day's tasks. The gentle thrill of productivity built, as the staff adjusted to their smooth return.

At 5 PM, the staff members of Pearlson had wound down into their end-of-day routine, fingers racing across keyboards, phones ringing, and printers buzzing, as they wrapped up tasks, met deadlines, and prepped for the next day. With the secretary's call of 'Closing time, everyone!' the room had gradually cleared, employees packing up, exchanging weary smiles, and heading out into the evening, ready to put the workday to rest.

"I'm very tired!" Jaita yawned and stretched dramatically in Yuki's office to gain her attention. It was now 6:00 PM, and she had been roaming about in her office since 5:35 PM, as they were the only ones left in the building, save the security officers.

Their official closing time was long gone and Yuki had made no attempt to take her face away from her computer, let alone wrapping up.

"Don't you have work to do? Go to your office and help this company remain at the top."

"That's what I've been doing for the past few hours. As a matter of fact, I'm not even working as your PA but as an editor in this company, because if that's not the case, I can't explain why I have a personal office instead of staying here with you. And I also cannot understand the pile of manuscripts on my desk for me to proofread." She replied as she picked and dropped items on Yuki's desk one after the other.

"Your priority is to work. Nothing but work. Because it would be very disastrous for my company to be labelled as number 2." Yuki uttered, and shutdown her computer.

"Just say you need my help in this company instead of telling me all these." She shook her head. "Anyways, meet me in the car. I don't know why it's taking you forever to pack your things up." She said and walked out of the office, to the elevator.

"I don't need your help in my company." She smiled to herself and began to arrange her things. "You'll soon know what I want you for."

"What took you so long?" Yuki asked from behind, immediately Jaita settled down at the driver's seat.

"How come?" She asked, after shouting in shock.

"You really underestimate me." Yuki laughed.

She started the car. "Can you like give me a sign or something when you're about to do that your thing... whatever it is, I mea...."

"Teleport. Teleport is the word, and not thing. It's disrespectful to regard my fabulous attribute as a thing." Yuki corrected.

"Sorry. What I'm asking for is a signal before you teleport to where I am. I don't do well with shock."

"There's unfortunately nothing I can do about that. You just have to get used to it." She smirked.

Jaita sighed. "I think we should eat out." She said, as she drew closer to a restaurant. "It's already late and I won't be able to start cooking anything now."

"Why would I even want to eat anything you cook?"

"I won't even cook for you in my right state of mind." She retorted. "Why would I even leave the comfort of my home to prepare anything for you in your kitchen?" She stopped as the traffic light turned red.

"My house," she paused, "is one of a kind. You won't be able to talk when you see it."

"You are very proud. I don't know if you're aware."

"I'm not proud. I only state facts. Take the right turn when you get to the roundabout. We're not stopping at any restaurant, I have enough food at home."

"That's not the way to my house." Jaita protested.

"I know. Hold on, wait! Were you expecting to drive yourself home with my very expensive Lambo and leave me to drive myself back? With which time and fuel were you planning on doing that?"

"No." She stressed. "You're a demon. Can't you teleport yourself and your car back home when you get to my house?" She smirked and started the car, when the traffic light turned green.

"Who are you trying to outsmart?" Yuki stretched and smacked the back of her head.

"Do you realise how painful that is?" She yelped and rubbed the back of her head with her left hand.

"To the right. I don't have time for any form of rubbish this night." She said as they got to the roundabout.

Swiftly, she turned to the right and they rode together in silence, except for the few times Yuki gave her directions to her house.

"Welcome to my humble, peaceful, wonderful and loving abode. Whatever sweet names you have, you can name it." Yuki smiled as they drove into her compound.

It was a four bedroom gigantic white semi detached duplex. Three luxurious cars were parked in the garage and the compound was decorated with beautiful trees and flowers.

Simply put, Yuki's house screamed WEALTH.

"My key?" She stretched out her hand for Jaita to return her car key to her when they alighted from the car. "You never can tell, I might never see you and my car again by tomorrow morning." She squinted at her.

Jaita scoffed and walked towards the gate to head back home.

"Where are you going to? I've locked the gate already." Yuki called out.

"Then open it. I'm not a demon like you, so I can't teleport back home." Jaita replied.

"Which home is that? Your home is here."

"Look, I'm not in the mood for any sort of games this night. Just open the door and let me go."

"Well, if you insist. But don't say I didn't warn you. You can just save your transport fare and come inside." Yuki advised but opened the gate when Jaita gave her a fixated look.

"Good night Ms. Taikiru." She said, with the most sarcastic tone ever and walked out of the compound.

"Humans are something else." Yuki sighed and entered her house.