CHAPTER TWO

Three Years Later

"So," Mr Kim looked up from the CV placed in front of him on his table.

"According to what you said, you graduated from the university last year."

"Yes sir." Lisa replied.

"Well your CV is quite impressive." He remarked.

"Thank you sir." She nodded.

"Can I ask you a question, though?"

"Yes sir."

"What's with the glasses you have on?"

She cleared her throat and adjusted herself in her seat. "It's for medical purposes, sir."

"Medic... wait what?" He threw his head backwards. "Those are dark shades! How is it medicated?"

"This particular one is." She replied.

"Take it off."

"Sir?"

"I said take it off. I can't let you walk around in this office with sunglasses. If I'm hiring you as my secretary, you can't attend meetings with me in sunglasses." He explained.

Reluctantly, she removed it and put it in her bag.

"Good." He extended his hand for a handshake.

"You're now Secretary Kim working for the CEO of Vechron, Mr Kim." He smiled as she took his hand. "Coincidentally we bear the same surname," he added and she smiled avoiding his eyes.

"And hopefully you would work with us for a long time." Fred walked up to them.

"Frederick!" Mr Kim growled.

"It's just Fred." He replied with a stiff smile and turned to Lisa. "Let me take you to your office."

"Ok." She replied and walked out of the office with him.

"Here." Fred said, as he opened the door to Lisa's office.

"Thank you." She smiled and bowed slightly.

"You're welcome," he hesitated, "well, just so you know, you're Mr Kim's sixtieth secretary."

"Hmm?!" Lisa turned around to face him, visibly shocked.

"Exactly. So you have to be extremely flawless to survive here, with him, as his secretary."

"How? How old is the company for him to have had so many secretaries?" She asked.

"You see, today is the company's sixth year anniversary. Apparently, he changes his secretary almost every month. The last one was dismissed yesterday because he got to the meeting room before her, despite the fact that she was taking an international call on his behalf."

By this time, Lisa's eyes were wide enough that it would have popped out if it were possible.

"Wow." She whispered to herself.

"I'll be going now, as time goes on, I'll give you tips on how to work effectively with him." He said and hurried out of her office.

"And here I was thinking that I'd just bagged the easiest job ever in my field." She sighed.

She picked up her phone to text Jena that she had been hired, but thought against it immediately. If the last secretary was fired for something that was not entirely her fault, what was her fate if she was caught on her phone? Plus Mr Kim did not look so friendly.

Turning on the computer on her desk, she decided to find something work related to do but a knock on the door disrupted her.

She looked up and saw that it was Mr Fred but before she could tell him to come in, he pushed the door open and walked inside.

"Lunch time is by 11:30am, we still have some hours before then." He said and sat down on a chair opposite her.

Then he placed the file he came with on the desk before him. "You, Mr Jaxon and I would be working together most of the time, and there's a whole lot of work you have to do already but I'll be lenient with you for the next few weeks, because this is your first time working as a secretary."

"Ok sir." She replied.

"Now here are the things you have to do," he began. "Create his schedule everyday, answer calls on his behalf when he is not around, attend meetings with him and write down vital points on whatever is discussed, and others which I'll let you know subsequently."

"All right sir." She nodded.

"What you really have to do is not much, you are doing almost everything Mr Kim does but he has an upper hand and there are certain things that are meant for him alone. Mind you, in this office, the other workers might not be too serious with you because of the fact that he changes his secretary at intervals so you have to prove to everybody here that you're capable of earning some level of respect."

"Noted."

"But there are things you must not dare to do." He stated. "One, don't challenge his authority. I believe that as an employee, you are aware of that.

"Two, don't get to the meeting room after him." He continued, before she could even reply.

"Three, don't do whatever he doesn't permit you to do."

"The moment you decide to do any of these things I've warned you about, you will be fired with immediate effect. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir." Lisa replied.

"Good. You see, working with us here in this company is so much fun. You just have to work diligently and efficiently."

"Ok sir."

"You should be prepared for working overtime too." Fred added.

"Ok sir." She was not prepared for any of this. She thought that being a secretary was as easy as any other thing, but little did she know that her boss had no intention of making things easy for the people around him.

"I have this feeling that you will deliver, but whatever the case may be, you must not give up. Fight to maintain your position!" He demonstrated with his hand.

This time Lisa didn't say anything. She just nodded.

"By fighting, I mean you should work extra hard," he leaned forward towards her. "Mr Kim acts tougher than he looks. You can even classify him as heartless." He whispered.

It was at this moment that she knew she was done for.

"I'll be leaving now." He straightened up and pushed the file on the table towards her. "You will sincerely thank me very soon for this little piece of advise i just gave you and," he paused as he stood up, "you have to attend to this as soon as possible." He gestured to the file in front of her.

"Okay sir." She replied.

"Also, I noticed that you've been avoiding my eyes. Please don't try that with Mr Kim, he believes people that avoid peoples eyes are weaklings or guilty of something." He said and walked out of the office.

Now, that was a very big problem for Lisa. She knew she could not bring herself to look into someone's eyes, else she might see things she wasn't ready to see.

After the death of her father and Jena's brother three years ago, it was a miracle that she was still alive. She had lost all hope in life and it was only when Jena suggested the use of sunglasses that she stepped out of her house to the outside world again.

But they knew that it wasn't a permanent solution. She would have to do without them at some point and now was the time for her to face reality once more.

"Secretary Kim?" A tall lady walked into Lisa's office. She looked like she was in her early thirties.

"Yes? Good afternoon. How may I help you?" Lisa replied, looking up.

"Here," she replied placing a file on her table. "Mr Kim needs to sign this so I can release the money for our upcoming project, it's........." She kept explaining, unaware of the fact that Lisa was no longer listening to her.

"What?!" Lisa gasped. An unexpected scenario had flashed before her eyes while looking at her.

"Huh?" She paused to give her a long look before repeating all she had said.

"Ah!" Lisa began in hushed tone. "Ok. Am I supposed to give it to him?" She continued as she tried to compose herself.

"Yes. I can't find him in his office so I suppose you know where he is. I can't find Mr Fred too."

Lisa nodded although she had no idea where they were. That was even the least of her worries as she was trying to figure out the best way to sort things out.

"Ok. I will deliver it to him as soon as possible."

"Please do. The deadline is this evening." She replied and turned to leave.

"Er, your name?" Lisa called out as she was about to step out of the office. "You see, this is my first day here so I'm not really conversant with everyone."

"Feona. Just tell him, Accountant Azi." She replied and left.

"What?!" Lisa exclaimed in shock. She could not believe what she saw few minutes ago. She closed her eyes in an attempt to calm herself down but was met with a replay of what she had seen.

That was strange. She tried to open her eyes but was unable to. Usually she only sees brief moments of any tragic event when she looks into someone's eyes and it automatically ends when she closes her eyes or look away but this time around, she was seeing a full and detailed account of the event — what happened before and what happened after — and it was after everything ended that she was able to open her eyes again.

Picking up her phone, she decided to text her boss' PA but thought against it. How would he believe her if she told him that their well trusted accountant, together with the supposed company they were to work with, was about to embezzle a lot of the company's fund.

"This is bad! I have to do something!" She thought out loud. From what she saw, not only would the company lose a lot of money, they would also be implicated for doing business with the other company since the alleged company which did not even exist would not like to go down alone.

She scanned the document carefully to see if she could find anything that would give them away but it was of no use. They did a clean job.

"Hello?" Jena greeted the moment Lisa picked up.

"Hey, are you busy now?" Lisa asked.

She sighed. "Are you busy? Can you call? Lisa, that's the text you just sent to me."

"Ah, right. You said no."

"What is it?"

"I saw something today." Lisa began.

"And what did you see?"

"You know that stuff that usually happens to me? Where I see things against my will?"

"Mhm. Wait," she paused, "you saw something? How? Did you remove the glasses? Why? Or wait, hold on, did you get the job? That's why you didn't need the glasses right? Oh my goodness! I'm so happy for you! But why are you on the phone now? Isn't that against the rule in your company? You just..."

"Jena, I'm the one that has something to say. Please don't interrupt, just listen to me."

"Ok. I guess it's alright to make personal calls then.

That's good. I'll be calling...."

"Jena!"

"Sorry. I'm listening."

"So the accountant here is being fraudulent." Lisa whispered.

"Is being what? I can't hear you clearly."

"Fraudulent. I said she's being fraudulent." She whispered.

"What? Who's being what? Can you speak up? I can't really hear you!"

"Oh my God!" Lisa groaned in frustration and texted her. "Check your phone."

"Oh! Right! You really have to make sure no one else hears it." She replied after reading the text.

"But how do you know? Are you sure of what you're saying? Hasn't she been working there for a long time? Why would she want to embezzle their money all of a sudden?"

"I don't know? I didn't see that part."

"Wait! This is what you saw?"

"Yes."

"Wow. This is bad. So what are...."

"And something weird happened too." Lisa interrupted.

"What?"

"I couldn't open my eyes for a moment."

"Huh?"

"When I closed it. Everything replayed in front of me and it was very detailed, not the usual flashes."

"It doesn't mean anything right?"

"What?"

"That. What you just told me. It doesn't mean anything bad right?"

"I don't know maybe?"

"But that's not the problem now. How are we going to solve the fraud issue?"

"I don't know. Lisa sighed.

"I can't just tell my boss without a solid proof."

"That's true. And you're also new there. It won't be good for you to start causing issues in the office."

"Yes. But I must stop her."

"Absolutely! So what's your plan?" Jena asked.

"I have none."

"Where's your boss? In the office?"

"I don't know."

"Ugh! Do you ever know anything?"

"Well, today's the company's anniversary so I don't think he'll be around. Why?"

"Um... I was thinking that you..."

"Secretary Kim?" Mr Fred walked into the office.

"Huh! Woah! Woah!" Lisa screamed and scrambled for her phone. "Oh no!" She whispered as she picked up her phone from the floor. The screen was badly damaged as a result of the force with which it used to land on the ground.

"Oh no?" Mr Fred walked up to her table.

"What? No, no, not, I mean, I'm sorry sir." Lisa lowered her head.

"Sorry? For what?"

"Huh? Oh! For making calls during working hours." She whispered.

"Give that to me. Let me see it." Mr Fred stretched out his hand and Lisa handed him the phone.

"Wow. Your screen looks so much like a chain of spider webs," he chuckled. "This punishment is enough then. It would definitely cost you a lot to fix it." He returned the phone to her and cleared his throat. "Don't make personal calls during working hours again. You would be fired with immediate effect."

"Yes sir."

"Pack your things and wait for me at the garage." He said and turned to leave.

"Where are we going to sir?"

"The venue for our company's anniversary. You, Mr Kim and I."

"Er, sir?" Lisa called. He was already at the doorway.

"Yes?" He turned to face her. "What is it?"

"Uh, well, I wanted to ask."

"Ask about what?"

"If you're sure that someone is guilty of something but have no proof against the person, what would you do?"

"Keep my mouth shut."

"Wow." She chuckled. "That was so fast."

"Anything else?" He asked and turned to leave.

"Er, yes!"

"What is it this time?"

"Um, What do you think of a person, who sees any tragic event fated towards another person when he/she looks at them?"

"Such person is mad. They should go for mental check up. Why? You know someone like that?

"Me?! No! I'm just asking." She waved.

"Why are you acting strange? Well never mind. Is that all? We're already getting late."

"Yes that's all." She nodded.

"Ok. Go downstairs quickly." He ordered and walked away.

"Such person is mad? Pfft! My madness is what will help this company." She thought out loud.

"But he said he would keep quiet if he were the one. What do I do now?!" She groaned. "Wait!" She paused as if something had struck her. "Argh!" She groaned as she looked at her phone's screen. "What am I going to do now?" She wailed.

"You, Mr Kim and I" she suddenly recalled.

"Wait! If Mr Kim is going to be... Argh! Who did I offend today?" She whimpered. "He'll surely tell Mr Kim right? Right. He will. Agh!" She sank into her chair in frustration. "Why did he have to come in when I was on the phone?"

"Huh?" She jerked when she heard office phone rang suddenly."

"Hello? This is the receptionist speaking. By any chance am I speaking with secretary Kim?" A voice spoke up when Lisa answered the call.

"Yes."

"Right. Mr Kim said I should let you know that they've been waiting for you for a while now." She said and hung up. Lisa froze instantly. She had totally forgotten that she was supposed to be downstairs a while ago.

"Wow! Who would believe that I would get hired and fired the same day?" She thought to herself.