Chapter 3 - The Meeting

On the third day after the brief meeting to introduce Sam, I was summoned by Miss Nita to her office.

Nowadays, everyone seemed to be walking on eggshells.

All eyes were on me as I was going up the stairs.

A few of my coworkers whispered among themselves.

I knew what they were thinking.

Despite the reassurances from the management, the prevailing thought was we were all waiting for the other shoe to drop, bonk us on our heads and wake up to the reality that we will all be replace to make room for the Diversity employees who were retained.

No one was indispensable anyway.

It was hard to shake off that thought especially when everytime I come to work, I felt the tension crackling in the air waiting to burst.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I inhaled and exhaled several times.

This meeting wasn't scheduled.

When the notification went off on the company chat created by Miss Nita, my heart skipped a beat.

I stopped writing the article for my next post despite the deadline looming ahead.

I looked calm on the outside but on the outside, my emotions were raging.

Lately, I was on a rollercoaster ride that never ends.

I felt sick to my stomach but it was too late to run to the bathroom so I steeled myself for what awaits inside the office.

I stood in front of the frosted walls and noticed that silver plaque with Miss Nita's name on it was missing.

Was that a good or bad sign?

I pushed the thought out of my mind and knocked.

Her voice was muffled but I heard her say come in.

Gripping the door handle tight, I took another deep breath before entering.

I felt as if I was being led into the lions' den.

When I opened the door, there were no vicious animals waiting to pounce and kill me.

Instead, Sam and Miss Nita were there sitting across from each other with their laptops on and piles of open folders on the desk.

"Ah. There she is," Miss Nita beamed when she saw me.

I closed the door and stayed where I was.

Sam looked up from the file she was reading.

I couldn't read her expression.

There was nothing that registered in those big brown eyes that used to make my heart beat a little quicker than usual.

"Come," Miss Nita waved at me to approach.

"Why don't you grab a seat beside Sam and then we can start?"

I walked with trepidation.

Sam was just sitting there but her presence was more than enough to rattle me.

Just like old times.

Once I was seated, Miss Nita introduced me to Sam.

She didn't offer her hand but just looked at me with the same unreadable expression.

I nodded and said hello as if it was the first time I met her.

"Good," Miss Nita flashed a big smile despite the cold response from Sam.

"Mon is my best employee," She looked at her and then at me the smile not leaving her face.

"Since you're going to be the new boss of the creative content department, Mon is going to show you around since she's the team lead."

"What?" I asked, shocked with what I heard.

"Since when?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Since right now," Miss Nita replied without a beat.

"Are you promoting me?" I was at a loss for words.

Here I was worried for days about the status of my job in this company and now I was handed a promotion without a warning.

My mind thought of my coworkers.

How would they react to this?

"Yes, I am." Miss Nita tapped my knuckle.

Sam saw it and her eyebrow arched a little like it always does when someone else dared to touch me.

"But there was no job posting," I argued.

"There was no need for that. You are loyal, a hard worker, trustworthy and very, very, smart." She dragged the last words for emphasis.

Sam straightened in her seat and focused her full attention to the ongoing conversation.

"Now I can't have Sam working with anyone else. You are the best person for the job, Mon. I know that Sam will be in good hands with you showing her the ropes."

"Thank you for your confidence in me, Miss Nita." I mustered as much enthusiasm as I could.

My head was spinning and my heart was racing because I couldn't believe what was happening right now.

I was trying not too hard to smile but it was difficult to control my facial muscles.

My happiness was bursting and I bit my lower lip to keep it under control.

When I looked at Sam, she saw what I was doing.

The look in her eyes made me blush.

I hope she didn't interpret that as me flirting with her.

We were no longer in high school.

There would be none of that lip and nose biting thing we used to do.

It was a good thing that Miss Nita spoke again before the memories of the past consumed me and made the situation more awkward than it already was.

"You deserved this promotion," She said in a sincere tone.

My cheeks warmed up from the praises she heaped on me.

I tried not to fidget in my seat.

Maybe if it was just the two of us I wouldn't feel so self-conscious.

But Sam was staring at me and the intense look in her eyes was enough to make me feel warm with both excitement and anxiety.

I couldn't tell if she believed the things she heard or if she was proud of what I achieved.

When I turned my attention back to Miss Nita, she looked puzzled.

She looked at Sam and then at me, her brows knitted as if trying to figure out something.

I thought she was going to say what was on her mind but she didn't.

Now, it wasn't only my cheeks that felt as if it was burning up.

Sweat trickled down the length of my spine and settled on the small of my back.

Miss Nita shifted in her seat.

"I'd better leave you two alone to get to it," She stood up to grab the purse that was under her desk.

"I'm sorry what?" I didn't understand what she meant by that.

"The shadowing? You have to show Sam around the office. Introduce her to your colleagues in creative content?" There was a teasing glow in her eyes.

My blush deepened even more.

"Sam, call me if you need anything okay?"

"Sure."

I thought Miss Nita was done with instructions when she slung the purse on her shoulder but she spoke again.

"Mon, message me if anything comes up," The teasing smile made me feel more and more awkward.

Sometimes I wished my body didn't react this way.

But one of the things that were hard for me to control was hiding my embarrassment especially when it involved a certain someone who was sitting right across from me.

"I don't have your number, Miss Nita." I reminded her.

"You can use the company chat. But send it directly to me."

"Am I allowed to do that?"

The surprises kept coming.

First, the promotion and now the privilege to chat with Miss Nita directly.

Although she mentioned in the previous meetings that we could reach out to her if needed, I don't know of anybody who actually crossed that line.

Most of us observed the decorum in the company.

Our concerns were channeled through the team leads or supervisors.

Now that I was a part of it, I would probably get approach with issues personal and otherwise.

I was not prepared for this.

Miss Nita walked to the door and said goodbye to us.

As soon as the lock clicked, Sam spoke.

"Hello, Mon."