Stephanie stood up from her chair fearfully. The look on Danielle’s face when she passed the instruction registered fear in her. “What’s wrong? Is he angry with me?” She asked in terror as she approved Danielle. “I’m not so sure, but his voice sounded pretty loud and harsh,” Danielle responded, and Stephanie felt her skin tingle. “I’ll go to him now.”
She walked out of the office and approached Dr. Peter’s office. Her legs seemed too heavy for her to carry, so she dragged them on the tiled floor, making unpleasant noises. She got to Dr. Peter’s office and knocked on the door. “It’s Stephanie, sir.” She stepped back a little, waiting for him to respond. “Come in,” She heard his threatening voice pierce the wooden door in front of her.
She reached for the door knob and opened the door. She slowly walked into the office, and a smile flickered across her face like a hologram. Dr. Peter was sitting behind his desk, his eyes glued to the screen of his computer. Stephanie could clearly see the frown on his face. “What is this, Stephanie?” He pointed to his computer and looked at her.
Stephanie’s pulse raced like a train as she stared at her angry boss. “Sir, I don’t understand, sir.” Her voice was low and quivering. “What nonsense have you written in this letter? Your punctuations are wrong! Your vocabulary. Zero! You couldn’t even compose a good simple sentence. What is wrong with you?”
Stephanie’s heart thumped against her chest like a sledgehammer and sweat covered her face instantly. “Sir, I’m sorry. I…” “I already sent the letter to our client before he sent it back to me, telling me to check the nonsense I sent to him! What is wrong with you, Stephanie? What is so hard about composing a letter?” He further raged at her, and Stephanie’s throat contrasted painfully.
“I’m sorry, Dr. Peter. I didn’t notice the mistakes.” Her voice quivered and her lips couldn’t stop shaking. ‘I can’t lose my job! No, Stephanie. You can’t let him end your job!’ She thought while she was still in front of her boss. “Go back and do the right thing, Now! The report you sent to me wasn’t as excellent as I thought it would be. I decided to overlook that but after seeing this, I can see you are toying with your job. You have to rewrite the letter and the report today! You won’t go home until you have perfected the works.”
Stephanie nodded and quickly ran her fingers underneath her eye to clean the tear that dropped. “I’ll do that, sir. I’m very sorry,” She muttered, and he waved at her. “That will be all for now.” He spoke without looking at her. Stephanie turned to the door in shame and headed out of his office. She shut the door behind her and shuffled down the hallway.
She covered her mouth very tight as she began to weep. Her feet wobbled, and she fell to the ground. She leaned against the wall and kept crying. Memories of the times she spent with Sebastian rushed into her head, and she shook her head vigorously. “Stop getting into my head,” She cried silently.
Thomas stepped out of the office and found Stephanie leaning against the wall and crying. He ran to where she was and fell on his knees next to her. “What is wrong?” He held her hand, and she opened her treaty eyes to look at him. She shook her head and held onto the wall as she stood up. Thomas stood up with her, looking at her with great worry.
She cleaned her eyes with the back of her hand and said, “I have to go now. I have work to do,” She said and walked away. Thomas stood still, staring at her until she was out of sight. ‘I wish one day you would be able to open up to me.’ He sighed sadly.
***
Stephanie let out a deep and long yawn. She pressed the power button of her phone and checked the time. It was 8 pm. Everyone in the company had left since 6 pm, but she refused to leave until she perfected her research and report. Danielle wanted to stay with her until she was done, but she got a call from her family that her mother was sick, and so she had to leave. Thomas waited until 7 pm, and Stephanie insisted that he leaves because she wasn’t done with her research.
She heaved a sigh and looked at her computer. She scrolled down the report she had written, taking notes of the necessary things. After she checked and was satisfied, she forwarded it to Dr. Peter’s email. “I hope this measures up to his standards.” She switched off her computer, and carried her bag. She threw her phone in her bag and hung the bag on her shoulder.
She headed out of the office after switching off the lights. She headed to the elevator and pressed its open button. The door gave way for her, and she stepped inside it. As the elevator closed and started moving, her phone began to beep. She reached for her phone in her bag and pulled it out. She checked the caller and saw it was her mother calling. She stared at her screen for some seconds, contemplating whether or not she was going to answer.
Then she remembered she had not spoken to them for three days. They had been calling her but she refused to answer because of the situation she was in. ‘They would be worried if I don’t answer again.’ She answered the phone and put it on speaker. “Hi, mom,” She said sadly.
“Oh my God, Stephanie! Where have you been? I have been calling you for days. Your father and I messaged you but you didn’t even check the messages. We are worried sick about you.” Sarah sounded worried. “I’m sorry, mother. Please extend my apologies to father. I have been so busy at work, that’s why.” She lied.
“Work? It’s the new year. Have you resumed work already? Why are they so harsh on you?” Sarah asked, and Stephanie exhaled. “That is how it is here, mother. Hard work is important. How have you been and how is everyone?” She asked. “Well, we have been good, but worried. Princess wouldn’t stop bugging me to call you.”
Stephanie smiled at the mention of her baby sister’s name. “Is she with you now? I have missed her so much too.” Stephanie waved the securities at the gate of the company good night, and she hit the road. “Princess! Stephanie is on the phone!” Sarah yelled from inside her room. “Yeeee!!” Stephanie heard Princess’ faint voice, and she chuckled. “Stephanie! Where have you been?” Princess' tiny voice asked. “I’ve been busy, Princess. I’m so sorry. How are you? And how is Mary?” She asked, and her phone began to beep. She looked at her screen and saw that her mother wanted to switch to video all. She answered the phone, and she saw Princess’ chubby face very close to the camera.
“Mary has been so nice to me lately! I think it’s because of the boy that is with her now.” Stephanie furrowed her brows, and Sarah’s eyes broadened. “What?! Mary is seeing someone?” Sarah asked, and Princess ignored her mother’s question. “Where is Sebastian? I want to greet him!” Princess sounded excited. Stephanie gulped and responded, “He isn’t with me, Princess.”
Sarah noticed the change in Stephanie’s face and tone, she perceived something was wrong. She wasn’t going to say anything in front of Princess, so she said, “I’ll call you back later, Stephanie. We need to talk.” Stephanie nodded, and Sarah hung up the call. Stephanie looked up and saw she was on her street already. She looked to her left and saw Sebastian’s house. She stopped walking abruptly and turned to gaze at his house.
Everywhere around the house was quiet. There were no cars in the compound and all the lights were out. ‘He is truly gone.’ Her arms fell weakly, and her bag slid off her arm. She quickly grabbed its handle before it touched the ground. She turned away from the house and kept walking. Everything around her reminded her of Sebastian and this made her weak.
‘I can’t keep living like this. This is affecting me more than I thought it would. I need to run away. I have to run away.’