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I walk to his office, my heart beating in my ears.
What have I done this time? I don't remember doing anything wrong, I think as I walk into the office.
Maybe he's finally going to fire me. After all, it makes sense — I had no cleaning experience whatsoever.
Heck, before this I hadn't even washed so much as a fork, but here I am, mopping an entire office.
But I wasn't that bad at it. I had been working here for three weeks now and I think I've gotten better.
Well, I don't think he shares my opinion — because he's about to fire me.
I knew this wouldn't last. I just knew it. It was insane and unheard of for someone to hire the exact same person who ruined your company. Even if it was just as a cleaner.
I know I wouldn't.
How the heck am I gonna find a new job?
I decided to come for the company interview without a mask because I had completely lost all hope in anything. I had no work experience whatsoever, so it was pretty much assured I wasn't going to get the job.
They were a friend of Cora, so I assumed they wouldn't have any judgment. And no respectable CEO would hire a shady character wearing a mask anyway.
So I just threw everything out there. It was better they knew from the start that I was Regina Vale.
They were gonna find out anyway.
If this person decided to release it to the press, so be it. I didn't really care at that point.
Or so I thought.
I do care. I care so fucking much.
I can't go through all that again. Now that I've had a taste of normality, I don't want to go back to my face being on tabloids and all over social media gossip.
I have friends now. And Cora. And I was warming up to Julian, believe it or not — despite the tightness I feel in my chest whenever I think of him kissing that girl.
I might have gotten lucky this time — that the guy I bumped into at this office happened to know me, even though he hates me.
But I doubt I'm gonna be this lucky again.
Let's just say that him firing me is gonna sting. Badly.
And I'm going to try everything I can to stop it.
We finally reached his office and he asked me to sit. I refuse, preferring to stand.
He nods, deciding not to pressure me, and cuts to the chase.
"We are here to talk about your status in this company."
I knew it. He was here to fire me.
He goes to continue but I cut him off. I won't be fired without a fight.
"Before you continue, I have something I'd like to say." Pausing, he nods, intrigued.
"I'd like to say that regardless of the outcome of this meeting, I tried my best."
"Despite my lack of experience or enthusiasm for the job you subjected me to, I tried my best to do my job with utmost diligence."
"I did my best — even if my best wasn't enough for you — and I have no regrets."
"Despite being tormented by your employees (shoutout to Kara), I still persisted in this hostile working environment."
"I have no regrets about what I did to Kara the other day."
"She deserved it."
I was now fully ranting but I didn't care — as long as I got all this off my chest.
"And even thou—" my rant was cut off by the sound of thundering laughter that echoed around the room.
I'm stunned.
His laughter sounds... amazing. I wouldn't mind hearing it often.
I shake those thoughts out of my head.
Amazing or not, he was still laughing at my attempt to give my final address.
"If you don't mind me asking... what exactly about this is funny to you?"
I say this as he's still barking with laughter, his chest heaving so much I'm honestly medically concerned he's going to topple over and die.
Soon, his laughter dies down to little chuckles, and he says between them:
"I'm not here to fire you, Miss Vale."
Then there's silence — and during that silence, my eyes go as wide as saucers.
No wonder he was laughing at me. Here I was, pouring my heart out for absolutely no reason.
My cheeks turn slightly pink before I clear my throat.
"Then why did you call for me?"
He stays silent, staring at my cheeks with an unreadable expression on his face, before he responds:
"I would like to give you a promotion."
I'm sure my heart stops before starting again.
A promotion? Me?
"Yes, you," he says. "And yes, I'm giving you a promotion."
I must've said that out loud.
Then the room is silent. I realize he wants to hear my response before proceeding.
"Why?" — being the only word I can muster.
He nods, understanding my confusion.
"A while ago, I don't know if you remember this, but you gave me a key piece of advice that proved to be very helpful and effective."
My mind immediately goes back to that time in his car, when he dropped me off and I gave him the idea to give out samples to the worried customers.
I'm guessing it must've worked.
"You mean that time in your car?" I ask, just to be sure.
He nods. "Yes. I'm talking about that time in my car — you gave me the idea to give out samples to customers who lacked trust in our claims."
"It turns out the customers loved the product and validated all our claims. They proceeded to purchase several packages and even referred their friends."
I nod. This was good news — in fact, this was great news.
"After that, I analyzed your ability to immediately come up with a solution for a problem that had been causing both me and my PR team headaches."
"I also read your job application and realized you're a graduate from a top business school. So you ticked all the criteria."
"I would like to promote you to head of the public relations team, and also appoint you as my secretary to advise me during meetings."
I just stand there, stunned. I don't know what to say or do. This is... a lot.
"You can decline if you think this is too much work, or only accept one position. But it would be highly beneficial to the company — and to me — if you accepted both."
Wow... just wow.
I walked into this building this morning expecting to continue my normal routine of cleaning, lunch, more cleaning, and then heading home.
This was honestly so unexpected that if someone told me this would happen today, I would've laughed so hard in their face.
Why would he do this though? I thought he hated me.
As if reading my mind, he says something I never would've anticipated in a million years.
What is up with today?
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for making your first day here hell. I'm sorry for giving you the wrong job out of spite."
"I'm sorry for treating you the way I have up until now."
"Bear in mind — despite the fact that I'm mad — I don't hate you. I still don't pardon you completely for what you and your friend did."
"I still feel like you should have said something at the time. But I'm not blind."
"I can see that as much as I'm suffering, so are you. I can't bring myself to make you suffer anymore."
"Your life has just been pulled from under you by the person you trusted the most — and I get that."
"I know what it feels like to watch everything you've built and worked for crumble before your eyes."
Guilt crashes onto me like a ton of bricks.
"You're just getting on your feet. And so am I. So, as much as I'm still bitter about what happened, I assure you I won't do anything that will make you feel bad or uncomfortable."
"I only ask one thing: that you give your best to this company, because this is all I have — and I refuse to watch it crumble before my eyes again."
I nearly cry after he's done, the tears burning the back of my eyes, wanting to escape.
It's then that I realize — I'm sorry.
My actions caused a lot of pain to an innocent man.
To say I felt bad is an understatement.
I knew what I did was wrong, but it never struck me like this before. To see the aftermath of the destruction Sarah and I caused finally opened my eyes.
I'm sorry. Despite me not being the central reason for all of this, my part was equally important.
I open my mouth to say something — anything — but I close it right back, not having the words.
"Well, what do you say? Do you accept the job?"
I nod immediately, not trusting my voice.
He opens his mouth like he has something more to say, then closes it again and nods.
"All right. You can start whenever you're ready. Latest, next week Monday."
I nod again.
"If there's nothing else, you're free to leave."
I stand there for a while, willing myself to say something — even a thank you.
But I remain silent, my mouth drier than any desert I can think of.
I need water.
After another minute of me standing there and him staring at me, I nod before making my way to the door and walking out.
I rest behind the door, placing my hand on my chest — where my heart is beating rapidly.
What the hell just happened?