ARIA'S POVUsing all the self-control in me, I managed to get into the elevator before I jumped and squealed, hugging the new phone to my chest. When the elevator stopped on my floor, I hopped to Lena's office and barged inside without knocking. "Look who got a nice phone," I announced as I waltz inside holding the phone packed up as my partner. A clearing of the throat made me stop and I looked back to see Nixon staring at me with a raised eyebrow while Lena was busy laughing at my expense. My face was red with embarrassment that I wish I could just disappear. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were busy. I'll come back later." I turned to leave but Lena's voice stopped me."I'm not that busy," she said when she stopped laughing. "So what did Dave say? You were saying something about a new phone." Turning back to them with a smile on my face, I raised the phone pack for them to see. "He got me a new phone." "Really? Dave got you a new phone?" Nixon stared at me shocked. "Yes." I mo
ARIA'S POV The rest of the week ran by quickly with me serving coffee to Dave as promised every morning. That weekend the President was discharged from the hospital and they were planning a company party for the next weekend to officially announce Dave as the President.Sunday was a free day, so I took that opportunity to video chat with my brother with my new iPhone. The rest of the family joined the video chat and I seized that opportunity to boast about my new phone. I explained how I got it to them, leaving out the part of me serving coffee to Dave every morning. They didn't need to know that.That beautiful Monday morning, I rushed to work because my team was running behind with the project that we were supposed to submit that Monday. Other teams turned in their projects as expected, so Lena gave us the grace of two more days. After delivering Dave's coffee as usual, I joined my teammate as we strived to complete the project before the deadline. We didn't even get to eat lunch
ARIA'S POVWith a scowl on my face, I walked into my team's room, mumbling to myself. I sat on my seat and tossed the flash drive on my desk, cussing at Dave in my head."What got you all worked up?" Summer whispered as she leaned closer to me.Before I could reply, Celestine's voice boomed in the entire office. "That's enough talking, Aria and Summer, get to work. We began working on our project and I made a mental note to start with the design Dave gave me once I was done. Like the last time, our team didn't go for lunch as we were planning to finish and submit the project that day.It was an hour before our working hours were over when Celestine collected all the designs and saved them in her flashdrive before submitting them to Lena. Not long after Celestine came back, the door opened again, drawing everyone's attention. Lena peeped in with a sheepish smile on her face. "Can I talk to Aria for a minute?" "Sure," Celestine nodded at me.I stood up and walked toward the door wher
DAVE'S POVGoing through all the designs Lena submitted to me, I groaned in frustration for the tenth time. I had gone through two teams' projects and none of them were to my liking. I went through the third team's project and thankfully, I was able to find two designs that were good enough. I was hoping to get something good from the infamous Team 4, but I received a report from Lena later that day that they were running behind and she had to give them extra days.Out of frustration, I called my Secretary using Telecom. "I need you to get me all the resumé of all the current designers in the company. " "Yes, sir," he replied and I hung up.While I waited, I decided to go through the fifth team project and I had to admit that it was better than the last three teams. My Secretary walked in with a load of documents in his hand and placed it on my desk."The files are arranged according to their teams and each team file is arranged according to when they joined the company," he explain
DAVE'S POV"Whose date?" I asked, feeling more confused about the entire situation."Lena's." He buckled his seatbelt and proceed to get out of the car. "Let's go." I held him back by his arm, staring at him like he has gone mad. "What is wrong with you? Why would you want to do that?""I wouldn't have to if you had canceled that 'No dating in the company' rule as I requested of you.""I'm not even the president yet and you are already trying to make me change the rules." I stared at him in disbelief. "It's not as if I'm the only one that would benefit from it." He scoffed as he leaned back into the driver's seat. "What do you mean?" I cocked an eyebrow at him."Do you believe I'm the only one that is being hindered by that damn rule? There are so many people seeing each other in secret in the company. Once that rule is out, they would be able to come out with their relationship. And besides, you think I don't know that you have something for that Aria girl." He smirked."What are
ARIA'S POVAfter Dave left, I went into Lena's apartment, using the spare she kept under the flower pot near the door. I took my shower first before going into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Contrary to Lena's words, I prepared dinner for the both of us because I had a feeling something was going to go wrong during the date. Don't ask why because I had no idea why I was feeling that way. When I finished cooking, I ate my phone in the living room while watching TV. Not long after I finished my food, the door flew open and an angry Lena walked.Just like I predicted, something went wrong.She dropped her bag on the couch I was sitting on as she began to pace around the room in silence. I knew she was waiting for me to ask what happened, so I decided to put her out of her misery. "What happened?" "You can't believe that douchebag left me in the middle of our date and he didn't even bother to pay the bills before doing so." She raised her voice.The words that wanted to come out of my
ARIA'S POV"Why on earth would they place anyone from our team on probation?" Michelle voiced out as soon as we walked into our office. "Not to brag, but Team 4 has been the best in this company and we are still maintaining that position. And the worst part is that Aria and Summer are amazing designers, they shouldn't be on the same level with those amateurs." "I agree with you," Caleb added."Let's not make it a big deal guys, I'm sure everything will be fine," Celestine said as she rested against her desk, facing us. "From everything the president said, I gathered that Team 1,2, and 3 projects were the cause of all this because their project was not good enough. He's trying to use this to fish out all the incompetent designers by putting the newest ones on probation. Just like Michelle said, you guys are talented." She pointed to Summer and me. "I don't know what the test will be but I know it involves you guys showing case your skills. As long as you put in your best, you have not
DAVE'S POVIt came as a surprise to me when Nixon came to eat lunch with me in my office until he told me that Lena was out of the building. Many times Nixon has tried to make me join them for lunch in the cafeteria but I refused, not wanting the attention of the employees on me instead of their food.After lunch hours were over, Nixon left my office and I went back to work. A few minutes later, defeated-looking Nixon walked back into my office and slumped on the couch."What got into you?" I raised my eyebrows at him."She knows." He sighed."Who knows what?" I stood up from my chair and went to join him on the couch."Lena. She knows why we were at the restaurant yesterday." "How would she know that?" I gave him a confused look."I don't know how she did it, but she went to the restaurant and somehow she was able to convince them to let her check the CCTV." He ran his fingers through his hair."So she confronted you?" "Yeah, and I had no choice but to tell her the truth." He sat u