Chapter 02.02: Why An Obstacle?

Adeline noticed she wasn't really alone in the office. There were also few unchosen employees left who were looking at her. And there's only three of them left. Out of ten.

"Hey there, unfamiliar girl." Adeline glimpsed a man wearing some nerdy eyeglasses. He was smiling at her.

"Hi…" Adeline greeted, even if it feels very awkward for her.

"I'm Jeremy Barton, you can call me Jerm. Welcome to our department, by the way." From the way he talked, Adeline can immediately tell how bubbly and optimistic he is.

"I'm Adeline. It's nice to meet you and thank you for welcoming me." she smiled at him, which obviously made him blushed.

An awkward silence surrounded them before Adeline noticed the icy presence of a woman with long straight black hair and full fringe bangs who was sitting in between her and Jeremy's cubicles. She was just observing the two of them quietly, which Jeremy also didn't notice.

"Oh, her name is Shizuko Yamada. She's Asian but I'm not sure where she came from-"

"I came out from my Japanese mother, you ungrateful bastard." Shizuko told him while glaring.

Jeremy raised both hands as if he surrendered. It made Adeline smile a bit for finding it naturally humorous. Shizuko noticed Adeline's reaction and turned to look at her, which made her stop from smiling.

"I'm sorry for grinning." Adeline bit her lips in guilt.

"I don't mind. Jerm was always like that, making me look shameful in front of other people." she said kindly.

Adeline remained to smile at her.

"Are they giving you a hard time on your first day?" Shizuko asked her.

"Oh," Adeline went hesitantly, "well, I'm not sure if I would think of it like that."

"You should." Shizuko nodded at her.

"Why do you think I should?"

"Because the seniors from this department always do that. As if this is their own and there's no boss existing." Shizuko said.

Jeremy got up from his seat and went to approach Adeline on her desk before leaning to its side.

"Shizuko is right. Fight them back, but not terribly. You must get the attention of the boss of this department and get saved." he said.

Adeline thought Jeremy seemed to exaggerate based on what he was telling her. However, if she looked at the bright side, what he was saying could be true. 

Out in a trance, it surprised both Adeline and Jeremy after Shizuko spoke up near them. 

"Oh god!" Jeremy exclaimed. "When did you even get here?"

"You didn't notice me because you always go for girls who looked like prostitutes, so yeah. Not my fault." she said.

Jeremy shook his head before looking back at Adeline, "Don't mind her. She's just brutally honest."

Shizuko walks around staring at Adeline from head to toe, which makes her a little confused.

"Am I being scanned here?" Adeline asked them.

"As a woman, I can tell, you will get the boss's attention easily." she crossed her arms.

"Is that a requirement?" Adeline asked them.

"No, not really. But if you want to be saved from our department's witches, we can say yes, it is." Both Jeremy and Shizuko nodded at her.

"But," Shizuko pointed her finger at her. "There's this rumor about the company's unknown CEOs."

Adeline raised both her eyebrows, and she immediately changed her sitting position while looking at Shizuko.

"What do you mean? And did you just say 'CEO' with an 'S'?" she asked.

"True. This company has two CEOs, but none of us here know who they were. If they're men or women. No one knows their identity, except for the higher authorities such as our manager and other department managers." Jeremy explained. 

Adeline got speechless after hearing a spilling tea coming from her co-workers. She thought, ‘they hid how many more secrets within these company walls?’.

Right after lunch, Shirley Stratton, her department manager suddenly went to her desk and placed down 200-page stacks of paper above it. Adeline and Sandra were both surprised at what they just encountered. They glanced at their manager.

“You need to level up your game if you want to get a promotion, newbie.” Shirley told Adeline.

“A promotion?” Adeline was dumbfounded because she just barely began this job and now promotion is ongoing for her.

“Yes. You asked for a promotion, didn’t you?”

“No, I-”

“Whatever. Just finish those paper works and report to me as soon as you’re done, capisce?” Shirley immediately left, even though Adeline hadn't answered back yet.

Adeline stares at the stack of papers on her desk as she leans back in her chair.

She sighed, “I don’t deserve this.”

“Oh, come on. You can do it and remember, it’s for your promotion.” Sandra cheered her up by massaging her shoulders.

Adeline glanced at her friend, who went to pick up the Starbucks frappe cup from the other side of Adeline’s desk and hand it over to her.

“That could be the reason I had bought this drink for you.” Sandra smiled as she referred to the paper works.

“You think?” Adeline sounded lame before looking back at the instruments of her promotion.

“Yes. You go drink that while I try to talk with our manager to make her go easy on you, alright?” Sandra got off from her seat.

“Wait,” Adeline called her, and she stopped. “You don’t have to do that.”

Sandra smiled at her, “Don’t worry. I can handle this.”

She continued walking, going to Shirley’s office, and entered it upon asking permission. As soon as she entered the room, she couldn’t help but question her.

“What the hell was that? How did it happen that she immediately got an answer from her promotion request?” Sandra raised her voice at Shirley for a bit.

Shirley raised her eyes to Sandra’s way and stopped from what she was doing. She put down her pen on the table before changing her seating position and crossed her legs.

“I requested a promotion last year and yet I still haven’t gotten an answer. But Adeline, she just requested… maybe a few days or weeks ago, I don’t know! And then, just now, she immediately got an answer.” Sandra complained.

“It wasn’t hers.” Shirley told her.

Sandra got speechless for a short time, and Shirley stood up from her seat. She passed by Sandra who was standing in front of her desk and went near the window of her office. Shirley carefully parted the window blinds, which slightly gave her a view of where Adeline’s desk was located.

“Adeline did not request the promotion, instead it was given to her.” she continued.

“That’s total bullshit. Who’s that idiot that gave a rookie a sudden promotion?” Sandra scoffed before crossing her arms.

“The higher authorities have given her the chance to get an easy promotion because of her educational background and records. It’s an advantage.” Shirley explained to her.

Sandra laughed, “I can’t believe people still refer to stupid backgrounds.”

“And yet, she got what you wanted.”

Sandra’s reaction went more serious and enraged. She dropped her crossed arms and pointed at Shirley.

“Make sure she won’t get that promotion. Because it’s mine.” Her jaw clenched.

“You know I can’t tamper with those kinds of legal papers-”

“I don’t care!” Sandra went out of her office and immediately pretended as nothing happened.

She went back to her desk and approached Adeline kindly.

“How did it go?” Adeline asked her.

“It’s okay. But, I couldn’t persuade her enough to be cool with you.” Sandra lied.

“It’s fine. Eventually, I will have to deal with this to prepare myself and be more deserving of the chance of promotion.” 

Adeline continued with her paperwork as Sandra couldn’t stop but secretly glared while thinking of the next plan on how to get rid of her.