“This is for your granddaughter, Ernie.” I pass him a sunflower wrapped in brown paper.
I don’t usually come to Vuk Securities on Mondays but since I won’t be here for a while and am basically suffering a loss on my business, I have to make it up to the wonderful people who work here.
Even though none of them truly care about your flowers and throw it out the second you leave.
The corners of my smile threaten to eviscerate but I keep up the façade. I’m a professional pretender. I didn’t get this far into the business without acting like I can’t handle small mishaps like side comments or ugly looks.
“Thank you, Miss Rivera.”
By the time I hand out the majority of the flowers, I stop in frontof the cubicle I’ve been avoiding.
Except, it’s empty.
There’s no more pictures of Andrew Tate or the scent of misogyny.
Even the cubicle text to him is empty.
“If you’re looking for Michael or Joshua, you won’t find them.” Naimah perches herself onto the empty desk with a pile of papers and a stapler in her hand.
That’s odd.
“Did they go somewhere?”
She nods. “And they’re never coming back.”
Does that mean… It can’t, right? There has to be a logical reason for why they’re not here right now. Maybe they got recruited by one of those companies that help employees get jobs elsewhere and dipped out.
The click of the stapler lures me out of my sudden stupor.
“What’s the reason?” I ask Naimah. My sudden curiosity peaks to a thousand and I can’t let it go until I know exactly why. It can’t be because of me. The person in charge of HR is—well, I think it’s Callahan and he didn’t care much about me. Them getting fir?—
“They were fired.” She shrugs with a lack of sympathy. “For reasons unknown, but I’m glad they’re gone. They loved snickering about women behind their backs.”
Phew, okay. They were fired for misbehaviouratwork.
“Right,” I clear my throat and slightly wave the flowers in my hand. “Would you like these?”
“No offence, Nova.” Her eye lines deepen. “As talented as you are with flowers, that looks like the type of flowers my niece tears from the grass in our backyard.”
A contagious laugh blurts out of me. I’m glad that’s what it looks like. I thought the two men would be here today, which is why I didn’tbother cutting the thorns or even cleaning the daisies. I forgave them just fine, but they pissed me off and hey, sometimes I have self-respect to guide me in all the rightfully petty ways.
I’m still laughing when Naimah clears her throat and perches off the desk like a needle stabbed her butt. She looks somewhere beyond me, but my breath is currently escaping my lungs and I can’t seem to find a way to stop laughing until…
“Miss Rivera.”
Cue the end of laughing.
Scratch that, cue the end ofme.
The rest of the employees look up from the cubicles and my cheeks heat monstrously at the sound of my name.
It reminds me of the time in middle school when I used to get caught reading in class and the teacher would refer to me by my last name. The shuddering feeling of embarrassment when she’d taunt me in front of the class and the silent snickers from some of the boys and girls at the back of the class.
I’m taken back to that moment temporarily before I whip myself out.
Not the time nor place for reminiscing second hand embarrassment when the first-hand embarrassment is standing right behind you.
Except, screw him.
