##1
“And then... boom! Amanda punched her oh-so-great boyfriend square in the face. He started bleeding from both nostrils,” Alice finished.
Everyone erupted in laughter. Tom even spilled his mocha tea on Cindy’s lap, ruining her brand-new H&M skirt.
“I have a date, you jerk!!”
“Relax... with that hissing voice of yours, your twenty-second date is gonna run away too.”
“I’ll kill you, Tommy. You dog!!”
“Not so early in the morning, you two,” Ms. Brown said calmly, sipping her Espresso Romano. “Who knew that bitch had that much strength in her fists? >-< Gotta be careful not to badmouth her anymore,” Rachel said in her best serious-voice, clutching her Turkish coffee like a courtroom witness — which made Dew snort into his tea.
“I saw her getting into Mr. Robert’s car yesterday around 8:00 pm,” I whispered into Rachel’s ear — but loud enough for the whole group to hear.
“THAT WENCH!! She went out with that old geezer, and I had to finish both of our pending files! How dare ‘Robert Duck’ gave me that much lecture and work while cheating on his wife with that slut?!” -_-"
Ms. Brown- “Watch your mouth. You are still an intern, Rachel.”
Rachel- “But I know you all are my darlings~~”
Alice- “No harm in being careful, little one.” ;)
Rachel- “Okiee... Boo.”
Ms. Brown- “Alright, it’s already 7:50 am. Everyone be in the meeting room by 8:05 am. No excuses.”
Alice- “Let’s catch up at lunch. How does pizza sound?”
Tom + Dew- “COOL!”
Dew- “Anything free tastes better.”
Xian- “I’ll have fried rice.”
Rachel- “Share some with me too~~”
*Xian nods and goes back to her desk with her unfinished Americano
Dew- “Ms. Brown, did you bring your lunch today as well?”
Ms. Brown- “Yes.”
Everyone- “YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!”
Ms. Brown- “Dew, you are presenting first today.”
Dew- “Noooo...”
Ms. Brown- “See you all in ten minutes.”
Dew- “Xian... my lady... please review my slides. Please...” *walks over to her
Rachel- “Shoot. Gotta report to the ‘Duck’ by eight. Bye guys~~”
Tom- “I’ll buy you Frappé after lunch. Ok? Ok? C’mon bestie.. Ok?”
Cindy- “For one week.”
Tom- *sigh “Deal, man.”
Cindy- “DO NOT call me that.”
Tom- “Hey stop! We’ve to present together. Wait....~~”
Alice- “Let’s get our asses to the desks as well, Mirae.”
I grabbed the tab from my desk, finished my Ristretto and headed to room P3.
---
Cindy was already tipsy. That’s how I knew the night had officially started.
“A toast!” she yelled, hoisting her glass like it was a trophy.
“To Amanda! Our new intern-slash-serial-flirter-slash-homewrecker—”
“CINDY!”
Laughter erupted. Amanda choked on her mocktail. Tom was half under another table, trying to find the shoe Cindy had kicked away earlier. I was sipping my lime soda like it was fine wine and watching the circus unfold.
It was supposed to be a normal company dinner celebrating our successful launch of the J-laptops Optimus Prime series - and to welcome our new interns Rachel and Amanda.
It was only 9:30 pm and the neon sign of Crème & Chaos flickered like it, too, had regrets about attending this dinner.
The restaurant buzzed with half-drunk laughter, jazz covers of pop songs, and at least three people shouting Amanda’s name. Faintly yet audible. From different corners.
“Intern hazing, but with cocktails,” Rachel had whispered earlier. “Can’t wait.”
It was exactly the same when Cindy, Tom and I came; six months ago.
But the real party wasn’t in the drinks or the food. It was in the whispers — the gossips. The names.
“Guess Xian and Ms. Brown used to drink coffee instead of milk even when they were babies.”
“Shut up. If Ms. Brown hears you, get ready to be buried under 16 files again like last time.”
“Hey, don’t you think Ms. Brown is like Queen Elizabeth I? The symbol of responsibility and professionalism. Will never ever marry.”
“What if she is a slut?”, Amanda commented casually.
“Not everything is about you, dear bitch in borrowed heels!”, Rachel snapped back sweetly.
Amanda was about to spit something idiotic again, but Mr. Robert restrained her. Thank goodness!
“I bet she is secretly dating. And will soon get married.”
“Still? When she is already 56?”
“WHAT??????? I thought my lady was only 35~” @_@, Rachel gasped dramatically, setting the whole table giggling.
“You people are lucky she’s gone to see off the CEO,” I snickered focusing back on my chicken wings.
“...after that, Rosalyn went down on her knees and proposed the team director. That’s how they got married,” Alice finished her 5th secret office story of the night at another table.
Dew was arm wrestling with Thompson from the marketing team, while Rachel ran the betting. That cunning rat! :)
“Apparently, he built everything from scratch,” someone whispered two chairs away.
"The phantom founder"
“Madam Miya swears he is an old money. Apparently, someone from his family was once the CM.”
“Nope, she said he comes from royal blood.”
“He owns, like, half the city. Including this company.”
“No one’s ever seen him, though.”
“Ms. Brown has.”
“Liar. Ms. Brown denies even knowing what brand of shoes he wears.”
“Exactly. That’s what makes it creepy.”
“What if Ms. Brown is the one?”
Nobody tried to deny the possibility.
Rachel leaned closer, “Maybe you’re the billionaire,” she said to Amanda with a wink.
Amanda snorted, “Babe, I’m barely rich enough to afford this Dior dress.”
Everyone laughed - Amanda thinking she’d just nailed her ‘funny’ moment.
His name.
The billionaire no one had ever seen.
Not the CEO. Not the general secretary. Not even the company’s founding board.
And yet, every intern, janitor, and mid-level manager had their own wild theory about who he was.
As for me?
I was stirring my soda. Ms. Brown came back, sat beside me. This confident, graceful woman has always been respected and loved by all.
Not a single mistake in 24 years? Yes.
Not a single rival or enemy? Yes.
Astonishing, right?
We, young workers, have always looked up to her. She is like an elder sister and mother figure to us. Co-workers depend on her; higher-ups are proud of her. The current CEO calls her our company’s biggest asset.
This is our dear Ms. Brown.
---
By midnight, Xian had already left. Dew offered her a ride as thanks for helping him earlier. Some of the others had also trickled out. Ms. Brown and I got up as well. Tom can’t leave until Cindy sobers up. She already threw up twice on him and now he is babysitting her. Rachel and Amanda are playing games with other company members. Later, Tom would drive both Rachel and Cindy home. Ms. Brown gave me a ride to my apartment.
Lying on the bed of my messy room I finally left out a chuckle, smiling at the absurdity of drunk people’s nonsense.
---
“You jerk! Son of a biscuit! Come here if you don’t wanna die later!!! I’m gonna kill you piece of shit!!”
“Hssh... not so loud, Ray! We are on the teachers’ floor. They might hear you.”
“Bye-bye, Ray~~ Ms. Johnson is callin′ me. You can’t hit me anymore. I’m goin’ in. Piss off, peanut~~”
“Liammmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!!!!”
