Discombobulated Inquiry

Where They All Met

Third Person's P.O.V

"Are you ready for today?"

She dragged a long exhale, trying to shake off the unnerving feeling inside her chest. She faced her older sister and forced a smile.

"Do I even have a choice?"

"No, and you're going to be late."

"See you later, then."

"I won't be home until tomorrow, remember? I have night shift today."

"I forgot. Yeah, anyway. I'll go now."

She walked towards the elevator and waited for it whilst her heart was beating, pounding against her ribs. She could feel herself heating up as the nervousness creeps in. She exhaled once again.

"I can do this."

The elevator dinged and the door opens. Her mind was floating everywhere when she walked from the condominuin to her workplace. It not a long walk - not really so when she was thinking about every possibility out there. She made sure her style wasn't cringe, and she made sure that she didn't look ugly.

But considering her family, she wasn't ugly. In fact, she was handsome and even cute. People have already told her that, but she didn't listen. Her self-esteem was too low for her to believe them.

When she had arrived to the place where she had applied, it was closed, but there were six other people there that were waiting with her. She saw an attractive girl, but didn't really mind her presence.

Be chill. Don't be a weirdo and start talking to the most attractive person here.

She was never a talker, especially when she finds the person attractive. She was silent, and she never fails to draw a line when it comes to her personal bubble. So, she kept to herself until a guard came to them.

"Are you interns?" his voice echoed inside their heads, already feeling the pressure from being interns.

"Yes, sir." the guy beside her answered with a strong voice.

"Go to that building over there and go to the third floor. Make sure to wait in line for your temporary IDs."

"Understood, sir. Thank you."

"Good luck on your first day."

The crowd followed the guard's instructions and went to the third floor, where they saw a lot of people lining up to get their IDs. But what made her falter was that people were looking at her. It wasn't a rare occurence. She looked like a short guy with freckles and with fluffy hair and pinkish lips and pinkish cheeks. She had a fair complexion with a beauty that isn't from the country itself. People already told her about her appearance - that she didn't look like Filipino. She looked American or maybe even Spanish.

"Did you bring a valid ID with you?" she gave the guard her ID and was handed a temporary ID.

"Write your name here, what you're here for, and the number on the temporary ID here." she wrote everything she needed to and walked away.

With no one to talk to, she went to the furthest corner and waited for instructions. It was almost time to start, but people were still lining up to get their IDs.

"I wonder why we're here."

"Tell me about it. I didn't have this kind of process with my previous company."

"Yeah. It usually was just direct to working or do courses."

She didn't understand what they were talking about, and she paid no heed. She was busy on worrying about herself that her eyes stayed on the ground.

"Good morning, everyone. My name is Don, and I'll be the one to guide you to your rooms. Can you guys count yourselves starting with you."

She remained vigilant on who's counting, but never really looking at their faces. She waited for her turn and remembered her number just in case it was needed later.

"Alright, those who are 1-20, come with. Others, stay here."

His voice was firm, and he looked unbothered that he was standing in front of a lot of people - people who might be even older than him. Her eyes followed the people walking out of the lobby, but soon disappeared out of sight. Everyone was silent, as if already feeling the reality that they were working now.

She finally had the courage to look around and concluded that a lot were still going to school - they were young looking. They look like their world fell apart, but some wore confidence.

I wonder where they got their confidence.

"The next twenty, come with me."

It was finally her turn. She followed Don and he guided them to an empty room with four tables that each has five chairs with them. She sat on the first table she saw, which was the nearest to the door, so that means that she was in front of the class.

"Wait here."

The room was silent. No one dared to utter one word. No movement. The room was still even with them there. She felt suffocated, so she looked around, wanting to gauge who she was in the room with, but she knew to herself that she couldn't remember faces when she was feeling overwhelmed.

Then she heard whispers. It was from her table. Her eyes slowly averted to who were talking. There she saw the attractive girl from earlier, listening intently on the other two who were whispering amongst themselves. She noticed that there were four women and one man in the table.

"So, this is your second work? Why did you leave your former work?"

"I was tired of the account, so I left."

"Yeah, me too. It doesn't really compensate me in the long run. That's why I'm here. What about you?" the older girl asked the attractive girl.

"I just graduated."

Her eyes and the attractive girl's eyes met, and they held a staring contest, as if saying that she knew that she also just graduated this year.

"What's your name?" Emerald asked.

"Nicole, and you?" their eyes never looked away from each other.

Emerald was curious about Nicole's upbringing. Nicole's droopy eyes wasn't Filipino-like, along with the lips that looked soft. When Emerald's table started talking, the others started to loosen up as well, started talking with each other.

"Emerald. What about you guys?"

"My name's Avon."

"You guys can call me Dani."

"What about you, boss?" Emerald asked the only guy in the table.

"William, but you can call me Will."

Emerald and Nicole locked eyes again before Don came back inside the room.

"Alright, now that that's settled. Hello again, everyone. My name's Don, and you can call me by my name. No 'sir', no 'Mr. Don'. Just 'Don', got it?"

"Yes, Don." everyone answered.

His presence and authority was evident inside the room. His voice carried the power to make everyone listen to him. There was no room for negotiations. He had that kind of aura with him, one where he can force people to listen to him when he talks. He was big and had a gruff voice. He was undeniably one of the people that makes first impressions last. Emerald's eyes was glued to Don, and her ears took in Don's words to heart, heavily and in mind.

"You guys will be staying with me during the entire week, so I'll make sure to remember all of your names within today. Just give me time."

The class covered some of the basics and Don asked the class one by one their information.

"Finally. The day is finally over. Want to drink?" Will asked, his eyes hovering over Nicole, who was oblivious with his stare.

Emerald was keen to these things. Men going after an attractive girl with such obvious intents. Eyes darkening for a new found opportunity to have s*x. His eyes looked at Nicole hungrily, eyeing her without restrain. Emerald could imagine Will being the filthy monster that he truly was.

"I need to go home. My sister needs me home." Emerald lied through an apologetic smile, as cunning as ever.

"Yeah, I think we should rest."

"I totally agree. I need to travel far to go home."

"Same."

Everyone in the end decided to go home, and Emerald smirked, knowing that Will won't get what he wants.