Chapter 12: First Day On The Job
1021 Words
Olivia had been orphaned at a young age, and as soon as she'd been able, she took what money she had and fled across the ocean. She had hoped things would be better for her on another continent, but she hadn't been able to afford to go to school, and no one would give her a job. It was there, though, that she'd met Joanna. And her luck had suddenly changed.
Joanna had been callow, cold, and lonely – and she'd set an example for Olivia to follow. The first words Joanna had said to her were: "Olivia, how about I help you get your revenge, and then you can be my assistant?"
Joanna had been eighteen, and Olivia had been taken aback when she heard someone speak so frankly about revenge. And over the years, with Joanna as her role model, Olivia had exceeded all expectations. For example, it only took her three months to finish a one-year course, and in five years, she acquired a twenty-year education.
Like Joanna, Olivia was willing to go to great lengths, and take any risks, to get her revenge.
***
Joanna cleared her throat to get Olivia's attention, and then she said, "Listen, I will be the vice general manager of Devine's beginning next week. Get ready. The pieces are finally falling into place."
Olivia nodded and said, "Okay." And when they were done eating, they went their separate ways.
***
On Monday morning, Joanna got ready for work. She put on a blue business suit, applied a light coat of makeup, grabbed her purse, and left the house.
As soon as Joanna arrived at Devine's, she heard many people whispering. One woman turned to her colleague and asked, "Is that the new vice general manager? She is gorgeous."
"She is," the colleague replied. "I heard she is one of the president's daughters, but I'm not sure if it is true. She doesn't look like much."
"I think she is, though." someone else said. "And she must be the president's daughter; otherwise, how did she get the position so easily?"
Joanna smiled as she passed through the crowd of gossipmongers. Their words, to her, were like flatulence in the wind, and by their looks, she could see that they were all full of s**t. And by the time she reached the president's office, she'd left their ramblings behind her.
When Robin saw her, his expression changed, and he put a contract in front of her. "Everything we discussed is here in plain writing," he said. "All that is missing is your signature."
Joanna picked it up and read it over. Once she was confident that everything was in order, she signed it, smiled, and said, "I look forward to working with you, father."
Robin had never intended to work with his daughter, and he wasn't happy about the compromise he'd made. "You can go now," he said. For years he had tried to be kind to Joanna, but she'd always been a bad girl, and it seemed to him that she was worse now than she had been before she'd gone overseas. Thus, he was unable to hide his displeasure over being forced to hire her as the company's vice general manager.
Joanna didn't want to talk to Robin either, so she got up and left. Robin's secretary was waiting for her outside. She brought her to her new office and introduced her to her assistant, Kris Sikes.
Kris looked like an innocent girl. She smiled shyly and said, "Good morning, Ms. Devine. It is nice to meet you. I am positive that we will work well together. Please let me know if you need anything."
Joanna shook Kris's hand and went straight to work.
Kris scowled as Joanna turned away from her. She didn't think Joanna deserved to be the vice general manager. She believed that Joanna's status had been elevated by her good looks and family background, and now, her curt behavior had led her to think that her new boss was also stuck up.
Once Joanna was settled in, Kris brought her a bunch of documents. Joanna looked at them, smiled, and said, "Kris, what is all this?"
Kris shrugged helplessly and said, "I don't know. Mr. Devine just said that these are the pending documents that were left unfinished by the former vice general manager."
Joanna looked at her and sneered. Does she mean, Mike? – she wondered.
In her last life, if it hadn't been for Mike's position of authority, Sarah and Susan wouldn't have dared openly opposed her to the extent that they had. Because of this, she was determined to take him down. Of course, she knew that this would take a lot of hard work.
Most people had a good impression of Mike. He didn't sleep around. He worked hard. He treated people kindly, and there was no negative gossip going around about him. Furthermore, he was admired by his peers and favored by the Devine family.
Joanna glanced at the pile of documents and said, "Leave it here. I will deal with it."
Kris: "Okay."
Because the pile of documents was so large, Joanna ended up working overtime on her first day. As her coworkers left for the day, they noticed that her office light was still on. Thus, their impression of her improved.
One person said, "It's so late, but our new vice general manager is still working. We thought that she was only given the position because of her father, and for her good looks, but now we can see that she's actually quite competent - or at least committed. I suppose that this is what we get for counting our chickens before they hatched."
His secretary was behind him, and she said, "I heard that the general manager gave her a lot of documents to deal with, and that's why she's working late."
The man frowned and said, "That doesn't make sense. The general manager usually goes easy on new employees, and Ms. Devine is her sister."
"She's her half-sister," the secretary said. And she gave the man a knowing look.
- Writer
