It was 6 am when Clara woke up to the sound of the alarm. Sitting on her bed and rubbing her eyes she looked around her messy apartment before standing up and heading to the shower.
After coming out of the shower, she wore her newly bought white blouse and black skirt with heels. She applied light makeup and looked in the mirror. "Ooo... ain't I the cutest," she said while pinching her cheeks and smiling widely showing her two cute dimples.
It was her first day of work. After graduating from college one year ago she had been working at a coffee shop until a week ago when she received an email from ' Cha Software Corporation ' one of the largest software companies in Country Z that she had been employed as a software engineer, her major in college. She had been so ecstatic and called her parents who were living in a small town near the city and informed them about her new job and also took her best friend Maya to the bar together with her coworkers from the coffee shop to celebrate.
'Now that I have achieved my dreams and landed a new job it's time to fall in love ' she thought happily " What am I thinking " she broke out of her reverie and realized that she had been standing in front of the mirror for an hour.
she rushed into the kitchen and made herself an omelet and coffee which she ate with bread and quickly ran out of her apartment realizing she was almost late.
When she reached the bus stop she saw that the bus was about to leave. She increased her speed and hurried inside the bus. " Phew so close. I can't believe I spent one hour standing in front of a mirror " she scolded herself and checked her wristwatch again.
She reached the company and gasped at the tall skyscraper in front of her " Wow... I can't believe I'm going to start working here from now on, " she muttered and admired the view without sensing that someone was standing behind her.
" Are you going in or not miss?" said the voice. She turned around and wanted to say ' is this how you talk to ladies' but her jaw dropped when she saw the person standing behind her.
With her eyes wide and mouth agape " Oh.... my god " she exclaimed, for she had never seen any man so beautiful, with exquisite facial features, beautiful eyes, skin as fair and smooth as a woman's, long lashes, straight nose and thin lips which were as pink as strawberries ' I think I'm dreaming ' she thought to herself.
Seeing the woman standing in front of him not responding and looking at him like she had seen a ghost, Carl frowned and looked at her closely. She was very beautiful with a cute face and round eyes, her skin was very fair and her dumbstruck look added more to her cuteness.
He normally got this kind of stare from women which irritated him but he was surprised that he was finding her cute ' what is wrong with me ' he thought to himself.
Before he could say another word his assistant ran in their direction and said to him
" Sir.. everything's been taken care of, miss is on her way back ". It was after he finished talking that he realized that someone was standing in front of his boss.
Hearing what his assistant said, Carl took his eyes off her and replied, "Mm." before he brushed past her and strode inside the company leaving his assistant behind.
The assistant waved his hand in front of the dumbstruck lady and chuckled. 'Another victim.. ha boss is such a heartless man, how can he be so handsome like that.'
Realizing that the woman was still absent-minded he said, "Miss, Are you alright? " he asked her while suppressing his laughter. It was fun to see these women's reactions when they saw his boss, there was a time that a lady even fainted.
Clara snapped back to reality and looked at the person standing in front of her 'where did he go, was I hallucinating?' she thought.
Without answering the assistant she took a look at her wristwatch and realized that she was five minutes late "Oh no...not on my first day of work.. I'm doomed," she said with a grim expression and hurried inside without turning back.
"What a weird woman." The assistant laughed before following his boss inside.
•••
When he reached his office, Carl sat down in the swivel chair and turned back to face the floor-to-ceiling window overlooking the city.
He thought back to what happened a while ago.
'This is not the first time I've received this kind of reaction from ladies. But why am I feeling strange?' he thought, feeling confused.
He placed one hand on his beating heart just then his assistant walked in and he quickly retained his stoic expression.
Turning around he faced him and said, "How is she...?"
David knew that he was asking about his over-pampered stepsister and remembered what happened in the morning when she ran out of home and followed her brother to the company throwing her tantrums, he had to drive her back to the Cha mansion which was why his boss was left at the company entrance instead of going through the private elevator that was in the parking lot.
"She was in a bad mood when I dropped her at the mansion," he answered
" Mm." Carl nodded and looked down at the documents that were piled on his desk.
•••
Clara rushed inside the company and headed to the programming department. On her way, she noticed the employees chatting among themselves.
"Isn't he charming? Ah, I think I'm going to faint," one employee said.
"I know right ... If I have him for myself I won't wish for anything more," said another employee
"Young, handsome and rich, what else could I wish for?"
"I only wish he would glance at me even once and I'll die without any worry."
"But I wonder why he didn't take the private elevator today," one of them pondered.
Clara knew immediately who they were talking about 'I think he also works here,' she thought.
She reached her department and headed to the manager's office. She knocked at the door.
"Come in."
A voice sounded from inside the office. She went inside and saw a middle-aged man sitting on a chair and busily typing on the computer at his desk. He looked up and asked with a smiling face, "How may I help you, Miss?"
"Sorry I'm late, Sir." she bowed and continued. "I'm Clara Yang. I received the email that I've passed the interview and should report to work today," she said, feeling nervous that she might be scolded for being late.
" Oh, right the new employee." The man smiled and stood up. "Welcome to the Programming department, come let me introduce you to your colleagues."
He shook her hand and directed her outside
"Oh right... You can call me Mr. Long. I'm too young to be called sir," he said humorously.
Clara laughed along with him and followed him outside ' phew. I thought I was going to get scolded for being late on my first day of work ' she thought.
After she was introduced to other employees she was shown her cubicle where everything she would need was already set for her "Wow... I think I might have saved a country in my past life to land a job in a big company like this." she smiled contentedly.
She switched on the computer and started working on the documents that were already prepared for her on her desk which were all about Application programming. While she was immersed in her work, she sensed someone standing beside her.
Clara lifted her head and saw a beautiful lady who was about her age looking at her work.
She put on a smile and said, "How may I help you?"
"Oh sorry to disturb you, my name is Mira Wang. You can call me Mira."
"Oh, Mira, nice to meet you again, we were introduced to each other a while ago... Sorry I didn't recognize you," Clara said apologetically.
Mira laughed and replied, "It's nothing. I'm also a newcomer, I started working here one week ago. It's lunchtime, care to grab a bite at the company's cafeteria?"
" Sure, let's go I'm starving already," Clara said while rubbing her stomach. They both laughed and headed to the cafeteria.
They got along easily and became friends in no time. They chatted about so many things and realized that they shared many interests.
