32

The weekend went by far too quickly and it was already Monday again. I spent Saturday cleaning my apartment and shopping. In the evening I went to Andy's in the bar and waited until he finished work. After that we are in a club. We danced and celebrated all night long for you. It felt good.

On Sunday I was accordingly knocked out. I spent the day on the sofa in front of the television. I only got up to go to the bathroom or to get something to eat.

I entered the office early in the morning with a 2go coffee in hand when Melissa, one of my employees, was already sitting excitedly in my office.

I narrowed my eyes at her "Good morning Melissa, what's up?" I wanted to know about her.

She pointed to a thick envelope on my desk. "Here, that came straight from the board secretariat," she said excitedly. I didn't suspect anything good. It was not usual that we received something from above.

I opened the envelope and Melissa and I stared intently at the contents. They were records. Lots of records printed out on green paper. board paper.

I sat down in my chair and took a closer look at the list. In fact, these were properties of our customers that we financed as a bank. Over 490,000 pieces. A lot of objects.

Not knowing what to do with the pile of paper, I put the pile aside and opened my Outlook. Meanwhile, Melissa left my office. I had 15 new emails. Including one from Mr. Silva. Immediately my heart started beating faster.

Why on earth is he texting me? Well I'll know right away. The email was written at 1:20 a.m. Saturday night. Wow the guy probably has no life outside of the bank I thought to myself.

I opened the message:

Ms. Miles, for our risk analysis, we need the review of all our customer financed properties by the end of the month. Since you are responsible for the property management, you are responsible for carrying it out. I would like to remind you that you are currently on probation. Don't screw it up.

Silva

This is exactly how you imagine a shitty Monday morning. To be greeted with such a message. If I could, I'd like to trudge up to his office and smack that stack of papers in his stupid face. That asshole. I knew he was doing it extra.

It was two weeks until the end of the month. Two weeks he gave me over 490,000 objects to check? For a check I need about 15 minutes. However, I haven't pulled the property file yet. How on earth am I supposed to do this? Never. In addition, I have my daily work and responsibility for 35 other employees.

Then this sentence at the end. "You're on probation" blah blah. Annoyed, I got up and ran to my department head's office.

"Ms. Miles, I can imagine why you are here?" He greeted me. "With all due respect Mr. Marker, how am I ever going to do this?". I asked him dejectedly.

"They've definitely made enemies here in the house," he replied. "You mean an enemy. The devil himself," I replied.

"Watch what and where you say something. His ears are everywhere and he already has them on his kicker. Unfortunately I can't help you Ms. Miles. I'm sorry. You have to go through that now," he advised me.

Great. Help was therefore not to be expected from my division manager. I decided to focus on day-to-day business first. In the late afternoon I was ready enough to start my "special job" for the first time.

I sat in the bank until 10:00 p.m. and had only managed 40 checks. I was super fast. It was hair-pulling. I had to admit that I would never be able to do this alone.

So the next day I decided to call a team meeting. I personally explained to my team about the special task of the CEO and the urgency. I appealed to everyone and asked for help. I was lucky that everyone accepted me as their boss and was willing to support me.

I distributed the various data sheets to all employees. After day-to-day business, everyone should do around 100 checks a day. including me

It still wasn't enough to make it to the end of the month, but it was a start.

Just as I settled back into my chair in my office, my Outlook mailbox lit up.

Ms. Miles, I haven't heard back from you yet? I thought you were professional enough to know that when the CEO texts you, that you should respond. So much for proper communication and appreciation.

Silva

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Keep calm Alea. Stay calm. I hit the "Reply" button and started typing. I was careful with my choice of words.

Dear Mr. Silva, I sincerely apologize for my late reply. It wasn't my intention to upset you. I received your list and am already working through it. I wish you a succesfull day. Best regards Alea Miles.

And there was pure irony in every word I said. I was freaking friendly. Too friendly. And if he has good knowledge of human nature, he should notice it immediately. I still don't offer him a target for attack. Satisfied, I hit send before going back to the list.

~~ 2 weeks later ~~

Tired, I rubbed Meike's eyes. It was already 11:05 p.m. and I was sitting alone in my office or in the entire building. Just like every evening and even on weekends. Because I worked through thanks to the great special assignment I was given by Mr. Silva.

Despite my best efforts and that of my team, we have only verified 90,000 properties so far. Too little. Much too little. It was impossible to get through all the datasets by next Monday and the devil of Silva knew that exactly. Surrendering, I closed my laptop and left my office.

I decided without further ado to go to Andy in the bar. It was late Friday evening and I was in dire need of a martini, or maybe two?

As soon as I was outside, it started to drip from the sky too easily. I hurried to get into a cab and had it taken straight to the bar.

Once there, I rushed in and straight into Andy's arms. "Oh darling, you're still alive? Had a rough day huh? Like always? He greeted me sympathetically.

I sat down at the counter on one of the bar stools, undid my strict dud and shook my long hair so it hung over my shoulders and down to my waist. "Probably rather rough weeks. Please a double martini today" I said with a sigh.

Andy brought me my drink right away and gave me a kiss on the cheek "Chin up sweetheart" he encouraged me. But I couldn't cheer myself up for a smile.

I sat at the bar for less than five minutes and the first man came up to me to engage me in conversation. The men had style, were well dressed, businessmen or wealthy entrepreneurs, but my interest was never in them. On the contrary. I felt annoyed with you and your slimy compliments.

I was glad that Andy always played my alibi friend and got the men to leave. It saves a lot of discussions. Because some of you were really stubborn and wouldn't take no.

With the fourth martini and the third man who spoke to me today, I no longer reacted at all.

"You're beautiful, but I'm sure you already know that Miss. Can I get you a drink?"

Phew, another guy who doesn't realize I just want to be alone. I ignored him. He came closer to me.

"Did you hear? You are incredibly sexy. I would like to buy you a drink"

The unknown guy put his hand on my arm. I immediately pulled this away. Where was Andy when you need him?

"Don't touch me. Can't you see I'm not interested?"

I snapped at him loudly. But that didn't impress the guy. He came even closer to me and invaded my space.

"Come on sweetie I can give you anything you want including my big cock"

I think I'm about to puke. But before I could answer, someone else took over... and when I heard his voice, I knew immediately who was behind me and whose hand was protectively on my shoulder.

Silva.