LY TECH
Leila drives in and parks at her reserved spot. A few employees run towards the car and stand at the back of the car waiting for her.
She steps down elegantly and turns to the back seat of the car to get her things, ignoring the five people eagerly waiting for her. With her things in hand she walks past them.
The employees glance at each other nervously. They were hesitant to speak to her. One of them runs to her side once the door to the reception hall is opened.
"May I help with your bags, ma?"
Leila halts and everyone freezes. A thin line appears on her forehead due to irritation. She runs her eyes through the young man standing beside her, staring at the floor nervously.
"What is your job in this place?" she asked
"To help madam with her bags," the man replied, only agitating Leila the more
She glances at the four other employees standing not too far away from them.
"Who employed you?"
"Madam Eleanor"
Without another word, she walks further into the building and into the elevator leading to her office. The office became tense at her presence.
Leila is the president of LY Tech, an engineering company that deals with advancing modern technology. Many in the city buy her products and gadgets.
Celebrities and highly influential people depend solely on her gadgets. Her gadgets are complicated and sometimes very advanced, making people think she is not from the present but from the future.
But this debate does not take a stronghold as her beauty becomes a heavy topic next to the scandal of sleeping with different influential men to stay on top.
Five minutes inside her office, she takes her phone and dials a number, and it takes only a second for the receiver to pick up.
"We are working on it. In the next two minutes, we will be done"
Without saying a word, she ends the call and picks up her telephone and dials her secretary.
"Make five sack letters inputting the names of those new employees," she ordered
"Ma'am-"
Leila ends the call, not wanting to debate the matter. She begins her work by filing through all the papers she has ignored for the past week.
An hour into her work, a quick knock on her door takes her mind to the door.
"Come in"
She did not lift her head as her eyes remained glued to the documents in hand. Her secretary walks quietly to the table.
"These are the documents you asked me to prepare, ma," the secretary stated
Leila places the document in hand aside and takes the document from her secretary. She reads through each of the documents before signing them.
"Get envelopes"
The secretary walks to the cabinet at the side and takes out the envelopes, handing them to Leila. She folds each document, putting them in the envelopes.
"Call them in," Leila commanded
Her secretary turns to leave.
"Sharon?" Leila calls
"Yes ma"
Leila picks up the previous document she was reading. "Get me the wristwatch brought in yesterday"
Sharon nods and takes her leave, shutting the door gently behind her. Leila resumes her work but takes another document, keeping the previous one aside.
A minute later, another knock comes and the five people she met this morning file into the office. Without raising her head, she points towards the envelopes that have been labelled with their names and arranged side by side.
They reluctantly pick the envelopes holding their names, and before they could open them, they heard her say
"You can leave"
They glance at themselves, shocked, and walk out of the office. Once the door was shut, they opened the envelopes to reveal that they have been sacked and would receive any payment necessary from their employer.
The shock on their faces was evident. They knew their job would be difficult knowing from other employees that Leila dislikes people touching or holding any of her belongings. Anyone caught was always fired without remorse.
They were hired by Eleanor, her aunt, whom everyone believes she never goes against and is close to. They didn't think they would get fired an hour into their working hour.
Four left the door to get their things to leave, but one remained, glancing from the envelope in hand to the door before him. He had a frown on his face, but then it turned to something different; difficult to translate and understand
Sharon comes to the door and takes a glance at him. "You should have left by now. What are you doing here?"
The man smiles and nods before walking off without saying a word. Sharon watches him until he is out of sight before entering the office after a quick knock.
An hour later, Leila is staring at a wristwatch. It is black with the edges shining blue. Her right hand is on the table holding a pen, while the other holds the armrest of the chair.
Her mind drifts away from the wristwatch to one of her dreams. It is hard to understand, even though it was really basic. And what bothers her most is the fact that it portrays family, which she does not have.
She wants to believe it is her in those crazy dreams, but then she always feels that in the dream she was a spectator observing all around her.
"Am I a wind?"
Her lips curve up in a mocking smile at the crazy thought she just had. The more she thought about it, the more other dreams keep flying in and out of her head like some force.
Folding her fingers into a fist, she tries to concentrate her mind on one. It was hard to pick one, and it only gave her a headache. Determined, she kept pushing until it felt like her brain shut down and rebooted again, only to want to continue from where it stopped.
"Can you st-"
She stops mid-sentence as she realizes she was speaking out loud. Rubbing her temples, she sighs then draws her chair forward to concentrate, and her door flies open.