Chapter 32 - The First Poison (2/2)
”Well, maybe I should also read that. There are people here you'd love to poison.” A beat. Then Mary bursts into a big smile. ”Kidding!”
Mary feeds the document into the machine. ”How many copies?”
”Just, uhh, just one. I just need something to bring home.”
Mary wonders about the needlessness of this—the document is obviously downloaded off the internet, and Bella could easily check it out online. But she keeps it shut; she doesn't want her new-found friend to feel she's being questioned.
Claire, on the other hand, is full of questions. ”Do you know Jake Magno?”
Mary's eyes widen. ”Oh! What happened?”
”He asked me out for dinner, imagine that,” Claire says. ”On my first day of work.”
”Jake's the top sales manager,” Mary whispers, ”and he's also quite fast with women. Good thing you said no. I'd stay away from him if I were you.”
”He seems fine, though.”
Mary rolls his eyes. ”Jake is just like that, always asking everybody out. He once asked me out, can you believe that? I would have lost my vɨrġɨnɨtƴ had I said yes!”
Claire almost laughs, but stifles it. ”Are you saying you're still a vɨrġɨn?”
”Proudly,” Mary says.
”Me, too!” Claire says, and instantly regrets it, because Mary's eyes go wide.
”Are you shitting me?” Mary almost squeezes her arms. ”A woman as hot as you, a vɨrġɨn?”
”I, uhhh, well…”
”You don't have to say that just to make me feel less sorry for myself,” Mary says. ”There's nothing wrong about being a vɨrġɨn, or losing one's vɨrġɨnɨtƴ. It's just that, for a woman like me, and in a society like this, vɨrġɨnɨtƴ is perhaps the only thing I can offer the right man.”
”No, I'm sorry,” Claire says, and changes the subject. ”What can you say about Gabriel Tan?”
”The boss? Oh my God, he's a hottie! But everyone here knows about what his ex-girlfriend did to him. The cheating, lying bitch! How can any woman do that to a man like the boss?”
”Yeah, it was too bad.”
”Anyone can fall in love with him,” Mary says. ”So you better be really careful not to develop any feelings for him.”
”Don't worry. It's never a possibility with me.”
”Well, it's just that you're working as his executive ȧssistant. You'd have a lot of intimate times together working on projects and what-not. The physical closeness could lead to…you know what.”
Claire fake-laughs. ”Oh, no, that's impossible.” And maybe because she's trying to overcompensate and really, really deny the smallest possibility of her ever falling in love with her boss, she even adds, ”Because I'm a lesbian!”
Now, Mary's face is indescribable; her eyes look like they're about to pop out of their sockets. ”Oh, my God! Are you serious?”
Claire freezes in panic; she wishes she could take it back and tell Mary she's just full of shit. But seconds pass by, and soon it's already awkward to take back whatever she has said. ”Uhh, but a special kind of lesbian. A semi-lesbian.”
”Ohhhh, something like a bi-sexual, you mean? Which means you can still like men? Which means there's still a possibility you might like Gabriel Tan? Have you met him?”
Claire realizes she's digging her hole deeper each time she attempts to say a lie. She stares at Mary, who hangs on her every word. Maybe she should just say fuċk it and tell the truth. ”I've met him, yes. Charming, beautiful man. Every bit a keeper. But I always keep my professional relationships strictly professional, Mary. I don't think I'd let my relationship with our boss go beyond what's required of my job.” Claire smiles.
Mary says nothing; she just looks at her, reading her face, trying to weigh Claire's words against what she knows about the reality in this office. ”Well,” she says, shrugging. ”At the very least, I hope you last more than a few days with him.”
”At the very least, you should have done your job and returned to me,” a voice booms behind them.
”Oh, I'm so sorry, Claudia,” Mary says to the woman who has materialized by the door. ”I was just helping Mr. Tan's new secretary with the copy machine.”
The one called Claudia says nothing; she looks Claire up and down, sizing her up. ”So you're the new girl?”
Claire smiles and attempts to speak, but Claudia cuts her with, ”Copy machines work the same way everywhere. You don't need any help working this one. If you can't even make a proper copy without wasting the time of my ȧssistant, then I doubt you'd last even a day here.”
”I'm sorry,” Mary mutters, hurrying after her boss.
Claire is left standing there, holding her freshly photocopied ”How to poison someone without being detected.” Somehow, she feels she might really be tempted to read it—there are indeed people here you'd want to poison.