Chapter 36 - The Crazy Afternoon (1/2)
Back at the office, as soon as Gabriel steps into his room, his mood suddenly changes.
”Didn't I tell you to call me up if you're gonna be late?” He yells, loud enough for everyone to hear.
Claire is stumped—she couldn't tell if he's bluffing or what. Is this an act?
”What?” Gabriel says, irritably, his eyes red with anger. ”Are you just standing there like a tree stump? Did I hire you just to be a stupid blonde bitch?”
That's it. This isn't an act. ”I'm sorry, Mr. Tan,” he says, also loud enough for everyone to hear outside the room. ”But don't you remember you sent me to check out a jewelry store for a ring to give to your new fiancée?” If this is a pretend game, she's not going to let him outsmart her.
”My new fiancée?” Rage quivers on Gabriel's face. ”Who told you anything about my fiancée, you bitch!” He grabs a nearby mug and smashes it against the wall. Not contented, he grabs the vase on the coffee table and throws it with such force out the door, that the vase goes straight down the hall and explodes as it hits furniture.
Every employee on the floor cowers behind their cubicle. Gabriel Tan is really back in form. May God have mercy on the new executive ȧssistant's soul!
”But sir, you really did send me!” Claire's voice quakes, as if she's about to cry.
”Shut up! Your first day, and already you're full of shit!”
Gabriel Tan then slams his office's door shut.
”I guess now Claudia and Mary's earlier speculation about the two of us would be wiped out by that performance, don't you think?” He says as soon as they're unseen, with that mischievous smirk on his pretty face.
”I guess so,” Claire says, breathing a sigh of relief. ”That thing with the vase was a bit overkill, though.”
”That's necessary, Claire,” he says as he drops on his big swivel chair and puts his feet up on the desk. ”Strike fear in their hearts, that's what I always say.”
So that's your little management style, Claire thinks. She wonders what Mary's thinking now after seeing this performance. And Claudia. Would they have bought up this show?
”So what now?”
He shrugs. ”Wait and see. Why don't you sit down while we wait?”
She really feels a bit awkward about this whole situation, yet gingerly Claire sits down on the sofa. She feels like she's being interviewed again. More and more, she's finding her feelings so confusing—to be so near Gabriel Tan, and yet to feel so far.
The phone rings, and Gabriel answers it. He begins talking animatedly as he discusses the finer points of an impending merger. Claire tries not to listen to the conversation, but it's impossible not to. She's a captive audience here. The minutes tick by. And when she feels she's waited long enough, she signals to Gabriel that she's going out. Gabriel nods, still on the phone, his mind elsewhere, not here, not with Claire.
At the end of the day, I'm just an employee, Claire thinks as she sits down at her desk and starts pretending to work. She catches furtive glances from people. Looks of pity. Looks of people who are witnessing tragedy unfold, is what they think.
She taps on the keyboard, pretending to type some business letter. Anything to complete the act. What they see is some blonde secretary who's still trying to work despite the aggravation of a brutal boss. Maybe she should start whimpering, too? She pulls out a Kleenex and wipes a corner of an eye, as though she's trying her best not to cry. Genius.
AND THE ACADEMY AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS GOES TO…
”Nasty, isn't he?”
She looks up and Jake Magno's there, looking every inch a gentleman out to save a damsel in distress.
”What did you do to deserve flying vases and coffee mugs? Did you screw it up big time?”