Chapter 6: The Solemn Oath

Instead of finding the fire exit, Emily nearly ran right into Gordon, the company’s assistant manager. “Ah, Emily, I was just looking for you,” he said, not even noticing that she was crying and panicking. “I’d like you to correct a few things in the last prototype.” “I can’t right now,” she said quickly. “Sorry, I have to go.” But it was too late. Josh appeared on the scene. “You think acting like a pea-brained party girl makes you look cool?” he shouted. “Well, it doesn’t!” Emily turned away and tried to find somewhere to hide. The assistant manager looked at her, then at the raving man who was invading the office space. “I hope you’re happy!” Josh went on, “You’ve made me come all the way here!” He grabbed a chair from the nearest cubicle and threw it against the wall. A few people screamed, while others ran from the room. “Young man, please leave the office immediately!” the assistant manager said, trying to look intimidating. Emily finally caught sight of the exit. She ran towards it, and glancing back she saw two security guards arriving and telling Josh he had to leave. She yanked the door open and ran all the way down the stairs until she reached the inner courtyard. She caught her breath here, trying to calm down as she kept her eyes on the ugly fountain and artificial grass. Some of the other people sitting in the courtyard looked at her strangely, but she didn’t care anymore. She had escaped, and Josh was probably being escorted out now. This time he had gone too far. Emily walked shakily to a bench by the astroturf and sat down. It was weird place to make a solemn oath, but she had reached her limit. Desperation made her tougher than she had ever been before. She swore that she would fight back, and that she would be stronger from now on. No matter what it took, she would never let people treat her badly, whether it was Josh or anyone else. A few minutes later, she composed herself and went back into the office. She stopped by the assistant manager’s office and told him how sorry she was about what happened. He looked a bit angry, which was a disappointment because he had usually been nice to her before. “I hope you have an explanation.” “I never invited him here,” Emily said, “I actually moved here from Toronto to get away from him, but I guess he found me here.” “Well, I hope it won’t happen again,” said the manager. “It won’t,” she promised. After that, she came back to her workspace. Everyone looked at her curiously as she came in, but she stuck to her resolve to remain strong and not run away. She made the same speech here, telling everyone the basic story of what happened with Josh. This made people much more sympathetic. Someone pressed a cup of coffee into her hand. Another person offered to drive her home. “No, it’s okay,” Emily said, “Thank you. I’ll keep working. I don’t want that creep to have that big an impact on my life.” She was able to lose herself in her work for a while, but suddenly the phone rang. It was the manager of the company saying he wanted to see her in his office. When she entered the spacious room where the manager sat at his desk, Emily could tell by his somber look that he had some bad news for her. “Emily, you are one of our newest staff members, having worked here for a few months.” “That’s true...” she said, wondering where this was going. “The work you’ve done so far has been very good, very promising. In fact, it’s rare to see a junior designer come up with so many unique ideas. But... we just can’t have so much drama in the workplace. Having your boyfriend come in here—” “He’s not my boyfriend!” she exclaimed. “I told Gordon already—” “It doesn’t matter,” the boss went on, “Having him come here today and create chaos in the office, it’s unacceptable.” “I’m so sorry about this,” Emily said, “It won’t happen again. I’m going to get a restraining order against him.” “Maybe you should have thought of that before he invaded the company office.” “You’re right,” she said, “I should have.” “And meanwhile, you’re searching for billionaires on your work computer.” He shook his head sadly. “The way to become rich is to work hard, not daydream about being rich and successful, and certainly not hanging out with people who are mentally unstable.” Emily couldn’t believe someone told him she had been searching for billionaires, or maybe he saw it himself since it was the last thing on her computer screen before Josh appeared, and it was on there the whole time until she returned to her desk. “I do work hard,” she said, starting to feel angry for being so unfairly picked on when a single moment made her look bad, “You know I do. I was on a quick break when I did that computer search. It’s not like I spend the whole day looking at pictures of billionaires.” “I understand that,” said the manager, “but our decision is final. Unfortunately, we’re letting you go, effective immediately.” “That’s not fair,” she protested, “it wasn’t me, it was all him.” The manager could never be persuaded. “I’m sorry, but that’s our decision.” Then Emily remembered something. “My contract says I can’t be fired without two-weeks’ notice,” she said, holding her head high. “This concerns the safety of our personnel.” the manager said. “And if you would rather deal with my lawyer, I’ll have him call you immediately,” she bluffed. She didn’t really have a lawyer. “All right,” said the manager, “I would really like to avoid any more drama. Let’s just say you have two weeks from today. Finish up your current project, and let’s not have any more strange people walking in here.” “Sounds good to me,” Emily said, striding out of the office with a dignified air. “After all, it’s your loss.”