Chapter 2009 - Overslept, Late, And Reassigned

The next morning…

Chloe woke up because someone was ringing her doorbell like the building was on fire.

She jolted out of the bed and dashed to the door.

"Matilda?"

Matilda eyed Chloe and grinned. "Am I interrupting something?"

Chloe blinked her sleepiness away. "What?"

Matilda gave Chloe a knowing look. "Don't play ignorant. Didn't you have drinks with Director Bennet last night?"

Chloe's eyebrows twitched. She didn't understand right away, and it took her a few seconds to connect the dots. Director Bennet. Noah. Drinks. Tim is a bartender and works with Chad who lives with Matilda... Oh, God, there are gossips already!

"Please, don't imagine things, Matilda. It was just a drink and we chatted a bit. I thanked him for his help in getting me a job and I went home."

"Alone?"

Chloe exhaled in defeat. It was obvious that Matilda knew Chloe had company. Other than Tim and Chad, is Mark a gossip also? Probably. He was at the door when Chloe left the club and considering that Noah was right behind Chloe, Mark saw Noah as well.

"Noah walked with me, we said goodnight and that's it. He was kind and a gentleman, and nothing happened."

Matilda raised her eyebrow suspiciously. "I don't know about the gentleman part, but Director Bennet is a very busy man. He doesn't have the time to walk his employees home, if you know what I mean, and this must be the first time ever that someone described him as kind."

Chloe was exasperated. "Matilda, I will not see him again, so please don't try to make this into something it isn't. If the rumors start spreading, I might get in trouble. I only started working and I can't afford…"

"Fine, fine…", Matilda interrupted Chloe. "I believe you. I was actually hoping that maybe something happened because you are a good girl."

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Really? You hoped that he spent the night here for my sake? Is that why you are ringing at my door in the wee hours of the morning?"

"Wee hours? You should be ready for work and not in pajamas. I came to pick you up so that we can go to work together."

Chloe's eyes widened in horror and only then she realized that Matilda's hair is nicely done, and she is wearing a shirt and a pencil skirt… and Matilda is dressed for work.

"What did you say?", Chloe whispered as panic swelled inside her. "Oh, God! I overslept! I will never go out on a weekday! Sorry, please go on without me… I need to get ready!"

Chloe closed the door and dashed to the bathroom. Considering that she skipped a shower last night, she could not skip it in the morning. What will people say if she shows up to work stinky?

Chloe glanced at the time and confirmed that it's 8:23 AM. Matilda comes at 8:20 AM, the two of them grab a coffee and chat while going to work. They did that on the previous day and agreed to do that every morning going forward, and Chloe now messed up and she will be late! It's not that she has strict work hours where she needs to clock in, but everyone should be in the office by 9 AM. Ah, what a disaster!

Chloe didn't stay too long in the Chaos nightclub, but she tossed and turned in bed until who knows what time, and she slept through the alarm clock. Knowing her, she probably turned it off in her sleep.

Other than being late, she probably has eyebags and if she does not spend extra time on makeup, she will end up going to work looking like a hot mess. What will her coworker say?

"Great work, Chloe! Can you survive the first week at work without messing up?", Chloe chided herself while removing her pajamas fervently. "This is not how I imagined that living on my own will be!"

~ Los Angeles, the Blanc administrative building ~

Chloe made her way into her cubicle like a wind, kept her purse on the side, and sat on the chair before releasing a long exhale.

She made it. Sure, it's 9:11 AM, but no one said anything, and…

"Pssst…", a sound came from the neighboring cubicle. "Pssst… Chloe…"

Chloe wondered, what's with the whispering? "Yes, Cecil?"

"Why are you late?"

"Uhm, it's only eleven minutes past nine. I'm not that late.", Chloe responded.

"True, but manager Floyd was looking…"

Before Cecil could finish, a voice came from the side: "Chloe, can you come to my office, please?"

Chloe stiffened when she recognized the voice of her manager. "Yes, Mr. Floyd.", she responded in a shaky voice. Did Cecil say that manager was looking for her? Oh, boy… Why did he look for her on the day she was late?

Chloe knew that coming at this time is not a big deal, but this was her first week and she wanted to leave a good impression because this job is important. Why did the manager look for her? Did she mess up something yesterday? Or is he going to punish her for coming after nine o'clock?

"Close the door.", manager Floyd said when Chloe stepped into his office.

Chloe looked at her manager expectantly as his eyes moved over his computer screen as if he was reading something.

"You are reassigned.", manager Floyd said, and Chloe's heart dropped.

Chloe swallowed a mouthful of air. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I don't know. Did you?"

Chloe shrugged. "You said that I'm reassigned. May I know why?"

"I don't know, Chloe. I've got a memo saying that you need to come to the conference room B on the fourth floor…", he glanced at the time. "...thirteen minutes ago."

Chloe thought that he was joking. Did he tell her that she is thirteen minutes late for a meeting without any sense of urgency? "Can you repeat that?"

"I don't know why you are being reassigned. It seems I don't have the clearance high enough for that information."

Chloe shook her head. "Not that, the other part about a conference room."

He nodded in slow motion. "Conference room B on the fourth floor. You are now fourteen minutes late." He saw that Chloe's brows furrowed. "Don't blame me. I went to your cubicle as soon as I got the memo which was at eight-thirty and I sent you an email and a meeting invite to which you didn't respond. I also stopped by your workstation every five minutes, but you were not there so… I suggest you hurry up."

Chloe dashed out of her manager's office and took the elevator to the fourth floor. She had no idea what was going on, but it didn't seem like she was getting fired. Or maybe this is how people get fired here: they tell them to go to some mysterious meeting and they never come back. She wondered if the whole Blanc is strange like the Chaos nightclub. If she disagrees with the decision of the management, can she challenge them in the fighting arena? She is not a fighter, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Chloe shook those thoughts away as she reached the 'Bermuda' conference room on the fourth floor, also called the 'conference room B'.

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