Cloe was walking through aisles, with her eyes wandering around. She pushed the trolley around and came to a stop as she picked up a mandarin to check it. She hardly had time to pamper herself and today, she planned to cook herself a feast.
She had a vivid image in her mind of a candlelight dinner with soft music playing in the back. A goblet filled with aromatic sweet red wine in her hand as she would tell herself, 'Cloe, you're doing well! You're doing awesome in life! This is the true luxury!'
She was giggling to herself, even though the idea was still in her head and had yet to become reality. However, it couldn't stop her from being happy with herself. 'One should start from loving oneself!' That's what Cloe learned after working with Raelle Xiang.
Back in the days, she was like a pushover. People would always take advantage of her whether by leaving all the work on her in group assignments or by making her run errands for them. It was the same reason why even her family regarded her differently. She was never the perfect daughter or perfect sister.
However, Raelle Xiang managed to make her realize, it wasn't that people didn't love her. How could they love her when she didn't even love herself? That's why she began to focus on herself and what she wanted! Needless to say, she found loving herself quite fulfilling and that's why Raelle's position in her heart soared!
*Ring! Ring!*
She was happily humming when her phone rang in her bag. She was bobbing her head as she hummed a happy tune and took the call without looking at the caller id.
"Cloe's about to go on a date, please contact another day! Thank you!"
Saying that, she was about to hang up but before her phone could lower down from her ear, she heard the voice, "How about I stop contacting you altogether?"
Cloe almost fell over when she recognized that voice and even looked at the called id to confirm before cursing her luck. Argh! Why did her boss have to look for her on a Sunday?!
Yes, she did admire Raelle but there was a limit to that! This boss was a good person but she was a boss who liked to abuse her! Okay, that might be going overboard because Raelle always paid her for extra work even if she had worked for merely one minute, she would pay her. But she always had to pick the wrong moments to torture her!
"Chief," she called out in a dull voice. "Do you miss me so much that you can't wait for Monday?"
Raelle didn't bother giving her a reply as she went straight to the point, "The project details you sent me. Did you check it before forwarding it?"
"You asked me to send it to you as soon as I receive it from the Planning Department," said Cloe. "And I did exactly that. I didn't get the time to go through it yet."
"There is plenty of room for improvement here," began Raelle and continued to state every single thing that needed to be changed. Cloe's upper half body almost sprawled on the handle of the cart. Raelle had spoken for 15 minutes and there was hardly anything that Cloe paid attention to since she had already started to record the call to make it easier for herself.
Recording things had become a habit after working with a boss who had an exceptional photogenic memory. But she was a normal person and had to find easier ways or more like shortcuts to keep up with her fast pace boss.
"I'll work on it after I get back home. You'll receive the improved version at your table first thing in the morning," replied Cloe when Raelle stopped talking. "Anything else?"
"No, that'd be all for now," said Raelle. She didn't hang up, she just listened to voices behind Cloe and inquired, "Where are you right now?"
"I'm at a supermarket," replied Cloe. Then she sighed and went on, "Trust me, I never thought grocery shopping could get this annoying as well. Wherever I look, I see couples shopping together. And here I am listening to your lecture on my day off!"
"You can add that complaint to the list of 'Things I hate about Raelle Xiang'," was Raelle's indifferent response that made Cloe choke on air.
"Chief, how do you know about that list?" inquired Cloe with a horrified expression. She had made that list just for venting out her anger. Who knew her boss would learn about it? But how did she do it?
"You don't need to know that," replied Raelle. "And if you're finding it unfair that you're alone. Why don't you get a boyfriend for yourself?"
Cloe snickered, "It's a boyfriend! Not a pack of pistachios that I can buy at the supermarket!" She groaned in annoyance, "It would have been good if boyfriends also came with a price tag. Not that I want to get one but just stating a fact here."
"I think you can get boyfriends at the supermarket as well."
"Huh?" Cloe was dumbfounded by Raelle's words.
"Just get some onions for yourself," said Raelle.
Cloe looked at the onions in her hand and looked around trying to figure out if Raelle was around. Patting her chest, she said, "What's the connection between boyfriends and onions?"
Raelle took a pause before replying, "I heard both make you cry."
Cloe was dazed by that answer for a minute before she cursed out, "What the fuck!" but instantly, she slapped her hand over her mouth realizing whom she was talking to.
But getting a reaction from Raelle was already not a small foot and it was not surprising that Raelle didn't flare-up. When had she ever flare-up? If only she could show some fluctuation in her emotions.
"You're gonna have to be more specific than that," began Raelle. "Don't you think I have a lot of 'What the fuck!' moments in my life?"
Cloe didn't know whether she was supposed to agree with that or not but she honestly wanted to agree and she did dare to nod with the belief that Raelle couldn't see her.
"Chief, do you have any other instructions for me?" Cloe asked cautiously.
"As I said earlier, not for now," replied Raelle and hung up the call.
Cloe finally heaved a sigh of relief. She didn't know why she felt so apprehensive with just one phone call.
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