Ever So (Saint Claire II)

Part 4

Part 4

I grabbed my stuff from the car after parking my mini cooper in my designated space in the basement parking. With my laptop, keys and black Celine bag in hand, I walked to the elevator with the other employees of the building.

While waiting to ascend, I stared back at my reflection on the elevator walls, straightening my long white pleated skirt and black leather jacket before taking a deep breath. I needed to get this over with.

I was the remaining person in the elevator that's continuously ascending to the higher floors. Three companies shared the building, the two tech companies occupied the lower half, and Stellar Media Publishing occupied the upper half, along with its different departments and publishing labels.

I walked in my black ankle boots to the floor which we share with the finance department. Attached to the light gray walls of the corridor  were the recent covers of different magazines under the company, displayed in transparent glass boxes.

I pushed open the heavy glass door with the minimalist sign. The Lead. The leading lifestyle, travel and fashion magazine and website in the country.

"Good morning," I greeted.

A few greeted back. Everyone was busy, the office was in its usual chaotic environment, specially on a Monday morning. Everyone was rushing to and fro, or in phone calls with designers and creatives, or crying in front of their articles in frustration. And it gets worse on the week before a release.

I placed my things on my desk, which was basically a modern white  table with the shape of a staple wire with a red plush swivel chair just  like the rest in the office.

Mara, one of my office mates from the table next to me was all worked up so early in the morning and the venti iced coffee on her desk didn't seem to help ease the Monday blues.

Her celebrity feature walked out on her last week after her boyfriend broke up with her in the middle of the interview. Now she didn't want anything to do with the interview, which in the first place, was focus on her perfect looking relationship with the actor.

"I hate it here..." Mara muttered, so close to banging her head against  her laptop. "She's too wreck from the breakup, she didn't even want to talk to her manager."

"Come up with a new angle for the interview," I told Mara. "New beginning, independent woman, moving on, self worth. There's a huge readership for it. Try to pitch it to her. Even if she won't agree for now since the breakup was too recent, you had the first pitch for her post-breakup interview."

Mara turned to me on her swivel chair, her face the color of her fading pink hair. "Euls, you're an angel," bungisngis niya bago bumalik sa ginagawa.

Smiling, I grabbed the ipad from my bag, which I used for easier presentation of ideas, before I proceed to the violet room which we call the EIC office.

I knocked lightly on the transparent glass door before pushing it open. "Good morning," I greeted.

Ms. Cee was leaning against her violet executive chair, behind her  white desk while mindfully scrolling through Instagram. "Euls, you're here."

"You wanted to see me?" I confirmed, referring to her last reply to my email. I sat on the violet settee opposite her desk. Ms. Cee had obvious favoritism of the color.

"Let me just check a few things," she told me. Checking social media during working hours might look like slacking off, but it was actually  part of our job.

After a while, she placed her phone on the desk to face me. For a  woman in her late forties, Ms. Cee had this youthful face and young disposition, sometimes too chill for a boss.