Office Love

~ Chapter 1 ~

It was my first day at my new job. I have been struggling to move out of the apartment I shared with my ex. We broke up, because some differences in opinions. When I woke up, I stood up from the couch and went into the bathroom. There I took a quick shower and did my hair. I put some make-up on and made me some breakfast and lunch to go. As I was going out of the front door, I heard my ex yell, "You're a woman! You shouldn't work, slut!" Quickly I closed the door and went to my car. With that I drove to the office building. It was a skyscraper that had multiple businesses inside of it. The company, I was going to work for, was one of the most famous ones in the whole world. It sold electronics like phones, laptops, tablets and more. One of my best friends worked for the company as an executive assistant, and she got me the job actually. When I arrived at the office, my best friend, Daphne immediately hugged me, "Celeste! How have you been? How are things with Kian? Is he still a bitch?" I laughed, "Of course, he is. Oh, by the way, thank you for helping me." She smiled at me and replied, "Oh, Cece. You're my best friend, of course, I will help you. Now let me bring you to your department." On the way there, she explained, "So. Since you are quite creative, and majored in that field, I got you a job as the assistant to the head of the creative department. Mr. Winter is really nice, once you get to know him. He will be your immediate superior. There are 4 or 5 other people in that department. Try to keep your head up. Some of them are really bitchy." Once we arrived, we were surrounded by five people. One of them spoke up, "Hello. You must be our new co-worker. I am Mitchel Perez, but you can just call me Mitch. These are Zoe Monroe, Richard Newton, Alex Garcia and Thomas Stewart." Daphne asked, "Where is Mr. Winter?" Zoe answered, "In his office. We didn't think that he would like to come out. That is why we didn't tell him about her arrival." Daphne sighed, "She is going to work directly with him, so he needs to know. Then let me go talk to him, while she introduces herself." With that Daphne left me with them. I waved with an awkward smile before introducing myself, "Hi. I am Celeste Valentine. I hope that we can be good friends." Thomas shook my hand all the sudden and replied, "Don't worry. We will. Has anyone told you that you are gorgeous?" I was a bit taken back and laughed awkwardly, "Thank you, I guess." There was an awkward silence. Just a few minutes later Daphne returned with a man, who had to be Mr. Winter. Mr. Winter said, "Hello. You must be Miss Valentine. I hope the five of them have not disturbed you. Come with me, I will show you your working space." Daphne elbowed him, "Don't be cold to her and don't scare her like that." Thomas asked, "Where did they find this hottie?" I answered, "Oh. Da-Miss Marigold told me about the job offering, but I think that is none of your concerns. Oh, and don't call me a hottie. You are acting like you have never seen a woman before." Daphne laughed, "Miss Valentine is off limits for you, Mr. Stewart. She is my friend and I will kick your butt personally, if you even dare to speak to her the wrong way." Mr. Winter interrupted the conversation, "I hate to destroy this uncomfortable moment, but I have some work I have to get back to. I will take Miss Valentine now with me. Bye." With that he took me by my hand and pulled me away. We went into a two persons office. There he explained, "So. The desk on the right is you. I will make you familiar with the projects that I am working on and giving to you. When you are done with them, please come talk to me again. I have to make sure that we only produce the best ads, products and all. If you have any questions, I will try to answer them." After that he gave a quick show of the projects and software. He also gave me my login and a coffee mug. I asked, "Why do I get a coffee mug?" His cold facial expression turned a little red, and he answered, "I thought that it would be a good welcoming gift." Quickly, he finished the introduction and went back to work. I started to work on one of the projects. It was for a new phone. I thought to myself, "To reinvent an existing product is boring. Of course, you can add a better camera, more storage space and a longer lasting battery capacity, but everyone tries to do that and fails. We could add some exclusive colours, but it would still be boring. Bigger screens are also getting out of hand. The newest phones are almost like small tablets. An interesting  feature should be good. Folding phones have been a new trend from that one company.  It would be a niche thing. The screen should be not to small, but not to big." Suddenly, I was pulled out of my thought, when I felt a warm breath on my shoulder. I turned around to be met by Mr. Winter looking at my design. He commented, "That is a niche thing. Not a lot of people want folding phones. They want more storage space, longer lasting batteries, better cameras and more powerful processors." I replied, "One strategy that should be tried is this. Unique selling points are making the customers more interested in something and hitting a niche would be perfect. We can add the things you said, Mr. Winter, but the product should have a feature that makes it unique or else the customer will say 'Oh. I can get this phone by company b a lot cheaper and it does the same.'" He laughed, "I did not expect you to talk back to me. I like that. Alright. Continue after the lunch break. You should go eat something." With that I took my leave. Mr. Winter did not come with me, but stayed inside the office. Zoe came into the break room after me and asked, "Oh? Did Mr. Mysterious kick you out?" I looked at her confused, and she explained, "Mr. Mysterious is Mr. Winter. He mostly keeps to himself. The only times we see him is when he leaves for a meeting, returns from a meeting or we have to show him our process. He is really strict one the projects. It's a wonder to get approval for your work on the first try. He will hate the idea, so good luck." I asked, "How hard is it to get him to like an idea?" She answered, "Sooo hard. We have not gone through the first round without him hating it." Alex joined the conversation and break room, "Hello, the ladies. Whatcha talking about?" Zoe sighed, "Mr. Winter. It is so annoying. I have already changed the stupid sketch ten times and he still is unhappy with it." He laughed, "That is just how he is. I had to change a sketch fourteen times and the best was just the first sketch at the end." I commented, "I'm still on my first sketch and he seemed to not fully hate the idea." Zoe and Alex turned to me. Alex asked, "Have you shown it to him, yet?" I nodded, "Yes? That is why I know that he seems to not hate it fully. He tried to say something against it, but I explained to him why I am doing it my way." Zoe looked shocked, "You actually talked back to him? You are so done." I shrugged with my shoulders and replied, "Maybe he accepted me talking back to him, since I actually took his comment into consideration. Also I was not even done with it, yet, but he checked up on it." They started to freak more out and began to go on a rant of how awful his treatment was towards them and that it was unfair that I get a pass. Even when Mitch, Thomas and Richard came in, they did not stop and the others actually joined their rant. I decided that I did not want to continue eating my lunch during their rant and just went back into the office with my lunch. Mr. Winter asked, "Why are you back already? You have an hour of lunchtime." I answered, "I just didn't want to listen to the others. I feel exhausted from them ranting." He said, "Come here. I want to show you something." I just did as I was told. The thing that he wanted to show me was an advertisement idea for my product. I gasped, "Oh my god. That is genius. You are a genius!" When I noticed what I said, I looked at him and hoped that he did not hear the last part. He laughed while looking at me, "Oh, thank you, Miss Valentine. I appreciate the compliment." I felt my face starting to blush. Quickly I shook my head before asking, "Should we add special colours for the collection? We could even add some more devices that get the same colour, so they can be sold as a bundle." He answered, "Sure. Good idea." Accidently, I dropped my lunch box. Before I had the chance of picking it up, Mr. Winter did and gave it back to me. Then he said, "You should finish your lunch. I will take my lunch break, when you are done." I gasped, "Di-did you wait for me to return for that? I am so sorry. You can go. I am finished." He shook his head, "No. I heard that there was still something inside that box. Finish eating. I will go to lunch, when you are done." Quickly, I got to my place and finished as soon as possible. I actually almost choke on a piece of bread. When I was done, Mr. Winter stood up and took his jacket, before he left. I continued working on the phone.  When I finished, I placed the documents and the stick on his desk. Then I started with the next project. It was similar to the phone project, but it was a chrome book project. There wasn't a lot of new ideas I got for a chrome book. Just an overall colour range and adding more storage and a longer lasting battery. I hated the idea of not adding something special to it and hit my head on the desk, in the same moment Mr. Winter returned from his break. He asked concerned, "Are you alright? Why would you do that?" I answered, "I don't know what could be more special about a chrome book. There is not a lot to add." While he returned to his desk, he replied, "Sometimes simple is just the best. Don't add anything special. It can be part of the bundle with just colours, but a longer lasting battery." When he sat down, he asked, "Did you finish the phone?" I answered, "Yes. I hope it is to your expectations. I am sorry, if not." He laughed, "You still have the puppy protection. I won't be too hard on you." I thanked him before continuing with the chrome book.