The Right Choice

Chapter 26

The day after her out burst at Holden's house, Jessie walked in to the office with fear and trepidation easily visible on her face. What seemed like a good idea yesterday now sounded like a sure shot invitation to a lawsuit. Not just a law suit but Jessie was quite sure that her actions had not only made her firm lose the account but also guaranteed her getting fired from the job.

'Forget the lawsuit. I'd be lucky to be let inside the office actually.' Jessie thought as she gave a nod of acknowledgement when the security guard wished her. Jessie didn't trust herself to speak after the debacle the day before. As she thought about all the possible reactions to her actions, the walk along the corridor to her seat felt much longer today. It felt as though everyone she passed by was judging her or probably sneering behind her back.

Just as she was about to reach her seat, she felt the sadness mixed with fear creeping up inside her. Jessie thought that it would be best if she simply turn around, go back home and probably send in her letter of resignation. Considering all the mess she had created, that sounded like a reasonable thing to do.

Though tempting, the entire idea of leaving this firm made her sad.

When Jessie had joined Urbane Designers, it had been because she knew Jason who already worked there. It had been a smooth transition from college to office. It had been almost as if she hadn't left college at all. But here, everything was different. Here, she had been forced to work hard, make an impact in the workplace. It had been exciting and extremely fulfilling. It was probably the first time she actually like she had accomplished something.

And now Jessie realized that she was going to be fired. Mr. Browning was probably the only one who could save her. But, even sabotage involving gay porn was nothing compared to purposely emptying the contents of a liquor bottle in the client’s lap. Jessie was repenting her actions since last evening. They couldn’t actually fire her, could they? ‘What else do you expect should be done by after the fiasco of yesterday?'

With those thoughts on her mind, Jessie finally reached her group’s section. Once again, she wasn’t the first one there. Neal was already at his desk with his eyes fixed right at the computer. He looked to be completely engrossed in whatever it is that he was doing. Jessie wasn’t exactly sure of what to say. Saying a simple greeting such as ‘Good morning’ seemed like a huge task in itself.

While Jessie was contemplating, she saw Neal turn towards his right as he realized that he was not alone. By the expression on his face, he didn’t look to be very pleased. Jessie had been so angry the previous day that she hadn’t even taken the effort to call him up and ask him what happened after she had left. So, Jessie concluded, he was definitely angry at her for not showing even the most common of courtesies.

She saw him shake his head in contempt and look away.

Jessie felt a sting of sadness go through her. Neal was her closest friend at work and now even he was upset with her. She walked to her seat and while keeping her purse to the side said, “So you’re not even going to wish me a ‘good morning’ today?’

“I don’t know,” He spoke while facing away from her. “It doesn’t exactly look like a good morning to me. There is a possibility that Mr. Browning is going to give us an earful. Not forgetting that the possibility of Mr. Richmond summoning us into his office and giving us another earful looms on our heads as well. Plus, he’s already seen the block buster video on my flash drive so this issue with the soaking wet actor should just be icing on the cake. He’ll mostly suggest that I leave this job to find work in the entertainment industry and the way he’d do it in won’t be pleasant. So tell me Jessica, what’s so good about this morning?”