The Right Choice

Chapter 40

The ride up the elevator to her office next week was much tougher than usual. Jessie was nervous the entire time. She was worried that she might bump into Michael. After whatever happened the day before, she couldn't imagine running into him in public once more. He was the one who chose to be this childish and she was in no mood to indulge his erratic tantrums. Actually, when she gave it a deeper thought, Jessie realized that both of them were being equally childish.

The elevator dinged and Jessie attention snapped up to the numbers on the screen above. It was the sixteenth floor. Jessie's eyes went towards the parting doors in anticipation. Would fate be even more cruel then it already was? The doors opened and they were faced with an empty elevator lobby. 'Huh!'

"Will you look at that?"

Jessie turned to look at the source of the voice.

George was shaking his head in disbelief. He pressed the doors shut and in an irritated voice said, "If they don't want the elevator then why do they press the buttons?" He looked at Jessie and said, "I mean, just because there's a pretty little button on the outside doesn't mean that you have to press it. What is this intense need to do so?"

Jessie gave him a soft smile and said, "It's like a ringing phone, George. No matter who's it is, you feel compelled to answer it."

The old man gestured with his hands and said, "That's exactly what I mean. Why do you need to do it?"

"I don't know. But lots of people like doing that," Jessie said with smile.

Just then they reached her office level and Jessie was about to step out when she heard the man. "Finally after all this time I see a smile on your face. I thought you had lost it."

Jessie turned around and said, "That's not true. I give you a smile every time."

"That fake thing," George exclaimed with his eyebrows raised. "You call that a smile. Miss Sanders, that looked more fake than my fake Rolex. By the way, who spells 'Rolex' as R-O-L-E-X-X?"

Jessie gave him a genuine smile and shook her head. This guy was the funniest, cutest little old man ever. She waved to him and as she walked out of the elevator said, “I don't know. Why don't you figure it all out and let me know later?"

George gave her a nod and a wave back," You got a deal. Keep smiling!"

Jessie shook her head and walked forward.

When she had woken up this morning, Jessie was in no mood to do anything, not even come to work. Each of her morning routines took longer than usual as the reasonable and unreasonable sides of her mind continued to fight with each other. One side said that ‘she had been extremely idiotic about things the day before’ while the other said that ‘everything is fair in a fight’. One side said that ‘she should call up and apologize’ while the other one said that ‘she should wait for an apology instead’. All of this back forth thinking had made her late for work.

As she made her way to her seat, Jessie spotted the rest of the staff giving her a second look as she passed them by. It had become a usual affair now. Quite of few of them would begin whispering to each other as soon as they would spot her. Almost everyone gave her a lingering stare wherever she went. The women gave her a snarky, judgmental one as Jessie was sure they tried to figure out the reason why she was Holden's girlfriend. While the men, she thought were trying to figure out what they had missed about her. Either way, she was constantly scrutinized.