Boss, The Applicant is Here! (1)
Fem hurriedly hailed a taxi and gave the address to the taxi driver.
Inside the taxi, She kept glancing the rear view mirror to see if Vhan followed her. She was relieved that she did not see car tailing her.
The taxi stopped infront of a gate which was familiar to her. It was WangCargo Express building. She sauntered inside the compound past the gate and saw that the current guard was Jonathan. She approached the building to check whatever improvements were done around. It seems all was not changed since she left except for some few posts in the bulletin board next to the guard.
"Sir, may I help you? " From behind, Jonathan approached Fem who was busy reading some notices on the bulletin board beside the swinging glass door.
"Sir? Are you addressing me? " Fem turned her head to the guard. "Is your manager around?" She inquired mustering a disguised tone. She almost forgot that her disguise was almost manly.
The guard scanned at Fem up and down as if she had some bombs in her being.
"My apologies, I thought you were a man! Do you have an appointment with the manager, ma'am?" The guard knew that he cannot let anyone enter the building without proper security check.
" Nahhh, I just want to inquire if he is still in need of a secretary or assistant manager." Fem asked casually.
The guard sniffed a faint smell of a cologne. It smells familiar to him but can't remember whom he had smelt this particular scent before. "Do...do you want to call him?" He asked.
"Can I have his phone number please. I'm just dropping by and I have something else afterwards." Fem said.
The guard got a piece clean sheet of paper from his stand and wrote down a set of numbers then handed it to Fem saying, "He's probably in the warehouse now. You can come back tomorrow."
"Okay, thanks. Bye!" Fem turned back and wandered around the surrounding buildings inquiring for a room to rent. She needed a place to stay from now on.
She had only 50,000 bucks in her account which she and Percy had opened when she started working as an audit employee.
Her cash on hand was only 10,000 bucks since she purchased some cellphones for her father and Trell, left a handsome of cash for Niel and handed some to her mother.
She had to find a job as another person since she didn't want Mark to recognize her. She needed to fake her applications and change her identity even maintaining her disguised looks and voice.
After wandering for more than an hour of inquiring here and there and back, Fem finally settled to take a small apartment about five minutes walk from the WangCargo Express building.
"Hi! I am Maia, I want to see your your apartments, I need a place to stay." Fem said to the middle aged woman.
"Hi young lady, call me Rose. I am the landlady of this house." The woman said.
Although the rent was a bit high, it is only reasonable given she didn't need to travel to get to work, plus the sanitation was also good. The apartment had a single bedroom with double sized bed, a small kitchen, a bathroom combined with toilet and a living room with a creamy white three seater sofa. A television and a radio at its side. There was a table by the kitchen door which she can use as a study table or dining table.
Fem meticulously inspected all the window grills and the safety door locks, the water supply, the cabinets and even under the sink before asking the landlady.
" Auntie Rose, were there any history of burglary or crime in this building?" She asked.
"So far, there were only two incidents of burglary in the past three years. It happened in the first and second floor though. About crime? None so far except of course arguments between tenants. You know, some are noisy but some prefer to be quiet. " The land lady said to which Fem considered and nodded before the woman continued. " Oh and speaking of security, we already installed cctvs around especially in the entrance. Don't worry, we have guards on duty on an eight-hour wokk shifts." Rose might have thought that this young lady was a very important person who values security so much.
"Okay, how much should I down pay? I'm afraid I cant afford your rent here, auntie!" Fem said.
"Just deposit for two months and a month advance miss. That would be 36,000 bucks in all." Rose answered.
Fem was shocked! What? If she was to earn 15,000 bucks per month, does that mean she will only live to pay her rent? It was just so fortunate that she was offered a high salary because of doing a favor to the company. But how about now that she has to apply and work not using any connections?
"Auntie, did I read wrong in your ad downstairs? I saw it said 8,000-10,000 bucks a month. Which floor is 8,000, and which is 10,000? And where did you get 12,000? I did not read any of it." Fem stared at the Rose in bewilderment.
"Ah, you saw the ad downstairs...actually that was long time ago...we have already raised our rent and forgot to discard that." Rose said.
"How long have you been operating this business auntie?" Fem tried to probe further.
"Fi...four years now." Rose blushed.
"Is it not three years? " Fem raised her right eyebrow and decided to drop the probing. It was evident that this landlady was trying to extort money from her. She continued, " I have inquired around and all apartment rents actually range from 7-9,000 auntie. What makes your apartment more expensive than theirs?"
"Well, as you can see, our maintenance is quite above average and our security is good. We are also in a more convenient spot." Rose confidently said.
Having learned that this establishment has just started three or four years ago, it was only reasonable that the maintenance seem to be on a higher level but the twice incident of burglary was already a warning. Actually, Fem didn't believe they only had two incidents judging it from the marks and stains on the wall along the corridors.
She chose this apartment at the third floor thinking it should give her more refreshing view and peaceful environment especially when she will be doing her building designs. But now, it seems she has to reconsider everything.
"Ahhh, aunty, Im sorry. I am not willing to oay 12,000 bucks a month for this apartment. I've seen some apartments not far from here that has lower rents. I'm sorry aunty." Fem put on her cap and turned to walk out of the apartment.
"Okay I'll give it to you for 9,000" Rose called from the inside.
"What happened aunty? Why the sudden change? But I'm still not settled. I saw a wider apartment than this that the owner was willing to rent it for 7,000." Fem smiled wryly.
"Then I can only give it to you for 8,000. That's my final compromise." Rose toned down her voice.
"Wow! You're like selling vegetables in a wet market auntie. Don't you have a fixed price?" Fem smirked.
Rose blushed but pretended not to have minded. Actually, the rooms on the third floor were charged six thousand bucks by the owner but she added commission to every room. And since this floor was in the third floor, tenants have to walk the stairs up and down since there was no lift. It's only reasonable that its cheaper than the lower floors.
"K auntie, 8,000 bucks it is. But I still need to go to the bank. If I do not come till tonight, you can rent it to others" Fem said then proceeded to descend down the stairs.
Fem went straight to the bank and withdrew half of her current savings. Then dropped by at the busy street market to buy few home clothes, three pairs of formal clothes, underwears towels and toiletries. She also bought some take away food for the night and a big bottle of water.
By the time she got back to the apartment building, it was already five o'clock. The land lady also happened to have sent away some men who were probably cctv technicians as seen in their uniform.
Upon seeing Fem, Rose asked the guard to give the room key to her.
"That's your room key Fem, you should keep it and never entrust to anyone. Come down to settle things later. " Rose said and instructed the guard to help this young lady carry her stuff to her room upstairs.
Fem was feeling sticky and yucky. She also felt a slight hunger since she was not able to have lunch after she deserted her brother Vhan. Speaking of brother, where did that fool go? Ha! Men are just source of headaches and troubles!
She ate her take out food and went down to the find the landlady. After settling the contract and payment with Rose, Fem climbed up and went straight to shower. She washed most of the clothes and underwears she bought leaving just a set to use for the meantime.
When she wanted to sleep, Fem realized she has yet to buy her own beddings! Yayyy! Fortunately, the temperature in the South City was warm unlike the cold weather in.the northern province. Fem just laid herself on the sofa with large bath towel draped on her lower body. She dialled the number she got from the guard and got instantly connected.
Fem spoke with a disguised voice. Her usual carefree melancholic voice now sounded a little deep and reserved.
Percy could not tell if he was talking to a man or a woman as he heard the voice from the other line.
"Okay, come anytime tomorrow. I'll be at my office. See you then." Percy ended the call.
He had no choice but to post an ad for secretary and assistant manager since Fem did not confirm if she comes back or no. Given that she'll come back, she will still continue to take the position of the manager as he himself needs to tend to his family while taking over his wife's business. The assistant will then be transfered to another branch in the Central City.
Fem panicked where to get necessary documents to support her identity. What will she do? She wracked her brain that night till she fell exhausted and finally asleep.
The next morning, Fem was awakened by her ringing cellphone. Since it was a new simcard and she did not yet manage to transfer all her contacts to it, every caller was a new number.
Who could this be? Fem thought as she held her phone straight infront of her ear. "Hello!Who is this?"
"Fem, I'm at the stoplight next to your place now. Come down and let's talk." Vhan's cold and distant voice came through.
"I don't have anything to do with you anymore. We have nothing to talk about!" Fem answered immediately and pressed the end call.
Not seconds after she ended, her phone rang again. Fem was irritated as she pressed the answer icon.
"Are you sure you don't need any help? Are you going back to your former job or are you applying as another person?" Vhan asked like he knew what she had been doing yesterday.
"Even if I need help, you'll not be able to help me. Since you are not my brother, I have no business with you!" Fem tried to dismiss her fool brother as soon as possible.
"Get down now. I have some papers here." Vhan didn't mind his sister's ranting. He all the more used his deep commanding tone to order her.
Although he had said those words yesterday, he realized last night that indeed, there was a share of responsibility that he needed to take up as a son. As for being an adopted son, this was planted on his mind by his older sisters when they were young, although he never heard it from their parents' own mouth. He came to believe this identity when he was growing up especially when he treated harshly while his younger siblings received about only half of the beatings he received.
"What do you want to do this time?" Fem asked skeptically.
"I want to make a deal with you. Come down now! Be quick!" Vhan commanded.
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