บท 70: Annoying secretaries.

Hannah looked at her wristwatch and saw that it was already six in the evening. Most of the employees should be getting off work by now, she thought.

The last few days, Axel had allowed her to leave work at the same time as the other employees and she didn't have to work overtime anymore.

Picking her phone from the desk, she stood up, ready to go into Axel's office. Though he allowed her to leave early, the tradition of telling him when she comes to and gets off work still stays.

When she reached the door, she raised her hand to knock but the door opened from inside, revealing Camden who was walking out with some papers in his hands. Camden saw Hannah already with her handbag and her desk was already cleared so he assumed that she was leaving.

'This is the perfect time to tell her the good news'. He thought.

Smiling, Camden spoke, "Are you leaving?". Hannah nodded, her grip tightening around her phone. Camden doesn't talk to her except because he has work to do.

Right now, she wanted to go back home to Penelope. The image of the child curled up on the floor was still fresh in Hannah's mind.

"I have good news!" Camden announced, "some of the employees from the secretarial department organized a small party for you, but I heard you refused to attend it".

Those damned secretaries, thought Hannah in her mind.

"I know you only refused because you don't want to anger Mr. Miller but you have nothing to worry about. I already spoke to him and he allowed it, so you can attend it without worrying about his reaction". As Camden spoke, he studied Hannah's expression but the happiness and relief he expected to see were not there. Instead, her face remained expressionless except for the almost invisible glint of annoyance in her eyes.

He was starting to think that Hannah didn't like parties. But she had to go. She was Axel's secretary which means that she needs to build good relationships with the employees, especially those from the secretarial department, as she would be working closely with them.

"Do you have a problem with it, miss Hannah?" Hannah wanted to nod and say yes but she didn't. She had a lot of problems with it! Instead of staying outside at some place with the employees, she would rather stay back in the company and work. Now, she wished Camden had come with some work for her.

"This is very important, miss Hannah. You work closely with Mr. Miller so you have to familiarize yourself with the company and its employees". Camden explained, "you should get to know them, especially those from the secretarial department". Camden finished speaking, and when he saw Hannah nod, he smiled.

"Good, now go ahead, the secretaries are waiting outside. I wish I could come along but…" he raised his hands holding the paperwork, "... I have a lot of work to do". There was a sad expression on his face but it was quickly replaced by his signature warm smile.

Hannah was beginning to think that Camden doesn't mind working for a long time. She nodded in understanding. She didn't want to go, but she had to and since Camden was being like this, she couldn't refuse, could she?

Hannah nodded curtly and turned around to leave but Camden stopped her.

"Just a little advice," he whispered. "Don't drink too much no matter what they say or how much they force you, especially Katherine. I know how she can be sometimes". Camden said with a knowing smile. Hannah nodded again and she walked away.

Just as Camden had said, the employees were waiting for her outside. She recognized most of them but there were also new faces she hadn't seen before. Hannah frowned inwardly. More people meant more trouble for her.

Sighing to herself, Hannah walked slowly towards them, wishing that they could disappear before she reached there, but unfortunately, those crazy employees were still standing there with a bright smiles on their faces.

"Thank God you're here!" Katherine exclaimed the moment she saw Hannah and immediately hooked her arms around Hannah's much to the latter's annoyance. "For a moment, I was worried that Camden wouldn't be able to convince you and I thought you weren't going to come".

"Oh please Kat, you act like she is some goddess". Lilian spoke and Hannah frowned at the sight of the irritable woman. Hannah wondered why she was there even though she was from the front desk and the gathering was only for the secretaries. It seems that the secretaries still maintain good relationships with her despite her bitchy attitude.

Fortunately, Hannah knows what to do with a person like her. Turning to Lilian, Hannah asked, "Why are you here? Are you not supposed to be at the front desk?"

"You…" Lilian's expression soured and her face contorted in an ugly frown. She glared at Hannah and Hannah, satisfied with what she had done, glared back at her. She was already in a bad mood as it is.

Sending the tense atmosphere, one of them stepped in between the two angry ladies who were glaring at each other and spoke, "let's now waste our time getting angry at each other. It's getting late," to which Katherine and the other employees nodded in agreement.

They got into the cars, Hannah riding with have and Katherine along with another employee while the other employees got into the cars behind them.

They arrived at a bar after an hour, making Hannah wonder why they didn't just settle for a bar nearby especially since the place the bar was located was secluded. She vividly remembered seeing other bars on their way here.

"This is the best bar in the whole city. We come here every time and our friend here is a good friend of the manager". Katherine said, pointing to the other employee who rode with them.

Hannah nodded. That answered a lot of questions, she thought as she looked around the place, her eyes taking in the building in front of her and also scanning to see if she could detect any threat nearby.

There seemed to be none, so she relaxed, tuning out the voices of the secretaries chattering behind her as they waited for the other employees to arrive.