Escaping the Monotony

“Emma! I need that paperwork for XX client in my office for approval today!” my superior, Jona, shouted while passing by my desk.

Pushing my chair away from my desk, I ran-walk towards where Jona is heading. This lady has so big strides I can’t keep up.

“Hey…Miss Jona.” I put my hand up when she looked at me. “Wait. Let me catch my breath for a little bit.” Wiping the tiny beads that formed on my forehead, I straightened by posture. “Whoa. There. So…as I was saying regarding that paperwork. You told me it isn’t needed until this Friday that’s why I worked on other urgent paperwork.” The way her eyebrow rose, and her hands crossed told me I won’t have any say in this.

Oh great! I think overtime is waving at me.

“Miss Emma. How can you set aside that important matter with a very important client? But…I guess it is my fault for not informing you regarding the changes. Let’s move the deadline until tomorrow, okay?” She clapped her hands gleefully without even hearing my answer. “Great! I’m hoping you know what to do next after this.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before forcing myself to say the word yes. She just gave me a tiny smirk before leaving me in front of the water dispenser.

I grabbed myself a disposable cup, filled it with cold water, and drank it in one gulp.

“Easy their buddy. That’s water, not alcohol.” I looked up to see a smiling Evan leaning on the wall with his hands crossed.

“I wish it was alcohol. I really need it right now.” I rolled my eyes before waving my hand.

My whole body felt heavy as I was walking back to my desk. This always happens to me. I suddenly feel lazy after talking to Jona, but I must work. I just got to suck it up since the job pays well. I slumped on my chair then started typing away.

My eyes started stinging from too much screen exposure, so I decided to take a little break. When I looked up from my screen almost everyone was getting ready to clock out for the day. I didn’t know I had been working on this for hours now. No wonder my eyes were stinging.

I did some neck stretching to loosen the tensions, but I doubt it would go away after this.

“I see, you’re working overtime today. Too bad. Trish wanted me to ask you if you wanted to come with the group tonight,” Evan teasingly said.

“Ha ha. Funny.” I got up from my desk and decided to get some caffeine to charge me up.

As soon as I smelled the aroma of coffee coming from the break room, I unconsciously closed my eyes and released a contented sigh. This is life. Surrounded by the delicious smell of coffee.

“You really like your coffee, huh.” Why is this human being still here. I’m busy making my coffee.

“Evan, stop pressing my buttons when they’re already pressed. Tell Trish I said hi. I’ll just go next time.” I fetched my coffee and started walking back to my gloomy desk.

When I sat down, thoughts started flooding my brain. What if I quit this job? Will I be able to find a new one quickly? Would my parents be okay with it? How about my sister’s tuition? Would the savings I’ve been setting aside be enough to pay for some bills until I find a new job? Wouldn’t people be disappoint-

“Snap out of it, Emma!” I slapped those thoughts out of me. “You still have something you have to finish.” I drank my not-so-hot coffee in one go and started getting lost in my work.

-----

I slowly walked to the front door while trying to fish out the keys in my bag. I finally found it and carefully slid in into the lock, wincing as it made soft clicks as I turned it. I don’t want to wake anyone up at this hour. Pushing the door open is so difficult, it’s so heavy!

“What are you doing?” My heart almost jumped out of my body when someone talked. It was my dad.

“Dad! Don’t startle me like that.” I held my chest and felt it pounding hard from earlier. “I was just trying to be quiet as possible, so I don’t wake anyone up.”

“Sweetie, even if you banged some cymbals, your mom and sister won’t flinch let alone wake up from there slumber.” His shoulders were bobbing up and down while saying these.

“Still. I don’t want to wake you up.” I gave him a soft hug. The warmth just relaxed all my tense muscles from earlier.

“Are you okay?” Dad’s face softened and I shook my head on his chest. “Want to tell me about it?” I slowly looked up at him. His face was full of worry.

“Well, as you’ve noticed I’ve been having overtime over overtime for the past weeks and it’s just so exhausting. I think my superior hates me. She keeps giving me difficult paperwork even though I’m still working on something else.” I feel like a kid ranting after getting bullied while my dad just listened to what I have to say.

“Is that all?” He tilted his head.

“I just… I feel like I’m stuck in an endless cycle since I started work there. I don’t get excited to go to work and get something done like I used to. It’s just so… exhausting. I don’t feel anything or rather I feel like every day is just the same routine. I wake up, go to work, get handed some paperwork, work overtime, go home, sleep, then repeat it all over again the next day. I even thought of quitting today, but I don’t want to because it pays so well. I get all the bills covered and Kana’s tuition with my salary there.” My eyes started to get wet, but I held them in. I don’t want to cry in front of my dad.

“Sweetie, you should have told me or us earlier. I didn’t know you were so stressed out from your work. If you aren’t happy with what you’re doing, then quit. It’s not worth it. Me and mom will support your decision.” The smile on my dad’s face made me want to burst crying like an ugly child.

“I won’t quit. I’ll give you and mom everything in this world like you did for me and Kana. I’m just exhausted that’s why. I’ll be back on track in no time. Thank you for listening to me.” I hugged dad tighter before excusing myself.

-----

The sound of fingers tapping on keyboards echoed in the entire office. It’s because we closed on a big deal yesterday and we have a lot of work to get done. I felt how stiff my neck is becoming, so I decided to lean on my chair. But I was far from relaxed when I saw Jona walking towards my desk.

“Here we go again,” I whispered to myself before sighing.

“Emma. I need that paperwork in my office now.” She stopped in front of my desked with her arms crossed.

“I already sent it to you via email, Ma’am Jona. Haven’t you seen it yet?” My eyebrows furrowed after hearing what she said.

“In. My. Office. Emma. Not in my email.” I closed my eyes and took deep breaths.

“I’ll print it now, Ma’am.” I opened the file from the computer and sent it to the printer to be printed. I stood up from my desk and walked to the printer. I passed by Evan’s desk, and he saw how unsightly my face is then started chuckling to himself.

“Good morning, Evan.” My ears almost bled after hearing how flirty that sounded. I immediately turned my head towards Evan’s desk to see Jona leaning on his desk.

Oh. Shit. Shit. Is this why she’s always has that sour look on her face when she talks to me? She likes Evan. Hah! Why didn’t I think of this sooner. Doesn’t she know Evan has a girlfriend? WAIT. If this is the real reason why working here feels like hell, then I am quitting. I don’t like childish reasons like this. The reason of my suffering was a simple crush on Evan! Oh hell no!

I raised my hands up in the air because I give up on this company. I started walking towards Jona while taking off my office ID.

“Hey, Jona! Just get the paperwork on the printer. They’re almost done.” The way her head turned to my direction with a raised brow is an indication that I pushed a button.

“You. Do. Not. Talk. To. Your. Superior. That. Way.” I can hear her teeth grinding from one another. To push her buttons more, I smirked. I can almost see smoke coming out from her head like those you see in carton.

“Well, you aren’t my superior anymore Jona. I quit.” I hanged my office ID to her hand then walked away to grab all my stuff. I looked back to her then said, “Bye, Jona. By the way, Evan won’t fall for you.” She froze there so I took the chance to run for my life. I don’t know if she has a crazy side to her, but better late than sorry. I even saw how hard Evan was trying to hold his laughter.

“That feels so refreshing. I feel like a bird that escaped her cage or something. But before we start a full blast celebration. I think I need to inform my family that I am now unemployed. I also need to look for a new job before my savings get zeroed.” I laughed nervously before entering my car and driving back home.