Chapter 3

Whenever Victoria was nervous, she tended to have sweaty palms. She was always feeling hot whenever she was nervous and has never been able to keep herself calm.

It was hard for her to mask her feelings compared to Elizabeth who did perfectly well at masking her feelings.

She inhaled and exhaled as she stood in front of the skyscraper building with 'SMITH TECHNOLOGIES' written boldly at the top of the building.

Feeling too worried to move further, she took out her phone from her bag with shaky hands to dial her friend Elizabeth's number. She had spoken to her mother earlier today and her mother had assured her it would all be fine but she was still worried.

"Hey Bee, I'm nervous!" She spoke once Elizabeth answered her call.

"Hi Tori once again. Worry not, you will do just fine. It's always like that. We all get nervous on our first day at work." Elizabeth tells her.

"I know but I just don't know why I feel this way. I'm so worried and I'm worried because I feel something bad might happen and damn if anything goes wrong, I won't be able to deal with it because..." Elizabeth cuts her off.

Whenever Victoria panicked, she tended to speak faster than normal, more like she was ranting. Having known Victoria for a long time, Elizabeth knew just the right words to say to her to keep her calm.

"Breathe in Tori!" She spoke through the phone and Victoria did as told.

"Good." She replied once Victoria did as she instructed.

"Now repeat after me. I am extremely nervous but I will do just fine." Elizabeth tells Victoria

"I am extremely nervous Bee but I'm definitely going to do alright." Victoria assured Elizabeth.

"That's my best friend. Now where is the girl who could take on anyone without worry?" She asked, making Victoria chuckle.

"Thanks Bee. That was relieving." She appreciated her friends help.

"I will do fine right?" She asked her friend again.

Elizabeth chuckled. "Of course Tori, you will do just fine. Just take everything easy and ease yourself up," Elizabeth said to her friend with a beaming smile on her face and although Victoria couldn't see her, she knew Elizabeth was smiling at her.

Victoria was engrossed in her conversation with her friend that she had not heard the horn of a car. Her pen fell on the floor and she bent down to pick her pen, just then, a loud screech made her fall to the ground in panic.

Her eyes widened and her heartbeat raced faster than normal. She did not see the car coming but thankfully it stopped moving before it hit her.

She froze on the spot as her heartbeat was not beating at a normal pace. The man driving the car came down from his car and walked towards her.

Victoria could only see the well polished black leather shoe of the man but not his face.

Coming closer to her, she felt shivers down her spine as his expensive cologne filled her nostrils.

"Are you daft?" The deep voice of the man snapped her back to reality and that was when she realised she was in front of a car.

"Are you daft?" The man asked again harshly.

It was as if there was a bell in Victoria's head that rang out loud when the man repeated his statement.

She raised her head up to meet his stern facial expression and tough eyes with a glare on her face.

She wondered who he thought he was to ask her such a question in the manner he used on her.

"Are you..." She interrupted him harshly.

"I guess you do not know the meaning of manners. Neither have you ever used that word before or else you wouldn't be asking such silly questions!" She spat out.

Her eyes still looked into the eyes of the man.

"Such audacity!" He chided.

"You were too busy with your phone that you had failed to realise I was horning for the past three minutes at you." He said, making sure to add the minutes had used to honk his car at her.

Victoria scoffed, she couldn't  believe he was defending himself when he should apologise to her. He was supposed to apologise to her for almost hitting her with his car and here he was lying to her face that he was honking at her.

She laughed sarcastically. "You are such a man!" She chided.

"You almost hit me with your car and instead of apologizing for your reckless driving, you are defending yourself with such a ridiculous excuse. I am not daft and I definitely did not hear your horn or else I would have walked out of the way!" She exclaimed.

Victoria was quite a temperamental lady. Although she is a carefree type and easily attracted people to her with her kind and bubbly nature, she could flare up at the littlest issue and could get angry over matters that weren't big.

The man shoved both his hands in his pants pocket. He opened his mouth to say something but couldn't find anything to say and closed his mouth back.

He looked at her one last time before shaking his head and leaving her to go back to his car. She had pissed him off but he just couldn't find the right words to use against her and decided to let the issue go as he didn't want to make a scene and he had something important to do.

"What a stupid man!" She complained as he drove off. She huffed, dust the invisible dirt on her skirts and walked towards the building.

************

"Welcome to Smiths Technologies Miss Perkins, we hope you understood what you are to do and hope you enjoy your stay while working here," Dylan spoke.

When Victoria entered the company, Dylan was already waiting for her and had taken her to her department. He introduced her to the other workers and showed her around.

He took her to the analysis room, which was the only place he hadn't shown her and showed her their new products and plannings.

Victoria smiled. She was expecting harsh treatment or an unwelcoming attitude from one of the workers but so far no one was interested in doing that.

They seemed to be focused on what they were doing which told her instinct they must be in the middle of a very high project.

Just as they were about to leave, the door opened. Three men walked in and when the fourth man walked in, Victoria froze.

Her eyes widened in shock as her heart began to beat faster than normal again.

"Good morning Mr Smith!" All the men in the analysis room except for Victoria greeted who was trying to hide her face from the man named Mr Smith.

"Oh my early morning luck!" She muttered.

Mr Smith nodded his head in acknowledgement to them before following the lead of the three men that brought him in. Just as he was about to go further, his eyes met Victoria.

The analysis room was cool enough yet beads of sweats formed on Victoria's forehead. She prayed and hoped the man wouldn't recognize her and walk past her but she knew it was impossible unless he had a very bad memory.

Mr Smith cleared his throat, "Who is she?" He asked .

Dylan answered, "She is the new member of our programming team, Victoria Perkins."

Victoria swallowed the invisible lump in her throat as her eyes met Mr Smiths.

"Who hired her?" He asked.

Victoria began to panic with fear. She had seen in movies how people lost their job for having a wrong start off with their boss and she didn't want to be a part of them.

"Mr Lucky did." Dylan replied.

He was wondering why the question behind her employment was being asked. "Is there any problem sir?" Dylan asked.

It has come to an end! Victoria said within her waiting for him to tell her she wasn't needed and she should leave.

She was sure she would cry in front of them if that happened. It has always been her dream to work for Smith technologies ever since she was a sophomore. Their outstanding achievement has been recognized all over the world and the face of their C.E.O was unknown.

She wondered what Mr Smith position was in the company  and she wished she hadn't spoken rudely to him this morning.

"Yes there is a problem." Mr Smith said firmly. He removed his hands from his pants pocket as he stared at her.

He felt the urge to laugh when he saw her legs shaking. He couldn't believe she was the one who had spoken to him this morning.

"I will have to interview her myself to know her capability because girls like her that talk too much always end up messing up their work."