CHAPTER 7- Moving on …
Knock! Knock ! Knock! Amanda knocked on a door lightly. The wall adjacent to the door carried a golden metallic plate with the name ‘Mr. Andrew Ross’ engraved on it. Beneath his name was mentioned ‘creative director’.
“You may come in “, she heard Mr. Ross’s voice loud and clear, from behind the door. Pushing the door open, she entered his cabin. He was working on the computer , papers all over his desk. He looked up with a smile and nodding his head, greeted Amanda,”Welcome to our office Miss Smith. Nice to meet you again ! Please take a seat”.
Amanda sat down and looked around the room. The room was decorated with abstract art locked in beautiful metallic frames, that hung on cream colored walls. Behind Mr. Ross was a shelf, on which was arranged some photo frames with his family pictures in them. ‘Two little boys and a beautiful wife, such a good looking family’, Amanda thought.
Mr. Ross moved his hands from the keyboard now. He seemed to have taken a break from what he was working on, atleast for the time being. He said , ” So did you come up with any idea over the weekend ? How should the advertisement look , what do you think ? Some interesting lines ? ….Oh wait ! Am sorry I should have asked you before . What would you like to have ? Coffee, tea or some juice ? ” Amanda smiled, and replied, “Thank you for asking, Mr. Ross. Am good. Coming to the advertisement, I would like to show you some sketches I made and a concept that came to my mind, that, aah…. I would like to share with you, too. Here’s the folder, you can just look at the ideas on the pages in it and also read the tag line, I felt was appropriate “. She handed the folder to Mr. Ross. He took out the pages from the folder one by one, and studied them thoroughly. Then he glanced at Amanda, saying , “This looks good, but, I would like to see more options before getting fixed on the idea that suits best” . He grinned and continued, “So as we discussed the clauses of our agreement in our last meeting , we had a clause incorporated, where we took a mutual decision, that from now on, anything related to this ad will have to be done within the company premises only, right? “, he frowned and scratched his head, and added, “So, that means, you are going to work on this ad here, like any other employee. And we also discussed that this is purely due to confidentiality reasons, since now you will be knowing more about us and our clients. Besides,this would also help us, get in touch with you more easily, whenever a need arises. That reminds me, the owner of our company would like to meet you, too. Just a formality. After that, you can start working on your ideas”. Then folding his hands and straightening his posture little bit, he asked, ” So do you have any questions ?”
Meeting the boss was inevitable , but on the first day itself, before starting work, was not expected. Moreso, because she was told that he comes to office, not on a regular basis. Curious, Amanda asked , “So, is he in the office ?” Mr. Ross replied, “Yes, just give me two mins, let me inform him about your arrival”. He picked up the phone, dialed a number and spoke to his boss. Then, he looked at Amanda and said, “Just wait here, he is coming to meet you”.
Waiting to meet the boss, Amanda looked around the room, killing time. Mr. Ross got busy again on the computer. It was almost 15 minutes that she has been waiting. She suddenly heard a sound .
A click……. Followed by a knock.
Mr. Ross peeked at the door from behind the desktop and said, “Come in”.
The door opened. The silence in the room was torn apart by the sound of a pair of shiny black oxfords, that drew nearer and nearer. Mr. Ross stood up and said, “Hello Mr. Miller”. Amanda turned back to check who entered the room. She looked at Mr. Miller.
Suddenly, she felt numbness all over her body. It felt like time froze in that moment. She could sense no sound around her. She was shocked. Her face started losing its color. She was breathing heavily. Her most dreaded past stood right before her.
Edward Miller. What was he doing here?
She helplessly repeated to herself, keeping her fingers crossed, ‘Don’t tell me he is the owner ! Please God ! Don’t let my fears come true ‘.
“So Amanda, meet Mr. Edward Miller, the owner of our company”, Mr. Ross’s voice echoed back and forth in her head, silencing every bit of the noise that was going on, in there. She couldn’t respond. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t believe. Seriously, was all of this happening in reality ?
© Sohini Dutta and A weaver at work Blog, 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sohini Dutta and A weaver at work Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
A Weaver at work 
Leave a Reply