MINION

"Can you send me the Renoir file, please?" Gregory asked.

For the last two hours, all Gregory did was ask Xenia to transfer files or have her ask for them in other departments. This situation was humiliating for someone who spent three years sacrificing her time with her daughter for a promotion, which she lost to her worst enemy.

Unlike her colleagues, who believed assisting Gregory was a privilege, Xenia felt retrograded. She understood why he didn't want a department head. The tasks were entry-level.

Xenia watched the clock waiting for it to strike at 6 PM like one waiting for the return of the Messiah.

Even though Gregory didn't speak, she knew the seat battle had got to him. The man was a competitor; otherwise, he wouldn't be in his position.

The other employees appeared to integrate Gregory as if he was a new office plant.

Everyone went with their Monsieur Carlton this and Monsieur Carlton that, what suckers Xenia thought, glancing at Gregory whose head was on his screen.

It was thirty seconds to 6 PM, and Xenia was already packing up.

"Excuse me, but what are you doing?" Gregory asked while raising the most interrogative of brows.

"Well, the day is over."

"For your colleagues, but you still owe Astoria 8minutes and 15 seconds."

"I beg your pardon," Xenia said in dismay.

"You were late this morning. You burst into the meeting room exactly eight minutes and fifteen seconds after it started."

The employees who gathered their belongings stopped to watch.

"World war III is going to break loose," Priscilla whispered.

"I thought the French and British were Allies," Mariam slipped.

Xenia shut her mouth as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Gregory, you can't be serious; it's ridiculous. I know you got it bad back then for the chair, but this is childish."

"Are you a thief, Xenia?"

"What?" Xenia replied and shook her head in disbelief.

"Are you a thief Xenia, you are paid to do precisely eight hours of work, and you seem to want to rob this company?

"Listen, Gregory; I will be here eight minutes earlier tomorrow. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is if it's your daily routine, all I can say are earning what you didn't work for."

"This is insane; you are--."

Gregory's eyes twitched. The motion alone made Xenia stop talking. He rose from his chair and shifted his gaze to the remaining employees, "as of now, I will ask for lateness controls. Any employee late more than twice within a month will have the amount deducted from their salary even if you stay late to catch up. I will notify all of the services."

Xenia looked around the room to see the glares in Gregory's, but the killer instinct aura appeared to be streaming in her direction.

"You may leave Xenia."

"What?"

"It's 6: 09 PM. Thank you for your comprehension.

Gregory sat back down and started to type frantically on his laptop.

XY XX

Xenia left the office, bending down outside the door to slip on her sneakers; it was the best moment of the day. Her feet could benefit from the love they deserved.

"Way to go, Xenia. Thanks to you, we are all under surveillance," Mariam said.

"Girls, wait a minute; the guy is crazy."

"You provoked him all day long," Priscilla added, "imagine if he tells Cassie, you know how she feels about you."

The three women walked to the lift.

"I don't give a damn if he tells her, four months ago, Cassie was still a bitchy assistant."

"But now she is the bitchy boss, and her office is only at the end of the corridor," Priscilla said.

"Please, Xenia, I beg you, step down a little. The man is only doing his job, so chill a little on the I-am-Xenia-the-Valkrie attitude," Mariam said, sticking her hand out in front of her as if she was wielding a sword.

The lift arrived, they climbed in, 18 floors later and badge swipes, the nightmarish day was over.

xx xx

While Xenia signed off on the day, Gregory still huffed in the office.

"Knock, knock."

"Oh, Wendon."

"I saw your mail. Who's the culprit?"

"Tell me, do all the French slack off?"

"Well, they are the only ones who work 35 hours. We can say it's a vacation."

"I can't believe it, I'm not saying they're bad, but it's the little things."

"Calm down. Do you want a hug?" Wendon said, stretching out his arms.

"Wendon, please."

"Listen, I think we rocked them enough for one day."

"Are you ready, guys?" Jaila said, interrupting Wendon as she made her way to join them.

"How was it in accountancy?"

"If there's negligence, it isn't them; I don't know if it's because I was there, but they are robots. I felt like being surrounded by mini-toi, Gregory."

"Thank you; I'll take it as a compliment."

"And you Wendon, please avoid spending your day playing solitary."

"You spied on me?"

"Of course, I did."

"I feel so naked," Wendon said, placing one hand on his chest and the other between his legs.

"Be careful walls have ears. Please stay in character," Gregory said, looking in the direction of the door.

"By the way, about accommodation."

"Oh, you have an apartment ready here. It's about ten minutes. Jaila and the others have apartments a Sejour and Affaires residence in Neuilly."

"I can't stay here; you stay at that address."

"Why?"

"It's the directors. I'm a simple auditor. What's left?"

"There's another residence at Bercy, only one employee staying there, a certain Anya Fernster from IT, but you'll have a lot of transportation to take. I'll have to order a car for you."

"No, make the arrangements. I'll go there, and I'll take public transport."

"Wow, Gregory, you are really taking it seriously."

Gregory raised a brow, "is there something I don't take seriously?"

xx xx

Xenia arrived home, where Oasis slid and rubbed herself between Xenia's legs to welcome her. Sia was at her mother's for the week. The woman knew the mail Astoria sent was dangerous. Xenia preferred to have her mom take care of Sia in case she had to do things that wouldn't allow her to pick her up from kindergarten.

As Xenia took her lace wig off in front of her mirror, sadness submerged her. For three years, Sia hovered between her mother's and her house because of Astoria.

The business developer felt guilty. She was a bad mom. The fact Sia called her grandma mommy was proof of that.

After work, she was too tired to play with her baby, and she slept through the bedtime story, which was supposed to rock her daughter to sleep.

And now there was Mark who, after three years, finally acknowledged his parenthood and pestered to see his daughter.

Of course, Xenia didn't let him do, and so the arguments fused about how she didn't have a balanced life, how Sia needed to know her father, and he had a better situation. Globally, Mark told her he was more than able to take care of Sia.

The guy had run away from the sleepless nights, the flues, diapers, diarrheas, and toothaches. Only to walk in on the cruise part of parenthood where he could bury Sis with gifts.

Mark missed Sia's first steps, and so did Xenia, who discovered them on Whatsapp because she was working her butt off to pay bills and the loan she took so Mark could set up his business and come and rub in her face what an established man he was.

And then came the show's pinnacle, when Xenia finished early one day and went to pick up Sia at her lifetime best friend's house.

In an instant, Sophia turned lifetime foe and certified hoe.

Xenia had the shock of finding out not only did Sophia let Mark, who left her best friend six months pregnant and indebted to the bone, see her daughter behind her back, but she and Mark had got together.

Xenia's life had gone into the Bold and the beautiful Hitchcock Twilight Zone scenario.

Life's a bitch.