The Daily Life Of A Foodie In The Office - Volume 1 Chapter 34 Ch34

“Mama says the word cake like it’s just an ordinary food

which is strange since everyone knows that cakes are made of magic.”

– Jasmine Warga

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“Ring! Ring!”

Delilah looked up from her computer and saw her phone beside her vibrating with notifications. She peered at the screen and saw it was Aubree calling her.

She looked around at the office and just realized that there were fewer people inside. Apparently, not many people had returned from their lunch break and Aubree was one of them. She picked up the phone and said, “Hello?”

‘Hello, D! It’s Aubree. Sorry that I couldn’t text you. But just want to pass a message that Sheila has been looking for you. I already gave her your number, though. Has she contacted you yet?’ Aubree asked.

Delilah frowned. “I don’t think so,” she answered. “My phone has been with me since morning and I haven’t received any texts at all.”

“Though, just wondering. Why would she be looking for me? Is there something wrong?” Delilah was confused. Because she hardly talks to Sheila. The only time she talked with Sheila was during the meeting a couple of months ago. And Sheila usually deals with the Marketing and IT departments, compare with HR department. Even if she wanted to talk about the happenings in HR departments, she usually talked with Howard or Aubree. Not with Delilah.

‘I’m not too sure,’ Aubree replied. ‘Try sending her a text. Do you have her number?’

“Yes, I do. I’ll text her after this then,” Delilah said.

The two of them had a quick chat over the phone for a few minutes. Aubree hasn’t arrived at the office yet. Instead, she was still out having her lunch with her fianc. Yes, she’s a woman who has been engaged for three years. She will marry her fianc next year in February. Although, Delilah had never met him officially but she had seen photos of him from Aubree’s profile picture on her phone. She also likes to talk about him. Though, not to the extent like other lovesick couples.

After the call, Delilah quickly sent a message to Sheila, asking whether she needs Delilah’s help or something. She’s already back in Singapore, for the last few weeks. Although, she has been busy with the other company, she has been observing the Kang Company as well.

Just seconds after sending the message, there was a beep notification on Delilah’s phone. She looked down at her phone in surprise. ‘That was quick,’ she thought.

Based on Sheila’s text, she was asking to confirm whether it was Delilah who had designed the posters for the Human Resource activities, that was spread throughout the office. Delilah had replied yes. She really did design the posters. Aubree once told her about this app in the internet. And Delilah liked how easy it was to use and how it made her designs look so pretty yet simple. It’s a matter of drag and drop kind of concept. Hence why it was easy.

Sheila began to praise Delilah on her designs and how she would like Delilah to make a poster for them. She began to drone on about her ideas and what she wanted before Delilah could say a word.

Once she was done talking, Delilah immediately cut in and put on a feigned sad tone. She started off by saying thank you to Sheila for the praise. It was a simple task, after all. Then, she tried to reject the work softly, without Sheila being angry. She reasoned out that she actually has a lot of work to do in her hand. Especially works from Howard.

Truthfully, another reason as to why Delilah did not want to do Sheila’s work was because she knows how hard it was when it comes to dealing with Sheila. She could remember how tiring it was, especially one who was a perfectionist and one who has high expectations like her. Of course, one might say, this was a typical boss’ characteristics. Which boss has demand low expectations, anyway? It was just that Delilah had too much to handle at the moment. She could not afford to multi-task.

After she stopped texting with Sheila, she felt a slight relief that she managed to back out of it.

Just then, she received a text message from Howard. At that time, Delilah was editing some doc.u.ments, which were needed to be submitted to the Ministry of Education, as they were collaborating with the government, in regards of training workshops.

She stopped typing and went to check her phone. Her face fell as she reads the text message from Howard. She slowly felt frustration and annoyance building up inside her. Howard had just texted her to say that she can put her current tasks on hold and concentrate on the work that Sheila has given her.

She sighed in exasperation. She then quickly saved her doc.u.ments and check out the email that Howard had forwarded to her from Sheila. She skimmed through the email and take note on what Sheila needed for the work she had asked for.

Delilah began working on the task for almost a week now. It was then, she realized that she was actually working with the Marketing department. Apparently, Sheila had also texted those from the Marketing department about the work. Once done, she wanted Delilah and those who were working on the posters to do a presentation about theirs.

Delilah was getting tired of designing the poster. Not because it was hard but because of so many changes. It was hard when some people wanted this and another wanted something else.

A week later, Sheila had texted her, saying that there will be a video conferencing meeting the next day. And she hoped that Delilah had prepared with her poster presentation. Delilah inwardly rolled her eyes. Why does it feels like she has returned back to her university days where she has to present her poster? Nevertheless, all she could do was to reply ‘Yes, looking forward to it.’.

When the day of the presentation has arrived, every one of them had gathered around at the meeting room, which was on the same floor as the Marketing department. Delilah went there, together with her pendrive, which contained her files. Aubree was with her. She had thought that she could help Delilah, even if she keeps insisting that she was alright.

Inside, Delilah was saving her files in the laptop, which will be used for the presentation. She looked up and was surprised to see Travis walking into the room. She watched as he walked towards her, coming to stand beside her.

He peered down at her poster which was previewed in the monitor screen. He scoffed as he studied Delilah’s design. He began mocking her designs, commenting at how she messed up with the colours and the imageries used. He also commented on the font and the size, saying how it looked unprofessional and so forth.

Delilah had kept quiet throughout his “talk”. She knew that he knew she could not talk back. Because it was obvious that he knew more about the marketing strategy designs, compared to her. So, she began to tuned off, absent-mindedly listening to his words.

Once everything was done setting up for the video conferencing, Howard, who was the chairperson for the meeting, started to call Sheila to begin.

Up first was Travis, who had presented his poster. The theme for the poster was ‘Digital Marketing Course’. For Travis, he had decided to make his design looked more computerized, whereby he had used robotic fonts and dark background. He explained that he had used the dark background to make it more futuristic and to emphasize how the colours make it more brighter.

Unfortunately for him, Sheila, who was in Singapore and could only communicate through the video call, looked dissatisfied. She wore a frown on her face as she quietly studied his design. After a couple of minutes, she bluntly said, “No, this is not what I had in mind. It’s too dark. And the font is a bit unreadable. I don’t want it to be so confusing.”

Her words left him flabbergasted. He did not expect this harsh criticism from Sheila. He was proud of his design. He always thought it was better than the previous ones he had done before. He clenched his fists as he nodded, reluctantly accepting Sheila’s feedback. He then went back to his seat.

Then Sheila invited Delilah to the front. Delilah got up and began her presentation. Unlike Travis’, hers was more bright. She had used the colour of soft green and yellow for the background. And also, used clipart computer designs. She explained that although the theme was digital marketing course, the market was for students. Not just a.d.u.l.t students, but as well as young students. She further explained that her poster was more ‘fun’ to attract these students.

After she was done, Sheila was quiet. She let the other people in the room to give comments and feedback to Delilah. Some commented that it doesn’t look professional but it was alright. Some praised her choice of colours.

Minutes later, Sheila voiced out her opinions. To Delilah’s surprise, she praised her for the beautiful poster. She liked how Delilah had incorporate the usage of feng shui [1] colours. Delilah went blank for a second. What feng shui? She doesn’t even know much about feng shui, much less its colours. She only thought that the colour was perfect.

Coincidentally, Delilah had chosen the year’s good feng shui color, which Matt also applauded.

Sheila then asked her what app has she been using. Delilah answered her.

Travis frowned. “How come I did not know of this?” he muttered.

Delilah shrugged. She could hear his loud mutter. “If you had asked earlier, you would have known about it,” she said.

The meeting went on until the working hours had ended.

After that long meeting, Delilah decided to stop by and treat herself to some cake. She stopped by at a cake shop, which was on her way back home.

Inside, she looked around at the beautiful cake shop. If one was to walk inside, they believed that the desserts inside were expensive. Instead of a normal lighting, they used chandeliers. The walls were painted in soft teal with beautiful contemporary painting hung onto it. The chairs used there were wingback type of chairs, making the place looked more sophisticated with low coffee tables.

She went to the counter and decided to choose a chocolate brownie cake. She needed some sweet to get some energy boost after that meeting. It has taken a toll on her mind.

She sat down at one of the chairs and settled herself comfortably.

When her dessert finally arrived, she took a fork and cut a piece from the slice. She inwardly m.o.a.ned in delight as she licked her fork. The brownie cake tasted fudgy inside her mouth, slightly dense yet moist. Although, it wasn’t gooey but the sweetness of the chocolate sends tingles in her. Even though, it was a cake, but it has that fudgy, chewy and somewhat crunchy texture. Especially the top cake.

She sighed happily. ‘Now, this is what I call, ‘Magic’,’ she thought to herself.

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[1] Feng shui (Chinese: , pronounced [f.wi] ( listen)), also known as Chinese geomancy, is a pseudoscience originating from ancient China, which claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term feng shui literally translates as “wind-water” in English. [Taken from Wiki]