The Daily Life Of A Foodie In The Office - Volume 1 Chapter 54 Ch54

“A crust eaten in peace is better,

than a banquet partaken in anxiety.”

– Aesop

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*Click click*

The sound of keyboards tapping reverberated throughout the office floor of the Human Resource department. Soft voices talking on the phone could also be heard as the atmosphere grew lively at every minute.

It was a busy day for the Kang Company as they have just signed a new project with one of the banking companies in the country. The Kang Company will be conducting classes and seminars for the bank employees, which will last for at least two months.

With the new employees coming in; they too became involved in the project. However, even if Delilah was not involved directly, she still gives a hand when it comes to helping with some of the tasks. One of the tasks was to write the inventory report of what will be used during the project time. Although it was not under her JD [1], she got used to doing it so she did not mind this time.

She was too engrossed in writing her reports that she did not notice that the soft voices around her were getting giddy and a bit louder. She kept typing while rereading what she wrote to make sure that it sounds right when Aubree knocked on her cubicle wall.

At first, she did not notice nor hear Aubree as she continued typing. Until Aubree gently tapped her on the shoulder. “Delilah?”

Delilah turned and looked up in surprise. “Aubree. Hey. Is there something wrong?” Aubree hardly comes over to her cubicle unless she needs something or has something to give to Delilah.

Aubree grinned cheekily as she grabbed an empty seat from the cubicle next door. “Hey, hey. Did you hear?” she asked excitedly.

Delilah frowned, confused. “Hear what?”

“Seems like Isaac is dating Ally!”

Delilah’s eyes widened in surprise. “Didn’t he like Amy? How did he end up with Ally? Is it because of their names?”

Ally was one of the HR officers; a colleague of Delilah. She was a quiet but cute young lady. She has this determined and no-failure attitude which made her good at her work. Especially when it comes to pushing people to work. Delilah was not that close with her but they were cordial towards one another. To be honest, Delilah was a bit intimidated by her because she doesn’t like to lose in an argument, which may seem tiring for Delilah. And they don’t really talk with each other much.

Aubree shrugged. “Amy probably rejected him and so, he went to Ally.”

Delilah’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What is this? A rebound???”

Aubree shrugged again. “I don’t know. Though, I texted Amy and she told me about Ally admitting to their relationship and apparently, they have been together for over a month already.”

Delilah’s mouth formed a wordless ‘wow’.

Just then, the said person just walked past them. She saw Aubree and Delilah talking in Delilah’s cubicle and gave them a smile. “Hello Aubree, Delilah.”

The two of them immediately went silent and looked up with an awkward smile. As if they got caught talking bad about the person. Though, they did, actually. “Hello Ally,” they echoed.

With another smile, Ally continued on to her cubicle, which was three cubicles away from Delilah’s but nearer to Aubree’s.

“Shoot. Do you think she heard us?” Delilah hissed, turning back to Aubree.

Aubree waved away her concerns. “Nah, I don’t think so. Anyway, I’d better get back to my cubicle and work.”

Delilah nodded. “Okay. See you later.”

—-

Days have passed by after the little gossip that Aubree had told Delilah. The company was still busy with their new project, hence, it was still a bit hectic at the office. Only a few people were left to manned the office, which included Aubree, Delilah and Ally.

During that time, Delilah was working on some papers to be given to the new employees for their first monthly assessment. Their supervisors had handed the reports of their evaluations of the new employees to Delilah. So, as the one who was in-charge of the training, she acted as the middle-person where she will reviewed the reports and take note of them. And then she will have to write the reports of their evaluation, together with the training recommendation.

As she was writing and evaluating the reports, she heard footsteps coming her way. She stopped and looked up. She then saw Aubree silently stomped over.

The latter grabbed an empty seat from the other cubicle and sat down. She sighed while silently fumed. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her mouth in a pout.

Delilah had long noticed Aubree’s mood when she first came stomping over. But Delilah had kept quiet as she continued checking the papers to ensure that there were no mistakes.

Once she was done with one part, she turned around and c.o.c.ked an eyebrow at Aubree who was still quietly watching her.

“What’s wrong?” Delilah asked. It would be better for her to ask Aubree what was wrong before she could continue her work. It felt unnerving when you have someone staring at you while you are trying to do some work.

“I’m getting irritated,” Aubree said, a look of annoyance on her face.

Delilah tilted her head in question. “About what? What happened?”

“Don’t you notice how often Isaac has been coming to this floor?” Aubree asked. Isaac worked in the Finance Department where their office floor was on the next floor above the Human Resource Department floor. Although their floor was only a floor apart, it does not seems strange that Isaac would stop by. However, he never has any reason to stop by their floor.

Delilah tapped her chin with a finger. “I’m not sure. I don’t really look at my surroundings.”

“Well, probably because your cubicle is far from us.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that I was placed here.”

“So, anyway, I’m annoyed by how much Isaac has been coming to this floor and keep asking, ‘are you okay’ at Ally? Like, bruh, there’s this thing called a mobile phone.”

“He’s probably adhering to the rules of no mobile phones while working.”

Aubree gave her a look of ‘Are you serious?’.

Delilah shrugged. “You’d never know,” she said.

Aubree sighed. “I can’t concentrate on my work with him constantly appearing in the cubicle and asking this and that. It’s like I don’t know”

“Clingy?” Delilah suggested.

“Yes! I mean, I know I shouldn’t be too bothered about it. But her cubicle is near to mine and their voices are not that quiet. It’s irritating me to hear those mushy words.”

Delilah laughed. “Leave them alone. It’s still their honeymoon phase. It will all blow over later on.”

“I know but”

Delilah quickly turned around to her computer and saved her doc.u.ment. She then put her computer to sleep, instead of switching it off since she will continue working on it later. She then grabbed her purse and phone and turned to Aubree who was staring at her in confusion.

“Come on, let’s go. I’m bringing you to lunch.”

Aubree looked at her wristwatch and was surprised that it was indeed time for lunch. She then told Delilah to wait for her while she grabbed her purse and phone as well.

Few minutes later, the two women were in a restaurant. It was a restaurant that has designs of using woods all over. The place looked quite modern with its wood and leather design on its chairs and tables. One wall was painted in matte grey while the other walls were covered with wood wallpapers. The atmosphere was soothing and relaxing so it was easy for both women to lighten up a bit.

Delilah had already placed their orders. Apparently, you have to go to the cashier counter to place the order and immediately pay for the meal. It was not the typical ordering system where the waiter or waitress would go to your table to take your orders.

While waiting, the two women got into a light conversation; talking about the news that has been happening in the office and whatnot. And a few minutes later, their food arrived.

Both women had ordered a cottage pie each and an iced lemon drink. The cottage pie looked freshly baked as steam was still coming out from the dish.

When Delilah started to eat the pie, her spoon could easily dig into the soft mashed potatoes and beef mixture. It was still hot when she ate them that she had to fan her mouth because of the heat.

The potatoes were soft and tasted rich, buttery and creamy in her mouth. Together with the beef mixture, it became more savoury and fulfilling. The beef mixture was thick and smooth. It has bits of mixed vegetables and mushrooms in it, making it more flavoursome. The burst of many flavours sends happy tingle in Delilah’s taste buds.

Shortly after, the plate was liked clean, together with her iced lemon drink, which was refreshing. InDEEd, eating this pie in peace, while ignoring the stress at work was satisfying and nice.

And that was what she had said to Aubree, who also enjoyed her meal and agreed with Delilah.

—-

[1] Job Description