My coffee

ZOEYS POV

I couldn't believe what I was seeing, my phone dinged a message notification a minute ago and since I opened it to read the notification, I had been staring at the message.

"Coffee and be at the office by seven. The boss." that's what the message read. It was six thirty already and it was clear I was going to be late. What was wrong with this guy? You can't send a message expecting people at work when you have given them a thirty-minute allowance.

I could make it to work but I had a life different from other employees. I had a kid, for whom most of my decisions were made based on her schedule. She was supposed to be in school at eight, how could I go to work at seven o'clock? Who would take her to school? 

There was no way I was going to drop her off earlier than her normal time. Yesterday when I was late was stressful enough for her, I wasn't about to stress her again because my boss was an insensitive and cruel person.

So I made a decision, I was going to work at the time the company policy required me to be, Eight Thirty and about his coffee, I was making his coffee.

There was no way I was going to spend so much money buying his company's overpriced coffee. There was nothing hard about making a cinnamon-spiced coffee. I had been making cinnamon-spiced pancakes all the time, coffee was easy peasy.

"Mommy...you look sad. What is it?" Alex held my hand looking up at me.

"I'm just stressed about work, but you know me. I will overcome this."I picked her up from the ground to hold her in my arms." Let's get you ready for school baby. How was breakfast?"I kissed her forehead.

"Delicious, I love how you cook Mommy. I love you so much."Alex said and I smiled.

"As you should because I love you too, my gummy bear," I said dropping her on the marble floors of her bathroom in her room. She had the cutest bedroom.

I instructed those people renovating the rooms to put her favourite colours in her room's interior design. Unlike most girls her age, she hated pink and instead loved purple but I think it's because I loved purple too.

Since she refused to be helped to shower, I left her to do her thing after arranging her uniform neatly. She always wanted to act mature and sometimes I let her, at least she learned to do things on her own which was good for her. I went to the kitchen to make coffee then I started to get ready.

I dropped Alex to school and then went to work. I went straight to Roys's office and I knocked. I waited for the door to open but it didn't.

After waiting for what felt like ages, which was fifteen minutes to be exact, the door opened. What was he doing? He could have just opened the door for the heavens sake.

"Why can't you keep time?" he looked at me and he looked pissed.

I dropped the coffee in my hand on his desk and then looked at him." I have a life boss. Like I told you yesterday, there are more important things in a person's life than you."I told him.

"Like what?" he asked the same questions he asked yesterday.

"Things like I have to be somewhere other than work by eight and I couldn't be at work by seven, not today not ever. You can't change my schedule just because you are my boss trying to be harsh or whatever. I have things I need to do on my own before coming to work for you."I replied standing in front of his desk trying to be respectful.

I looked at him in his blue suit sitting like a king. He looked at the flask with coffee in it and then at me." My coffee looks different. Where did you get it from, it's not from here." he guessed right. I thought he would ask what was in the flask.

"I made it, I can't afford the one they sell here," I confessed.

"Too bad I don't trust you enough to take anything you have made. How could I be sure there is no poison in it?" he stared at me.

I wanted to chuckle because of what he was saying. It was ridiculous."Why would I want you dead? I hate you but not enough to kill you."I said in all honesty. I wouldn't even want him dead in the first place, let alone kill him, he was my daughter's father. 

"I want my normal coffee, this one could be poisoned and it is cold already," he said getting up from his chair and taking his phone out. I rolled my eyes annoyed. How could the coffee be cold when it was in a flask?

I didn't expect to spend more money again."Marcus, get the meeting ready." he said on his call and I turned to leave resisting the urge to stomp my heels in anger.

I came back with his coffee but when I was getting mine back, the flask was empty. I looked at him with a frown. Where did my coffee go?

Before I could ask, he beat me to it."Get your laptop and let's go." he said as he started to leave only to stop to look at me."Are you still quitting? You left no answer yesterday."

I had forgotten about my comment about quitting. I was just angry, I didn't want to lose my job."I don't know what you are talking about. You are the one trying so hard to make me quit."I said. I was not going to admit I said I wanted to quit.

Roy nodded and I feared he would call me out by reminding me I said it myself, besides, he hated me so much he didn't want me working in his company.

I wondered why he hated me so much, he knew nothing about me and since he seemed not to remember anything about five years ago, it just didn't make sense why he hated me so much.

"Great, because now you can work without worrying about me deducting your points. I decided to give you a chance without pressuring you."wait, what did he say?

What came over him overnight? I smiled wanting to thank him but he didn't allow it because he started talking again." Don't rejoice yet, you will be working under my instruction. The only thing that changed is that you can be assured I won't deduct points as a judgement of your work or the way you act. But I can still fire you if you can't be competent in your work. I still think you are not competent enough, you must know." he said and I sighed, at least I could do that without stupid points getting deducted. I bet he came to realise how stupid his point deduction idea was. 

He led the way and I followed behind him with my bag that had the laptop in it. I couldn't leave my bag in his office because I didn't know where to put it and since he asked me to carry my laptop, I decided to carry my bag which had the laptop.

He entered the conference room that the newbies met on their first day at work. Everyone present stood up at his arrival and I just stood at the door as he continued to walk forward. I didn't know why he asked me here and all the seats seemed occupied.

Who were these people? I was new to the company but the faces seemed fresh and new, they looked like very important people.

Roy sat at the lone chair at the centre and everyone sat down. I could see the Marcus guy whispering something to him and Roy nodded.

Then suddenly, he said my name without looking at me."Miss Zoey, will present to us the codes that were written for our new project and how they could be decoded. Then, we will decide if the idea is eligible to be put into practice and worth investing in."Roy said and I looked at him and then at everyone who was looking around confused. They must have been wondering who Miss Zoey was.

"Has Miss Zoey turned into a statue? We don't have the whole day, every person here owns a company so you can imagine how much time you are wasting for everyone."This time Roy looked directly at me and everyone looked at me.

What was he doing? I have never stood in front of so many people in my life. What part of the word shy didn't he understand? To add to that, everyone here was an important person. I had a feeling he added that everyone here owned a company to freak me out. Well, he succeeded.

No...I couldn't do this. What was I supposed to tell all these people? And was he talking about yesterday's codes? I told him I failed, was he trying to embarrass me? I hated this guy.