8. J.E. INITIALS

Estelle tightly gripped the strap of the bag hanging from her left shoulder. Biting the inside of her lip, not because of the coldness of the heavy snowfall last night, but because she was holding back her tiredness and annoyance. In the past few days, she had been faced with trivial problems that drained all her emotions and all of that just because of a ring.

"God, this whole thing is so annoying … this whole thing made no sense from the start!" Estelle grumbled.

The woman with light make-up walked quickly while remembering yesterday's events. Where she was left just like that by Dave, after showing a reaction that made her a little offended, the man left in his big car.

Somehow she felt like a fool lately. "What the hell am I doing? Just adding to life's problems!" She continued while sipping the warm coffee she bought at the café near the bus stop.

Not long after, Estelle stopped in front of a building that only had six floors. She felt lazy to go inside, not lazy about working, but there she would definitely meet Julia. Really, she really didn't want to have anything to do with her crazy partner.

Estelle works for an insurance company. There is no important position. She only works as a diligent office employee until she can get the best employee award every month. It wasn't easy to get and maintain all that, there was a payoff of her time and mind that she had to put fully into and there was a reason why she became a workaholic woman in those days.

Estelle exhaled, then moved her legs back into the GI building. Say hello kindly to some people who are in the same direction with her. It seems that she will have to talk back to Julia later. After all, it felt like she could no longer follow the colleague's wishes.

Drrtt ... drrttt .... 

The vibration of the mobile phone she felt from inside the pocket of her long coat. Estelle immediately discouraged entering the elevator. Looking at a name that appeared on the phone screen, Estelle rolled her eyes lazily and exhaled softly again.

Sam.

Since yesterday, the man kept contacting her and she knew why her new friend was like that. She ignored dozens of chats from Sam, all the messages were the same, namely asking how she was after meeting Dave, whether Dave was returning to acting or not.

The reason she ignored her new friend wasn't because she was angry with Sam for what happened yesterday. It's just that Estelle doesn't want Sam to be hit by her anger because her annoyance with Dave hasn't disappeared.

How could she not be angry? Every time they met, Dave always did what he liked. The man's first meeting strangled her and the second meeting yesterday, Dave left him after she was worried that Dave suddenly turned pale and groaned as if he was in pain. What annoyed her even more, Dave didn't remember ever making her almost die!

The vibrating phone finally stopped. She put the phone back in her pocket. Looking at the elevator numbers on the fifth floor, Estelle rubbed the chestnut hair that was still a little wet, and then decided to go up the stairs.

"Ho ... coincidentally, I want to talk to you," Julia said as Estelle had just appeared from behind the elevator wall. The woman smiled crookedly with eyes looking down on Estelle.

"Good morning, sir," Estelle said, ignoring Julia's presence and preferring to greet her boss. The deputy director, who is four years different in age, is older than her.

"Morning." The deputy director turned to Julia again. "Julia, remember what I said earlier," he continued with a straight face, then left without giving the smile the man used to spread to his employees.

Julia fell silent. Her eyes instead stared intently at Estelle. Her right hand was clenched tightly. Seeing Estelle made her heart immediately fill with anger.

"Follow me," she ordered, her arms folded across her stomach as she swaggered toward the elevator.

Estelle chuckled softly, ignoring Julia's words. She sticks to her main goal, namely climbing the ladder that is in front of her eyes. After only a few steps, Julia stopped her feet by grabbing her wrist and holding it firmly.

"I told you! Follow me!" Julia growled in an emphasized tone of voice. "If you want your ring back now, follow me!" she continued with the same intonation.

Estelle glared as she pulled her hand back. If she hadn't been in a work environment, she would have cursed at Julia, who was now acting like a queen. Estelle felt that she had enough of her office mate, and she was too lazy to deal with the snake woman. Should she quit the job that had supported her for three years?

"I'm busy," Estelle answered lazily, her body turning around again.

"I will say it one more time. If you want your ring back, be a good girl and follow me. Otherwise, even if you bring information about that guy, I still won't give you those dirty things!"

Estelle is speechless, dirty? Hah! Hearing that, her chest became even more irritated. Estelle approached and spoke firmly in Julia's ear. "Look, who else wants to continue with your annoying requests! I do want to talk to you about my ring, but not now!"

"I want to talk about that now! I don't mind if you want us to argue here, I guarantee, you're the one who will be embarrassed," threatened Julia.

Estelle hardened her jaw, glancing at the surroundings that were already quite crowded. Estelle could only slash resignedly. "Hurry up and walk," she said. 

Not afraid because of Julia's words, but she knew how cunning the woman was. After all, she also needs a place of privacy to slap her crazy colleague. Julia has disrupted her life very much. Estelle didn't know what was the reason why her colleague hated her so much.

The two women entered the elevator. Julia pressed the last number of the floor of the building. Estelle silently watched from behind. Thinking, what else is her colleague planning? Of course, it was not without reason that Julia said she wanted to return the ring now. Let's hope there's nothing strange she has to do to get her ring back or maybe ... Is it time that she should completely let go of that thing?

Estelle leaned against the elevator wall, it was still early, but her heart was already heavy. Her body was also tired of all the emotions she had felt since yesterday. Her mind began to wonder. If Julia breaks her promise ... Maybe she really should give up her ring and get out of the company. She was really sick of being under the same roof as Julia. After all, now her family life has improved. She can find another job or help her family's florist.

Drrtt ... drrrttt ....

The gadgets in her pocket vibrated again just after they got out of the elevator. Estelle stared at Julia's back as she began to climb the stairs, the last access for them to the roof of the building.

With the phone in her hand, Estelle took a distance and received a phone call from someone she had ignored a few minutes ago.

"Sam. I'm sorry, I will call you back later."

Short and clear. After saying a few words, her thumb directly cut off the call from Sam. Sighed heavily as she put her phone back in. Stepping quickly in order to complete the fourteen steps that she had already stepped halfway.

Cloudy weather and cold air greeted them. The air on the rooftop is cooler than down there. The almond's eyelids also reflexively narrowed slightly when she saw Julia already taking a position ready to argue with her arms crossed.

"What about the information I requested?"

Estelle's forehead frowned. "Can't be patient? I thought we would talk about something else. If you want to discuss this, you can do it later, right?" she replied, then looked up at the mountain of snow on the edge of the building's barrier.

"Whatever! Just answer my question, you bitch!"

Estelle frowned. "What? Bitch? Hey, I have been very patient with you all these years! But, not anymore! What right do you have to call me that, you snake!"

Julia laughed crisply. That's right, all this time her colleague has been very patient with her, and she hates it. Now, Estelle called her a snake, it seemed that Estelle's patience had run out and that, the more made her want to bully the self-righteous woman.

"If it's not a bitch, then what should I call it, the woman who has snatched someone else's fiancée? Bitch!"

"What?" Estelle didn't understand. Who snatched people's fiancée? In the next second, her eyes widened to see Julia showing her ring. "Give it back! You need to know, no matter what your threat, I will no longer want to obey your crazy wishes!" she continued, the hand that wanted to take the ring failed.

"J.E ... same initials. Answer me, is it true? J is that Joe?" said Julia, staring dislike at the object whose golden color was not too bright anymore. There are J.E's initials on the back of the gemless ring.

Estelle fell silent at the name said by Julia. "Whether it's true or not, it's none of your business! Hurry up and return my ring!"

Julia was silent, their eyes staring at each other fiercely. The anger in their hearts made the two not feel the increasingly strong coldness up there. "Ah, right... It's none of my business. But, if true ... I won't just keep quiet! Remember that!" she retorted firmly, then Julia threw away Estelle's ring until it crossed the boundary of the building.

"You!" A smooth slap was given by Estelle to her co-workers. "What have you done?"

"I--" Julia also landed a hard slap on Estelle. "Just throwing away the disgusting stuff. As payment for your inability to carry out my orders and this is worth it, Elle ..." A grin appeared when Julia saw Estelle holding her cheek with her eyes starting to turn red and watery. Julia walked away with annoyance still lingering in her heart, although she admitted that slapping Estelle made her a little satisfied.

Estelle stared at the cold floor, why did that woman hate her so much? And why did the ring have to be thrown away? She really doesn't know, where did she go wrong?

Estella turned her head, saw the door that Julia had just come through. She was confused as to which one to do first. Wanted to solve their problem, but she had to work and going to look for a ring that had fallen somewhere ... also not possible.

"Haah ..." A tired sigh was heard as tears fell down her cheeks which were starting to look red. Did God finally hear her doubts that had wanted to throw away the ring several times?

Estelle took a quick breath of the cold air there. "Argh!" she shouted, trying to steel himself as quickly as possible.

However, she had to work and put aside her personal feelings first. Later she will look for it during break time. Now, she has to talk to office security and leave a message, in case anyone finds the ring. They had to tell her immediately, that was Estelle's plan.

The woman who had managed to brush off the problem immediately wiped away the traces of tears from her eyes. Not long after, she felt his cell phone vibrating again. While drying the traces of tears, her eyes peeked at the cellphone screen to see who the caller was. Estelle thinks it's Sam. However, it turned out to be from someone whose number she didn't recognize.

Estelle accepted the call and answered politely the morning greetings from the person she was talking to on the phone. Listen carefully to what the woman says. In less than half a minute, Estelle's face turned pale. Her left hand covered her mouth which was reflexively open.

A news that left Estelle speechless.

"What? Operation?" she answered with a heart that was immediately filled with anxiety.

Oh my God. What other problem is this?

To be continued....