Abnormal World

Carlo was furious, and he doesn't understand why. He knows that he is acting irrational and also unfair, but he can't seem to control his emotion. It all started when he saw Lynn hugging a guy. Why was he feeling possessive over Lynn. What is she to him? She is just but a simple girl. They even hardly spoke. He doesn't know much about her. She is a quiet girl who likes minding her own business. She doesn't even bother about him

But why does her actions affected him. Ever since he saw her that day in the cafeteria, she was smiling, she was radiating a certain aura that he can't exactly pin point. But, he simply can't get her out of his mind since then. Is she some kind of a magician. Did she put a spell on him or something.

He looked back and saw her struggling to follow him. They were on the way to his car. He opened the door for Lynn.

She looked at him as if wondering what he wants her to do.

"Get in.", he said.

Lynn nodded and got in.

Carlo sat beside her and started driving.

Then a realization hits him. He likes this girl. He is hopelessly attracted to her. He likes her petite look, her quietness, her aloofness, her weirdness, the smell of her black shiny hair, her small, soft hands that seems to perfectly fit his own. He likes her and he doesn't want her liking someone else.

Lynn was sitting quietly, oblivious to Carlo's dilemma. She was wondering where they were going, and also was admiring how extravagant Carlo's car was. He must be loaded, she thought.

Then her stomach, started making an ugly sound.

"Hungry?", Carlo asked.

Lynn simply nodded.

Carlo pulled over at a nearby restaurant.

He opened Lynn's door, and helped her in getting out.

Lynn was thinking how such a gentleman could threaten to kick her just a while ago.

They were greeted by a waiter, who assisted them in an empty table.

They were given the menu and Lynn's gasped at the price of the food. One meal cost her salary for a day. Are they insane, she thought?

She discreetly look at Carlo who was going over the menu.

"You see, something you like?", he asked, then raised his head to meet a pair of small brown eyes.

Lynn smiled and opted to order fries and burger. It was the cheapest in the menu.

Carlo stopped Lynn, "No, that's not healthy, it's my treat so I'll decide what to order.", he said firmly.

He ordered two steak with side dishes, then also ordered red wine with it.

Lynn looked at the environment of the restaurant. Indeed it was a fancy one. No one probably orders fries and burger when they dine there. But why would they put it in the menu if she can't order it. And besides she thought she will have to pay her own meal, if she had known earlier that he will pay, she would have ordered desert as well.

The waiter left right after he took their order. Lynn can literally say that he is missing the waiter's presence as soon as he left. Carlo was staring at her intently and she felt like an ice cream melting. She was so tempted to shout waiter, please help.

All dreadful thoughts came to her mind. Is he going to terminate her employment? Is it because of her high handling time? Or maybe because she escaped last Friday night? Oh no! Is he treating her to a meal because it's her last day in the company. What will happen to her? She needs this job to support her parents, to pay her rent. It's not that easy to find another job.

"Are you the type of girl that go on hugging random men in public?" Carlo blurted out.

Lynn was confused by his question.

"What?", she asked to confirm what she heard.

"You heard me!", Carlo said impatiently.

Lynn thought for a while, she was thinking, hug? Who did she hug? Random men? Who?

Lynn cleared her throat and asked, "Boss, are you sure it was me you're referring to?"

"What Lynn? Did you get amnesia all of a sudden. You were hugging a guy in the cafeteria, there were a lot of people there. Aren't you afraid that people might gossip about you?", he said impatiently

Lynn was stunned by what he said. Among everything she imagined, what Carlo said was extremely far from what she thought.

"Are you an easy girl, just prerending to be shy to attract men.", Carlo said bluntly.

Lynn's eyes widened by what she heard. She was hoping the waiter would come with their food so that she can smash Carlo's face with the steak.

All her life, no one has spoken to her that way. She's not the type who speak out her mind, she prefers having her own world, she's not courageous enough to share her world with others. She was called shy, quiet, lame, boring, and weird but never an easy girl.

She took a deep breath trying not to cry because of anger. She tried to calm herself and said, "Boss, I've seen women kissing men in cafeteria, I've seen women wearing very sexy clothes to seduced men, I've seen women hugged men and kissed them at the same time. But I've never heard anyone calling them easy. I believe it's called normal now a days. Now, if you are old- fashioned type, and you are embarassed because your agent was hugging a random guy, who was her mentor, and who was gay in the first place. Then, I must say, I don't feel like apologizing. Now, if you'll excuse me, I don't think I would want to eat with you, nor would you want to eat with this easy girl in front of you.", Lynn said furiously.

She stood and ran outside, her tears were flowing by the time she reached the door.

Carlo was surprised by what Lynn said. He was gay, he was not her boyfriend, he was just her mentor. He's a dumb-ass. Why didn't he bother to asked, instead hurriedly said those hurtful words.

Now what is he going to do? He stood up and ran after Lynn. He was obviously too late, she was no where to be seen.

Carlo went back to the restaurant, paid the bills and left. Neither of them were able to eat lunch.

Carlo rushed back to the office. He was relieve to see Lynn in her station working.

He immediately emailed her "sorry", with sad emoji.

Lynn did not replied back.

Carlo was ofcourse feeling uneasy.

After the shift, the team was having a meeting. No one were speaking, except Carlo. The team were all terrified in loosing their job. While Lyn was feeling angry. She stared at the floor during the meeting, as if she saw something interesting in it.

As soon as the meeting was over, Lynn immediately walked out. Carlo was unsure of what to do. He is not confident when it comes to this woman. He keeps on making mistakes. She wouldn't even look at him.

He decided to follow what his father does, when her mother was crossed about something. His father would just leave her alone, let time resolve everything.

Carlo decided to visit their branch in C City. He let his assistant manager handle the team during his absence. He decided to stay there for a week.

The team were thrilled to hear that their manager was not there. They hope that he decided to take on another position and never returned to the team. Ella came back to work the next day.

Lynn noticed something off about Ella. She dressed differently. She would usually wear jeans and shirt but today she was wearing a mini skirt and she also applied make up. She also noticed how jumpy she was each time he hears laud voices.

"Are you okay?", Lynn asked Ella with concern during lunch.

Ella continued eating and said, "What kind of question is that?"

"I'm fantastic, don't I look great?"

Lynn hesitated and said, "Well, yeah but.."

Lynn was cut off by two of their team mates, Bob and Sam.

Bob put his arms around Ella. Ella immediately got nervous.

"Let's go!", Bob said to Ella.

Ella hurriedly stood and follow Bob and Sam.

"What was that about?", Lynn thought. Something weird is going on.

Her world seems to be abnormal now a days. Her boss kept on bullying her. Ella seems distant to her. Why is her world different and difficult now a days.

She sighed and got ready to get back to work with a gloomy face.