23 Bobblehead

Yana hasn't slept a wink last night as her thoughts wandered off to the endless possibilities of working for Olivia Lin. She pulled her phone under her pillow and looked at the time: it's already six in the morning. So she forced herself to get out of bed, stretching her limbs, looking like a giant 'X', kicking the blanket off her. She hopped out of bed and wiggled her body where she stood, shaking off the remaining uncertainty in her system.

It didn't take long for her to get ready and thirty minutes before eight in the morning, she's already in the lobby of Rockaway Tower, handing her ID to the front desk attendant and who quickly scanned it, saving the information in their system. Yana was given a temporary key card and was told to tap it on the reader once inside the middle elevator. Because of her nervousness, she went in the first elevator but the doors won't close. She tapped again, one, two, three times yet nothing happened so she went back to the front desk to complain. Sensing her dilemma, the front desk attendant went out of her way and helped Yana.

"I said, take the middle elevator. You're going to one of the penthouse suites. Good luck on your new boss." Yana responded with a small smile, missing the hint of sarcasm in the attendant's voice.

Yana, the lass with the little face shaped like an apple, was greeted with a magnificent morning view of the metro. She mouthed a 'wow' upon entering Olivia's penthouse and was a little startled when she saw Secretary Gail sitting by the breakfast bar in the big white waterfall kitchen island. Both ladies glanced at their watches and nodded their heads: Yana because she's not late and Secretary Gail because Yana came in to report despite the short notice. Secretary Gail motioned for Yana to come closer and pulled out a bar stool for her, tapping the cushion twice.

"I need you to go over your contract. If you have questions, let me know," Secretary Gail said, sliding a folder towards Yana's direction. "Have you attended any self-defense class before or martial arts class?"

"I know how to use a gun but it has been years since I last held one. Does that count?" Yana gulped before asking. Her father used to be a member of the Huks, a leftist group who lived in the mountain ranges of the country, that's why Yana grew up holding a gun instead of a doll.

When her father died of old age and she was left alone to fend for herself, their leader decided to have her marry a comrade through an exchange of rifle rights. She was only twelve years old at the time, afraid to be forced into a marriage she didn't have a say on, so she hatched an escape plan during one of the town missions. Growing up, she never felt at ease with the Huks anyway so she grabbed her only chance to escape the Huks voluntary seclusion and when she left, she never looked back.

After her escape, with no food and money to survive in the concrete jungle, she started to busk in small restaurants. She also worked as a cook but the pay was better as a waitress because of the tips she could get so she made a career out of it. She also did not forget to earn her elementary and high school diplomas through alternative learning systems provided by the government.

"Do you still have a connection with the Huks?" Yana almost fell on her seat when she heard Secretary Gail ask her in a nonchalant way as if the Huks were not a taboo subject.

"No. No," Yana answered, her hands waved shakily in front of her chest. She wanted to ask how Secretary Gail got hold of that information but decided it's best to keep her mouth shut.

"Ok. I'll get you in a self-defense class once you've signed the papers. It's a requirement so you could work here," Secretary Gail cocked her eyebrows, signaling the little lass to go and read the contract. A few minutes later, Yana signed the contract and made a mental note to herself. Besides doing the housework and cooking for Olivia, she's basically an overpriced helper.

Now that she thought about it, this job was no doubt better than her three other jobs combined despite the 5% margin of difference in salary. She muttered under her breath the two rules that were highlighted in green in the contract:

Rule # 1 Do not enter the bedroom.

Rule # 2 Keep things even.

She scratched her head after reading rule # 2 and could not help but ask her senior. "Secretary Gail, why does everything have to be even?" Secretary Gail pursed her lips and gave an answer that added to Yana's confusion, "Because that's what's written in the contract and that's what you are supposed to do and being paid for. Understand?" Yana bobbed like a bobblehead toy and sent a thumbs up to her senior before finding something in the kitchen to keep her busy. She was mindlessly wiping down a section of the kitchen countertop when she heard a door open and out came Olivia Lin looking like a goddess even in her silk pajamas.

"Good morning, Ms. Lin," Yana greeted, slightly nodding her head.

"Morning," Olivia rasped, scratching her neck when she felt her parched throat. She grabbed a glass of water and watched as Yana went on to prepare an over-easy sunny side-up egg for her.

"Food is tasty. Thank you," Olivia complimented as she pushed herself off the breakfast bar stool after eating. She walked back towards her bedroom to prepare for the day ahead but stopped midway to glance at her secretary and said, "I'll meet you downstairs, Gail. And bring Yana with you too."

Down in Olivia's office, which she got for free, thanks to the management paying her large sum over her little civil case, Yana mouthed her astonishment to Secretary Gail. "This is hers too?" Secretary Gail tug the corner of her lips into a small smile, amused at Yana's reaction to everything she saw all morning. The two stood at attention when they heard the door beep and in came Olivia dressed in her "work-from-home" clothes. Secretary Gail trailed behind her boss who walked straight into her private office, leaving Yana to clean the office and empty the red beer cans in the recycling bin.

Inside the office, Secretary Gail handed Olivia a flash drive and stood by the sidelines as Olivia's eyes mirrored the green and white codes that emitted from the monitor. After what felt like forever for Secretary Gail, Olivia finally finished reading all the contents in the flash drive and leaned back in her swivel chair, the fingers of her hands interlaced together, sitting above her belly. Secretary Gail pushed a box of tissues forward to her boss when Olivia's nose started to cry crimson red.

"Thank you, Gail," Olivia said as she pulled four tissues out of the box. She took a deep breath with her mouth and crumbled the bloodied tissue before she tossed it in a bin under her table. She looked at Secretary Gail, a line formed in between her brows, as she tried to connect the dots inside her head. Deciphering the codes and linking it to the others she read before but could not find anything in common. Her nose started to bleed again which made Secretary Gail worried yet she kept mum and pulled four napkins for her boss.

"Ok, you can leave now," Olivia ordered and spent her day cooped up inside her office, mapping out everything she read in her little black book. Yana brought in her lunch but when the little lass came back again later, the food on the tray was cold and left untouched. Olivia's phone buzzed and she saw Maxen's name registered on the screen so she picked it up.

"Just ring the bell. I need to finish something. Bye," she dropped the call before Maxen could make a word out because she needed to finish her draft; she could not just rely on her pictographic brain all the time.

Outside in the living room, Yana heard the doorbell ring and waited until Secretary Gail gave a go to open the door.

"Juskolooord!" [1]

Yana immediately slammed the door shut – her face flushed red, including her ears. She ran towards her senior, holding the squeal in her lungs. "I think I just saw the Prince and slammed the door at him," she whispered to Secretary Gail who was beaming at her childishness.